Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread

[med6753]

It's a British passtime punching oneself in the bollocks and then crowing about how much we love the pain.

"Every year is getting shorter never seem to find the time.
Plans that either come to naught or half a page of scribbled lines
Hanging on in quiet desperation is the English way
The time is gone, the song is over,
Thought I'd something more to say."

and the best bit

"Home, home again
I like to be here when I can
When I come home cold and tired
It's good to warm my bones beside the fire
Far away, across the field
The tolling of the iron bell
Calls the faithful to their knees
To hear the softly spoken magic spell"

Nice lyrics.

Well, I agree - but Roger Waters didn't.

There was quite a good 1 hour documentary on DSotM in 2006: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0398868/ In it Waters apologised for the "lower 6th form" lyrics.

(In the UK the 6th form is the non-compulsory last two years of school education, during which pupils specialise in ~3 subjects of their choice. The lower 6th is the first of those)

Well that's typical Roger. And excellent and inspired song writer but an egotistical prick. 

[AVGresponding]

Seems to happen to almost all of them, once they get famous.

[bd139]

I think the only exception to that rule is probably Brian May so far.

[Specmaster]

I just collected that meter and straight away the screen is needing some attention, and I'd love to address that aspect before cracking it open and exploring its goodness. I have given it a quick functioning test, and it seems to be OK.

So as you can see from the photo, the screen is letting it down, so I'm asking you guys how to tackle this as I'm keen to resolve that before progressing further, any tips?

[AVGresponding]

I think the only exception to that rule is probably Brian May so far.

The whole band, not just May, for that matter.

I just collected that meter and straight away the screen is needing some attention, and I'd love to address that aspect before cracking it open and exploring its goodness. I have given it a quick functioning test, and it seems to be OK.

So as you can see from the photo, the screen is letting it down, so I'm asking you guys how to tackle this as I'm keen to resolve that before progressing further, any tips?

Brasso wadding aka Duraglit, and a lot of elbow grease.

[tggzzz]

I think the only exception to that rule is probably Brian May so far.

He has other interests, e.g. astrophysics and stereoscopic photography. He isn't merely a musician.

[Specmaster]

I just collected that meter and straight away the screen is needing some attention, and I'd love to address that aspect before cracking it open and exploring its goodness. I have given it a quick functioning test, and it seems to be OK.

So as you can see from the photo, the screen is letting it down, so I'm asking you guys how to tackle this as I'm keen to resolve that before progressing further, any tips?

Brasso wadding aka Duraglit, and a lot of elbow grease.

Thanks, thats excellent news, I have some Duraglit in the cupboard I think. I'll crack on after dinner then.

[bd139]

I think the only exception to that rule is probably Brian May so far.

He has other interests, e.g. astrophysics and stereoscopic photography. He isn't merely a musician.

Exactly.

[cyclin_al]

That was a weekend filled with putting things in tight places and getting things stuck in holes!
Now that everyone's mind is in the gutter... 

This continues on top of my issue with the RC part; still need to sort out the screw shaft stuck in the cup.

I got my second COVID shot on Friday afternoon.  The after-effect was a sore shoulder and feeling tired.

On Saturday, everything was fine, so I decided to do as @Vince says (but not as he does, according to his posts) and went to work on the outside of the house.
Proof of my efforts and lack of results:
(Attachment Link)

Concrete bit #1 on the left side is accidentally bent when I got stung by a wasp.    Now, I am allergic to bumble bee stings, but no harm in the past from wasp stings.  As a pro-active measure I took an antihistamine, which meant I had to quit working since those make a person groggy.  Finished the day sitting around the house with the Epi-pen close at hand.  (My first-aid protocol is different from normal, since I live in a rural area without nearby emergency services.)  @Med, you can know that I was with you there in spirit for the evening; get well quick!   A friend came over in the evening and took care of the wasp nest.

Went back to work on Sunday.  The bit #2 is heavily worn down, but at least some progress was made.  Some of the aggregate here is granite, which is very hard stuff to drill through.

Continued with bit #3, which suddenly burned itself out.  Later on I realized that the carbide tip on the end is missing; you can see the vacant slot in the photo.

I tried continuing with bit #4 in the same hole where I left off from bit #3.  This new bit lasted less than a second before the tip got chewed up.  You can also see the drill chuck was no longer able to securely hold the bit.  Investigating that is when I realized that the earlier bit is missing a tip and realized that tip must still be in the concrete.
Unfortunately, I am not aware of drill bits meant to drill through carbide steel.

