Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread

[bd139]

100uf 6.3v x5
10uF 16v x2
47uF 16v x1
22uF 16v x1

All need to be low profile <8mm long. 10uF ones need to be <= 5mm diameter.

Check yours is the same though before hand as there are a few variants with different configurations.

What about the little brown bastards hiding under the display?

Yeah they’re running well under voltage so will be fine.

[AVGresponding]

This reminds me of someone, but quite who momentarily escapes me:

Norman Lamont?

Note that the Electrophoresis type supplies are designed for biology lab use and have safety features including earth leakage detection on both positive and negative outputs that make them hard to use as regular power supplies.

Where there's a will, there's a hack!

[factory]

Further to us discussing the other day whether you can leave feedback after a case is closed on eBay. I just had to force a refund out of a seller that sent 'not as described' crap (it was what they said, but was so borked as not to fit the description). They tried all the usual crap that it typical of some  Chinese vendors - discount and keep ("no it isn't any use"), emails outside eBay "can't refund with case open" (screen shotted and added to case photos) and so on. So, they are definitely getting negative feedback. They finally caved and refunded - immediately after I copied their external emails outside eBay into the case, funny that.

Anyway, refund has been paid, and this is what it looks like at the moment pre-feedback:   

I wonder if people who thought that they couldn't leave feedback simply missed the entry because it had moved to "Returns and Cancelled Orders" or some other sub-category other than the headline "Orders" list. Negative feedback now successfully left.

No; this isn't what I was talking about. I've had a few such clusterfucks where once the refund was done, the transaction was removed from my purchase history as if it had never happened; I could only bring it up by ticking the "Show Hidden Items" box, and even then, there were no actions available to me.

No idea why, how, or if it is something that has changed in over a year since my last really shitty fleaBay transaction.

mnem
"It's all shit; pick a layer and dive in." ~mom

Could it be where they cancelled the transaction as out of stock, or buyer requested to cancel?

David

[mnementh]

   I suspect that may be the exact use case for which Tek designed the big one in this set I got from Neomys Sapiens; it's 300mm long. 

mnem
I have 30cm and I know how to handle it. 

Oh man. I wish I had that set. I used an insulated Wera screwdriver to help me manipulate it from a safe distance. If I had had a large noninductive tool it probably would have made the adjustments a lot easier to see too.

Ayup.

Next time let me know. I don't mind loaning by mail on these; at least in the Americas postage shouldn't be too painful.

Of course, this is also the type of tool that just screams "Print me!" 

mnem
 

This seems a prime candidate for 3DP.

Hmm, probably not. With most 3DP materials I suspect that would come out like a wet noodle.

More a case of "Slap a bit of Delrin in the lathe". Oh..., no lathe.

Seriously... this tool is a prime candidate for 3DP, which is why I said so in my original post (that part somehow got sucked into eevBlog's resident black hole).

The ORIGINAL tool from Tek is a bit of a limp noodle; but really, who cares?  It's just going to turn a trimcap or trimpot.

This tool could EASILY be printed in two parts; the shaft in natural/translucent PLA or ABS to ensure not full of conductive dyes/pigments, and the handle in any color you like.

In most cases could probably make the tip printed as well; would just need to break the trimmer loose with a regular driver first. Or just make a slotted socket in the end and fab the tip out of a small bit of sheet steel like the Tek-branded tool.

Grease/Vaseline ?

A vac is what I was going to suggest, and you can make a custom nozzle with card to get it small and high flow very close to your drill site.

I'd advise against vaseline for anything other than really low speed stuff as it's likely to melt and provide zero help. General purpose lithium grease is ok for low speed stuff, but high speed it'll throw swarf off with the centripetal forces.

EDIT: You can use a neodiddelyum magnet on ferrous stuff, but rivets are usually aluminium in my experience.

I'd opt for one of those little hand jeweller's type drills that you scoot up and down. Mine's buried so I have to resort to an 'Internet pic':   

These are commonly known as a "push drill" or "Yankee Drill"; I believe I recall the correct term being a "Chandler's drill", but all the search hits I get right now are for a particularly moronic episode of "Friends". 

