Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread

[mnementh]

Thankfully, the two are not mutually exclusive.

mnem
moobies.

[Specmaster]

They’re not “great” encoders. Better than the Rigol ones. Let us know how it goes later when you get home.

I'd expect them to be functional though.
These are sending the scales in random directions and magnitudes.

Are they mechanical or optical?

I have seen an article on this problem in the past but cannot remember where it was. IIRC the cure was to carefully drill a very small hole in the encoder housing and only allowing the drill to just break though and no more, sucking the swarf away as you dill slowly to keep it from entering inside and the dowsing the inside with contact cleaner and operating the control a few times, after which it worked perfectly. Do a Google search and you might be lucky and find the article.

You mean this one?
https://www.eevblog.com/forum/repair/the-old-crazy-tektronix-td-210-rotary-encoder-problem-solution/

Found this one as well:
https://www.eevblog.com/forum/projects/rotary-encoders-for-tds210/

Yes thats the one, it even shows where to drill 

[Cerebus]

They’re not “great” encoders. Better than the Rigol ones. Let us know how it goes later when you get home.

I'd expect them to be functional though.
These are sending the scales in random directions and magnitudes.

Are they mechanical or optical?

I have seen an article on this problem in the past but cannot remember where it was. IIRC the cure was to carefully drill a very small hole in the encoder housing and only allowing the drill to just break though and no more, sucking the swarf away as you dill slowly to keep it from entering inside and the dowsing the inside with contact cleaner and operating the control a few times, after which it worked perfectly. Do a Google search and you might be lucky and find the article.

That sounds a bit drastic. If one is going to make little holes for lubrication then I'd recommend a non-dust/swarf generating method. Hot blunt hypodermic needle to melt the hole, with the bonus that once the hole is made one can use the same size needle to introduce your lubricant/cleaning fluid.

[Specmaster]

Oh nice. Nothing I hate more than cleaning nicotine off things   

I hate the stickiness that comes anything from a smokers house urgh.

[med6753]

There's a difference. One of them is a red head and bat shit crazy and will drive you to drink.

The other one will just kill you. 

[BU508A]

There's a difference. One of them is a red head and bat shit crazy and will drive you to drink.

The other one will just kill you. 

That's excatly why I was speaking of the CN tower.   

[Specmaster]

Yeah I figured they were probably mechanical, given the fault symptoms.

No drills, needles, or ceefour required to fix it, just worked the controls a bit when I got home, they've settled down some.

Needs a good clean, the previous owner seems to have been a smoker, it's got that lovely nicotine and tar patination and tackiness to the touch.



Stopped at Argos on my way home to pick up a couple of new toys tools; a graphics tablet, and a FUCKING REFILLABLE TANK printer.

Sorry, just had to blow off some steam on that one... yes yes, I know you can hack the cartridges and refill them with syringes, but seriously, too much mucking about, and then you have to waste more ink printing alignment pages etc etc and yeah no ty.

The graphics tablet should enable me to engage with some other projects I've been mulling over for some time.

That's why I've bought earlier this year a colour laser printer from Brother. No messing around with clogged nozzles, dried ink, dirty corners in the printer etc.
I hate these ink pissing machines.

Waiting for my HP squid to give up or me to take all my pent up anger on it and will be doing exactly the same.  Bastard thing is nothing but trouble.

Hmm, lasers also have gotchya's as well.

[Cerebus]

Every time it causes me problems it gets a literal kicking. Eventually it will receive a fatal blow. 

Care to try out my new toy tool? Just under £60 from Toolstation.

[med6753]

There's a difference. One of them is a red head and bat shit crazy and will drive you to drink.

The other one will just kill you. 

That's excatly why I was speaking of the CN tower.   

But can we get a fourier analysis? 

[Cubdriver]

There's a difference. One of them is a red head and bat shit crazy and will drive you to drink.

The other one will just kill you. 

That's excatly why I was speaking of the CN tower.   

But can we get a fourier analysis? 

I'd be willing to do a four year analysis...

-Pat

[mnementh]

No problem. I have a redhead of my own; I'll just let her take it outta my hide. 

mnem
 

[AVGresponding]

I just popped back to post how much I'm liking my graphics tablet, and see teenage boys have taken over the thread...

