Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread

[Mr. Scram]

So too are the doors in most people's houses. Plywood, some cardboard with wood edges to take the hinges and latches. It least Ikea glues the honeycomb to the panels, most doors I've seen in trashed form just have a loose infill attached in few places.

Vis:

Nothing wrong with it as a construction technique in general. All a door or a tabletop is, from a materials engineering point of view, is a beam. The stiffness of a (prism) beam is proportional to the cube of its thickness and all the internal forces are comparatively small and in shear. Of course it's lousy for doors, not because of strength issues, but because of fire resistance or lack thereof.

I don't like honeycomb doors. Can't slam them with much satisfaction. Feels off.

[mnementh]

Ikea is all about making stuff the cheapest they can get away with at every price tier. It's all crap; pick a layer and dive in. 

mnem
*poot!*

[Cerebus]

Over here most interior doors (bedrooms, etc) are hollow core. There's nothing inside other than the outer frame. But they are not code for entry/exit doors which must be solid.

You are probably right. But none of the doors in my house (nor previous houses), my mother's house nor my daughter's flat are like that - maybe that's why it hasn't impinged on my consciousness.

I'd say anything post 1970, either built then or 'renovated' and the doors replaced. I live in a Victorian end of terrace and all the doors are the original pine (OK, deal) panel doors with all the interesting creaks and warps that go with something that's been there around 1 1/2 centuries.

[mnementh]

Just for you, freqq... cuz you asked so nice. 

Actually now that I think of it, I'm not sure that's how they draw this image; that's how the process was described in an article I read forever ago about how Tek drew the Wizard of Id on a skateboard.  Obvi, that is not necessarily how HP did it on these scopes.

I couldn't find the Tetris game on mine, OR the Centipede game that the 54645A supposedly came with. This discussion suggests that whichever game, it was actually stored in the Printer/GPIB/Math module, which mine doesn't have. I can't complain given the price I paid.

mnem
 

Well, play nice with it or else the badger will come out and bite you. 

Badgers don't bite dwagons and dwagons don't zorrch badgers; professional courtesy. 

mnem
"So... Are you a professional assh'o or just a gifted amateur...?" ~mom

[Mr. Scram]

Ikea is all about making stuff the cheapest they can get away with at every price tier. It's all crap; pick a layer and dive in. 

mnem
*poot!*

I have to disagree. It's all crap if you're too cheap, but that's where the you get what you pay for comes in.

[tggzzz]

Ikea stuff is particle board and glue.

Except for the very thick bits of wood. They are mostly honeycomb cardboard (literally) and air, glued to a thin laminate surface.

Wow, didn't know Ikea went THAT cheap. Good to know if I ever find myself in an Ikea store. (Unlikely, nearest is over an hour away in Jersey).

You can find the whole range at Ikea, full woods to glued stuff. Normally if it's really cheap there is no miracle it's going to be the glued stuff 

Ikea optimises  by making things cheaper until there are too many returns, at which point they backoff.

Example: a 6ft mirror mounted on a wardrobe door made of fibreboard. Vertical it is fine, but if you hold it horizontally during transport or installation, the mirror bends so much that it puts a kink in the fibreboard. It rapidly became unavailable.

[med6753]

Uh oh, popcorn alert. 

 

[Kosmic]

Ikea is all about making stuff the cheapest they can get away with at every price tier. It's all crap; pick a layer and dive in. 

mnem
*poot!*

I have to disagree. It's all crap if you're too cheap, but that's where the you get what you pay for comes in.

I agree with Mr.Scram here. I bought a 1.5 inch counter top in solid Oak 5 years ago. That thing is incredibly strong, I broke a drill trying to make the holes for the sink. Anyway, 5 years later it still going strong didn't warp or anything. You get what you pay for.

[bd139]

Cheap stuff is durable enough and easy to move around. That’s a good compromise.

[AVGresponding]

Ikea stuff is particle board and glue.

Except for the very thick bits of wood. They are mostly honeycomb cardboard (literally) and air, glued to a thin laminate surface.

Wow, didn't know Ikea went THAT cheap. Good to know if I ever find myself in an Ikea store. (Unlikely, nearest is over an hour away in Jersey).

You can find the whole range at Ikea, full woods to glued stuff. Normally if it's really cheap there is no miracle it's going to be the glued stuff 

I prefer to make my own shelving using 3/4" ply. For the wall mountings I use 20x40mm unistrut fixed to the wall with 2" No. 10 screws, with unistrut L-brackets and/or Pemsa basket mounting brackets. 8mm bolts/studs and zebs fix the brackets to the strut.
The shelves themselves are 450mm deep, and the size of the sheets they come in makes it practical to have 1.2m lengths.
I'd estimate the load at around 40kg/m², no sign of them pulling the wall down yet...