They typically don't want to play nicely on drill sizes above 1/8" or so tho, unless you get one of the ginormous ones like Harry Tuttle uses and have Popeye arms to power the thing.

mnem
 

[TERRA Operative]

This is a cool looking mini scope: https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/264005789638

Found one on Yahoo Auctions here in Japan, for a rather ridiculous price.... Some sellers here have their heads in the clouds (or maybe up their arse... ) with the prices they put on some gear.

https://page.auctions.yahoo.co.jp/jp/auction/h193115316

[mnementh]

Well that was most disappointing. I blew up all of the capacitors and was greeted maximally with a “pfft” and that was it. No booms. 

I am sure I could make these caps blow at 1000 DC once my Keithley 236 arrives and gets upgraded to 237.

...aaand now we've gone recursive; this is pretty much the same solution as my suggestion of a salvaged nuke-box XFMR.  If you have a NEED to abuse "things" with High-power HV DC (I mean REALLY; who DOESN'T...? ), just don't take the rectifier off the XFMR when you salvage it. 

mnem
 

[0culus]

Now that the card reader is working, there's a world of useful programs for the HP-65. However, since I currently lack a manual for EE Pac 1, I am having to RE the programs. First victim, is the volts-to-dBm program which I thought would be simple but it isn't. It's actually quite clever, as it takes account your system's Z.

[mnementh]

This is a cool looking mini scope: https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/264005789638

   It's a bit "Star Trek, during the movies but before TNG" looking. Not sure if I like it or loathe it.

As to whether it looks useful or not, I've got to give that a big thumbs up. If it was in the UK at that price I'd be seriously considering dropping the money on it.

At first I thought it was some electronic version of the old "Battleship" game. 

Otherwise... 8-bit res, 100MS/s and 8K/Ch depth... Ehhhh... Definitely novel, but I still think I'd rather have the 54645A that will... someday... be on its way to me from Alltest. 

mnem
*toddles off to eat something that's good for him*

[Cerebus]

Seriously... this tool is a prime candidate for 3DP, which is why I said so in my original post (that part somehow got sucked into eevBlog's resident black hole).

The ORIGINAL tool from Tek is a bit of a limp noodle; but really, who cares?  It's just going to turn a trimcap or trimpot.

This tool could EASILY be printed in two parts; the shaft in natural/translucent PLA or ABS to ensure not full of conductive dyes/pigments, and the handle in any color you like.

In most cases could probably make the tip printed as well; would just need to break the trimmer loose with a regular driver first. Or just make a slotted socket in the end and fab the tip out of a small bit of sheet steel like the Tek-branded tool.

I was taking a opportunity to, again, bemoan my lack of a lathe (or anywhere to put it).

But seriously, this is where the hipster urge to 3D print everything is, well let's be generous, the triumph of enthusiasm over good sense.

It's a shaft. Every material known to man can be bought in rods. Pick a suitable size, stick it in a file handle, file a suitable point on it. Job done. Correct material used, total tooling required one or two files, time spent modelling and waiting for print to finish zero.

[Cerebus]

This is a cool looking mini scope: https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/264005789638

   It's a bit "Star Trek, during the movies but before TNG" looking. Not sure if I like it or loathe it.

As to whether it looks useful or not, I've got to give that a big thumbs up. If it was in the UK at that price I'd be seriously considering dropping the money on it.

At first I thought it was some electronic version of the old "Battleship" game. 

Otherwise... 8-bit res, 100MS/s and 8K/Ch depth... Ehhhh... Definitely novel, but I still think I'd rather have the 54645A that will... someday... be on its way to me from Alltest. 

That'll be the 2kg battery powered 54645A will it? That's kinda the point of the Hitachi I think ...

[mnementh]

Well that was most disappointing. I blew up all of the capacitors and was greeted maximally with a “pfft” and that was it. No booms. 

In the words of mnem, "tzzzzzt":      https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Consort-Bioblock-Scientific-Microcomputer-Electrophories-Power-Supply/293670154493

Those can run to 100s of watts, so very "tzzzzzzzt".

