Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread

[mansaxel]

Came home last night, made dinner, fell asleep when putting children to bed.

Now am awake insanely early for  a Good Friday and busying myself with upgrading the virtual machines on my latest colo install, that I did yesterday.

You see, in this socialist workers paradise, Maundy Thursday is a "half-day", where one is expected, work and union agreements permitting, to work only up to lunch  (and Good Friday is a holiday). I spent the work part of the day making up small /30 segments of the machine room network at work, to isolate some digital mixers from the broadcast storms of the larger automation net. Not entirely successful, but a bit better.

After lunch, I went and bolted in a "new" (newer than an Avometer, that is) server at the colo where I keep a few machines. This one's supposed to take over from all of them, but is somewhat lacking in storage, large 2.5" drives being more expensive than I want them to be..

[Zucca]

https://www.gofundme.com/f/lets-get-right-to-repair-passed

“We shall soon be in a world in which a man may be howled down for saying that two and two make four, in which furious party cries will be raised against anybody who says that cows have horns, in which people will persecute the heresy of calling a triangle a three-sided figure, and hang a man for maddening mob with the news that grass is green.”

― G.K. Chesterton

[Saskia]

Hi Vince,

welcome to the Hotel TEA-ofornia. You may checkout any time you want, but you will never leave ...

In other news, Hubby ok'd the aquisition of a dinghy.

Does a Pogo 850 count as a dinghy ?
it's still small ? ...

[tautech]

Hi Vince,

welcome to the Hotel TEA-ofornia. You may checkout any time you want, but you will never leave ...

In other news, Hubby ok'd the aquisition of a dinghy.

Does a Pogo 850 count as a dinghy ?
it's still small ? ...

No !
8.5m is not a dinghy ! 

https://www.pogostructures.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/DOC-POGO-850-ANG.pdf

[bd139]

Joy another ebay buyer pain in the arse to deal with.

At this point I think I'm done with selling anything on ebay. Anyone want about 10kg of lego? 

Hmmmmm, how much for shipping across the pond?  In all seriousness, the shipping is probably too much to be practical.
I still play with the stuff.  I have an excuse as father-son time with a kid who loves his lego. 

It’s usually crazy money for that. Think last time sent something heavy US side it cost a hell of a lot above 2kg. I assume Canada is the same.

[beanflying]

Hi Vince,

welcome to the Hotel TEA-ofornia. You may checkout any time you want, but you will never leave ...

In other news, Hubby ok'd the aquisition of a dinghy.

Does a Pogo 850 count as a dinghy ?
it's still small ? ...

No !
8.5m is not a dinghy ! 

https://www.pogostructures.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/DOC-POGO-850-ANG.pdf

Tell him you got a deal on a Yacht Tender instead  Boats are bottomless money pits and coop ownership with the 'right' people or even short term leasing is potentially cheaper.

[tggzzz]

Absolutely.  The only way to learn is to get experience and the only way to get experience is to get experience, and that means using real live patients.  It's the medical equivalent of a "live fire exercise" in the military.

There's an old saying among surgeons here about learning to do any particular operation: "Watch one, do one, teach one.".

And "Read the Haynes manual"?

Haynes manuals were books of photos/drawings/descriptions that enabled amateurs to mend their own car. They were most useful when the drawings and texts were actually related to the car stated on the cover. Analogy: a Tek 465 service manual where some of the pictures and descriptions showed a 475.

[tggzzz]

Boats are bottomless money pits and coop ownership with the 'right' people or even short term leasing is potentially cheaper.

Two old sayings...

Boats are holes in the water that you pour money into.

If it floats, flies or f??ks, it is cheaper to rent than buy.

Yes, I can be unreconstructed at times.

[Saskia]

I still have RTU for the ex-my RIB (Pischel Bolero 620, totally underpowered with a 115 hp Mercury ...)

But I would like a reasonably sized sailboat to go visit Tautech, and an IMOCA is out of reach ...

The Pogo is not, I would be willing to trade my British car for a serious down payment ...

My divorce cost (previous partner) cost me about a Pogo 40 brand new.

That's about the same I paid into the government pension fund from which I will most likely not see a penny as they will be raising the pension entry past my remaining life expectancy.

Zucca, I envy you ...

[beanflying]

Boats are bottomless money pits and coop ownership with the 'right' people or even short term leasing is potentially cheaper.

Two old sayings...

Boats are holes in the water that you pour money into.

If it floats, flies or f??ks, it is cheaper to rent than buy.

Yes, I can be unreconstructed at times.

