Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread

[vk6zgo]

Heads up for those in London and the South East, beware your catalytic convertor is at risk. Police are warning that there are masked gangs going round stealing them from parked cars, even on peoples drives in broad daylight. Well-organised with trolley jacks and battery power angle grinders they can cut a convertor free in under 90 seconds and be away with it in their car. These can cost around £2000 to get replaced.

Don’t worry too much unless you drive a hybrid. 85% are nicked off them.

Seems to be specifically Toyotas. Their CATs have higher value metal content.

My CAT has higher fur content!

[Wolfgang]

10.5.8. Ancient. 

No. If it's MacPro3,1 (Early 2008) it officially goes to 10.11.6 (El Capitan). If it's MacPro2,1 it officially goes to 10.7.5 (Lion). With a little fiddling all the Intel Mac Pros will run El Capitan, even the MacPro1,1.

I have two MacPro1,1s here, one's running El Capitan, the other's running VMWare EXSi 6.0. 

My bad. I thought it was a G5. If it’s Intel it’s still good.

Although over two years it’s probably cheaper and gives better performance to buy a NUC with an NVMe drive than pay for the electricity or worry about the risk of it burning your house down while you’re out.

Use the remaining Mac Pro for this:

Who says that Apple computers cannot be used for meaningful purposes ? 

[Specmaster]

Quick update on the PackLink saga.

I have a replay back from them, and they say that the max size of the package is clearly on display when ordering, so I went the on screen ordering process again today and the result is attached. Are my eyes so bad that I can't what they say is clearly visible. All I can see is what I declared the package to be, 5Kg, 45 x 46 x 32cm.

However, if you should happen to accidentally click on their help link it takes you another table where you can clearly see how each courier calculates the maximum size / price. That being said, why would you even think about going onto the help page after you have already supplied the details 

https://support-ebay.packlink.com/hc/en-gb/articles/360006640759-Parcel-sizes

I await the result of my further email to them with the price results achieved today and the transcript with their online agent and in anycase I still think that almost 2 months to the day before they request the underpaid fee to be excessive.

[Specmaster]

10.5.8. Ancient. 

No. If it's MacPro3,1 (Early 2008) it officially goes to 10.11.6 (El Capitan). If it's MacPro2,1 it officially goes to 10.7.5 (Lion). With a little fiddling all the Intel Mac Pros will run El Capitan, even the MacPro1,1.

I have two MacPro1,1s here, one's running El Capitan, the other's running VMWare EXSi 6.0. 

My bad. I thought it was a G5. If it’s Intel it’s still good.

Although over two years it’s probably cheaper and gives better performance to buy a NUC with an NVMe drive than pay for the electricity or worry about the risk of it burning your house down while you’re out.

Use the remaining Mac Pro for this:

Who says that Apple computers cannot be used for meaningful purposes ? 

I must admit that I find it slightly amusing following all the discussion of late here with regard to Apple in general 

[beanflying]

I am not pyromanic enuff to steal stuff or try to pull a fast one on explosives. The snafu coefficient is way too high. reminds me of a mishap where I catapulted about 1500 grams to 800 m and the chute ejection charge did not fire. Almost hit a parked glider and left a satisfying crater.

Hmm perhaps I should have qualified my statement a little more clearly, "mini-Saskia-wannabees". Is that better?   


Just fired up the 3DP for the first time, intention: print stuff off thingiverse until I learn CAD.
Damn thing wouldn't start. After some fiddling about, found that the display is connected using the EXT 3 port, not the EXT 2, or, (why would it be?) the EXT 1 port that I had it plugged into initially. For context, the other ports are unused, presumably reserved for some add-on parts or other.
Next problem; I'd routed the tube and wiring for the head on the wrong side of the top crossmember. Power had to be hastily switched off before snappage occured.
Next problem; autohome sets the bed too high for the glass bed I'm using with PLA. Glad I noticed it before starting a print, or it would have probably fooked the nozzle and glass bed both.
Next problem; bed clearly not level, but as I'd started a test print and didn't want to abort, levelled it mostly by eye, on the fly. Time will tell how good my eye is...

Once the test print is done I'm printing a AA battery storage box from thingiverse.   

Welcome to the dork side we can print cookies 

[Specmaster]

I've just pulled the trigger on something that I have wanted for years and years and never got around to buying one until I'm in my twilight years. Better late than never so they say 

[beanflying]

Narrowed the Solder Station choices no tips included and there is a new slightly fancier JBC coming so seems the current ones might be reduced at least in Oz. Prices are to my door and Tax paid from local distributors. Looked at TEquipment and a few of the usual suspects and savings are $50-80 and 120V PITA transformer use mainly due to $100+ USD of postage.

