Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread

[Cerebus]

Maybe I should have a t-shirt printed with this on it? What do you think? 

If there is a higher resolution available of this picture, then yes.
Go for it! 

Wouldn't a 'before' and 'after' be more honest. That's the 'before', I think we can all guess what the 'after' is (it involves silicone tubing and a bag). 

[Zucca]

As promised, here are a few pics of the 85...

In mine the Zebras are still failing... rats!!!

[med6753]

Don't you know that the fuckwits outnumber us by at least a 10 to 1 ratio?

When you have to print "Hot" on a coffee cup or need a warning label and an interlock on a lawn mower so the fuckwits don't stick their hand into the spinning blades while it's running you just know we need some Darwin. 

[Zucca]

My Makita HR2611FT failed. I ordered 120USD of replacement parts.

why?

This is why:

https://www.makitapro.ru/u/spares/repair/HR2611F-TE.pdf

when a company provides such great service manual I HAVE to repair it.

Sometimes I think well documented specs and manuals are more important than the product itself.

PS: speaking about well documented stuff, the PySide6/Qt online docs are just amazing. Mind blowing.

[med6753]

Maybe I should have a t-shirt printed with this on it? What do you think? 

If there is a higher resolution available of this picture, then yes.
Go for it! 

Wouldn't a 'before' and 'after' be more honest. That's the 'before', I think we can all guess what the 'after' is (it involves silicone tubing and a bag). 

And you can go piss up a rope.....because I can now. 

[med6753]

I was prepping to change out the cans that provide additional filtering to plug-in and discovered something very interesting that just might be the smoking gun that explains why the +100V has burnt up. See picture. The red resistor top on the right. See those 2 bare wires crossing? Well, they aren't touching but you can't get a sliver of paper between them. Guess the voltages? +100V and +225V.  Could it be? Who knows. Never the less I moved them apart. 

   

[bd139]

Doh! Good find though. Might be it.

[Robert763]

I was prepping to change out the cans that provide additional filtering to plug-in and discovered something very interesting that just might be the smoking gun that explains why the +100V has burnt up. See picture. The red resistor top on the right. See those 2 bare wires crossing? Well, they aren't touching but you can't get a sliver of paper between them. Guess the voltages? +100V and +225V.  Could it be? Who knows. Never the less I moved them apart. 

   

Has that grey bodied 100R at the LH end got a lump blown out of it or is it just dirt?

[Brumby]

Fired up the 5328A again and took a little more notice of things.  It appears that it is at least being consistent and it would seem I have a gating problem.

Today's exercise has gone through four stages
 * Gate doesn't open - reads zero (for somewhere between 15-30 minutes)
 * Normal counting (for a couple of hours)
 * Gate opens and doesn't close - counting just keeps running up and up and up (for 20 minutes, give or take)
 * Normal counting (for a couple of hours so far... i.e. at the time of posting)

I'll keep running this for a few more days to confirm the pattern and then look at cracking it open at some point.  Having it neatly secured in the rack makes this less appealing, especially when there are other things on my "To Do" list.   

[mnementh]

I'm friends with a bunch of the people who make UTC(SP) and distribute it to the country as "Swedish normal time" (although it's still UTC on the wire, of course).  They scratch the smiley from above. 100ns is a lot of deviation to them.

   When I first saw that, I read it as Swedish Fish Time.

mnem
I think I like it better that way...

One round of Surströmming for everyone! Don't be shy! Once you smell it, your perception of timezones will surely shift. Nanoseconds, Centuries, end of the universe and existence, with Surströmming it all becomes one.

I think I'd actually rather lick toads.

mnem
*lobs volley of soggy ol' boots in the general direction of the Black Forest*

[med6753]

Has that grey bodied 100R at the LH end got a lump blown out of it or is it just dirt?

Dirt.

[Cerebus]

I was prepping to change out the cans that provide additional filtering to plug-in and discovered something very interesting that just might be the smoking gun that explains why the +100V has burnt up. See picture. The red resistor top on the right. See those 2 bare wires crossing? Well, they aren't touching but you can't get a sliver of paper between them. Guess the voltages? +100V and +225V.  Could it be? Who knows. Never the less I moved them apart. 

   

Despite growing up in an age where that construction style was still "normal" for perhaps 30-50% of all electronics when I was first aware of it I still wonder how the heck anybody ever managed to get anything to work. Looking at it now, with the risks of shorts like it looks like Med's just found, where the parasitics are going to change depending on exactly who was on the production line that day, and all the other variables and vagaries, just makes me go HTF did that ever work?

Edit: By the way, as BD is always pointing out - THAT is the way most software people put things together nowadays. Except that they have perhaps 30 boxes sat on the table, all constructed internally like that, and then have a cats cradle of wires linking the boxes together in a haphazard fashion - some insulated, some not.

[med6753]

Got one can changed out and then got a case of the "screw it's" and the other one will wait for another day. It's been a long 2.5 day marathon with this beast and I need a break. 

[med6753]

Despite growing up in an age where that construction style was still "normal" for perhaps 30-50% of all electronics when I was first aware of it I still wonder how the heck anybody ever managed to get anything to work. Looking at it now, with the risks of shorts like it looks like Med's just found, where the parasitics are going to change depending on exactly who was on the production line that day, and all the other variables and vagaries, just makes me go HTF did that ever work?

