Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread

[bd139]

Found!

There's still stuff that hasn't shown up since my two last house moves like my null-modem cable, I just can't resolve to build another thinking that it must be somewhere.
Tried buying a new one from China it had broken wires from the start.
Here go my three left hands and pairs of calculators.

Hahaha that one made me laugh 

[mnementh]

   So now posting pictures of your hand is a thing?   well ok......no one ever called me a slacker.

Well... it started out with a few of us grousing aboot how hard it is to find gloves (this being the prime season fer 'em) for us with huge ol' hamhands; but somehow (as seems to be a thing in here) it devolved (evolved...?) into pics of calcs and the inevitable RPN pron.

mnem
Ehhh... it's still better than 90% of the other things I could be doing right now.

[mnementh]

   Now I have a nice power supply that's too big for my bench anyway..      Also channel 3 and 5 are not dead but faulty - 3 has a faulty current regulation. Have to look after that some time. 

Seems to me like a perfect opportunity to reorient all the panel meters & markings so the thing can sit on it's side while you're in there fixing it. But airflow that way might not be adequate without adding a fan, so.... ehhhhhh...? 

mnem
also, ow.

[nixiefreqq]

let me paraphrase basil fawlty.


"DON'T MENTION THE FAN!!!"

[shakalnokturn]

..last one for now:
threw 12 Euros at a crimping tool that looks much like a much more expensive tool.
Have tried it and what can I say? It's working absolutely fine. 

Chiknipex? (No, that isn't a dog...)

[Cerebus]

..last one for now:
threw 12 Euros at a crimping tool that looks much like a much more expensive tool.
Have tried it and what can I say? It's working absolutely fine. 

I've been considering one of those cheapo crimpers but had my doubts about them; now I've got a decent excuse.

Consider me enabled. 

[mnementh]

Ditto. Right after I give my cheapo RG58/BNC crimpers a test run. 

mnem
 

[0culus]

Yeah, but I bet it didn't smell Rifa bad. 

LOL!! Yeah, it's got nothing on those and the king-kong, big daddy of magic smoke releasers, the selenium rectifier! 

[mnementh]

Oh fukkk... I forgot to take a pic. When we were at ESI last week, I saw a ginormous dual selenium rectum-fryer there; literally the size of a loaf of bread and never ever used. No connector scars, no solder on the tabs. That thing is literally weapons-grade if it were ever energized!

mnem
*toddles off to ded*

[URI]

..last one for now:
threw 12 Euros at a crimping tool that looks much like a much more expensive tool.
Have tried it and what can I say? It's working absolutely fine. 

I've been considering one of those cheapo crimpers but had my doubts about them; now I've got a decent excuse.

Consider me enabled. 

You're welcome!        

Chiknipex? (No, that isn't a dog...)

Yeah, I didn't want to name it that directly..   

[URI]

Hi Spara, coming back to your question in our discord TEA channel:

Do you have a reinforced floor?

No, I don't.
I have a wooden floor. It behaves elastic to my TEA stack still.      
In fact my bench is made of two benches back-to-back -that spreads the weight over a bigger area.
If it was that you wanted to know.   

[mansaxel]

Hi Spara, coming back to your question in our discord TEA channel:

Do you have a reinforced floor?

No, I don't.
I have a wooden floor. It behaves elastic to my TEA stack still.      
In fact my bench is made of two benches back-to-back -that spreads the weight over a bigger area.
If it was that you wanted to know.   

I've got raised flooring where I store my TE. Got hold of perhaps 20m² complete with short feet, I only had to pick it up. Built a new floor in the inner room of my gara^Hworkshop^Hstorage facility that's got tarmac flooring originally, starting with 50mm styrofoam (flooring grade), then vapour blocking foil, and finishing with 22mm flooring grade particleboard. On this I've tacked (Illbruck PL600 construction glue) the feet, and then a lot of work with the spirit level.

Since the tiles have sheet metal cladding below and linoleum on top around a particle board core I had to develop a method to saw them (because no, nothing ever in a raised flooring project is a positive integer multiple of 600mm in every direction).
I came up with a multilayer method:

• Measure twice. (Or is it four times because there must be two cuts? )
• Hand-held circular saw, set to (thickness of tile - 2mm) from above, ie. through linoleum and most of the core.
• Angle grinder with a cutting disc from below.
• Finish off by rounding the sheet metal jagged edges with a grinding disc and/or a file.

   
I did ask the installers of such floors how they do it; they replied they're heavy users of small but powerful bandsaws which of course was deemed too expensive..

The load bearing is on the order of 500 kilos per tile, IIRC. Up to the floorboards it's only compression load. You should not drive a car on it, even if it probably would be OK.

My rack cabinet was too high to stand on top of the tiles, so I put it directly on the floorboards, and jacked it up (swapped the adjustable feet for longer threaded-rod ones.) so its door clears above raised level. It contains the heavy stuff which is mostly batteries; i've got ~300kgs of batteries for my UPS, and another 130kgs for a 24V bank to drive small automation stuff and my army radios.