JBC CD-B 130W version "General Purpose Station" $574 AUD
Pace ADS200 120W instant setback stand version $680 AUD

By the time a few tips are added they will both finish up about level pegging for price - way to much 

So... does that mean a DIY T12 solution is getting some consideration...? Or maybe scouring fleaBay for a used MX500?

mnem
 

Secondhand Soldering Gear in Oz is actually WORSE than Test Gear  Unless you like paying over the Original Retail for PCB burners from 30+ years ago.

So currently just considering if this is a 'reasonable' level of tippiness to start with or do I need a Curved Spoon with double overhead twists as well

ORDERED 

[mnementh]

Just thinking aboot how much single-malt and filament you could buy if only you could be arsed to build it yourself... 

mnem
 

[beanflying]

More a case of how much Time. Scotch and filament I would use making a POS work 

[Kosmic]

One of those Scope/Multimeter for 50$ ? sure I'll take it. Was listed as "Untested, For parts or not working" and I was feeling lucky.



It’s funny when something is already cheap but the "Make an offer" option is available, some people get greedy and try to get an even better deal. 2 offers were already pending so I just hit "Buy it now" at 49.99$US. Brand new, the TPI 440 goes for 400$US.

Now fist problem is the DC jack being a really weird format.




So I simply disassembled the meter to hook up my power supply to try to recharge the battery.



After couple of hours of charging.





The meter is working perfectly. I can now safely poke main to check the waveform! I wanted something like that to work on PSU. There's bunch of features, including a trend mode. I like that 

Interestingly it's also a component tester

[mnementh]

             

So... Took it all apart down to the MB; unplugged & reseated everything I could, cleaned a whole herd of dustbunnies out and... not a damned thing different.

Tried C's magical incantations (or at least best I could according to research aboot what keys on a PC KB map over to Mac) and no joy either. If I boot it with no GPU, I hear the Mac welcome tone, and the HDDs hashing, so at this point I think it actually is trying to boot, but has a dead GPU.

Unfortunately, the list of supported GPUs is pretty short. And surprise, surprise, surprise... only GPUs flashed with a Mac-specific FW will have the preboot splash. 

Here's some pretty pics of the insides... I'm gonna toddle off to ded now.

mnem
 

[mansaxel]

The meter is working perfectly. I can now safely poke main to check the waveform! I wanted something like that to work on PSU. There's bunch of features, including a trend mode. I like that 

I've always assumed I can look at the mains waveform, but that's because my first scope is a 123 Scopemeter! (No, I won't try it with a scope not suited to it.)

The other day, I thought about which of my multimeters I'd take if I could bring only one. The 123 is very much up there, because you can see what you measure, and the AC b/w is not like your typical DMM. Only problem is it won't do current. And it needs recharging frequently.

[ch_scr]

The meter is working perfectly. I can now safely poke main to check the waveform! I wanted something like that to work on PSU. There's bunch of features, including a trend mode. I like that 

I've always assumed I can look at the mains waveform, but that's because my first scope is a 123 Scopemeter! (No, I won't try it with a scope not suited to it.)

The other day, I thought about which of my multimeters I'd take if I could bring only one. The 123 is very much up there, because you can see what you measure, and the AC b/w is not like your typical DMM. Only problem is it won't do current. And it needs recharging frequently.

Component tester? Immensely usefull in repair! Very nice catch!

[Zoli]

             

So... Took it all apart down to the MB; unplugged & reseated everything I could, cleaned a whole herd of dustbunnies out and... not a damned thing different.

Tried C's magical incantations (or at least best I could according to research aboot what keys on a PC KB map over to Mac) and no joy either. If I boot it with no GPU, I hear the Mac welcome tone, and the HDDs hashing, so at this point I think it actually is trying to boot, but has a dead GPU.

Unfortunately, the list of supported GPUs is pretty short. And surprise, surprise, surprise... only GPUs flashed with a Mac-specific FW will have the preboot splash. 

Here's some pretty pics of the insides... I'm gonna toddle off to ded now.

mnem
 

I'm pretty sure, like all the nvidias of that age, is hit by bumpgate; maybe try an "oven reflow"?

[bd139]

Think you can stick any card in it but you just won’t get the boot splash and helpful EFI stuff as these don’t have a PC style BIOS.  If you get boot camp assistant on another windows PC and use that to make a windows install that’ll use a basic VGA driver AFAIK so it’ll come up when windows boots.