Mmmm... chromed body parts. tzzzzzzt-tasty!!!

mnem
Hmmm... I wonder if you can chrome a liver...? A spleen maybe? 

[mnementh]

Seriously... this tool is a prime candidate for 3DP, which is why I said so in my original post (that part somehow got sucked into eevBlog's resident black hole).

The ORIGINAL tool from Tek is a bit of a limp noodle; but really, who cares?  It's just going to turn a trimcap or trimpot.

This tool could EASILY be printed in two parts; the shaft in natural/translucent PLA or ABS to ensure not full of conductive dyes/pigments, and the handle in any color you like.

In most cases could probably make the tip printed as well; would just need to break the trimmer loose with a regular driver first. Or just make a slotted socket in the end and fab the tip out of a small bit of sheet steel like the Tek-branded tool.

I was taking a opportunity to, again, bemoan my lack of a lathe (or anywhere to put it).

But seriously, this is where the hipster urge to 3D print everything is, well let's be generous, the triumph of enthusiasm over good sense.

It's a shaft. Every material known to man can be bought in rods. Pick a suitable size, stick it in a file handle, file a suitable point on it. Job done. Correct material used, total tooling required one or two files, time spent modelling and waiting for print to finish zero.

You & me both, old friend. Grand-dad was a master machinist; of course it's in the genes.

Yeah... this shows how some folks who don't own/work in 3DP just assume it's so much more assache than it's worth.

I just drew up a 8mm x 300mm tube in fusion; took me 10 minutes including render time. I could spend a little more time adding notches for the metal bit, but if I were going to make this I'd probably heat the metal and melt it into place anyways. This will take, as shown, an hour and a half to print at a cost of 36 cents at $30/roll.



A handle took a little longer; about 12 minutes because I bothered to chamfer/fillet the ends and longer render time as a result. While it rendered, I did other things; like read my eMail, take a call on my AWOL moving boxes, and go trial fit some 3mm x 7mm spacers I printed up for a HDMI adapter that was manufactured wrong, oh, and finished this post. Another hour and 30 cents worth of material at 30% infill; those numbers go up to 1 hour 25 minutes/35 cents at 40% (really overkill for THIS application) infill.

Either way, you spend your time. Going and getting the materials, or designing the part. Fettling you have to do either way. But cost... I doubt you could buy a piece of acrylic rod for the total cost, much less that and a file handle. And the printer does its thing while you're doing other things; so net prep time here is ~30min including printer setup, IF you have to change the filament.

Really... if you HAVE 3DP... you start to see uses for it EVERYWHERE; mostly in the form of niggly things you can easily fix or bespoke tools you can make but would never be arsed to otherwise.

mnem
PS - It literally took me longer to document the process than it did to get the parts ready to print.

[Cerebus]

    

Now, can I make him waste even more time failing to prove a point? 

Really... if you HAVE 3DP... you start to see uses for it EVERYWHERE; mostly in the form of niggly things you can easily fix; or bespoke tools you can make but would never be arsed to otherwise.

If all you have is a hammer...



... you have destroy something to undo a screw.

I can kind of forgive the hipsters because they don't know how to fabbricobble anything without using a 3D printer. But when someone with rather more experience starts advocating 3DP for a job that can be done more simply, and better, with a better fitted material choice (becuase you're not limited like you are in 3DP) by simple assembly of stock parts and a little filing then I'm forced to conclude that it's just because they want to play with their 3d printer rather than an informed design decision.

Your 22 minute total design time is almost certainly longer than my time to complete the whole job start to finish. Grab stock, saw, file, spare file handle - cut stock  to length, whack in handle, file ~ 15 minutes tops.

What do you mean you don't have spare rod stock in a range of materials and sizes, or spare file handles? That's unnatural that is.

[mnementh]

This is a cool looking mini scope: https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/264005789638

   It's a bit "Star Trek, during the movies but before TNG" looking. Not sure if I like it or loathe it.

As to whether it looks useful or not, I've got to give that a big thumbs up. If it was in the UK at that price I'd be seriously considering dropping the money on it.

At first I thought it was some electronic version of the old "Battleship" game. 