[bitseeker]

As a heads up to any who may be interested, apparently someone on the bay of evil has stumbled onto a cache of those HP coffee mugs:


https://www.ebay.com/itm/114327183149?ul_noapp=true&shqty=2&isGTR=1#shId

There are allegedly more than ten available, and the price is not too insane compared to what I've seen them go for in the past.

Oh, my!

Nine gone, six left.  I wonder if she's surprised that they're selling so quickly?

Two left.

[mansaxel]

Two left.

There had been 0 left if the stupid shipping fees hadn't been there. Idiots. There is NO correlation between cost and price, I observe.

[bd139]

eBay GSP so they can repack it and fuck it up.

[factory]

mnem
I think I may have said this recently but... KILL IT. KILL IT WITH FIRE!!! 

Just the response we come to expect from a fire breathing dwagon 

HP have Mnem sorted then, clearly the original owner of these killed a lot of things as only a few remain.


David

[bitseeker]

STILL has not shipped yet. Think maybe he's making me suck spite for faffing about asking for a repeat customer discount. 

IIRC, AllTest doesn't necessarily know the full condition of listed items. They may invest that effort when a listing sells and then deal with any issues prior to shipping (or cancel the order if no suitable alternative is available). I've seen reports of it occurring in the past, but I don't know if that's the case recently.

Disclaimer: This is from memory, so the usual wetware caveats apply. I may have totally confused them with a similar vendor.

[bitseeker]

Page 2600 already? Sheesh! 2500 wasn't that long ago.

[AVGresponding]

Page 2600 already? Sheesh! 2500 wasn't that long ago.

I suspect that, like the universe, its expansion is accelerating.

[bitseeker]

Using git for a small project at work...

1) read the git manual: check done.
2) remote bitbucket repository: check done.
3) forked my first branch: check done.
4) completely lost where I am and how I can go back where I was: check done.

Is pain in the ass a motivation to learn something?

Yep. It's definitely got a learning curve, especially when you have to go beyond the basics of day-to-day operation. But its speed is worth the learning hassle.

[BU508A]

Page 2600 already? Sheesh! 2500 wasn't that long ago.

On which page are you currently? 

Hmm... Is that Zager & Evans playing in the background?   

[factory]

As a heads up to any who may be interested, apparently someone on the bay of evil has stumbled onto a cache of those HP coffee mugs:


https://www.ebay.com/itm/114327183149?ul_noapp=true&shqty=2&isGTR=1#shId

There are allegedly more than ten available, and the price is not too insane compared to what I've seen them go for in the past.

Oh, my!

Nine gone, six left.  I wonder if she's surprised that they're selling so quickly?

Two left.

Don't think I would trust GSP with one of those either, probably receive a nice box of glass shards, thanks for sharing that as there is another stone cold cup of tea waiting in the kitchen.....

David

[bitseeker]

Like if most days as a hobbyist, using under 30V, and I only really care about mV or 100's of nV accuracy when they are 1st turned on......they can all do that cold, right ?

But I see tho, I have DMMs that can do 4-5d pretty good, but none are a modern bench DMM. IDK, maybe I really should just get an older 6.5d meter, and get a new 5.5d meter.

Browse this thread and you'll see that high-res DMMs aren't generally a daily driver. However, regarding the requirement for warm up, it really depends on your needs and your definition of "good enough." For example, if absolute accuracy isn't critical (which it usually isn't for hobby use), then a cold DMM will give you a reasonable result to 3 or 4 digits. You don't even need to switch it into a lower-resolution mode. That way, you can see the rate at which the value changes as the meter warms up and to what resolution you feel comfortable with the measurement. Using a higher NPLC setting can also be helpful, if the additional sampling time isn't a hindrance to your tasks.

If the absolute value is important to you, then I'd recommend running some tests at different warmup times from cold compared to when the meter is fully warmed up to determine how long you need to wait for your particular device to achieve your desired accuracy.

Note that even handheld DMMs, which are generally used right away from turn on, have a warmup time for full accuracy and when calibrating/adjusting.

[Specmaster]

I just popped back to post how much I'm liking my graphics tablet, and see teenage boys have taken over the thread...

There might well be snow on the roof, but there is still fire in the hearth 

[bitseeker]

Page 2600 already? Sheesh! 2500 wasn't that long ago.

On which page are you currently? 

Hmm... Is that Zager & Evans playing in the background?   

I'm on 2525 and 2600.

Eventually, pointer A will be where pointer B was, and then I'll be caught up without having to narrow the gap.