Nice 1980s vintage 3.5 digit one here, I'd buy it myself if I didn't already have one:
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Bench-Multimeter-Black-Star-3210MP/224113863446


This one seems over-valued by the owner, I offered £40, seller countered with £85     I'll pass ty:
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Solartron-Schlumberger-7150-Plus-Digital-Multimeter-Test-Set-6625-99-252-2605/324257992303



I'm bidding on a few Scalextric models, and some oddball EE related stuff atm, will update as appropriate...

[Specmaster]

My HP stack. They are surprisingly heavy. You can't lift both together without busting a nut. But that cheap Walmart portable bookcase on wheels handles the load like it's not even there. Since I've never experienced Ikea stuff would it be better or worse? 

Ikea stuff is particle board and glue. This isn't creaking so I reckon it'd take that fine. For the money (55 pom bucks) it's fine. The desk I've got which is the same could take lard equipped me when I bought it fine

Yep, my son's Ikea desks and furniture and some of it feels very lightweight and yet it is incredibly strong once assembled. Had them for years and no signs of problem with them, very impressed.

[mnementh]

Ikea is all about making stuff the cheapest they can get away with at every price tier. It's all crap; pick a layer and dive in. 

mnem
*poot!*

I have to disagree. It's all crap if you're too cheap, but that's where the you get what you pay for comes in.

I agree with Mr.Scram here. I bought a 1.5 inch counter top in solid Oak 5 years ago. That thing is incredibly strong, I broke a drill trying to make the holes for the sink. Anyway, 5 years later it still going strong didn't warp or anything. You get what you pay for.

Ikea is like the Samsung of home furnishings; as tggzzz said, "Ikea optimizes by making things cheaper until there are too many returns..." but they NEVER come down in price, only quality. Case in point, their signature Lack tables. They're fukkin' garbage now.

My time is worth something. I'm not interested in being their "corner-cutting measures beta tester". Even when I see their stuff in The Thrift I think twice unless I NEED what it is and the price is "too damned good" cheap.

Fuck Ikea. They've wasted too much of my time; they've used up all my charity.

mnem
"You don't always get what you pay for. But you should always expect to pay for what you want." ~grand-momma Katherine

[Specmaster]

Tetris almost done...

(Attachment Link)

no clue how this arrived to my door, becouse wife said i can not order before i play with my todo pile.... must be a late delivery 
(Attachment Link)

this milivolt meter goes up to 1200V according to its sticker. on the bottom..

I think you must be sitting on eBay and buying in your sleep if you don't where that came from  , me I know what I have ordered because I do it with my eyes wide open and I would know if something was late because I start to get a bit nervy when things haven't arrived on time. 

[mnementh]

Didn't you just a while back have some random electronic doodad arrive from China and you had no recollection of ever buying it?

This happens to me from time to time... takes so long to get here I completely forget aboot it. I just treat it like Christmas.

mnem
Wasn't there a 3DP something a few lifetimes ago...? 

[bd139]

Ikea is all about making stuff the cheapest they can get away with at every price tier. It's all crap; pick a layer and dive in. 

mnem
*poot!*

I have to disagree. It's all crap if you're too cheap, but that's where the you get what you pay for comes in.

I agree with Mr.Scram here. I bought a 1.5 inch counter top in solid Oak 5 years ago. That thing is incredibly strong, I broke a drill trying to make the holes for the sink. Anyway, 5 years later it still going strong didn't warp or anything. You get what you pay for.

Ikea is like the Samsung of home furnishings; as tggzzz said, "Ikea optimizes by making things cheaper until there are too many returns..." but they NEVER come down in price, only quality. Case in point, their signature Lack tables. They're fukkin' garbage now.

My time is worth something. I'm not interested in being their "corner-cutting measures beta tester". Even when I see their stuff in The Thrift I think twice unless I NEED what it is and the price is "too damned good" cheap.

Fuck Ikea. They've wasted too much of my time; they've used up all my charity.

mnem
"You don't always get what you pay for. But you should always expect to pay for what you want." ~grand-momma Katherine

I don’t know if you’ve ever had the misfortune of buying furniture in the U.K. but Ikea is about the only place here you get what you pay for.

Other mainstream retailers sell substandard crap even compared to Ikea economy items. The mid range department stores and furniture shops are expensive as fuck and sell poorly engineered stuff as well at a crazy markup junk made by the lowest bidder (that includes John Lewis) and don’t even start me on the customer service. The high end and bespoke stuff is usually completely outlandish pricing and functionally deficient or impractical or fragile.