Otherwise... 8-bit res, 100MS/s and 8K/Ch depth... Ehhhh... Definitely novel, but I still think I'd rather have the 54645A that will... someday... be on its way to me from Alltest. 

That'll be the 2kg battery powered 54645A will it? That's kinda the point of the Hitachi I think ...

Fair dinkum. But honestly... thinking about how often I'd need that battery-powered scope... and how expensive/how much assache rebuilding the battery pack will be (even if it hasn't pissed its guts out all over the insides), I really would rather just throw one of my big RC Airplane packs and my laptop inverter in the bottom of a ditty bag.

   But that thing DOES have something of the GRID Compass "dawn of computing" retro feel to it. 

mnem
"Laptop"... one can hide a multitude of sins under that term. 

[Mr. Scram]

Machining such a tool makes more sense than printing it. If you have nothing else than a printer, then sure.

[bd139]

On 3DP, most of the time when I think “hey I could 3d print something to solve that problem”, I end up with two problems. Avoiding having to solve the first problem is utterly the most powerful if unconventional tool.

Thus I haven’t printed anything for about two months. I’m not even sure the printer will be staying around.

[mnementh]

   

Now, can I make him waste even more time failing to prove a point? 

Really... if you HAVE 3DP... you start to see uses for it EVERYWHERE; mostly in the form of niggly things you can easily fix; or bespoke tools you can make but would never be arsed to otherwise.

If all you have is a hammer...



... you have destroy something to undo a screw.

I can kind of forgive the hipsters because they don't know how to fabbricobble anything without using a 3D printer. But when someone with rather more experience starts advocating 3DP for a job that can be done more simply, and better, with a better fitted material choice (becuase you're not limited like you are in 3DP) by simple assembly of stock parts and a little filing then I'm forced to conclude that it's just because they want to play with their 3d printer rather than an informed design decision.

Your 22 minute total design time is almost certainly longer than my time to complete the whole job start to finish. Grab stock, saw, file, spare file handle - cut stock  to length, whack in handle, file ~ 15 minutes tops.

What do you mean you don't have spare rod stock in a range of materials and sizes, or spare file handles? That's unnatural that is.

Come on C... this is ME you're talking to. The fucking TOOL-DWAGON.   Making stuff with my hands is literally my LIFE.

I've been hand-fabbing stuff since I was 8 with a file in my hand at my grand-dad's knee, growing up on the farm. I made my first proper weld (I know that one will probably stick in your craw... Good. ) with an old Crafstman stick welder in his toolshed under his tutelage at the age of 10; and I rode that bicycle I welded back together until I was so big I looked like a gorilla pedaling a trike. 

That "hipster" shit might work with ANYONE ELSE in the world; NOT with me. 

All that "just grab this, just grab that" talk is just bluster. You & I know full well you spent time SOMETIME getting that stuff & putting it in your shed/under your bench/in your stores; the shop faeries didn't put it there while you slept, unless it was the kind you have to pay to do it. 

Keep it in your sneaker,

mnem
3DP is just another tool.

[Cerebus]

Come on C... this is ME you're talking to. The fucking TOOL-DWAGON.   Making stuff with my hands is literally my LIFE.

I'm just saying that this isn't a job for for which 3DP is the best choice. I think made my case succinctly and I think convincingly - I certainly didn't think I'd be required to provide a full time and motion study, complete with cost of acquisition of materials study. What's next the fucking Spanish inquisition? You can choose to disagree or agree.

[mnementh]

On 3DP, most of the time when I think “hey I could 3d print something to solve that problem”, I end up with two problems. Avoiding having to solve the first problem is utterly the most powerful if unconventional tool.

Thus I haven’t printed anything for about two months. I’m not even sure the printer will be staying around.

I have that problem about half the time myself; trying to wrap my brain around how to create the object in a CAD program that was designed by Mussolini's best torturers (The BEST of them feel that way... the worst require that you reprogram your own brain into some form of eldritch horror) is often the reason a thing that could EASILY be printed NEVER gets designed.

