Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread

[cyclin_al]

Woah, I've never seen so many guests in the TEA house before.

* hi, guests! *

Seen more, it's 140+ right now.

236 right now ! 

[bitseeker]

Saw a Fluke 8300A this weekend. While I was negotiating a price, someone paid full price for it. Ah, well.

Anyone from here grab it? It's got nice options.

Sorry, man.  It popped up in my search this morning, I looked and saw it was well optioned and jumped on it as they’re relatively rare and usually being being sold by people who want a couple of hundred bucks for one in unknown condition.  Have the manual that I bought a few years back when I’d bought one from the bay that the seller later cancelled because it "failed test" (it had been listed as 'for parts or repair'), and when I pointed that out and said I didn’t expect it to work was then told it had already been discarded.  I was pretty pissed about that.

-Pat

Hey, no problem. I'm happy you got it and not some dismantler, especially since it had all the requisite options. Of course, I look forward to learning more about it when you receive it. I'm especially curious if the round feet are original. It doesn't have a tilting bail, like many I've seen, but I'm not sure if that's original either. Since it has an IEC power socket, it seems to be a later version.

At least I can enjoy it vicariously here.

I’ll be sure to post pics of it.  The guy’s a quick shipper - FedEx has it in Kennesaw, GA already.  I’m not up on Fluke feet, but I guess will learn in a few days.

-Pat

Since the seller countered my offer, I asked for a photo of the bottom.



Those little feet don't fit the mounting holes in the case bottom (which I've seen another example of lately) and probably wouldn't hold a tilting bail like on Martin's 8300A. So, I suspect it may have been a revision.

[bitseeker]

Woah, I've never seen so many guests in the TEA house before.

* hi, guests! *

You haven't been too active until recently bitseeker. Have you been seeking bits, and did you find many?

 

Haha, yeah I've been seeking bits for "da man". Not many bits for myself. However, I did snag

1. a used Siglent SSA3021X (not Plus)


2. ............

Nice....I can see it becoming a SSA3032X with all options enabled. 

Sold mine a few months back after waiting for the right buyer to come along and he seems over the moon with it and already it's appeared on his YT channel.

Yes, I actually read the entire thread on that transformation. I'm glad the process got easier over time. Those guys are pretty amazing deciphering it all.

Always nice when an item gets sold to a good home. I'm sure he'll take good care of it.

[AVGresponding]

Saw a Fluke 8300A this weekend. While I was negotiating a price, someone paid full price for it. Ah, well.

Anyone from here grab it? It's got nice options.

Sorry, man.  It popped up in my search this morning, I looked and saw it was well optioned and jumped on it as they’re relatively rare and usually being being sold by people who want a couple of hundred bucks for one in unknown condition.  Have the manual that I bought a few years back when I’d bought one from the bay that the seller later cancelled because it "failed test" (it had been listed as 'for parts or repair'), and when I pointed that out and said I didn’t expect it to work was then told it had already been discarded.  I was pretty pissed about that.

-Pat

Hey, no problem. I'm happy you got it and not some dismantler, especially since it had all the requisite options. Of course, I look forward to learning more about it when you receive it. I'm especially curious if the round feet are original. It doesn't have a tilting bail, like many I've seen, but I'm not sure if that's original either. Since it has an IEC power socket, it seems to be a later version.

At least I can enjoy it vicariously here.

I’ll be sure to post pics of it.  The guy’s a quick shipper - FedEx has it in Kennesaw, GA already.  I’m not up on Fluke feet, but I guess will learn in a few days.

-Pat

Since the seller countered my offer, I asked for a photo of the bottom.

(Attachment Link)

Those little feet don't fit the mounting holes in the case bottom (which I've seen another example of lately) and probably wouldn't hold a tilting bail like on Martin's 8300A. So, I suspect it may have been a revision.

Of my two 8300A's, one has no feet, the other has squareoid plastic ones with holes for the stand, which it may or may not have had (it's my practice to remove these on all bench gear I acquire).