Ikea is the sweet spot in the middle of the triangle of function, quality and price. Assuming you don’t buy their ass end stuff.

[Specmaster]

Ikea stuff is particle board and glue.

Except for the very thick bits of wood. They are mostly honeycomb cardboard (literally) and air, glued to a thin laminate surface.

Wow, didn't know Ikea went THAT cheap. Good to know if I ever find myself in an Ikea store. (Unlikely, nearest is over an hour away in Jersey).

Thats not the normal, where that is an option on something like desktop, they do tell you what it is also they give various other options like particle boards in various thickness, its up to you to decide whether you need the heavy-duty tops or not.

[bd139]

A point as well: the honeycomb cardboard is actually ridiculously strong. The Kallax units we've got are made out of that stuff and it takes one hell of a beating.

[Mr. Scram]

Ikea is like the Samsung of home furnishings; as tggzzz said, "Ikea optimizes by making things cheaper until there are too many returns..." but they NEVER come down in price, only quality. Case in point, their signature Lack tables. They're fukkin' garbage now.

My time is worth something. I'm not interested in being their "corner-cutting measures beta tester". Even when I see their stuff in The Thrift I think twice unless I NEED what it is and the price is "too damned good" cheap.

Fuck Ikea. They've wasted too much of my time; they've used up all my charity.

mnem
"You don't always get what you pay for. But you should always expect to pay for what you want." ~grand-momma Katherine

The fact that your example is the cheapest, crappiest product Ikea makes just proves the point being made. You're being too cheap. Though Lack tables have come down in price. They started at 15 or 20 europesos and are now down to 5. They've always been as crappy as they are now.

Somehow people love giving Ikea a hard time for cheap crap and the instructions. Both are definitely operator error. If you're a cheapskate and want minimally viable crap they'll happily sell it to you. If you can't handle Ikea instructions it's bad news for you and those around you.

[Specmaster]

This one seems over-valued by the owner, I offered £40, seller countered with £85     I'll pass ty:
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Solartron-Schlumberger-7150-Plus-Digital-Multimeter-Test-Set-6625-99-252-2605/324257992303



I'm bidding on a few Scalextric models, and some oddball EE related stuff atm, will update as appropriate...[/color][/size][/b]

That 7150 would be well worth £90 all day long if the display LEDS were replaced and the Scheafner filter was already replaced otherwise it it just a pipe bomb waiting to go off these meters are rock solid and hold their specs without having any battery backed ram to hold the calibration data.

[Specmaster]

Didn't you just a while back have some random electronic doodad arrive from China and you had no recollection of ever buying it?

This happens to me from time to time... takes so long to get here I completely forget aboot it. I just treat it like Christmas.

mnem
Wasn't there a 3DP something a few lifetimes ago...? 

Who, me? No. I somehow doubt that a Keithley 177 would be coming China, and I would certainly be eager to get hands on one of those, so I'd be checking daily on its whereabouts 

[AVGresponding]

That 7150 would be well worth £90 all day long if the display LEDS were replaced and the Scheafner filter was already replaced otherwise it it just a pipe bomb waiting to go off these meters are rock solid and hold their specs without having any battery backed ram to hold the calibration data.

Ultimately it's worth what someone is willing pay for it. Top end I'd pay £80 shipped, if I really needed/wanted it, but since I already have a 7150, I'll say I'm out, and GLWTS to the seller.

It might see some last second activity, never rule that out, but as of right now there's no bids.

[tonyalbus]

Didn't you just a while back have some random electronic doodad arrive from China and you had no recollection of ever buying it?

This happens to me from time to time... takes so long to get here I completely forget aboot it. I just treat it like Christmas.

mnem
Wasn't there a 3DP something a few lifetimes ago...? 

Who, me? No. I somehow doubt that a Keithley 177 would be coming China, and I would certainly be eager to get hands on one of those, so I'd be checking daily on its whereabouts 

ordered monday, paid less then 45,-  i could not let it go,
forthe wife istick to the other story 

[tggzzz]

A point as well: the honeycomb cardboard is actually ridiculously strong. The Kallax units we've got are made out of that stuff and it takes one hell of a beating.

... provided all parts are intact. Saw off an edge and the remainder isn't much better than a chocolate teapot.

But overall I like the way Ikea does more with less; it is good engineering.

And in that vein, don't buy an "engineered wood" door for use where it might get wet, since it is lots of little bits glued together.

[AVGresponding]

That Tek 212 "kit" just sold for £115!   

[bd139]

That’s quite frankly batshit insane pricing.