Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread

[nixiefreqq]

Think it’s polyurethane tubing and the problem is called blooming. Early PU wasn’t that stable. Capacitors might be fine even if they are pretty fugly. Worth testing some if you have an ESR meter.

That sprague black beauty to the right worries me more 

thanks!   you learn something new all the time.  will now stop worrying about catching a skin disease from those caps. (really thought maybe it was some kind of mold or fungus.)

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41529-019-0080-7

[AVGresponding]

Discord is up, you lazy lot

[med6753]

I don't care. They look like the Heebie Jeebies and they are getting replaced. 

[tautech]

I don't care. They look like the Heebie Jeebies and they are getting replaced. 

Have you tried Tedss for axial caps:
https://www.tedss.com/

[factory]

Think it’s polyurethane tubing and the problem is called blooming. Early PU wasn’t that stable. Capacitors might be fine even if they are pretty fugly. Worth testing some if you have an ESR meter.

That sprague black beauty to the right worries me more 

thanks!   you learn something new all the time.  will now stop worrying about catching a skin disease from those caps. (really thought maybe it was some kind of mold or fungus.)

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41529-019-0080-7

I've seen them in HP stuff too and haven't given any thought to what it was, just got on with cleaning them & reinstalling them if they tested OK.

David

[Cerebus]

I don't care. They look like the Heebie Jeebies and they are getting replaced. 

Have you tried Tedss for axial caps:
https://www.tedss.com/

Teds? How's that going to help? I mean, it'll probably be a fine party, but ...

[tonyalbus]

Delta Elektronika Power Supply...from the '70 .. like new, i did have some help from there amazing Customer support, and its Dutch!

Grats Tony for 1K subscribers!

Thank you! 

[factory]

Accidentally bought a second HP 2802A thermometer a few weeks ago from CDL for £20 + p&p, bit surprized no-one else bid, maybe the lack of probe with it put others off.  Anyway it came very well packed as usual.


After opening I had to decontaminate it of this BS sticker.  Straight in the bin where it belongs.


This is a bit older than the other one I have, serial number is 140 (ref A board), very few differences inside apart from they forgot to put a trace for the +5V to the connector on this one and minor component layout changes, later one has some extra test points (rev C board).



As expected it clearly had problems (checked with probe from the other meter) , it was cold a few weeks ago when I took this picture but not that cold, also the switches were very intermittent and kept getting stuck.


It was put to one side while I was identifying what probe & connector to buy, the connector turned out to be a standard locking DIN type and the probes are industry standard PRT 100, a four wire type is needed.
The probe & connector from Farnell cost slightly more than the meter did.
Those arrived this week and got wired up & tested with the working meter, after confirming it worked I tried the faulty meter again, still broken.

Someone forget to order a second connector for the performance tests with a decade resistor box  , a bit of searching found a non-locking DIN, soon had that wired up, but still not working properly.

Before going into the fault finding procedure I thought it would be best to try cleaning those switches, they were a bit fiddly to take apart but cleaning the contacts & re-greasing the latching mechanism made a hell of a difference.



A bit later after adjusting the zero & 2408 cal settings, pictured with the newer meter (which has a noticeably dimmer display) all good now.



They both probably need a cal check with an ice/water bath at some point, as per the the calibration procedure. Despite the extra resolution mode the accuracy is apparently only +/- 0.5°C.

David

[bd139]

Oh very cool. Didn't know that was a standard connector which is why I didn't buy it 

[factory]

Nor did I till I bought a manual for it, original was a Switchcraft part but the Lumberg version was much cheaper at half the price. 

David

[factory]

Anyone in the US interested in a very compact Japanese frequency counter, these are made by Takeda Riken but usually rebranded as Philips in Europe, this US one is rebranded Tempo.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/174641792704


Here is the Philips version I bought last year (didn't come with the pre-scaler) being run from the 12V connector as the mains input had been hacked about by a previous owner.


David

[beanflying]

Jenga Time to play tomorrow I hope.

Impressive collection 

Partial fraud the Fluke 5101B and Valhalla Current Calibrator are in need of repair. The HP 740B is working of a fashion but needs additional TLC and a second box building for it.

All I need is a 10 day week and 30 hour day

[beanflying]

Accidentally bought a second HP 2802A thermometer a few weeks ago from CDL for £20 + p&p, bit surprized no-one else bid, maybe the lack of probe with it put others off. 

