Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread

[Robert763]

Thanks for the detailed reply. Much appreciated. It being painted makes sense. I've seen chipped anodised dyed surfaces before and it does look different.

As for Scotchbrite after doing some research I actually ordered a box this morning. Of 7447. Euro car parts sell it via amazon. So that's somewhat vindicating. Thank you for the offer however. Will report back when I've had a go at it.

I've got a much nastier looking unit coming this week. I'll try it on the bottom of that first.

If it were me.......if there's decent looking plastic bezel under that nastiness I would just remove it and be done with it. 

The front bezel is structural so can't be removed. They are diecast and I said anodizing earlier which might not be strictly correct ,but it seems to be some kind of metal treatment rather than paint on most I've seen. Not saying some were / are painted though.

[mnementh]

Ultrasonic ?
Sandblasting ?
CO2 blasting ?

In other news I won a tape deck on ebay.

Oh, classic. Back in the day, I had one of the ummm... BASF...? horizontal units that used this total Rube Goldberg assembly of fingers and sliders to flip the tape end-over-end. Dual-capstan, 3-head unit but sound was okay at best; only had Dolby B. Thing had like a dozen belts (slight exaggeration) in the loading mechanism, and they were all captive.  Traded it away (wisely, I think) for a Technics with dbx.

mnem
 

[tonyalbus]

There is a guy selling them here for 10 GBP each, new with inserts. https://www.ebay.co.uk/usr/test-equip
[/quote]

Thanks!! try to glue first but but this guy in my fav...

[bd139]

Has lots of original Fluke parts as well. Worth keeping around 

[mnementh]

I've probably got an 8" floppy tucked away somewhere for old time's sake, rather like I have a few 80 col. cards.

At your/our age now you're just showing off ! 
Anyways I call BS.

No we don't want a pic !

Is this something to do with reddit and bananas?

http://amultiverse.com/comic/2011/03/29/fair-trade/

mnem
 

[Robert763]

5315B coming my way....

seems a professional seller.....putting it on a soft bed.

(Attachment Link)

and i get some extra's

(Attachment Link)

a home made something...

Gorilla has send it... knobs broken, front bend.. that homemade thing... internal transformar broke loose and went did its demage inside during the shipping..
dont even know it work, the HP... i will be more carefull with new sellers... he will not get a 5 star.. and i usualy doe evn things go wrong and intension is good.
private sale, banktransfer....nothing i can do... hope i find the HP knobs somewhere or maybe it can be glued. allready fond on ebay from us.. 50,- each.. looking other option sens i only 50 for both devices together..
blody lunatics on this world.. bubble what??? why not loose in a box?

Watch out for the gate time control. It is a pot with a switch and the seem very prone to getting the switch broken by hitting the knob. It's a tiny Bourns device more the size of  trimmer than a control and now unobtainium. There is no room for anything else. Last one I fixed was only because I came across a TENS machine that had the same model switched pot but wrong resistance (no i's not a divider so resistance matters) and I managed to swap the resistance track off the broken pot onto the shaft and switch of the one from the TENS machine.

[tonyalbus]

Has lots of original Fluke parts as well. Worth keeping around 

i see he has 200+ items, but i only see a few... maybe i only see what he ships outside UK.

[mnementh]

These are the repaired and functional spare plug-in's for the Type 535A and Type 561B. The 535A currently has a CA Vertical installed and the 561B has a 3B3 Time Base and needing repair 3A6 Vertical installed. The problem with storage of these plug-in's is that they are completely open when not installed in a mainframe or in a Tek cart designed to house them. So they are exposed to dust, dirt, and damage. My built scope cart is optimized for 7000 series plug-in's so these won't fit. The solution is a simple wooden box as shown that the plug-in's slide into. It extends the full length of the plug-in and will keep them clean and damage free.

   Once the 3A6 plug-in is repaired that will remain in the 561B. I'd like to have at least one spare time base plug-in in case the 3B3 takes a dive. I have a poor condition spare in the TEA closet as well as an equally poor condition 3B4. Eventually I'd like to fix at least one of them.

Thank you, med, for producing at least one on-topic post for that page. 

mnem
Ifni knows we can't count on it from the rest of us.  

[tonyalbus]

5315B coming my way....

seems a professional seller.....putting it on a soft bed.

(Attachment Link)

and i get some extra's

(Attachment Link)

a home made something...

Gorilla has send it... knobs broken, front bend.. that homemade thing... internal transformar broke loose and went did its demage inside during the shipping..
dont even know it work, the HP... i will be more carefull with new sellers... he will not get a 5 star.. and i usualy doe evn things go wrong and intension is good.
private sale, banktransfer....nothing i can do... hope i find the HP knobs somewhere or maybe it can be glued. allready fond on ebay from us.. 50,- each.. looking other option sens i only 50 for both devices together..
blody lunatics on this world.. bubble what??? why not loose in a box?

Watch out for the gate time control. It is a pot with a switch and the seem very prone to getting the switch broken by hitting the knob. It's a tiny Bourns device more the size of  trimmer than a control and now unobtainium. There is no room for anything else. Last one I fixed was only because I came across a TENS machine that had the same model switched pot but wrong resistance (no i's not a divider so resistance matters) and I managed to swap the resistance track off the broken pot onto the shaft and switch of the one from the TENS machine.

Thanks!........ that one luckely seems okey ..machanical..so lets hope...will try it later..
well done on that repair...

[bd139]

Sounds like a good excuse to buy another one just in case 

[mnementh]

CO2 blast and laser engrave. or laser rust remove. But that's probably overdoing it.

Oh I didn't not know that, see here.

