Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread

[mnementh]

You get what you pay for I guess. The cheaper you pay, the thinner are the legs and the higher tempco is. It's important to note though that even the cheapest no name ebay metal film resistors are as good as carbon film resistors.

Interesting, thanks for sharing that. Though I now feel compelled to ask about the sample size for each group (and what the intra-group variance was), as well as the variance in a set of measurements for the same resistor.
My OCD would probably demand about 30 samples for each type of resistor so I'd never get as far as you did with this experiment.

Yeah this is really just to give you an idea. I tested tempco only on 1 sample of each groups. Legs diameter though, I measured something like 4 resistors in each groups and it was pretty consistent.

Okayyyy... and how do these tempco variances stack up compared to the built-in error caused by using E48 or even E96 resistor schedules...? 

mnem
 

[nixiefreqq]

https://www.ebay.de/itm/Philips-Digital-Multimeter-PM-2421-Pr%C3%BCfger%C3%A4t-mit-Nixie-R%C3%B6hren-Me%C3%9Fger%C3%A4t-defekt/303866737710

I don't need more Nixies, I don't need more Nixies... Ooo, it does nA.... I DON'T NEED MORE NIXIES!!!

Can I get some support here?

McBryce.

this is a very old picture.  when posted on this forum they told me..... "you don't have enough nixies". 

now i have more nixies,  but no way to power them all up or fit them in one picture.

bastards!

[mnementh]

*Siggghhhh....* Good times. 

mnem
 

[Saskia]

fixed my italian espresso machine today

[Ice-Tea]

https://www.ebay.de/itm/Philips-Digital-Multimeter-PM-2421-Pr%C3%BCfger%C3%A4t-mit-Nixie-R%C3%B6hren-Me%C3%9Fger%C3%A4t-defekt/303866737710

I don't need more Nixies, I don't need more Nixies... Ooo, it does nA.... I DON'T NEED MORE NIXIES!!!

Can I get some support here?

McBryce.

Calm down, son. Just buy it. You'll feel better.

[mnementh]

fixed my italian espresso machine today

Picked up a Welbilt Bread-maker off the curb today; I was fancying a project to keep me out of trouble anyways. After letting it sit on the mudroom floor so all the snow stuck to the bottom melted off, I open it up and find a note stuffed inside saying only IT WORKS!

I been gypped!!! Now I don't have a project, I have a fukkin' temptation!!!

mnem
All those carbble-hydrapes...

[mnementh]

Texio CS-4125A for 105$ is it good?

If that is locally to you I would think its good value. Locally (Australia) that sort of scope runs from $50-100 USD plus postage. In the USA less.

You should also be aware you are asking in the home of the TEA enablers if you should buy test equipment. The Answer is ALWAYS YES

well, I am in Jordan and we don't have oscilloscopes here besides universities and so on. VERY RARELY someone posts it on opensooq (craigslist similar) and this time it is kinda reasonable price of 75 JDs (105$) and I can pick it up when I return home this Thursday.

If I want to get the Rigol DS1054Z new it would cost me near 650$ which includes shipping and customs. No way I can afford that now. I need a scope to finalize my product (power supply for dreamcast) and start selling it in order to upgrade my lab ...etc. getting USB scopes like Hantek seems good but not for me since I want a real bench scope, and they will cost me more since shipping and customs gonna be not so cheap.

I tried searching for analog scopes in ebay but no way near this price if you include shipping. shipping alone takes 130$ or so for a 30$ scope!

The sellers says this scope is perfect condition with 2 BNC probes and fully functional. Original price was about 141$ but I got it down to 105$.

I know you guys are enablers (nothing wrong with that actually) and you need a spark, but still I hoped that someone tried such a scope or brand to insight me more.

