Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread

[BU508A]

Are those Nixie clocks I spy there?

Absolutely. Nixies are my gateway drug into embedded design. The main stash is well hidden however

These are gorgeous panaplex tubes! 
What size of the segments are they? 50mm?

[BU508A]

welcome, your bench is way to clean 

It will take some time for the 2nd law of  thermodynamics to kick in but then...   In the meantime:      
 

The Three Laws of Thermodynamics:

1. You can't win.
2. You can't break even.   _← Arrrou...?!?
3. You can't even get out of the game.

mnem
nice pants.

The second law of thermodynamics in short:  dS/dt > 0
This means: entropy is always increasing.

Wikipedia see the section of Clausius.

[tggzzz]

Hello,

My name is Kevin and I am an addict.

Anyways, at the suggestion of a good friend and longtime eevblog lurker, I am here to seek therapy for my test equipment addiction in addition to coveted internet points, which are directly proportional to my self esteem.

Since getting serious about electronics after finishing undergrad and starting my first job, I have acquired a number of instruments.

- Keysight MSOX2024A scope
- Keysight E36103A dc power supply
- Keysight AC6801A ac/dc power supply
- Keysight B2902A source measure unit
- Keithley DMM6500 dmm
- Keysight E4980AL lcr meter
- Itech 8512B+ dc electronic load
- HTI 301 thermal camera

Your insults are welcome. Feel free to check out my personal website at neonkev.com and leave disparaging comments.

Regards,
Kevin

Welcome.

I see you have one scope. That's the necessary precondition to having two scopes. Ditto every other piece of test equipment.

Glad to be of service

[mnementh]

Are those Nixie clocks I spy there?

   Absolutely. Nixies are my gateway drug into embedded design. The main stash is well hidden however

Looks like you got the last of the giant Burroughs Alpha nixies that Sphere had for a short while.   

mnem
i hate you. very cordially.

[nexus]

Thank you guys (and/or gals) for the warm welcome. Gotta buy good gear while the dollar is still worth something right? 😂

The way I see it, good tools are never a bad investment. Sure, more 0s in my account is also nice but that money ought to be put to work. For a guy 3 years out of school, I'm just at the beginning of learning useful skills to become the best engineer I can be!

[mnementh]

welcome, your bench is way to clean 

It will take some time for the 2nd law of  thermodynamics to kick in but then...   In the meantime:      
 

The Three Laws of Thermodynamics:

1. You can't win.
2. You can't break even.   _← Arrrou...?!?
3. You can't even get out of the game.

mnem
nice pants.

The second law of thermodynamics in short:  dS/dt > 0
This means: entropy is always increasing. The perversity of the Universe tends to the maximum.

Wikipedia see the section of Clausius.

There... FTFY.

mnem
also dwagons.

[BU508A]

Jepp, dragons are a kind of entropy accelerators.   

[tggzzz]

Thank you guys (and/or gals) for the warm welcome. Gotta buy good gear while the dollar is still worth something right? 😂

The way I see it, good tools are never a bad investment. Sure, more 0s in my account is also nice but that money ought to be put to work. For a guy 3 years out of school, I'm just at the beginning of learning useful skills to become the best engineer I can be!

It is worth remembering that any tool requires time to learn how to use it effectively. But time is limited, so you have to choose tools wisely.

Can I suggest that at your stage of your career it is probably beneficial to know the various types of tool available, so that you can wisely select which set of tools to use on a given project - and which to avoid. Then learn everything you can about the tools you are using on your project.

Too many people use an inappropriate tool because they are familiar with it and don't know what better tools exist.

Too many people don't learn the details of how to use the tools they have to best advantage.

[mnementh]

Perfect example: A FLUKE 25/27 will serve very well as a wheel chock or a hammer; however it is still most profitably used to monitor a circuit. 

mnem
But don't forget those ancillary uses, should one find oneself in a combat situation... 

[mnementh]

Jepp, dragons are a kind of entropy accelerators.        

I didn't invent entropy... I'm just trying to perfect it. 

mnem
...and here we are back with those monkeys again, only now they have a draft of Aladdin they want us to look at...

[Zucca]

Are those Nixie clocks I spy there?

Absolutely. Nixies are my gateway drug into embedded design. The main stash is well hidden however

thank you now I want one.... ahhhhh

[Zucca]

How much will cost to CNC this plate see attachment?

My guess 70€.

First guy responded: 194 trumpets for one plate, 343 for two.

second guy: 134 Euro shipping included.

Third guy 68 Euro and he got the cake.

Yuuuuuu

[med6753]

...snip...