The process is called sublimation and is the act of changing the state of metal to a gas form, skipping the liquid phase. This is achieved using high frequency bursts of micro-plasma which - when combined with extremely high thermal pressure and shockwaves - can be set to a certain depth to skim away a surface of rust. So the device can be set to burn away pretty much any material that is layered over metal, be it paint, filler or dreaded rust

So I guess and green laser from a cd burner will not work... 

Looks like the cheap low-power versions have already hit the market; that video is like 4 years old: https://www.aliexpress.com/item/4001015601396.html

Lots more up to 500W on AliEx: https://www.aliexpress.com/wholesale?catId=0&initiative_id=SB_20200804075324&origin=y&SearchText=laser+rust

Thanks for the detailed reply. Much appreciated. It being painted makes sense. I've seen chipped anodised dyed surfaces before and it does look different.

As for Scotchbrite after doing some research I actually ordered a box this morning. Of 7447. Euro car parts sell it via amazon. So that's somewhat vindicating. Thank you for the offer however. Will report back when I've had a go at it.

I've got a much nastier looking unit coming this week. I'll try it on the bottom of that first.

If it were me.......if there's decent looking plastic bezel under that nastiness I would just remove it and be done with it. 

My experience is that aluminum bezel is integral on the 3478A; I'd probably attack it with a combination of Scotch-Brite, SS wire-brush & maybe fine wire-wheels on the Dremel.

Afterwards, self-etching primer followed by grey epoxy paint. Obvi, this will require completely dismantling the chassis; once you make a single clean spot yer fooked. 

mnem
Grey Epoxy paint: One can hide a multitude of sins under its mantle...

[Cerebus]

As mentioned by Robert763, the earlier units used plain die cast alu which was I think just hit with a polishing wheel for a bit. Probably humans involved in that.

Well, if you want to call a 300lb shop-gorilla with polishing wheel a human, yeah.

[Looks over shoulder to see if Adam "Abom79" has overheard me. ]

[bd139]

Polishing ape acceptable?

[mnementh]

I resemble that remark. 

mnem
Well, as long as my wings stay furled...

[mnementh]

Forgot to cross-post this in here yesterday due to human multitasking FAIL:   I just had a bona-fide FAIL of the "Skip the first" workaround.

TL/DR: Seems that high traffic can still make the attachment cascade failure happen from time to time, especially if there's a "There has been a new post" popup involved. 

mnem
Y'all HAVE been warned; may Ifni have mercy on your heathen souls.

[med6753]

Raining like hell and wind is picking up. And a tornado watch has been issued until 2100 hours tonight. 

[bd139]

Raining like hell and wind is picking up. And a tornado watch has been issued until 2100 hours tonight. 

Tie yourself to a boat anchor quick 

Just found a suitable parts mule for HP knobs I think and it’s local buyer collects only and broken as hell so will go for virtually nothing. Tonyalbus: if I win it, I’ll send some your way.

[xrunner]

Raining like hell and wind is picking up. And a tornado watch has been issued until 2100 hours tonight. 

Tie yourself to a boat anchor quick 

Don't worry about him what about all the Tektronix stuff! 

[Saskia]

@Mounty I may have a couple of old board games and RPGs sitting somewhere. I know that I have Macho Women with Guns, I may have a Traveller sitting somewhere, and may even have a Babylon 5 RPG rulebook (I would have to search).
Do you want me to have a closer look ?

I have no one who would play them with me, so they are somewhat redundant.

[AVGresponding]

@Mounty I may have a couple of old board games and RPGs sitting somewhere. I know that I have Macho Women with Guns, I may have a Traveller sitting somewhere, and may even have a Babylon 5 RPG rulebook (I would have to search).
Do you want me to have a closer look ?

I have no one who would play them with me, so they are somewhat redundant.

Sad to hear!

I would play, I started to get into D&D as a pre-teen then it got forgotten due to many distractions. I recently decided to try and get into it again, only for covid and lockdown to happen...

Hopefully the local D&D shop/club re-opens soon.

[Specmaster]

Indeed. It sort of looks like the oxide has eaten its way through the surface.

As mentioned by Robert763, the earlier units used plain die cast alu which was I think just hit with a polishing wheel for a bit. Probably humans involved in that.

It might well look fugly, but if the price was right, I could easily look past it and ignore it till I could find a solution.

[bd139]

Jesus fucking Christ. Not usually one to post stuff like this but this was one hell of an explosion https://mobile.twitter.com/BNONews/status/1290678928093454336

[mansaxel]

As mentioned by Robert763, the earlier units used plain die cast alu which was I think just hit with a polishing wheel for a bit. Probably humans involved in that.

Well, if you want to call a 300lb shop-gorilla with polishing wheel a human, yeah.

[Looks over shoulder to see if Adam "Abom79" has overheard me. ]

I don't think Abom is in the 300lb shopzilla class at all, not as defined by AvE nor anyone else in that community. Granted, his lathe cuts are a tad more aggressive than the Old Master (i.e. Keith Fenner), but, I think that's because Fenners lathe is a bit worn and requires some care to maintain 25.4µm precision.

[Specmaster]

Ultrasonic ?
Sandblasting ?
CO2 blasting ?

In other news I won a tape deck on ebay.

its bigger brother, the RX505, is already sitting here. They are asking crazy prices for those Nakamichi decks, I paid 750 for the RX550, and now they are past 1000 ...

Well, if you must have what was considered to be the best tape decks in the world, what else did you expect, Nakamichi were considered to the Rolls Royce of HiFi tape decks, in fact anything with their name was never cheap by default. 

[med6753]

Raining like hell and wind is picking up. And a tornado watch has been issued until 2100 hours tonight. 

Tie yourself to a boat anchor quick 

Don't worry about him what about all the Tektronix stuff! 

Just had 3 power dips enough to shut everything down but luckily it came back up. According to scanner trees are starting to come down due to soaked ground and wind.