,,,,,,,,,,

They both probably need a cal check with an ice/water bath at some point, as per the the calibration procedure. Despite the extra resolution mode the accuracy is apparently only +/- 0.5°C.

David

Bonus points for the Dotty Displays 

Time you added some other toys to look after these now 
https://www.eevblog.com/forum/testgear/kaye-140-4-ice-point-reference/msg2412237/#msg2412237
https://www.eevblog.com/forum/testgear/sika-18600e-dryblock-temperature-calibrator-teardown-pictures-testing/msg2249781/#msg2249781

and to check those two one of these or similar 

https://www.eevblog.com/forum/buysellwanted/wanted-quality-rtd-or-up-to-and-including-a-working-sprt/msg2384448/#msg2384448

[tautech]

All I need is a 10 day week and 30 hour day

Are your coffee beans really that bad ? 

[vk6zgo]

British Scottish engineering invented the modern world. Not with silly little 2.0 litre V10s though.

TFTFY. James Clark Maxwell, Alexander Graham Bell, Logie Baird, James Watt, the list goes on. I never cease to wonder at the way us Brits always say it's British if came from Scotland and is something to be proud of and it only becomes Scottish if it's dispreputable (Buckfast drinkers), yuckky (haggis*), or life threatening (Scottish Country Dancing).


*Personally I like haggis.

Me too, but I like black pudding & pierogies, too!
There are things I draw the line at, though.
Rollmops!, Eels!, --------- both blechh!

The Poms tried to push "North Britain" as an alternate name for Scotland, but it "went over like a wrought iron hanglider!"

It seems that not just Scots, but Commonwealth countries become "British" when there is something really nasty going for Brits!
Most of the rest of the time, we are just "furriners"!

[beanflying]

All I need is a 10 day week and 30 hour day

Are your coffee beans really that bad ? 

No 

British Scottish engineering invented the modern world. Not with silly little 2.0 litre V10s though.

TFTFY. James Clark Maxwell, Alexander Graham Bell, Logie Baird, James Watt, the list goes on. I never cease to wonder at the way us Brits always say it's British if came from Scotland and is something to be proud of and it only becomes Scottish if it's dispreputable (Buckfast drinkers), yuckky (haggis*), or life threatening (Scottish Country Dancing).


*Personally I like haggis.

Me too, but I like black pudding & pierogies, too!
There are things I draw the line at, though.
Rollmops!, Eels!, --------- both blechh!

The Poms tried to push "North Britain" as an alternate name for Scotland, but it "went over like a wrought iron hanglider!"

It seems that not just Scots, but Commonwealth countries become "British" when there is something really nasty going for Brits!
Most of the rest of the time, we are just "furriners"!

Fresh Western District Eel on a green stick or mesh grill over an open fire or you are doing it wrong 

[vk6zgo]

I don't care. They look like the Heebie Jeebies and they are getting replaced. 

Have you tried Tedss for axial caps:
https://www.tedss.com/

Teds? How's that going to help? I mean, it'll probably be a fine party, but ...

Us male section of the human species do seem to have a minor glitch in our programming, in that we find dumb looking women attractive.
A nice looking (often blonde) "mouth breather" appears, & it's "all systems go!"

It seems that stuffed bears have the same quirk!

[vk6zgo]

Think it’s polyurethane tubing and the problem is called blooming. Early PU wasn’t that stable. Capacitors might be fine even if they are pretty fugly. Worth testing some if you have an ESR meter.

That sprague black beauty to the right worries me more 

thanks!   you learn something new all the time.  will now stop worrying about catching a skin disease from those caps. (really thought maybe it was some kind of mold or fungus.)

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41529-019-0080-7

I've seen them in HP stuff too and haven't given any thought to what it was, just got on with cleaning them & reinstalling them if they tested OK.

David

Marconi have them, too, from time to time---moreso with old tube equipment, so I always thought it was the effect of heat on the crappy clear plastic.

[SilverSolder]

I don't care. They look like the Heebie Jeebies and they are getting replaced. 

Have you tried Tedss for axial caps:
https://www.tedss.com/

Teds? How's that going to help? I mean, it'll probably be a fine party, but ...

Us male section of the human species do seem to have a minor glitch in our programming, in that we find dumb looking women attractive.
A nice looking (often blonde) "mouth breather" appears, & it's "all systems go!"

It seems that stuffed bears have the same quirk!

The psychology is simple:  if she looks a little dumb, we think we are in with a chance! 

