Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread

[tggzzz]

Until, I don't know, three or four years ago, every now and then around here you'd hear a bell ringing, a cry of RAG-A-B-O-ONE and then a clip-clopping of hooves as a pukka rag and bone man, with a pukka horse and flat bed cart would go around the neighbourhood streets.

(Seriously guys? A spelling checker that can't do 'anodisation' but copes with 'clip-clopping'?)

Pukka...? You mean pooka/púca as in ghostly or like a earth-spirit, or the Irish Chupacabra? Or something else altogether? 

mnem
Words are food for your mind.

More than that, in this case...

Pukka (Hindi पक्का, Urdu پكّا pakkā) is a word of Hindi and Urdu origin literally meaning "cooked, ripe" and figuratively "fully formed", "solid", "permanent", "for real" or "sure". In UK slang, it can mean "genuine" or simply "very good"; see also pukka sahib.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pukka

[tggzzz]

Pukka...? You mean pooka/púca as in ghostly or like a earth-spirit, or the Irish Chupacabra? Or something else altogether? 

Welcome to British English.

Ahem. English.

Cf USEnglish, Chinglish, Hinglish, Pidgeon etc

[bd139]

Tempting. https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/133523778815

[tggzzz]

Pukka - the real genuine article. Stolen Adopted from the Hindi पक्का.

... as are many other words.

[Cerebus]

Pukka - the real genuine article. Stolen Adopted from the Hindi पक्का.

I was going to mention the India connection too, but didn't feel I'd gotten enough data backing it to say so. Thanks.

I first stumbled on this excellent adjective in a little book I found in the Internet Archive, titled
"Sniping in France", by Major Hesketh Vernon Hesketh-Prichard, DSO, MC, that deals with the
art of industrial markmanship in trench warfare.  Obviously this is treated like a more dangerous
version of big game hunting. Good sport and all that.

Fascinating book.

Us Brits love a purloined Indian word. We sit in our pyjamas (some chintz, some calico, some gingham) smoking a cheroot on the verandas of our bungalows with Hindi and Urdu dictionaries looking for words to steal like the thugs we are. There are eight Indian borrow words in that, rather contrived, sentence alone. We use many, essentially unmodified, Indian words without realising that we nicked them.

[Saskia]

as long as you and your droogs don't go to the Korova Milkbar for a Moloko Plus ...

[25 CPS]

It’s finally test equipment time.



Today’s lineup is a Universal AVO Meter, Bach-Simpson 270, a Northern Electric NS14510-LQ5 also OEM by Bach-Simpson, and a Triplett 630 Type 3 that apparently snuck north across the border without any paperwork.

I’m going to start off with some basic DC voltage measurements on all four just to establish if their meter movements are good.

[Cerebus]

as long as you and your droogs don't go to the Korova Milkbar for a Moloko Plus ...

Yarbles to you!

[Robert763]

Tempting. https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/133523778815

Tempting Fate. Looks ready to electrocute you and then burn the house down.

[Wolfgang]

Tempting. https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/133523778815

Tempting Fate. Looks ready to electrocute you and then burn the house down.

Speak with your life insurer before you buy this and negotiate a new tariff.
Need beneficiaries ? I am always available 

[Saskia]

the ideal booby trap. kills dead, burns house down, leaves no wittnesses.

hmmmmm.

[bd139]

I wasn’t going to use it. I was going to give it to someone I don’t like 

[Saskia]

That's the spirit !

[Wolfgang]

I like the combination of wood and high voltage

[bd139]

My favourite bit that screams death is the price tags still on the capacitors. Very cheap price tags! 

[25 CPS]

Ok, I don’t know why I didn’t think of this earlier but I came up with something for the Triplett and redid the family photo.  How about some rock-n-roll from my record collection?



Anyways the test setup for doing some DC voltages on the meters is this Elenco Precision kit power supply split two ways.  One to feed the vintage meter under test and the other to feed an HP 3457A to observe the test voltage on since the Elenco doesn’t have any built in meters to display its output on.  As for the Elenco, without any fine adjustmentS on its outputs, you guys can decide for yourselves if the Precision part of its name applies.





The Elenco bottoms out at 1.25 V according to its specs and the HP pretty much confirms that.  This’ll be a safe starting voltage to apply in case a connection gets reversed by accident somehow and tries to run a meter movement backwards below zero.

First up is the Universal AVO Meter all the way from Dover, England (cue the memories of the slam door third rail trains barreling south out of London):



The 1.26 V from the Elenco has woken up the AVO and moved the pointer pretty much to where I’d expect it to be.





Running up to 5 V moved the pointer to just a hair below mid scale on the 10 V range.





At 10 V, the AVO came in just under full scale, about one division worth under, so at first glance the meter movement appears to be undamaged and tracking voltage well, at least on the 10 VDC range.
 