But I find the pleasure from beating that spawn of cluster-fucking nulls into submission OCCASIONALLY makes the product worthwhile; often enough that I don't just dismiss a project out of hand and occasionally exceed myself by tackling something I don't already know how to make in Fusion. The stuff I do know how to make... simple shapes and "simple machines"... I do all the time. I don't even think about it; it's just a part of my life now. 

Like these little spacers I made while we were discussing all this:   

This adapter was manufactured wrong; probably some bean-counter found someone else to get the thumbscrews from for a dollar a hundred cheaper than the ones specced by the engineer, but didn't notice or didn't care (or maybe the "engineer" never bothered to double-check) that they are 3mm too long and bottom out in any standard DVI port without actually tightening the thing down.

If I'd had the right size spacers in my quadcopter parts bins, I'd have used them, but I didn't. Took me a minute to design & render. 5 minutes to print. Used a penny's worth of filament.

It would've taken maybe 2 minutes to get out my Dremel, put a cutoff wheel in it, and cut those threads down so it fits. But a cutoff wheel costs a lot more than a penny, and doing it this way moves the knurled part up a little higher, so it's easier for my big old Shrek-hands to tighten them down. Yes, I REALLY DID consider all this when deciding how fix this thing.

And now my wife can use her new monitor without the cable dingus falling out and making the screen flash & flicker. And I have a little more life in my Dremel supplies for when I really NEED it. 

Happy wife = Happy life.

mnem
And it took me 15 minutes to pen this missive describing the events. 

[0culus]

Come on C... this is ME you're talking to. The fucking TOOL-DWAGON.   Making stuff with my hands is literally my LIFE.

I'm just saying that this isn't a job for for which 3DP is the best choice. I think made my case succinctly and I think convincingly - I certainly didn't think I'd be required to provide a full time and motion study, complete with cost of acquisition of materials study. What's next the fucking Spanish inquisition? You can choose to disagree or agree.

[mnementh]

Come on C... this is ME you're talking to. The fucking TOOL-DWAGON.   Making stuff with my hands is literally my LIFE.

I'm just saying that this isn't a job for for which 3DP is the best choice. I think made my case succinctly and I think convincingly - I certainly didn't think I'd be required to provide a full time and motion study, complete with cost of acquisition of materials study. What's next the fucking Spanish inquisition? You can choose to disagree or agree.

And I'm saying that since I have the printer... and I have the filament... I would literally rather print it than be arsed to gather the materials to build it from stock. This is is very low-stress tool; the original is made of plastic, and I know from experience that a 3DP version will exceed the need. If I had some suitable rod handy, would I use it? Of course. I'd STILL probably print the handle tho.

Maybe that is the difference here... experience.    I don't have a lot of experience with 3DP; but I do have enough to be confident in its ability to make this tool. Will it make a heirloom tool I'd hand down to my grandkids? No. Will it make a tool I could... say... print up and mail to a friend who wanted to trim out one of those little voodoo 500MHz nuvistor oscillators and know it will do the job, and probably be around for the next one too, but not care if I never see it again?

You betcha.

mnem

[Cerebus]

Come on C... this is ME you're talking to. The fucking TOOL-DWAGON.   Making stuff with my hands is literally my LIFE.

I'm just saying that this isn't a job for for which 3DP is the best choice. I think made my case succinctly and I think convincingly - I certainly didn't think I'd be required to provide a full time and motion study, complete with cost of acquisition of materials study. What's next the fucking Spanish inquisition? You can choose to disagree or agree.

I knew that someone would do that - and I wasn't disappointed. Thank you.

[0culus]

It was too perfect an opportunity to pass up. 

[mnementh]

Shaka when the walls fell.

mnem
Bakor and Zima at Anzo.

[Mr. Scram]

I'm just saying that this isn't a job for for which 3DP is the best choice. I think made my case succinctly and I think convincingly - I certainly didn't think I'd be required to provide a full time and motion study, complete with cost of acquisition of materials study. What's next the fucking Spanish inquisition? You can choose to disagree or agree.

There are very few jobs a tabletop 3DP is the best choice for. I guess you could say the appeal is that it can do many jobs so-so. There's almost always a better way but that'll often cost more time, money or other resources.