For a guy 3 years out of school, I'm just at the beginning of learning useful skills to become the best engineer I can be!

Aw shoot, you're an engineer?  You couldn't be a neat freak AND a lowly technician like me?  You'll definitely fit into this group of clowns and they'll have you corrupted and with a messy bench in no time.    I'll even send you a hand grenade to help you along. 

J/K.....welcome! 

[nexus]

Are those Nixie clocks I spy there?

Absolutely. Nixies are my gateway drug into embedded design. The main stash is well hidden however

These are gorgeous panaplex tubes! 
What size of the segments are they? 50mm?

The tubes in the foreground are Burroughs B7971s. They are some of the larger nixies out there. 15 segment (14 + bottom arrow). Digit height is 63.5mm.

The tubes in the backround are the middle child of the Burroughs alphanumeric nixie family, the 8971s. They are much rarer than the larger 7971 tube. Smaller overall, with a digit height of 36.5mm.

Its an addiction!

If anyone is seriously interested in nixie tubes, related driving circuits/clock designs, there is a big google group that I would recommend checking out: neonixie-l https://groups.google.com/g/neonixie-l?pli=1. Tons of nixie tube knowledge, trading/selling, and generally a great place to indulge with others in the hobby. I've been on there for a few years, and there are some old timers that go way back to the original yahoo group also by the same name.

[nexus]

Forgot to mention; older nixies are only getting pricier and harder to find. One gentleman who is really making a comeback by producing new nixies is Dalibor Farny. https://www.daliborfarny.com/. He has been making a large 50mm symbol height nixie which is absolutely stunning. I bought a set of 6 to make a clock with eventually.
Think his total production to date is over 11,000 tubes. He has some new nixie tube designs in the pipeline too... can't wait until those come out.

[Carl_Smith]

And last, the reason I went to the Thrift today: I picked up these Sennheiser HDR160 headphones a few days ago, thinking they were BT. Turns out they're 3rd gen KLEER "uncompressed digital" wireless. I remember the ads for this tech; "Sennheiser sound set free." Supposedly, as good as their wired headphones. Of course, I wanted to try that out rather than just gutting them and hardwiring. 

I got lucky and found the transmitter, with the original power pack! There's a little bit of repair needs done on the headphones; I'll update here when I have them working and let y'all know what I think. 

mnem
 

When I've donated items like that where there are parts that need to be kept together I do something like tape them together with generous amounts of packing tape.  I think once I even put the items in a bag with a note what they were for and that they should be kept together and sold together.  But I always have this feeling as I'm leaving the store that the stock people in back are separating the items, pricing them individually, and placing them on opposite sides of the store.

[mnementh]

Are those Nixie clocks I spy there?

Absolutely. Nixies are my gateway drug into embedded design. The main stash is well hidden however

These are gorgeous panaplex tubes! 
What size of the segments are they? 50mm?

The tubes in the foreground are Burroughs B7971s. They are some of the larger nixies out there. 15 segment (14 + bottom arrow). Digit height is 63.5mm.

The tubes in the backround are the middle child of the Burroughs alphanumeric nixie family, the 8971s. They are much rarer than the larger 7971 tube. Smaller overall, with a digit height of 36.5mm.

Its an addiction!

If anyone is seriously interested in nixie tubes, related driving circuits/clock designs, there is a big google group that I would recommend checking out: neonixie-l https://groups.google.com/g/neonixie-l?pli=1. Tons of nixie tube knowledge, trading/selling, and generally a great place to indulge with others in the hobby. I've been on there for a few years, and there are some old timers that go way back to the original yahoo group also by the same name.

I know.    They look and work like a Panaplex in a cylindrical envelope, but Burroughs calls them a Nixie, so we really don't have a choice.  I am still very annoyed I missed out on the stock of B-7971s that Sphere had. Oh, and before it was a Yahoo group, it was on Usenet.

Forgot to mention; older nixies are only getting pricier and harder to find. One gentleman who is really making a comeback by producing new nixies is Dalibor Farny. https://www.daliborfarny.com/. He has been making a large 50mm symbol height nixie which is absolutely stunning. I bought a set of 6 to make a clock with eventually.
Think his total production to date is over 11,000 tubes. He has some new nixie tube designs in the pipeline too... can't wait until those come out.

Yeah, we know all aboot DF. Been watching him for years now. The H-tube is gonna roxxor your soxxors off.

mnem
poit!

[shakalnokturn]

Alternative to NIXIE project with a somewhat colder glow:
https://hackaday.io/project/18633
Neat idea all the same...

