Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread

[mansaxel]

To be fair with the mainframe guys they were lying to sell training courses

The complexity in mainframes is mostly "they have silly names for everything" and "the bootIPL (silly, I said!) scripts are in JCL".

Yes, I'm over-simplifying here, but having tried to get a MVS machine going on Hercules, that is my experience. I keep wanting to try this Z/OS SYSGEN for Hercules (from before IBM realised that modern PC's with Hercules could run some of the workloads they believed only The Real Iron could and stopped handing out Z/OS as freely and retracted the RedBook on doing just that.) I've got in storage.

[capt bullshot]

OK, here she goes:

Didn't have the time for comprehensive tests yet, but at least it turns on and knows its name 



Ice-Tea was very kind to supply a set (not a complete unit) of spares with it, so if there's something wrong I can easily swap the analog and output board for further investigation. By the first looks, it's a really nice piece of TEA with Teflon standoffs, COTO Relays, polystyrene caps, 1G and 10G resistor for current sensing, ... Stuff that you'd better not even think of touching it.

Sorry, no more pics yet, will do them later.

[tonyalbus]

OK, here she goes:

Didn't have the time for comprehensive tests yet, but at least it turns on and knows its name 



Ice-Tea was very kind to supply a set (not a complete unit) of spares with it, so if there's something wrong I can easily swap the analog and output board for further investigation. By the first looks, it's a really nice piece of TEA with Teflon standoffs, COTO Relays, polystyrene caps, 1G and 10G resistor for current sensing, ... Stuff that you'd better not even think of touching it.

Sorry, no more pics yet, will do them later.

cool!  from the first few minutes i have a keithley i love it, you will too,   congrats !  very nice

[bd139]

TE job of the day: fix the awful bodge capacitor replacement mess in the HM605.

Got new sofas arriving today as well so I’ll have somewhere nicer to splat myself for discord this evening 

[bd139]

More toys arrived via ebay. Another T495s for me and a matching keyboard so I don't have problems switching between the laptop and the desktop keyboard all the time. The Thinkpad usb keyboard jobby is a work of genius as it has the nub mouse built in.



Also as much as I like it, the Cherry MX board takes up a hell of a lot of room on the desk which is a problem when I want to slack off and play with some test gear 

[med6753]

My latest project is on the FedEx truck for delivery. 

Yawn, need more coffee. 

[tautech]

All, Bean says gidday to the 'TEA rabble' (his words !) and he's on the road again helping his bro get outta Melbourne and move closer to where he is in SA.

[SilverSolder]

More toys arrived via ebay. Another T495s for me and a matching keyboard so I don't have problems switching between the laptop and the desktop keyboard all the time. The Thinkpad usb keyboard jobby is a work of genius as it has the nub mouse built in.



Also as much as I like it, the Cherry MX board takes up a hell of a lot of room on the desk which is a problem when I want to slack off and play with some test gear 

I never got on with the nub mouse -  I can do anything on a track pad or with a "real" mouse, but the nub just doesn't work with my brain's particular feedback loop! 

[med6753]

I never got on with the nub mouse -  I can do anything on a track pad or with a "real" mouse, but the nub just doesn't work with my brain's particular feedback loop! 

I'm just the opposite. I really liked the nub. So much so that I had to keep spares on hand because I wore it out.

I wish this Acer had it.

[SilverSolder]

I never got on with the nub mouse -  I can do anything on a track pad or with a "real" mouse, but the nub just doesn't work with my brain's particular feedback loop! 

I'm just the opposite. I really liked the nub. So much so that I had to keep spares on hand because I wore it out.

I wish this Acer had it.

I was a "nubber" once, but once I got the hang of the track pad (and turned the sensitivity up to near max, so you aren't moving your fingers much) I never looked back!  It's the same with the mouse, I have that cranked right up close to max so I can go across the whole screen with one wrist move.  It's the best way to avoid RSI with these things! 

[Cerebus]

More toys arrived via ebay. Another T495s for me and a matching keyboard so I don't have problems switching between the laptop and the desktop keyboard all the time. The Thinkpad usb keyboard jobby is a work of genius as it has the nub mouse built in.

I believe I've already told you all the tale of how a former friend and colleague, Guy Kewney (alas now dead), nearly got IBM's marketing department to dub that the Centrally Located Inertia-less Tracker. So please use its proper name, not nub. 

[Cerebus]

I never got on with the nub mouse -  I can do anything on a track pad or with a "real" mouse, but the nub just doesn't work with my brain's particular feedback loop! 

Perhaps you can't find it... 

[med6753]

I never got on with the nub mouse -  I can do anything on a track pad or with a "real" mouse, but the nub just doesn't work with my brain's particular feedback loop! 

I'm just the opposite. I really liked the nub. So much so that I had to keep spares on hand because I wore it out.

I wish this Acer had it.

I was a "nubber" once, but once I got the hang of the track pad (and turned the sensitivity up to near max, so you aren't moving your fingers much) I never looked back!  It's the same with the mouse, I have that cranked right up close to max so I can go across the whole screen with one wrist move.  It's the best way to avoid RSI with these things! 

Way back when I first started using a PC since I'm a southpaw I had the mouse configured on the left rather than the right. But for some reason I started to develop carpal tunnel in my left wrist so I switched to the right. To this day it's on the right and no issues. You know what's a real hoot to watch? A right handed person try to use a left handed mouse. Talk about not being able to wrap their head around it. 

[med6753]

I never got on with the nub mouse -  I can do anything on a track pad or with a "real" mouse, but the nub just doesn't work with my brain's particular feedback loop! 

Perhaps you can't find it... 

I always found it. 