[mansaxel]

I have its brother, the UBC125XLT Airband and general scanner, I'm very please with it too, brilliant little scanner, its performance belies its size.

Airband was one of the bits I really wanted the little Baofeng UV 5R does the rest fairly well. Emergency and Fire is the other bit I wanted  so some of the trunking features might be handy as they have all moved up from their older HF range gear.

The Baofengs really are amazing feats of Chinesium. Say what you will of them; they're enormously useful. And have their limitations.

My FT-817 does airband, as does my Icom IC2720E in the car. The Icom does scanning too. Neither do the new 8,33kHz frequency grid without poking at, (the Yaesu can, since it emulates an analog VFO on the big dial, but no nice channel steps)

[Zucca]

7,5 digit Keithely 2001 650€ German TEA Alert

Now down to 610€, I think if you ask nicely you can take it home shipped for 600€, I have already one sooo...

[AVGresponding]

No doubt, but GRP would have been as good, since for ultimate strength, CF/R needs curing in a nitrogen passivated autoclave.

Do you mean 3D printed glass filled plastic in the context of Zucca's questions about 3DP? I don't think that's an option. Or do you mean glass fibre in place of carbon fibre?

If the latter, CF, even when it hasn't had the aerospace treatment, is still stiffer and stronger than glass fibre for an equivalent sized gob of it (and let's face it, this is a gob - I didn't vac bag it, I didn't degas my mixed resin or even reach for a consolidating roller, I used a lolly stick),  and, and this is the clincher for me, I don't end up with little itchy bits of glass fibre under my skin like I have done every time in my life I have used it no matter how hard I work to avoid it. The box with the resin and other bits has three packets of reinforcements in it: one's got glassfibre in, one's got CF in, and one's got some polyaramid cloth in. What material gets picked as reinforcement depends on what I'm doing.

I mean proper GRP, FRP, or whatever else you want to call it. Layers of glass fibre matting bonded together with resin. I suspect the difference in context is minimal, and would be difficult to accurately quantify, given the construction method...
GRP would certainly be much cheaper though.

Also worth considering is whether you really want a particularly rigid repair? Wouldn't it be better to attempt to match the properties of the material you're repairing, to minimise the risk of stress points in the transition zones?

[beanflying]

DIY a new Handle using 3D printed molds. Random arrival on my youtube feed this morning

https://www.eevblog.com/forum/3d-printing/composite-molding-with-3d-printed-forms/msg3486838/#msg3486838

With that sort of repair when we have been repairing R/C airframes we actually take more away and make a scarf joint across the break or even cut a complete trench and put in a tenon of Carbon Board then finish our way out to the surface.

[AVGresponding]

British Scottish engineering invented the modern world. Not with silly little 2.0 litre V10s though.

TFTFY. James Clark Maxwell, Alexander Graham Bell, Logie Baird, James Watt, the list goes on. I never cease to wonder at the way us Brits always say it's British if came from Scotland and is something to be proud of and it only becomes Scottish if it's dispreputable (Buckfast drinkers), yuckky (haggis*), or life threatening (Scottish Country Dancing).


*Personally I like haggis.

James Clerk Maxwell was indeed Scottish (part of Britain, just like England is), and expanded on the work of the likes of Newton (do you prefer English or British for him?) and Faraday (same question, I just call them all British, myself).

Arguably Baird's electro-mechanical system was an also-ran, with the electronic systems from RCA and Farnsworth (which Baird used under license) bearing more relevance to modern image technology.

Watt took someone else's idea (Thomas Newcomen, British English) and improved it. Also without the business acumen and manufacturing knowhow of Matthew Boulton (English British), his improvements would likely have been largely attributed to other people, when he couldn't have afforded to extend his patent, and also probably would have been made bankrupt.

I notice the conspicuous absence of a few names, such as Frank Whittle (Bringlish), Tim Berners-Lee (Engtish), and Alan Turing (Very English and persecuted to death for being gay).

[bd139]

I think the conspicuous national pride of some inventors is mostly by proxy from people trying to associate themselves with them. I suspect most of these folk probably didn’t give much of a crap about their heritage but do about their work.

I know if I invented something major I’d be bloody annoyed that people would be talking about me being a British inventor rather that what I invented. Either way I am, as most are, somewhat diluted blood lines so I only claim to be an Earthian based on the fact that it’s the only logical boundary that makes any sense.