Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread

[0culus]

Added a charge line to my pulser. Next step is working on better shaping of the pulse top....but that's another day's problem. 

Also got a wild pic while experimenting with a long exposure app on my phone. I think the lighting confused it.

[med6753]

Wow...does this bring back memories. IBM SLT logic.

What Fran doesn't realize is that there was a follow on to SLT called MST (Monolithic System Technology) which used the same case style and footprint but rather than discrete transistor chips and resistors used integrated circuits. Most of S/370 mainframes used MST.

Huh... I didn't realize SLT architecture went that far back; I thought they were a 70s technology that was quickly obsoleted (but refused to actually die). Neat.

mnem
I learned something today.

Yep, SLT was developed specifically for S/360 which was first announced in 1964. It was first prototyped in the "Components Division" at the Poughkeepsie, NY site and then mass produced at the East Fishkill, NY Fab when it opened around 1963. 

MST lasted right up to 308X but I think when ES9000 came out it was obsolete.

Huh again. I've been to East Fishkill. I had my job interview at Philips Lighting there.

mnem
 

Yep, joint venture between IBM and Philips and like almost all joint ventures at that site it went no where and fizzled.

[bitseeker]

Ok need some help with an ethical conundrum here.

The tinySA guy said on the ebay message that I could keep the fake one. In the jiffy bag for the replacement he has a hand written note asking for me to return the fake one.

I am loathed to return it because (a) it's at my cost and (b) it'll probably get sold on as a good one to someone else less diligent and (c) he's said I can keep it already.

Thoughts?

Edit: incidentally it is broken when testing it with the not broken one. The ref output is approx -5dBm below expected level.

...

They are trying to get you to return the evidence so it's not out there in the wild; this has absolutely zip to do with the specific item or its value. I see absolutely zero ethical conundrum here; they directed you to keep it publicly, and the private request to return it is not reasonable.

Keep it, and for the sake of all of us, dissect that little fucker. That way everybody in eevBlog can have a side by side comparison, and can have some concrete reference when trying to decide between waiting for "the legit item" or buying off bang-em-good, etc just because they're in stock.

...

Someone may have already said this, but if you do dissect it, be sure to post it as its own thread (and link to it here) for maximum visibility.

[bitseeker]

I do not know what is worst: RIFA or Win11.
I think the disappointment to the users will be comparable.

RIFAs contaminate the whole room (or more), not just the laptop.

[mnementh]

Added a charge line to my pulser. Next step is working on better shaping of the pulse top....but that's another day's problem. 

Also got a wild pic while experimenting with a long exposure app on my phone. I think the lighting confused it.

Ooooh.... artsy.

"Electric Fuzz" would be a good title.

mnem
or maybe "Bad Hair Day"...

[bitseeker]

Oh man another how not to package stuff video coming later.

TDS1052B-EDU arrived 

I’ll leave details for later. But it works. Only 20 (!) power cycles.

Cool. I'm liking your "quick jab at boneheads" series.

[bitseeker]

Quick TBS1052B post.

...

Visible dink 



...

Is that case made of ABS? If so, some hot air might reduce the dink.

[bitseeker]

Gahh,
NLP AI conference.

mah head hurtz ...

Run away! Run away!

[bitseeker]

Gahh,
NLP AI conference.

mah head hurtz ...

Your head will soon be replaced by NLP AI. Pointy-haired bosses won't be able to tell its output is rubbish, and will resort to "because the computer says so".

Read comp.risks to see how such things appear to "work" for spurious "reasons", e.g. https://catless.ncl.ac.uk/Risks/32/80/#subj4.1
e.g.   
  "Some AIs were found to be picking up on the *text font* that certain
  hospitals used to label the scans. As a result, fonts from hospitals with
  more serious caseloads became predictors of covid risk."

I was first aware of that in the early 80s, when Igor Alexander's WISARD correctly distinguished between cars and tanks in the lab, but failed dismally when taken to Luneberger Heath in north Germany. Eventually they worked out the training set was tanks under grey skys and car adverts under sunny skies.

The problem with AI is that it's not artificial intelligence. It's machine intelligence. Assuming that it learns and thinks like (or trying to make it emulate) us leads to all manner of problems.

People and machines excel at different things and will do so for quite some time.

I’m not going to use the term AI because that’s just a lie. It’s not artificial and it’s not intelligence.

I always like to point out that actual meat shaped intelligence usually can’t resolve all facets of an algorithmic problem or any decision making process so why should an ML model be able to do it with any level of reliability or determinism that doesn’t put your business at mortal risk.

Ha! Just saw this. Yep, and error-prone people are creating the ML and feeding the machine. As often quoted in this thread, "What could possibly go wrong?"

Of course, not all machine intelligence is terrible. Just use the right thing for the right task and don't get carried away believing it'll solve everything. Right tool for the job...blah, blah, blah.