[Specmaster]

Hi Spara, coming back to your question in our discord TEA channel:

Do you have a reinforced floor?

No, I don't.
I have a wooden floor. It behaves elastic to my TEA stack still.      
In fact my bench is made of two benches back-to-back -that spreads the weight over a bigger area.
If it was that you wanted to know.   

Don’t forget that elastic will only go so far before it snaps and as it ages, snapping happens earlier

[ch_scr]

Are we still doing "Calculators'n Hands" or am I late to the party?

[med6753]

All I got is the hand hued beams in the sub flooring from when the house was originally built in the 1860's. But back then they tended to "overbuild" much higher to the plans. Or did they? We don't know but one day we just might find out. 

[Specmaster]

Wow, either those are very  large calculators or you have small hands, the latter I think. Nice calculators.

[tautech]

All I got is the hand hued beams in the sub flooring from when the house was originally built in the 1860's. But back then they tended to "overbuild" much higher to the plans. Or did they? We don't know but one day we just might find out. 

Hewn Med, hewn. 

[med6753]

Here's some additional information on the fan base that I found in the 1961 catalog. "Recommended" but not required. And yes, it pulls the air through the filter and then into the base of the scope. Yep, mine is backwards.

But it doesn't matter. I pulled the fan motor out so I could model a DC replacement. A 120mm fan is going to work perfectly. I've gathered up all the parts except for a couple that I don't have. Order already submitted to Mouser. Should be here by Wednesday. Going to build it up as much as can while waiting for the parts. Once I get it all together I'll do a reveal.

[ch_scr]

Wow, either those are very  large calculators or you have small hands, the latter I think. Nice calculators.

They show the progression of these line of calculators over about 20 years. Even though the functions have increased, user interface is very similar. They are about 18cm / 7" long.

[med6753]

All I got is the hand hued beams in the sub flooring from when the house was originally built in the 1860's. But back then they tended to "overbuild" much higher to the plans. Or did they? We don't know but one day we just might find out. 

Hewn Med, hewn. 

You know I thought that's how it should have been spelled too but Google said no. 

[tautech]

All I got is the hand hued beams in the sub flooring from when the house was originally built in the 1860's. But back then they tended to "overbuild" much higher to the plans. Or did they? We don't know but one day we just might find out. 

Hewn Med, hewn. 

You know I thought that's how it should have been spelled too but Google said no. 

Some decades ago a Canuck taught me how to use a broad axe to hew flat faces onto logs as part of the log building process. Twas a week long course and we learnt the BC scribed log and saddle notch method and it certainly was a lot of fun for us that were competent with a chainsaw and axe and a real eye opener after only having worked with sawn lumber.

Seems a lifetime ago, probably because it is ! 
This chap; Allan Mackie:
https://ballanmackie.com/about/
Passed in 2017 at 91.

[med6753]

Oculus, you might be interested in this. From the 1961 Tek catalog. Feel free to download it form my ImageShack account if you want.

It really is amazing that they could pull this off in the late 1950's/early 1960's which is why I posted it here. And it cost $3800 USD in 1961 which is about $33K USD today. 

[bd139]

Are we still doing "Calculators'n Hands" or am I late to the party?

Oh my you have one of those colour Casio 9850G calculators. I bought one of them in 1997 I think it was. Totally regretted it 

[tggzzz]

Oculus, you might be interested in this. From the 1961 Tek catalog. Feel free to download it form my ImageShack account if you want.

It really is amazing that they could pull this off in the late 1950's/early 1960's which is why I posted it here. And it cost $3800 USD in 1961 which is about $33K USD today. 

I have zero interest in such boatanchors, except perhaps maybe for one of these:


I saw one (owned by the PTB) working at he Hannover MakerFaire, and it is gorgeous.

The original risetime plugin was introduced in '62. The logic (e.g. counters) is discrete transistors, of course, with a 14 valves and tunnel diodes for other functions.

Its replacement (shown above) was produced from 65-72.

Note that it is clearly indicating the risetime it is measuring, something that I miss in modern scopes.

[URI]

Hi Spara, coming back to your question in our discord TEA channel:

Do you have a reinforced floor?

No, I don't.
I have a wooden floor. It behaves elastic to my TEA stack still.      
In fact my bench is made of two benches back-to-back -that spreads the weight over a bigger area.
If it was that you wanted to know.   

Don’t forget that elastic will only go so far before it snaps and as it ages, snapping happens earlier

I'm very conscious of that. That's why I wrote it that way ("still").   
OTOH the house our apartment is in was built in the 1920's and is still standing.
I've got the concrete ceiling of the cellar below my floor, so I might not fall too deep.   
Don't know why they built a normal wooden floor independently above that. Perhaps for thermal insulation? Who knows..