[bitseeker]

AVG, your reply seems to have gone missing. I only see the quoted bits.

[Cymaphore]

If they are of Molex heritage they are probably flame emitting at some point in the future.

I’m going full on and just wiring everything with D-subs or SMA or BNC externally and anything else internally is soldered into cup pins and laced. I managed to score a bag of 500 pins a few years back for a fiver on eBay so I should probably use them . D-subs are keyed, reliable and good for half an amp per pin.

I have a large scary project on the go which will utilise this throughout.

My personal preference in automotive environments for small diameters and mixed signals is something with MQS contacts. They are well designed and reliable. Relatively robust and tolerant about handling. Crimping has good margins so that slight misalignment doesn't lead to damaged mechanism (that's where molex is horrible). Pinning and Un-Pinning is absolutely no problem and often works without special tools and Yoga-Like six hand operation, unlike others.

And if you want to Pfusch yourself some quick dirty prototype solution, it is tolerant about "creative solutions".

[Cubdriver]

Since the seller countered my offer, I asked for a photo of the bottom.

(Attachment Link)

Those little feet don't fit the mounting holes in the case bottom (which I've seen another example of lately) and probably wouldn't hold a tilting bail like on Martin's 8300A. So, I suspect it may have been a revision.

Yeah, those DEFINITELY aren’t the original feet.  I’m sure it had something along the lines of the HP feet, squarish and likely with some sort of overhang to grip the top of another instrument beneath it as the HP ones do.  Though I suppose aftermarket feet are better than the usual no feet you see on so many things...

-Pat

[bitseeker]

Exactly. My 8100A has rectangular feet (although I only got 3 of the 4) with a lip on the outer edge that would follow the contour of the chamfer of a similar Fluke enclosure below it.

[Robert763]

I disassembled one, and the crystal is a nonstandard copper-cased part fixed by a screw (see my thesis). If you have a Bliley BGSCH-61 or other replacement it would fit into the cavern (with some heat compound paste).

The crystal must be an SC-cut on 3rd OT in series mode, and the HP10811A has a b-mode suppression network that wont work with normal crystals.

I wonder what cut this one is?
Very old 1MHz crystal from 522x series counter OCXO

[Robert763]

@Specmaster
You got the £100 Tek 720 then 

Not guilty me lord, don't have a need for one now.

DOH,
Thought it was you. Glad it went to a TEA member.
It looked baerly used, the probes would cost more.

[McBryce]

Woah, I've never seen so many guests in the TEA house before.

* hi, guests! *

Seen more, it's 140+ right now.

236 right now ! 

A lot of them will just be search engines crawling the web.

McBryce.

[tonyalbus]

Saw a Fluke 8300A this weekend. While I was negotiating a price, someone paid full price for it. Ah, well.

Anyone from here grab it? It's got nice options.

Sorry, man.  It popped up in my search this morning, I looked and saw it was well optioned and jumped on it as they’re relatively rare and usually being being sold by people who want a couple of hundred bucks for one in unknown condition.  Have the manual that I bought a few years back when I’d bought one from the bay that the seller later cancelled because it "failed test" (it had been listed as 'for parts or repair'), and when I pointed that out and said I didn’t expect it to work was then told it had already been discarded.  I was pretty pissed about that.

-Pat

Hey, no problem. I'm happy you got it and not some dismantler, especially since it had all the requisite options. Of course, I look forward to learning more about it when you receive it. I'm especially curious if the round feet are original. It doesn't have a tilting bail, like many I've seen, but I'm not sure if that's original either. Since it has an IEC power socket, it seems to be a later version.

At least I can enjoy it vicariously here.

I’ll be sure to post pics of it.  The guy’s a quick shipper - FedEx has it in Kennesaw, GA already.  I’m not up on Fluke feet, but I guess will learn in a few days.

-Pat

Since the seller countered my offer, I asked for a photo of the bottom.