Hi,
That is a good  quality, medium complexity 20MHz 'scope of fairly late design for a CRT type. It will be fine for power supply work, also audio and lowerspeed micrcontroller work. I would take it over a Hantek "20MHz" USB any day. It was sold under the Kenwood name in NA ad UK.  $105 is a fair price, they were $700 new not that long ago.
Where in Jordan are you? I spent some time there in '96 & '97

Yup... looks very comparable to everybody's first school electronics lab scope, the Hitachi V-212 (and cousins); only a generation or two newer. If one had shown up here in Toronto for $105 before I got my 54645A, I'd have jumped on it; and I'm a freaking cheap-arse dwagon.

Welcome to the nuthouse! 

mnem
 

[med6753]

The Lady Cop has been delivered back home and I just got back here just in time before the sky opens up and starts dumping massive amounts of white stuff. Already snowing in NYC. Not here yet.

And now to play catch up. 

[mnementh]

Oh.... and here I thought you were looking forward to getting snowed-in together... 

mnem
*nuking a circuitpython dev board*

[tautech]

This pump we rebuilt a few weeks back finally used in anger and a little squirt to ~400rpm which is higher than we've been running it displayed it could also be used for water cannon duties ! 
Mother can it shift some water ! 
2" delivery doesn't do this thing justice so we're on the lookout for some 2 1/2" or 3"



Some initial runup checks found a slight Timken bearing cycling growl was totally silenced with a tiny bit more bearing preload. 

[SilverSolder]

LOL that pump looks serious - no need to use a hose!   

[tautech]

LOL that pump looks serious - no need to use a hose!   

10" impeller spinning at just ~2400rpm whereas it can be run to 3200 where it requires 60+HP and can push to some 120m head ....yep pretty serious for a effluent pump which is it's intended use.

[mnementh]

Well done, ya hoser!!!



As my grand-dad taught me... this is your best friend whenever diag-ing an unknown bearing/drivetrain. 

mnem
 

[tautech]

As my grand-dad taught me... this is your best friend whenever diag-ing an unknown bearing/drivetrain. 

mnem
 

Mechanic's Stethoscope = long screwdriver held to the ear. 

[beanflying]

They moved the 3D Printing topics to a corner "Off Topic Hobbies" 
Off Topic 3D Printing? Electronics is the core of those machines....

https://www.eevblog.com/forum/supporters-lounge/off-topic-hobbies/new/#new

 I do not understand.

Well, I could quite successfully argue that electronics was the core of many devices nowadays, would that make them automatically 'on topic'? I think not. Would the fact that one of those Peleton^TM style static exercise cycles would be impossible to make without a shitload of electronics make static cycling 'on topic'? Making one would be*, but just using it? No.

The same applies to 3D printers, CNC mills and lathes and so on. One can see how all those have a peripheral rôle in electronics construction, but not as core electronics.

* I have done. Magnets and Hall effect sensors on the rear wheel and cranks, 5 kHz PLL receiver for a heart rate monitor, add Arduino, add serial connection to an old Mac notebook for a display, done.

My guess would be much more likely just Simon being a butthead. He had a tantrum in the 3DP thread a couple weeks ago and everybody told him off; then he peeved that it was an unimportant thread and should die off anyways. Why not just help it along a little by making sure it doesn't show up on the main page, where every new post just taunts him...?

mnem
*punt*

SO I need to keep running away from the Dwagon too    https://www.eevblog.com/forum/news/new-off-topic-hobbies-section/msg3440324/#msg3440324

[mansaxel]

As my grand-dad taught me... this is your best friend whenever diag-ing an unknown bearing/drivetrain. 

mnem
 

Mechanic's Stethoscope = long screwdriver held to the ear. 

Das Gespenst!

[Neomys Sapiens]

The Texio CS-4125A uses custom Hybrid IC's as far as I know, so if it fails, it may be a difficult scope to repair. I would recommend trying to get a secondhand HAMEG as they were mostly made from off the shelf parts and can be found for relatively low prices.

McBryce.

I am in Jordan, no Hameg or any other brand available. Check opensooq jordan and see for yourself. If I was in USA, I would have searched through ebay to get the Hameg and other brands for sure.