Well done, Murphy!!! 

Next step is to fill some of those holes with silicone, come up with a re-design, and drill new holes in another location.  Not looking forward to this as the initial design involved minimal cutting of pressure treated lumber and now will likely involve custom cutting.

I will be able to get to TEA someday, I hope ?

You clearly need an SDS+ hammer drill. Given the regularity of bargain finds at thrift shops you guys have in the GWN I'm surprised you don't already have one.


EDIT: The tip is likely in many fragments at the bottom of the hole, and you might be able to get them out with a sticky stick, but even if you can't you should be able to just batter your way through with a new bit. You might have hit some rebar, that will make tips overheat and wear down/shatter.

Thanks for mentioning that.  I was using a bigger than typical hammer drill (120V, 6A).  It is not a SDS+ (I had to google the difference).  We have an even bigger Makita that is at SWMBO brother's house; will check this afternoon if that one is SDS+; it could be big enough to be SDS-MAX.  If not, then I have an excuse to go shopping.  Maybe not, $500+CAD is pretty steep for occasional use.  Oh wait, that sounds like TEA 
Update:  I can get a single-battery SDS+ drill reburbished from Makita Canada for $205CAD; only an hour drive away (but close to my office).

No chance of finding that sort of thing in a thrift shop.  I suspect certain individuals find good deals where there are affluent neighbourhoods.  Those neighbourhoods do not appear to be near here.  Also, affluence like that means they can afford to hire someone, rather than buying such a tool.  Around here in rural areas, you keep everything ... just in case.

I am absolutely certain there is no rebar.  I poured the cement myself.  It is a 8" tube footing which does not need that level of reinforcement.
From what I just read on SDS, that has a much greater chance of breaking through as you suggested, at least compared to a regular hammer drill.
I will try the sticky stick idea; if it works it will certainly make things easier.

Thanks!

EDIT:  just picked up the bigger Makita and is completely unsuited for this purpose.  It has a significant gear reduction so is meant for drilling steel, augers and mixing.  Also, there is no hammering functionality.

[Specmaster]

Progress with the Brasso on the meter screen, it is slow work, but the results are there for all to see. Some marks on the screen are really deep, and I was wondering if using a dremmel with Brasso would be detrimental to it, i.e., would it result in the screen itself getting burnishing marks and swirls visible on the plastic or not?

Before                                                  Current                                             

Close up

[bd139]

Just keep going at it here and there by hand. Took me about 2 days on and off with the brasso to get all the scratches out of that Fluke 87 I had. You're doing a great job of it so far 

Bored here  . Thinking about building myself a mini ITX based server for the hell of it. I'm using the old Lenovo T440 at the moment to do some reverse engineering work and it's getting a bit cranky when pretending it's a server.

[Cerebus]

I think the only exception to that rule is probably Brian May so far.

Having worked backstage or front of house at a lot of gigs in my time my experience is that your A listers are by and large OK, it's the B listers and C listers who are the prima-donnas who have let a little bit of fame go to their heads.

I did a gig for the Tom Robinson Band when they were at the peak of their fame and Tom wasn't too proud to come and voluntarily give me a hand with pointing the lights. It's a pretty standard clause in gig contracts that the artistes have access to a toilet/bathroom that (1) is closed to the public and (2) you don't have to go past the public to get to. When Mr Robinson discovered that because of building work the artistes toilet was out of service his response was "OK, we'll just piss in the dressing room sink then." and that was the end of the matter. Nice bloke, class act. I have known B and C listers throw a hissy fit because the chocolate digestive biscuits in the dressing room weren't the exact brand they specified. Do not get me started on Kevin Bloody Rowland (Dexies) or Dame Lenny Henry (The latter throwing a major hissy fit during one of the first gigs he did after he'd moved from £500 for the night to £1500, was generally a pain in the arse from when he walked in the front door until he left).

Other acts who were memorably a pleasure to work with: The Pogues (except for the hangovers afterward), Level 42, Iron Maiden, Steeleye Span, The Joan Collins Fan Club featuring Fanny the Wonder Dog (aka Julian Clary), Aswad, almost all of the "The Comic Strip Presents" mob (including Rik Mayall, Ade Edmonson, Robbie Coltrane etc.). Fred "The Oldest Swinger in Town" Wedlock deserves a special mention for regularly slipping the crew *ahem* herbal tobacco as a "thank you".