[mnementh]

Welp... got most of the work done on my crusty-ass mower; turns out under all those Ford-Taurus-inspired plastic covers, this is just a old-school valve-in-block 6.5HP Tecumseh. Well hell. Now I know why it's a oil-leaker (admitted by previous owner as the reason he was selling it for $25 Canadian pesos); these old beasts all have a PCV valve that blows out due to phenolic plastic parts breaking down.

Sometimes one gets lucky tho, and it's just a bad gasket under the PCV; hopefully that's the only leak and the lower mainseal isn't gone as well. Oh, and my "fix everything that goes wrong with a weedeater engine" kit just arrived. 

mnem
*currently practicing another nearly-dead art: resurrecting the threads on a rusty shoulder-bolt with a needle file*

Tecumseh went bust quite a few years ago. Good luck getting parts for it.   

Bought a parts mower for $15 to fix up my $25 mower. 

But these bits are all over AliEx... probably will continue to be so long after I go tits up. 

mnem
Just like veedub parts...

[Wolfgang]

My favourite bit that screams death is the price tags still on the capacitors. Very cheap price tags! 

Leaves more money for a nice funeral.

[med6753]

just returned from a looting shopping trip ...

Saw a Canon 100-400 L IS USM II for a reasonable amount of money, and yes, I drove 500 km for it.

Greetings to Ferenginar.

You sure you didn't make a quick trip here? I just heard a police call for a larceny of a cross bow from a residence. 

[mnementh]

Until, I don't know, three or four years ago, every now and then around here you'd hear a bell ringing, a cry of RAG-A-B-O-ONE and then a clip-clopping of hooves as a pukka rag and bone man, with a pukka horse and flat bed cart would go around the neighbourhood streets.

(Seriously guys? A spelling checker that can't do 'anodisation' but copes with 'clip-clopping'?)

Pukka...? You mean pooka/púca as in ghostly or like a earth-spirit, or the Irish Chupacabra? Or something else altogether? 

mnem
Words are food for your mind.

Pukka - the real genuine article. Stolen Adopted from the Hindi पक्का.

Ahhh... there I go thinking again. That is the meaning I was aware of; I just assumed your usual acerbic wit was in play, so was looking for some connotative value roughly equivalent to ancient, manky or ghostlike/anachronistic. 

Thanks fer lettin' me know you were legit serious. 

mnem
*trying to find some un-skeevy way to put in here... 

[tggzzz]

It’s finally test equipment time.

(Attachment Link)

Today’s lineup is a Universal AVO Meter, Bach-Simpson 270, a Northern Electric NS14510-LQ5 also OEM by Bach-Simpson, and a Triplett 630 Type 3 that apparently snuck north across the border without any paperwork.

I’m going to start off with some basic DC voltage measurements on all four just to establish if their meter movements are good.

Good calculator 

[25 CPS]

Good calculator 

It is.  I also have an HP 15C on the bench as well.  Wait until you see how I repurposed that one as a vital piece of test equipment when I get to the Northern Electric.

[25 CPS]

Next up, from 1255 Brydges St. London,Ontario, where the factory in which they were made still stands just down the 401 from here are the Bach-Simpson 270 and the Northern Electric NS14510-LQ5.



Starting off with the 270.



Bottomed out at 1.26 V, the Elenco moves the pointer to just below half scale on the 2.5 V range.





Five volts on the 10 V range brings the needle almost back to half scale again, coming up a bit less than a minor division low.





10 V on the 10 V range gives the same result.  Just a little less than a minor division below the full scale 10 V line on the dial face.

The 270 appears to be working at first glance too but I had thought it would be bang on but this isn’t bad.  Maybe it needs an adjustment but first it needs to be tested comprehensively to get a handle on if it needs any adjustment before tweaking around inside.

[mnementh]

Next up, from 1255 Brydges St. London,Ontario, where the factory in which they were made still stands just down the 401 from here are the Bach-Simpson 270 and the Northern Electric NS14510-LQ5.

Starting off with the 270.   

That 270 looks promising, a lot nicer than my 635 when it came through. I have done a basic cleanup on it; looks a lot nicer than this now but I still totes need to get after those jacks with a .22 cal brass brush and some silicone spray. Can't complain; got mine for CAD$13.55. If all I do is leave it perched it on the mantle, I've gotten my money's worth out of it.

mnem
 

[nixiefreqq]

Good calculator 

It is.  I also have an HP 15C on the bench as well.  Wait until you see how I repurposed that one as a vital piece of test equipment when I get to the Northern Electric.

yeah........i saw it.  you did not have to poke me with a stick ya' know. 

(was trying to be civil.....but that don't work around here).