[Cerebus]

I was a "nubber" once, but once I got the hang of the track pad (and turned the sensitivity up to near max, so you aren't moving your fingers much) I never looked back!  It's the same with the mouse, I have that cranked right up close to max so I can go across the whole screen with one wrist move.  It's the best way to avoid RSI with these things! 

So you're saying "It's all in the wrist action"? 

This series of comments sponsored by the "Carry On" film series and the British Seaside Postcard Association.

[Specmaster]

TE job of the day: fix the awful bodge capacitor replacement mess in the HM605.

Got new sofas arriving today as well so I’ll have somewhere nicer to splat myself for discord this evening 

What! but you have it listed on the bay of evil, what if it gets buggered in the process 

[Specmaster]

I never got on with the nub mouse -  I can do anything on a track pad or with a "real" mouse, but the nub just doesn't work with my brain's particular feedback loop! 

I'm just the opposite. I really liked the nub. So much so that I had to keep spares on hand because I wore it out.

I wish this Acer had it.

Yeah, I quite like the nub as well, it was a common feature on some Toshiba laptops I used to have as well.

[mnementh]

Those things are the spawn of Satan and a Micro$oft coding engineer.

Like this little guy, only slightly cuter:   

http://ars.userfriendly.org/cartoons/?id=19980405

But hey.... some people like fondling their little mushroom all the time... 

mnem

[mnementh]

Hey... did you know Linus Media Group is hiring...? AGAIN...?


mnem
 

I'd go with the "Fashion Designer" position these days, and just hang out with the models! 

I heartily endorse this course of action! 

mnem
 

[mnementh]

I never got on with the nub mouse -  I can do anything on a track pad or with a "real" mouse, but the nub just doesn't work with my brain's particular feedback loop! 

I'm just the opposite. I really liked the nub. So much so that I had to keep spares on hand because I wore it out.

I wish this Acer had it.

I was a "nubber" once, but once I got the hang of the track pad (and turned the sensitivity up to near max, so you aren't moving your fingers much) I never looked back!  It's the same with the mouse, I have that cranked right up close to max so I can go across the whole screen with one wrist move.  It's the best way to avoid RSI with these things! 

It really depends for me on what I'm working on. When I spent a lot of time editing photos, I lived and died by my trackball. Still have a couple MS marbles stashed away. But my favorite of all time, mostly due to the way it just disappeared into the workflow... was a Kensington ExpertMouse that I cut into the desk so the buttons were almost flush. That thing was a perfect mix; you could manipulate objects fast with the palm of your hand and fingertips on buttons, or flick & brake across even a 4K screen, or pinpoint control with fingertips... And of course, it had a regulation 8-ball for the objective. 

Everything since has always felt like a compromise; a huge trackpad is the closest, but they suck bunge for word processor work.

For that, I still prefer a plain old 2-button mouse with res and sensitivity cranked right up. 

Fortunately, gamer hardware has hugely improved the hardware available even in the sub-$50 bracket... the ReDragon K506 RGB KB & M602-RGB 7200DPI mouse I got on sale for $40 total when I built this rig have fast become a favorite with the caveat that they were chosen for domestic tranquility (read: a decent membrane KB I can use in the same room as my wife watching her anime), my only real complaint is primarily aesthetic rather than functional: I wish the LED backlighting were a little brighter and crisper, and that I could get my preferred solid light teal color on both the mouse & KB. The software just will not do that on the mouse. 

mnem
*back to lawnmower-fixery hell*

[mnementh]

All, Bean says gidday to the 'TEA rabble' (his words !) and he's on the road again helping his bro get outta Melbourne and move closer to where he is in SA.

I also heartily endorse THIS course of action! For the good of mankind, and for bean's sanity... 

mnem
 

[bd139]

TE job of the day: fix the awful bodge capacitor replacement mess in the HM605.

Got new sofas arriving today as well so I’ll have somewhere nicer to splat myself for discord this evening 

What! but you have it listed on the bay of evil, what if it gets buggered in the process 

That’s the HM203 I chucked on eBay. This is the other one 

[BU508A]

Today arrival one of these ACV and ACA Digital LCD build-in meters.
I've bought this one in the bay:

Product type: D69-2049



Before hooking it up to the mains voltage I did some checking first.
Opening was easy, just some plastic snap-in tongues.
I've found some solder debris and one bent snap-in tongue:



This is the top view of the pcbs. I took them apart to check the spacing in the mains section but I missed it to take some pictures.     However, the clearings are looking reasonable to me, the lines to the full bridge rectifier are on the opposite sides of the pcb. All other clearings are reasonable. The LC Display is connected via zebra stripes to the PCB and LEDs were used as a light source together with a diffusor.
I have also applied some ferrules to the cables of the current sensing transformer.



I hokked it up then to my variac and around 180VAC it is starting working. Compared to my BM235 it is a bit off, but this can be eventually calibrated out. On the left 225VAC, zoom to the display which is nice and crisp and on the right 258VAC.



I'm not hundred percent convinced about it but honestly I'd expected worse. As you can see, on the front on the right side there is a little switch. I've shortened the leads of this switch, because right on the other pcb/side there were the leads of the green connector (incoming mains). The space between them are now good 7mm throgh air, before it was more likely 3-4mm.

I'm thinking about purchaising another two of them so I can measure then in my new lab the incoming 3-phase mains voltages and currents.

[Cerebus]

I'm thinking about purchaising another two of them so I can measure then in my new lab the incoming 3-phase mains voltages and currents.

Wouldn't that be a bit misleading, what with phase<->phase currents and all? Sure, you could work it out in your head from all three readings and Kirchhoff, but do you trust yourself to remember to do it on-the-fly? I don't think I'd trust m'self under those circumstances.

[mnementh]

That's okay C... we don't trust you either. We like you, but we don't trust you. 

mnem
Never trust a smiling dragon. aardvark.