Six of us owned an old Port Tender. Cost/year about $600 each including moorings and a bit of time Beer and a BBQ once a year to scrub and paint its bum  Like all good things it came to a soft slightly sad end, we lost one member to a Car accident and my Dad passed away and the rest of us collectively decided to call it a day. The remaining members were well on the generous side of 70 

[bd139]

I hate boats. They’re wet, usually mouldy somewhere, peppered with bird shit and if we were supposed to float we wouldn’t have invented bridges 

Spending the morning working out an action plan for Easter Sunday. The kids don’t give a crap about such things as it’s all about chocolate so I’m going for a very long walk now our travel restrictions are reduced.

[beanflying]

Sounds like some of the 'project' Scopes certain members here have purchased 

Oh wait that was me 

[bd139]

Ooh nasty! Yeah me too. That D755 is rancid inside. Been slowly cleaning it out.

[Saskia]

I know what yer pointing at.

However there are a few reasonings behind that.
I grant you that mooring is an arm and 2 legs.
My new boss loves sailing (he sez he is encouraging me to set out and do this)
He supports me in trying to get me a permanent home office job near the sea which I love.
He may even support my exodus from Germany, but we will see.
He may try to boost me up one rank in the corporate pecking order and promote me to architect.

Why should I gift all of that to little monster (my daughter) and not just sink some of it for myself ...
The 850 is not that expensive, anyway, and it is suitable to cross over to Scotland, Ireland, Martinique, what have you.
It's not that comfy, though.
(I am seriously considering it, depending on how much I like sailing, which I am set to find out)

[med6753]

Ooh nasty! Yeah me too. That D755 is rancid inside. Been slowly cleaning it out.

The Type 561B was nasty inside but not THAT nasty. 

[Saskia]

I am eyeing a Keithley 2015. Are handle and display readily available ?

[med6753]

I stole these pix from the Facebook Tek Scopes site. Rogers Organ Company founded by ex-Tek employees. Doesn't the construction technique look very familiar? 

[beanflying]

Gratuitous cross TEA Dinner posting https://www.eevblog.com/forum/cooking/salt-and-pepper-calamari-(squid-tubes)/new/#new

Burp.....

[ch_scr]

I am eyeing a Keithley 2015. Are handle and display readily available ?

Handle should be non-problematic. Slightly worn VFD is no problem until it gets bad enough that you can't see it anymore.
Getting a replacement VFD is notoriously problematic. More often than not it's just non are on sale. Keithley will only sell you a complete front panel for $$$

[capt bullshot]

I am eyeing a Keithley 2015. Are handle and display readily available ?

Don't know. Anyway, as an owner of K2015 and HPAK34401A, I'd recommend to wait for a reasonably priced 34401A (about 400EUR if the display is OK), except when you want the THD function.
I'm using the 34401A way more often than the 2015, mostly because of its smaller display and different UI behaviour. Technically and spec wise they're quite similar, with the exception of the THD function of the 2015.

[capt bullshot]

Now let's go for some fun with TEA: Testing the Voltech 3300 power meter.

It's working, thermal / warm up drift is better than before my last modification, but there's still an issue that I'm hunting after.
Here's the setup:

I'm using the Fluke calibrator the generate the input for voltage measurement.



Then this Kepco BOP to generate a constant AC current fed into this transformer.




The shunt (1mOhm) and homemade x10 precision amplifier to monitor the transformers secondary




The output:



One needs the dual channel AFG to generate two reference signals of same frequency and variable phase relation. One is fed into the Fluke 5100A as ext. Osc. Signal, the other one into the Kepco BOP. To measure the voltage across the shunt (30mV @ 30A), I'm using an HPAK34401A. There's a nice trap for beginners with that: I you apply 1A -> 1mV across the shunt, it's about 1% of the measuring range, and most multimeters have a significant error at this level. So I had to build the x10 amplifier to cope with that. The reason is: The maximum current out of the Fluke is 2A, so I had to calibrate the shunt at this level to transfer the current measurement to the transformer / Kepco setup.

[Brumby]

A very complete one for the AVO nuts out there too. eBay auction: #233944670135 $15 AUD post to me and on shipping at cost ENABLING available to non locals

 

This is starting to lose its appeal - even with no shipping and a cupful of fuel.

Four days to go and we have two bidders bouncing back and forth a couple of times.  Bound to be more bouncing ... and then there's the sniper unknown.


Anyone want to take a punt at the final price?

[beanflying]

A very complete one for the AVO nuts out there too. eBay auction: #233944670135 $15 AUD post to me and on shipping at cost ENABLING available to non locals

 

This is starting to lose its appeal - even with no shipping and a cupful of fuel.

Four days to go and we have two bidders bouncing back and forth a couple of times.  Bound to be more bouncing ... and then there's the sniper unknown.


Anyone want to take a punt at the final price?

Depends if one of the bidders already has a lightbulb or Salvaged Nixies 

[Brumby]

Wash your mouth out!!

[beanflying]

Karma for that last comment was swift when this medium sized one nearly dropped in my Gin. I detect a change in the weather is coming