The ladies at Tektronix who built this stuff were skilled at their craft beyond measure. That's the first time that I can recall that I found anything resembling a factory defect. Everyone makes mistakes. But it does not diminish one bit my absolute respect for the precision they built into these old boat anchors.   

[xrunner]

The ladies at Tektronix who built this stuff were skilled at their craft beyond measure. That's the first time that I can recall that I found anything resembling a factory defect. Everyone makes mistakes. But it does not diminish one bit my absolute respect for the precision they built into these old boat anchors.

I've only found one fuck-up. I got a Tek PG501 that I was restoring. One of the outputs had a noisy signal. Upon inspection I found what you see in the pic. The signal wires and ground wire had never been soldered to the BNC. I was amazed. I examined it for a long time and I think it was the actual factory-installed BNC. The wires have never had solder on them. You can see three wires there and they all have the light dusting that all the other components had.

 

[Cerebus]

The ladies at Tektronix who built this stuff were skilled at their craft beyond measure. That's the first time that I can recall that I found anything resembling a factory defect. Everyone makes mistakes. But it does not diminish one bit my absolute respect for the precision they built into these old boat anchors.

I once met the "ladies" of the old EMI production line. They could wield a clunking great fire-stick of a soldering iron like a neurosurgeon handles a micro-scalpel.

I put ladies in quotes because I've heard them talking - ladies don't talk like that and  ladies don't bring blushes to the cheeks of any postroom boy who's foolish enough to wander onto the factory floor. 

[med6753]

The ladies at Tektronix who built this stuff were skilled at their craft beyond measure. That's the first time that I can recall that I found anything resembling a factory defect. Everyone makes mistakes. But it does not diminish one bit my absolute respect for the precision they built into these old boat anchors.

I once met the "ladies" of the old EMI production line. They could wield a clunking great fire-stick of a soldering iron like a neurosurgeon handles a micro-scalpel.

I put ladies in quotes because I've heard them talking - ladies don't talk like that and  ladies don't bring blushes to the cheeks of any postroom boy who's foolish enough to wander onto the factory floor. 

Sorta like this? 

[AVGresponding]

Has that grey bodied 100R at the LH end got a lump blown out of it or is it just dirt?

Dirt.

Either way, the slight darkening around the centre of its body seems to imply a certain amount of heat stress.

[mnementh]

C-tick of approval. Painless apart from the paperwork 

You really do need a haircut Bean ! 

Monday for us. 
Hate needles despite having given many 100's to livestock.

Don't you have any livestock shears that you could lend to bean?

-- looks sideways at the repair queue and the dog clippers that need cleaning

Rats around in the shearing gear box.....   

If we can call Bean an old ram then we would use the wide comb otherwise for old goats we use the fine narrow comb but they are best run on a slow shearing machine as they can get hot and the Bean would likely flinch however the wide comb also presents risk of cuts to the skin if not setup correctly....pick your poison !   You hold him and I'll give him the trim so he obviously needs. 

mmmmm.... New Zealand hospitality...! where the men are men and sheeps are a-skeered... 

mnem
 

[mnementh]

Boring Mundane Everyday Print #207: Tool Caddy Insert

      https://a360.co/3Az6xYf

Today's project is this little fitted insert to produce some semblance of order in my desktop tool catchall. Old one died; time for a refresh.

As usual, for those who care full details and 3DP nerd stats are here on the 3DP thread.

mnem
it goes 'round and 'round and 'round and 'round...

[Specmaster]

I was prepping to change out the cans that provide additional filtering to plug-in and discovered something very interesting that just might be the smoking gun that explains why the +100V has burnt up. See picture. The red resistor top on the right. See those 2 bare wires crossing? Well, they aren't touching but you can't get a sliver of paper between them. Guess the voltages? +100V and +225V.  Could it be? Who knows. Never the less I moved them apart. 

   

If that was the culprit then I'd expect to see some sign of arcing or burn mark on those wires, is there any such signs?

[med6753]

If that was the culprit then I'd expect to see some sign of arcing or burn mark on those wires, is there any such signs?

It's hard to tell because the wires themselves are discolored. But I definitely will find out for sure when I replace that capacitor.

[mnementh]

Damm cheating Kiwis and their wide combs 

I do own a set of clippers and have decided after maybe 25 years I need a new set so I have had a set of Wahl Battery ones on my evilbay watch list for the last month. The keep going out of stock and well it's winter so HoHoHo  eBay auction: #284371112392

Hmmm.... I tripped over these the other day, and if it weren't for the fact my current $12 AmaZoo specials with the ceramic blade are still going strong, I'd probably have jumped on 'em just to see what actually comes in the box:   

https://www.amazon.ca/dp/B076SP52FP?pd_rd_i=B076SP52FP

mnem

[mnementh]

Meanwhile on qwertee:   Types of TEA:   

Ok, seems that this one is especially for the TEA-Dwagon.   

Oh, you shouldn't have. 

mnem

[mnementh]

Not one to lower myself to posting Reddit links in here but this one is slightly hilarious.

https://www.reddit.com/r/facepalm/comments/p28v2f/seriously_though_what_was_she_expecting/

Holy shit. Facepalm is right. 

Social Media ~~~> Social Darwinism

mnem
" ¹/_{2 *} : Made of fire; burned my house down. Would not recommend."