Hi,
That is a good  quality, medium complexity 20MHz 'scope of fairly late design for a CRT type. It will be fine for power supply work, also audio and lowerspeed micrcontroller work. I would take it over a Hantek "20MHz" USB any day. It was sold under the Kenwood name in NA ad UK.  $105 is a fair price, they were $700 new not that long ago.
Where in Jordan are you? I spent some time there in '96 & '97

I told the seller that I will take it. Actually, even if it is a bad scope... still the ONLY option available for now. Good to hear that it was a good one. Condition is perfect too.

I live in Irbid and work in Ghor Al-Safi in south, near Karak. You used to work here? good to hear someone knows we exist 

Hi,
I was further south. We were running the Thrust SSC car on the Al-Jafra desert. Nearest town was Ma'an. We stayed at the King Feisal bin Abdul Aziz Air Base.  Visited Amman a few times but never got as far north as Irbid. I had a short stay at the Queen Alia hospital following an accident with a pneumatic antenna mast  . The treatment I received there was first class.

Say, is treatment at QAMH a mandatory thing when working in Jordan or are the nurses THAT pretty? Guy I know who worked with KADB had a stay there after he fell off a vehicle!

[DC1MC]

https://www.ebay.de/itm/Philips-Digital-Multimeter-PM-2421-Pr%C3%BCfger%C3%A4t-mit-Nixie-R%C3%B6hren-Me%C3%9Fger%C3%A4t-defekt/303866737710

I don't need more Nixies, I don't need more Nixies... Ooo, it does nA.... I DON'T NEED MORE NIXIES!!!

Can I get some support here?

McBryce.

You don't need this stuff, you need a proper Nixie CUNTER  :
https://www.ebay-kleinanzeigen.de/s-anzeige/-solartron-frequency-cunter-em-1616-/1203535782-168-1107

[mnementh]

   

So I've been tinkering with those $6 Seeeduino Xaiao boards since Amazon delivered on time. This board has direct support for Arduino IDE right out of the little triple-matchbox they come in, plus CircuitPython and even the TinyUSB HID device development project.



Of course, I found the little tin cover offensive, and had to take a peek under one of them.    Nothing exciting; the ATSAMD21G18A processor, a crystal, some passives and a LDO to produce 3.3V from the onboard USB-C (!!!) connector's 5V rail.

The process of prepping for CircuitPython is pretty painless, as the device comes with a bootloader preinstalled which presents internal flash as a ~8MB drive visible to Windows. From there, installing the MiniPython interpreter image is literally drag & drop; whereupon the thing automatically reboots and comes back up as a CircuitPy. With a whopping 48KB left available for the user's scripts. 



Now looking into how to add the SPI CF reader boards I bought... amusingly, they're twice as big as the processor.    But hey, they too were cheap.  Even with the Amazon next-day premium, ~$30 Canadian Pesos for 3 of each. I think that's damned reasonable for what these little bit-munchers offer.


mnem

[mnementh]

They moved the 3D Printing topics to a corner "Off Topic Hobbies" 
Off Topic 3D Printing? Electronics is the core of those machines....

https://www.eevblog.com/forum/supporters-lounge/off-topic-hobbies/new/#new

 I do not understand.

Well, I could quite successfully argue that electronics was the core of many devices nowadays, would that make them automatically 'on topic'? I think not. Would the fact that one of those Peleton^TM style static exercise cycles would be impossible to make without a shitload of electronics make static cycling 'on topic'? Making one would be*, but just using it? No.

The same applies to 3D printers, CNC mills and lathes and so on. One can see how all those have a peripheral rôle in electronics construction, but not as core electronics.

* I have done. Magnets and Hall effect sensors on the rear wheel and cranks, 5 kHz PLL receiver for a heart rate monitor, add Arduino, add serial connection to an old Mac notebook for a display, done.

My guess would be much more likely just Simon being a butthead. He had a tantrum in the 3DP thread a couple weeks ago and everybody told him off; then he peeved that it was an unimportant thread and should die off anyways. Why not just help it along a little by making sure it doesn't show up on the main page, where every new post just taunts him...?