[psykok]

Nice box
I have a HP16058A fixture that was modified by it's previous owner, with some of the inserts. Back from when I did not know that the K2636 had Keithley-specific toleranced triaxial jacks, so that only the plugs you buy on their cables fit and dreamed of making my own triax connection cables.
When I bought the fixture on "offer a price" it was good, at least taking into account the additional triaxial jacks mounted to the modification. Little did I know...
Edit: looking at epay, the prices for these seem to have gone up. Feel a little better now having bought mine ~4 years ago
Just to rub it in, I could not even begin to think of using this until now...

Good day,

yes, these Triaxial leads and connectors are surely nice and they have their advantages in low-current-sensing and RF-sensitive applications.
But they are just a pain for those who do not need these benefits... Even the adapters are truly expensive.

Cheers,

THDplusN_bad

Is this one of the Triaxial BNC's that the matching leads are really expensive, or something easier to obtain?
It's on the back of the only item of Keithley TEA I have a 455 picoammeter, it went into storage yesterday along with the pair of Solartron voltmeters I haven't got leads for yet.




David

I may have such a connector in stock

[Robert763]

One of those Scope/Multimeter for 50$ ? sure I'll take it. Was listed as "Untested, For parts or not working" and I was feeling lucky.



It’s funny when something is already cheap but the "Make an offer" option is available, some people get greedy and try to get an even better deal. 2 offers were already pending so I just hit "Buy it now" at 49.99$US. Brand new, the TPI 440 goes for 400$US.

Now fist problem is the DC jack being a really weird format.




So I simply disassembled the meter to hook up my power supply to try to recharge the battery.



<SNIP>

The meter is working perfectly. I can now safely poke main to check the waveform! I wanted something like that to work on PSU. There's bunch of features, including a trend mode. I like that 

Interestingly it's also a component tester

The long plug on the charger is to maintain the CAT III (or whatever it has) safety rating while it is on charge. The Philips/Fluke ones are similar but shorter. Best get the right charger.

[bd139]

Front end looks a bit wimpy. But it’s a scope so 

[McBryce]

If you're not concerned about maintaining CAT III you could remove that black sleeve from the power socket and install a standard panel mounted socket directly on the case?

McBryce.

[Robert763]

If you're not concerned about maintaining CAT III you could remove that black sleeve from the power socket and install a standard panel mounted socket directly on the case?

McBryce.

NO! DON'T DO IT
A. You WILL forget one day
B. You might, sell or lend it to someone who does not know its not safe.


The minimum you could do is make somethong up using the end of a standard plug an a length of plastic tube or even glue lined heatshrink .

[beanflying]

If you're not concerned about maintaining CAT III you could remove that black sleeve from the power socket and install a standard panel mounted socket directly on the case?

McBryce.

NO! DON'T DO IT
A. You WILL forget one day
B. You might, sell or lend it to someone who does not know its not safe.


The minimum you could do is make somethong up using the end of a standard plug an a length of plastic tube or even glue lined heatshrink .

Was on the E14 site and a quick search got this longer one https://au.element14.com/switchcraft-conxall/s10/connector-power-entry-plug-10a/dp/2914735 might be worth having a trawl for a solution on some manufacturers sites rather than the retail end

[BU508A]

I've checked Mouser for such DC power connectors but I failed to find something similar to that connector shown by Kosmic.
Probably use a ordinary connector which fits and add a plastic tube to it.
Or do some 3D printing.

[beanflying]

Hacking a plug isn't that hard for personal use. Pick the right sized bits of K&S tubing to suit the socket cut to length and wrap tightly in Kapton/heatshrink or make a sleeve to hold them apart. Making it look non bodge might take a nice 3D printed bit outside 

[tggzzz]

Quick update on the PackLink saga.
...
I await the result of my further email to them with the price results achieved today and the transcript with their online agent and in anycase I still think that almost 2 months to the day before they request the underpaid fee to be excessive.

They seem to have been reading the playbook of less reputable car hire companies.

[AVGresponding]

Currently 4 hours and 15% into the first of 3 parts for the AA storage box. It took 2 hours to go to 1%, I suspect that the % progress indicator refers to the height, and since the bottom is solid and the rest of it mostly air, it skews the result.
Given the slicer software estimates the filament length and weight needed, I would have thought a more representative % progress indication could be worked off this, but w/e...
[...]

It often refers to the % of the gcode file already printed. I vote for Med, believe he could use a distraction & a cheer up.

Well, I've heard of "A Dog Called Blue", and I've heard of "the black dog", so would it come back as "A blue dog called Black" ?