[Specmaster]

OK, just thought there may be a quicker route 

I must say that this a big bastard meter, thought the Brymen was big, but this is about 10 mm taller and the display has 3 digital displays and an analogue barograph as well. The temperature probe and PC parts have not been out of their wrappers, still all sealed up.

Will you be making your new server Windows 11 compatible then  From where I'm looking, it's a bloody dog's breakfast which is going to make almost every man and his dog needing new hardware, certainly hope you're right about them having to alter that before 2025, bastards.

[mnementh]

Close up   

To get rid of those deep scratches 100% you'll need to do the old "wet-sand it down, buff it out" song & dance. Wet sand with 800-1800 grit sanding film in steps till you get below the level of the scratches, then buff it clear again with the stuff you're using.

Very time-consuming, and you won't know until you're done if it will look good or have a wavy appearance due to the existing curved screen. Flat lenses are much easier; you can wet-lap them with the same sanding film on a piece of glass and be reasonably certain the finished product will not be wavy.

My 189 came with some similar scratches, tho not as bad as yours; I buffed it out the same as you've done, and live with the few deep ones. Keep polishing as you're doing and you'll make it a lot better, but getting below the level of those gouges will take a day or three. 

mnem
 

[bd139]

Will you be making your new server Windows 11 compatible then  From where I'm looking, it's a bloody dog's breakfast which is going to make almost every man and his dog needing new hardware, certainly hope you're right about them having to alter that before 2025, bastards.

Fuck no. It's running Debian Linux 10.

[mnementh]

Debian gave my Dual Xeon MacPro brain cancer. It started to load, then repeatedly stopped reading either optical or spinning rust media. Afterwards, I had to recover the hard drives on my Windoze machine with Diskpart (or was it zeroing the drive with ImageUSB...? I don't remember now) before any of my other install media would recognize the drives as valid media. 

I eventually found the how and why here: https://wiki.debian.org/DebianOnIntelMacPro

But seriously... fuck that noize. For that and all the reasons Linus said in that video we shared a few days ago. 

mnem
 

[Specmaster]

Close up   

To get rid of those deep scratches 100% you'll need to do the old "wet-sand it down, buff it out" song & dance. Wet sand with 800-1800 grit sanding film in steps till you get below the level of the scratches, then buff it clear again with the stuff you're using.

Very time-consuming, and you won't know until you're done if it will look good or have a wavy appearance due to the existing curved screen. Flat lenses are much easier; you can wet-lap them with the same sanding film on a piece of glass and be reasonably certain the finished product will not be wavy.

My 189 came with some similar scratches, tho not as bad as yours; I buffed it out the same as you've done, and live with the few deep ones. Keep polishing as you're doing and you'll make it a lot better, but getting below the level of those gouges will take a day or three. 

mnem
 

Yeah OK, if I can get mine to a similar standard as yours is, I'll be happy. To be honest, it is liveable with as it is now, but its the fact that the scratches and marks are over the digits that makes them so annoying. I think I'll have to get another tin of Brasso as the wadding in this one is pretty dry and just think that the more lubricant on the wadding, the more effective it will be.

The meter also weighs a lot, but thats because there is more crammed inside it. The insulation tester has 4 voltages, 125V, 250V, 500V and 1,000V and it claims to be IP67 rated and impact rated for a 2-metre drop and the insulation resistance is upto 4000M, all in it a quite impressive bit of kit

[mnementh]

These arrived a couple days ago; now that I'm done with the printer farm for now, I decided to get back into that VSX-1022K.



Replaced the crystal with one from this set commonly used for AtmegaWTF-ever projects; as the last few projects I used them on used a 16mhz/20puff crystal with a 20puff cap in the oscillator, that's what I used here. Formed the leads to keep the non-grounded side as short as possible; I'll probably replace with SMD when they get here.



New behavior: Now observed signal lasts approx 5 seconds and is nice & clean right at ~1920mVp-p.  STBY relay clicks on/off real quick as is normal with most such receivers when power is applied, but not even a glimmer on the display. Trying to decide whether to shop/build a FET probe so I can confirm whether the oscillator continues without the loading of my passive probe or proceed with further troubleshooting as if the CPU is working and just going into shutdown.

Of course, I know what y'all are gonna say... 

mnem
 

[bd139]

But seriously... fuck that noize. For that and all the reasons Linus said in that video we shared a few days ago. 