[bitseeker]

Yep that. Pay peanuts get HR monkeys.

And pay monkeys to get a few peanuts in your TEA shipping box.

[bitseeker]

Edit: thanks for editing!

Entire message deleted, for simplicity. Let people wonder what the hell was going on

I guess it's a good thing that my TEA thread backup doesn't run continuously.

Speaking of which, bd, did you get yours running?

[AaronLee]

Vince, you are very lucky...and I am surprised....that the 575 works at all considering it's overall mechanical condition. A whole clan of Gorillas had a go at that scope and it appears that it spent some time stored in a damp area. I've never seen a Tek scope in such poor shape. Hopefully you can find or make bits needed to get it presentable and running stable. 

It's sort of ironic. I have this Type 547 here which is in very good condition yet it keeps blowing up.     

Ironic indeed ! 

Wanna swap ?! NOPE I keep my 575 ! 
Have already two 547 anyway... hopefully they won't be as painful as yours !    At any rate I learn from your experiences / problems so keep posting your progress so I can benefit from it ! 

The rust yeah... maybe the guy lied to me about that, arf, you just can't trust anybody these days ! People suck ! 

But I think I can get it to look decent, given enough time to sort out all the various required restoration techniques... and some experimentation on donor scopes prior to that of course. Not going to risk an un-tested technique on the 575, little guy is too precious to me... aim is to make it better not worse !

As for the CRT... the neck is already moving around as it is, with the clamp tightened, because the part you and cubdriver pointed out, that I though was missing, might still be there but made of rubber  not plastic, so it deteriorates .. disintegrates over time, like big time in my case. So much so that the neck is completely loose...

I will remove the CRT assembly from a donor scope, pull the CRT assembly of the 575 and compare them, see if I can reuse the part from a scope.

@Cubdriver : could you possibly take a good/usabel, head on macro picture of the missing panel, and maybe if you have calipers, draw a little sketch to give me dimensions and the size and location of the 5 holes ? Especially the larger on used to get to the trimmer cap...

Curvus Tracexus, the ancient Greek god in charge of looking after Tek stuff, will be forever in your debt ! I will, too... 

Question, for those of you who have the 575. I just saw this pop up on Ebay:
https://www.ebay.com/itm/284416799976

At $520 for BIN, or even $400 for bidding sounds pricey to me, but I'm not at all familiar with it's historical selling prices. What do you think is a good going price for a 575 in unknown condition?

[duckduck]

Bargain for you guys in the US: https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Agilent-E3648A-DC-Power-Supply-Parts-Unit-/184995561039?mkcid=16&mkevt=1&_trksid=p2349624.m46890.l6249&mkrid=711-127632-2357-0

Unregulated output on channel one. I’d buy it if it wasn’t $100 for shipping and customs!

Schematics and service manual http://ridl.cfd.rit.edu/products/manuals/Agilent/power%20supplies/E3646AE2.pdf

Thanks again to bd139 for being a pro-level TEA enabler.

The Agilent E3648A dual-output power supply showed up today. Packaged very well. It's in very good physical condition. It's just as advertised: missing the rubber baby buggy bumpers and channel 1 doesn't work. Channel 2 works great. Fails self test, natch. Looks like nobody's had a go at it yet, so that's a ray of sunshine. I looked for anything that had released the magic smoke and found nothing, so I'll actually have to do some reading and probing and all that electronic-y stuff that everyone around here likes to do.

It's my first Agilent. Build quality is excellent. It's all Nichicon, non-magnetic stainless pozidrive hardware, and modular sub-assemblies. I'll make a separate thread for the repair.

One question: I noticed that it has RIFAs (one 100n X2 and two 1n0 Y2s). The unit is dated 2006, which is before KEMET's acquisition of Evox Rifa. Should I start adding the replacements to my Digi-Key shopping cart, or were the explode-y RIFAs only from the 1960's?

[dl6lr]

I do not know what is worst: RIFA or Win11.

The entertainment for the audience is far better with RIFA.

[dl6lr]

One question: I noticed that it has RIFAs (one 100n X2 and two 1n0 Y2s). The unit is dated 2006, which is before KEMET's acquisition of Evox Rifa. Should I start adding the replacements to my Digi-Key shopping cart, or were the explode-y RIFAs only from the 1960's?

All those epoxy coated mp crapacitors will explode at one day. I had those X-MP explode from Rifa, Wima... The epoxy will get cracks after some time and then the desaster fun will start.

Fun story: My timer in the darkroom had a snubber with a Wima X and a 1/2W (imperial: 0.000670511hp) resistor. The X went south and the room quickly filled with magic smoke from the poor resistor getting the full mains. So I had to unplug the timer, store the paper to the light safe container, open the window and try to escape from the room in that order and as quickly as possible, throwing the smoking skunk out of the window. My wife then ordered me to get a shower and wash my clothes IMMEDIATELY.

[beanflying]

I do not know what is worst: RIFA or Win11.