[mnementh]

And last, the reason I went to the Thrift today: I picked up these Sennheiser HDR160 headphones a few days ago, thinking they were BT. Turns out they're 3rd gen KLEER "uncompressed digital" wireless. I remember the ads for this tech; "Sennheiser sound set free." Supposedly, as good as their wired headphones. Of course, I wanted to try that out rather than just gutting them and hardwiring. 

I got lucky and found the transmitter, with the original power pack! There's a little bit of repair needs done on the headphones; I'll update here when I have them working and let y'all know what I think. 

mnem
 

When I've donated items like that where there are parts that need to be kept together I do something like tape them together with generous amounts of packing tape.  I think once I even put the items in a bag with a note what they were for and that they should be kept together and sold together.  But I always have this feeling as I'm leaving the store that the stock people in back are separating the items, pricing them individually, and placing them on opposite sides of the store.

I know for a fact they do that up here with the power packs and remotes most of the time; they've told me they go up on the wall separately.     

Fukkin' infuriating to have to hunt them down every damned time I buy something electronic.

mnem

[mnementh]

And last, the reason I went to the Thrift today: I picked up these Sennheiser HDR160 headphones a few days ago, thinking they were BT. Turns out they're 3rd gen KLEER "uncompressed digital" wireless. I remember the ads for this tech; "Sennheiser sound set free." Supposedly, as good as their wired headphones. Of course, I wanted to try that out rather than just gutting them and hardwiring. 

I got lucky and found the transmitter, with the original power pack! There's a little bit of repair needs done on the headphones; I'll update here when I have them working and let y'all know what I think. 

mnem
 

Promised followup: They are indeed fukkin' awesome; I was missing an adapter for my iPod dock, so just connected via headphone jack and... just fukkin' awesome. They are as crisp and clear as my favorite dual-driver wired earbuds, with almost as much bass as my recently acquired SkullCandy HESH2s but the vocal levels match perfectly instead of being muddied as all the bass-pounder headphones do. And of course, plenty of volume with no compromise; enough to give me a headache.

I can hear a very faint hiss during moments of silence, but I can hear that with all my wired phones too. Hopefully, once I get my dock working so it's coming from the line-out channels, that will go away as well. Oh, and they run on inexpensive AAA NiMHs, which they charge very conveniently with the same power pack as the TX, which also runs on batteries (but doesn't charge them).

Yummeh!

mnem

[Saskia]

Considering a stax right now. However the muulahtory impact is keeping me back.

[AVGresponding]

Hello,

My name is Kevin and I am an addict.

Anyways, at the suggestion of a good friend and longtime eevblog lurker, I am here to seek therapy for my test equipment addiction in addition to coveted internet points, which are directly proportional to my self esteem.

Since getting serious about electronics after finishing undergrad and starting my first job, I have acquired a number of instruments.

- Keysight MSOX2024A scope
- Keysight E36103A dc power supply
- Keysight AC6801A ac/dc power supply
- Keysight B2902A source measure unit
- Keithley DMM6500 dmm
- Keysight E4980AL lcr meter
- Itech 8512B+ dc electronic load
- HTI 301 thermal camera

Your insults are welcome. Feel free to check out my personal website at neonkev.com and leave disparaging comments.

Regards,
Kevin

Welcome to the enablement part of the forums.

Good to see some students spend their loans on something other than booze and drugs...

[Saskia]

How much will cost to CNC this plate see attachment?

My guess 70€.

First guy responded: 194 trumpets for one plate, 343 for two.

second guy: 134 Euro shipping included.

Third guy 68 Euro and he got the cake.

Yuuuuuu

congrats.

I can see where those other 2 are coming from, though. Depending on the time and staff needed to enter the stuff into your CAD/CAM system plus tooling those one offs can be terribly expensive.
Machine time usually is, especially if we are talking serious iron.

My favorite is still an Okuma Multus B400 ... don't know how to pay for the thing plus maintenance plus electricity though.

[Zucca]

My favorite is still an Okuma Multus B400 ... don't know how to pay for the thing plus maintenance plus electricity though.

Holllyyy FFFFFFuuu

MAX TURNING DIAMETER   mm   Ø710
SPINDLE NOSE TYPE      JIS A2-8 [JIS A2-11]
SPEED RANGE   min⁻¹   38~3,800 [30~2,800]
STANDARD POWER (20 MIN/CONT)   kW   VAC 22/15
RAPID TRAVERSE X,Z/Y   m/min   40/26

[Robert763]

I had enough trouble finding space for my Myford ML2