Or maybe it was unwittingly instigated by one of the 3DP thread regulars, who shall remain nameless to protect the guilty. 

mnem
*punt*

SO I need to keep running away from the Dwagon too    https://www.eevblog.com/forum/news/new-off-topic-hobbies-section/msg3440324/#msg3440324

Oh... well then. I was looking for the simplest reason that it might have happened "out of the blue"... but seeing as it was not "out of the blue" but rather instigated, then it would appear otherwise. I hereby withdraw my "butthead" suggestion and substitute a more moderate tone. 

mnem
D'OH!

[med6753]

Oh.... and here I thought you were looking forward to getting snowed-in together... 

mnem
*nuking a circuitpython dev board*

She has to work tomorrow although she was thinking about calling out if the snow was too deep. So OK, why don't I stay down there you ask? Fighting NYC traffic on a good day is a nightmare. Add significant snow to that equation? Ah....no. 

[med6753]

As my grand-dad taught me... this is your best friend whenever diag-ing an unknown bearing/drivetrain. 

mnem
 

Mechanic's Stethoscope = long screwdriver held to the ear. 

Das Gespenst!

That is an excellent movie and I've watched it several times. 

[mnementh]

Yeah... the potential for grievous personal injury is quite high when probing spinning/reciprocating/potentially live areas of a machine; especially things with great potential for harm like a spinning PTO yoke.

That half a meter of poly hose provides more than just convenience; it allows you to see what you're probing while you're probing it. Sure if you need to double-check something you think you hear and you don't have your toolbox... I've done it (the long screwdriver, ratchet extension, etc trick) m'self more times than I can count. But I still prefer to use the correct tool. I mean, we're talking $5-8 here, and the diaphragm makes it a much more sensitive diag too as well.

mnem
 

[Neomys Sapiens]

Yeah... the potential for grievous personal injury is quite high when probing spinning/reciprocating/potentially live areas of a machine; especially things with great potential for harm like a spinning PTO yoke.

That half a meter of poly hose provides more than just convenience; it allows you to see what you're probing while you're probing it. Sure if you need to double-check something you think you hear and you don't have your toolbox... I've done it m'self more times than I can count. But I still prefer to use the correct tool. I mean, we're talking $5-8 here, and the diaphragm makes it a much more sensitive diag too as well.

mnem
 

that said at least. And yet nobody seems to have arrived in our time where a device like a Fluke 805 or a CMAS 100-SL from SKF can give you much more precise and reliable information. Instruments for bearing diagnosis are around since the 60s of the last century, I think.

[tautech]

Yeah... the potential for grievous personal injury is quite high when probing spinning/reciprocating/potentially live areas of a machine; especially things with great potential for harm like a spinning PTO yoke.

That half a meter of poly hose provides more than just convenience; it allows you to see what you're probing while you're probing it. Sure if you need to double-check something you think you hear and you don't have your toolbox... I've done it m'self more times than I can count. But I still prefer to use the correct tool. I mean, we're talking $5-8 here, and the diaphragm makes it a much more sensitive diag too as well.

mnem
 

that said at least. And yet nobody seems to have arrived in our time where a device like a Fluke 805 or a CMAS 100-SL from SKF can give you much more precise and reliable information. Instruments for bearing diagnosis are around since the 60s of the last century, I think.

With the pump and its 6:1 step up gearbox all bearings were replaced so only getting the preload correct for the high speed pump shaft and its Timken bearings was needed and although we had it pretty close after reassembly there was a little cyclic growl that disappeared with a teeny bit more preload.

Interestingly this pump has the ability to run dry and not bugger the $ graphite pump shaft seal and this pic shows an additional lube reservoir to lube the outside of the graphite seal. We were told by the agents to run Glycol in it which makes perfect sense for something that might sit outside in freezing weather.
The gland bracket on the pump shaft has an ordinary rubber lip seal to contain the Glycol and so keep the $ graphite seal lubed regardless if the other side is dry as would happen if you emptied the dam/pond you were pumping from.