(Attachment Link)

Those little feet don't fit the mounting holes in the case bottom (which I've seen another example of lately) and probably wouldn't hold a tilting bail like on Martin's 8300A. So, I suspect it may have been a revision.

Nice find!

They are very very nice... i am lucky to have one.


but incl shipping was around 200.- EUR , i got a bit grazy.. i wanted it, but got it... but is in amazing shape

[Cubdriver]

Nice find!

They are very very nice... i am lucky to have one.


but incl shipping was around 200.- EUR , i got a bit grazy.. i wanted it, but got it... but is in amazing shape

Tony, yours looks fresh out of the box!  That thing's in Concours condition.

-Pat

[tonyalbus]

Nice find!

They are very very nice... i am lucky to have one.


but incl shipping was around 200.- EUR , i got a bit grazy.. i wanted it, but got it... but is in amazing shape

Tony, yours looks fresh out of the box!  That thing's in Concours condition.

-Pat

Thank you, yes after some cleaning looked new, took it all apart
i know what i was buying they has some home made calibration sheet with it... so i could spend some more.
let me know if you or someone else needs pictures from the bottom feet or any other.. i am happy to do so

[BU508A]

...
WOW !! Thanks for that !! A one liner cpomment I could easily have missed when skimming 2+ pages worth of TEA ! Glad I took the time to read each and every comment ! 
...

Yes, reading this thread can be a challenge itself. Things go by pretty fast. Zoooom!

You got some experiences in this respect? 

[BU508A]

Woah, I've never seen so many guests in the TEA house before.

* hi, guests! *

I saw peaks of 250+ guests being here in our little TEA cave. 

[bd139]

I'm waiting until something goes snap inside SMF. We should be being paid commission for this testing 

[BU508A]

Perhaps, we are the most entertaining part here in the EEVBlog forum.

Testing, Entertaining and Acquisitions - TEA   

[med6753]

Since the seller countered my offer, I asked for a photo of the bottom.

(Attachment Link)

Those little feet don't fit the mounting holes in the case bottom (which I've seen another example of lately) and probably wouldn't hold a tilting bail like on Martin's 8300A. So, I suspect it may have been a revision.

Yeah, those DEFINITELY aren’t the original feet.  I’m sure it had something along the lines of the HP feet, squarish and likely with some sort of overhang to grip the top of another instrument beneath it as the HP ones do.  Though I suppose aftermarket feet are better than the usual no feet you see on so many things...

-Pat

Correct Fluke feet, taken from an 8505A.

[bd139]

Desoldering station arrived already. Haven't powered it up yet but seems fairly good for the money. The only complaint so far is it's really easy to knock the gun off the stand. May need to find a suitable mod for it to make that less of an issue.

[med6753]

On the other side of the coin. Incorrect hp feet because we know they all get lost in a black hole. 

(Self adhesive felt feet 3/4 inch diameter. Work well)

[tonyalbus]

My feet are gray

[shakalnokturn]

A reasonably sized piece of boat anchory:
eBay Italy item 154559345492.
Siemens R2020, If only I could find a use for it....

[ch_scr]

Here we have first tests - in principle it is working. We can see gain going up around 900MHz, and resonance might come after that - future measurement might tell.
But principle works 
Gain:

Loading with 1.2pF is not stellar but still better than usual probe:

[Specmaster]

Desoldering station arrived already. Haven't powered it up yet but seems fairly good for the money. The only complaint so far is it's really easy to knock the gun off the stand. May need to find a suitable mod for it to make that less of an issue.

What I do with mine is push the gun all the way back in the holder, under the retaining ring, then I have the whole unit right at the back of my bench and to one side, so that the cable and vacuum tube hang down the side of the bench and not on it, job done. Never yet managed to knock it out of its holder when its on, oh and of course, I only have it on when I'm just about to use it, so if it does get knocked out, its not hot. Hope that helps.