The entertainment for the audience is far better with RIFA.

We really need switchable smellovision with live unbleeped audio for added enjoyment  Win 11 is easy not yet and even then ...... 

[Robert763]

I need to check the OP to be sure, but I don't think we've had "you know you're a TE addict when you use a new toothbrush to clean rusty transistors rather than your teeth".

Tesco website is a bit fooked atm, DDOS? Needed more toothbrushes...   

Had all the topside boards out of the 5245L, gently cleaned (not gently enough, a rusty transistor leg broke, plugging the Metcal in right now), adjusted some clearances (some of those TO-5 case were, shall we say, inadvertently thermally coupled?).
Swapped some display boards around, and as soon as I've fixed that tranny leg on the A18 display board I'll give it a burl.

Who uses their teeth to clean transistors?

[bd139]

Bargain for you guys in the US: https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Agilent-E3648A-DC-Power-Supply-Parts-Unit-/184995561039?mkcid=16&mkevt=1&_trksid=p2349624.m46890.l6249&mkrid=711-127632-2357-0

Unregulated output on channel one. I’d buy it if it wasn’t $100 for shipping and customs!

Schematics and service manual http://ridl.cfd.rit.edu/products/manuals/Agilent/power%20supplies/E3646AE2.pdf

Thanks again to bd139 for being a pro-level TEA enabler.

The Agilent E3648A dual-output power supply showed up today. Packaged very well. It's in very good physical condition. It's just as advertised: missing the rubber baby buggy bumpers and channel 1 doesn't work. Channel 2 works great. Fails self test, natch. Looks like nobody's had a go at it yet, so that's a ray of sunshine. I looked for anything that had released the magic smoke and found nothing, so I'll actually have to do some reading and probing and all that electronic-y stuff that everyone around here likes to do.

It's my first Agilent. Build quality is excellent. It's all Nichicon, non-magnetic stainless pozidrive hardware, and modular sub-assemblies. I'll make a separate thread for the repair.

One question: I noticed that it has RIFAs (one 100n X2 and two 1n0 Y2s). The unit is dated 2006, which is before KEMET's acquisition of Evox Rifa. Should I start adding the replacements to my Digi-Key shopping cart, or were the explode-y RIFAs only from the 1960's?

I recently got that 2011 dated E3630A with RIFAs in it. They were removed. You just don’t know 

[mansaxel]

There was a vintage slightly crusty HP current probe available on evilbay in Oz  eBay auction: #165025864057

Here's another one -- not as cheap but still interesting. NAWTS, of course.

[med6753]

Once again I find myself wide awake just after 0330 hours like yesterday. I did fall asleep again about an hour later for an additional 3 hours. Will probably repeat that today.

Anyway, scope cart is complete. The 7904 has been returned to the old cart and the Type 535A transferred to the new one. I employed the same sturdy and stable construction as the old one. Unlike commercial carts which are tailored for stand up operation these carts are not. They are barely 24 inches above the floor at their highest point and are configured to match my bench height of 30 inches for seated use. The result is a low center of gravity and you'd have to do something real stupid to get them to tip. And yes, they are carts...not trolleys.   

Tomorrow it's back to battle with the Type 547. 

 

[BU508A]

Q: "Shall I replace the RIFAs in this device?"

A: "Is the bear Catholic?"¹


¹Comes from this:
- Is the Pope Catholic?
- Does the bear shit in the forest?

 

[bd139]

Quick TBS1052B post.

...

Visible dink 



...

Is that case made of ABS? If so, some hot air might reduce the dink.

I would almost certainly end up making it worse 

[bd139]

Edit: thanks for editing!

Entire message deleted, for simplicity. Let people wonder what the hell was going on

I guess it's a good thing that my TEA thread backup doesn't run continuously.

Speaking of which, bd, did you get yours running?

It’s “mostly working” at the moment but not run on a schedule. I had mostly forgotten about it if I’m honest due to a large influx of TE 

[Specmaster]

Quick TBS1052B post.

...

Visible dink 



...

Is that case made of ABS? If so, some hot air might reduce the dink.

I would almost certainly end up making it worse 

You could fill it, rub it down and spray it like med6753 does, it is only a small dent.

[tggzzz]

I need to check the OP to be sure, but I don't think we've had "you know you're a TE addict when you use a new toothbrush to clean rusty transistors rather than your teeth".

Tesco website is a bit fooked atm, DDOS? Needed more toothbrushes...   

Had all the topside boards out of the 5245L, gently cleaned (not gently enough, a rusty transistor leg broke, plugging the Metcal in right now), adjusted some clearances (some of those TO-5 case were, shall we say, inadvertently thermally coupled?).
Swapped some display boards around, and as soon as I've fixed that tranny leg on the A18 display board I'll give it a burl.

Who uses their teeth to clean transistors?

Same people that use their teeth to strip wire insulation.