Well you really picked a thing to fight there TBH. I would have left the bloody thing on the street  . Debian is really easy if you have plain old PC at hand. I did have to futz with the power management on this so it'd still stay awake when I closed the lid though.

So random project. I am working on a GPS tracker for taking out hiking. This is a complete replacement for the usual shit that's out there. It's a chuck it in your bag and forget it device. Well it would be but like hell I can get hold of the proposed target uC any more, which was a Raspberry Pi Zero W. They have disappeared off the face of the planet. Thus does anyone know an SBC or module that does the following:

1. Must run Linux. I don't want to fuck around with RTOS and low level stuff.
2. Needs Wifi as I want to get the files off without cables or SD card fluffing around.
3. Really low power. Under 100mA idle. Burst is fine. Will be hanging off a small LiPo and needs to last 18 hours approx.

[mansaxel]

Debian gave my Dual Xeon MacPro brain cancer. It started to load, then repeatedly stopped reading either optical or spinning rust media. Afterwards, I had to recover the hard drives on my Windoze machine with Diskpart (or was it zeroing the drive with ImageUSB...? I don't remember now) before any of my other install media would recognize the drives as valid media. 

I eventually found the how and why here: https://wiki.debian.org/DebianOnIntelMacPro

But seriously... fuck that noize. For that and all the reasons Linus said in that video we shared a few days ago. 

mnem
 

I don't get this. "This distro works, that one does not" and so forth. It is the same crapola with some variance on bugs in the packaging. (Nearly) All of them have herded over the cliff into Lennartware. Some have an older boot loader, some a newer. In the end, they're all wannabe operating system variants, increasingly implemented by people who fail to understand Unix. The more features that get crammed into them, the less reliable and understandable they'll be to their intended audience. But, inside, it's all the same.

And I reject them. There are better ways. It involves small mythological creatures with horns. The Dwagon should feel at home.

[mnementh]

But seriously... fuck that noize. For that and all the reasons Linus said in that video we shared a few days ago. 

Well you really picked a thing to fight there TBH. I would have left the bloody thing on the street  . Debian is really easy if you have plain old PC at hand. I did have to futz with the power management on this so it'd still stay awake when I closed the lid though.

So random project. I am working on a GPS tracker for taking out hiking. This is a complete replacement for the usual shit that's out there. It's a chuck it in your bag and forget it device. Well it would be but like hell I can get hold of the proposed target uC any more, which was a Raspberry Pi Zero W. They have disappeared off the face of the planet. Thus does anyone know an SBC or module that does the following:

1. Must run Linux. I don't want to fuck around with RTOS and low level stuff.
2. Needs Wifi as I want to get the files off without cables or SD card fluffing around.
3. Really low power. Under 100mA idle. Burst is fine. Will be hanging off a small LiPo and needs to last 18 hours approx.

I agree. A 10 year old Xeon server/workstation repackaged as a prosumer PC (previous owner was a video content creator, so yeah, lots of BW) is hardly a great test mule... but fuck. If you can't make a installer that works with a dual-Xeon machine that Windoze will install on out of the box, WTF are you doing? I shouldn't need to sit down with a checklist and a 6-pack of Vodka bombs and figure out which jigsaw puzzle bits I need to recompile every fucking install FFS. 

As to your problem:

Are these not what you're looking for? Did you try DigiKey UK...?

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/4000693620101.html

https://www.digikey.co.uk/product-detail/en/pi-supply/PIS-0900/1910-1103-ND/9522075

https://www.digikey.co.uk/products/en?keywords=KIT-14298

mnem
 

[bd139]

Prices are waaay off. They're 29 + VAT on digikey. Usually 10 + VAT here.

[mnementh]

Oh, so you wanted cheap as a pack of scones too. Shoulda sed so.   

there are so many variants of this little turd (the Raspberry Pi) now, I have no idea what's reasonable price on any particular one anymore. Seems to me like one of my $8 QT-PYs should be enough I/O for a GPS receiver and BT module; can you make your payload in Python or do you need more resources than a SAM21 can deliver...?

mnem

[bd139]

payload is one static linked C bin. All I'm doing is opening the UART, reading GPGGA messages and farting them into an SQLite database on the SD card.

[mnementh]

payload is one static linked C bin. All I'm doing is opening the UART, reading GPGGA messages and farting them into an SQLite database on the SD card.

Okay... how many SLOCs are you willing to burn for the sake of 29quid...?

Seems a lot of assache reinventing the wheel... 

mnem