Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread

[mansaxel]

Well fuck. The first day I used it, this mower managed to find a piece of steel rebar driven into the ground that I have missed with the other mower ever since I got here a year ago.

Now... does this mean I need to keep the other mower, cuz this one is jinxed and wants to stay dead...?

mnem
You got me again, Murphy...

I got given, yesterday, which was my birthday,  a Tormek grinding machine. As they say about it, "crazy sharp" system. One does get very, very sharp tools from it with no big effort. Once you get some shape into that cow-food propeller, I'll grind it for you. 

[duckduck]

I upped my curve tracer game. Now to find triax and a test fixture. Have a lead on the latter...triax may be harder. Hence the ghetto zener diode test I set up. 

I just bought a Keithley 236 SMU and I'm also looking for triax cables of the 3-lug variety. I was planning on buying some Belden triax cable at ~USD2 per ~33cm off of ebay and then some of these triax connectors:

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/10000132950232.html

...which are expensive, but not nearly as insanely expensive as the OEM Keithley triax cables that are apparently still in use by somebody that is spending my tax money.

Are there only two flavors of triax connectors (2-lug and 3-lug), or are there others?

That red Soviet voltmeter is the most brutally gorgeous piece of test equipment that I have ever seen.

EDIT:

Was planning on building my own test fixture (how hard could that be?  ) and then start plotting some curves (maybe getting a GPIB adapter eventually).

[mansaxel]

Are there only two flavors of triax connectors (2-lug and 3-lug), or are there others?

When you say "Triax" I ask "Lemo or fischer?"





I've only worked with fischer ones (My present employer standardised on fischer 25+ years ago, thus making it the only one for the Swedish market, much like the Lemos likely are in the UK, given the BBC preference), but I once held the company record for fitting one onto 11mm camera cable; 15 minutes from cut to boot pushed over connector.  Most people only managed 30 minutes.

That red Soviet voltmeter is the most brutally gorgeous piece of test equipment that I have ever seen.

I must admit to liking it too. My arm has a Vostok watch since yesterday.

[Cubdriver]

Well fuck. The first day I used it, this mower managed to find a piece of steel rebar driven into the ground that I have missed with the other mower ever since I got here a year ago.

Now... does this mean I need to keep the other mower, cuz this one is jinxed and wants to stay dead...?

mnem
You got me again, Murphy...

I got given, yesterday, which was my birthday,  a Tormek grinding machine. As they say about it, "crazy sharp" system. One does get very, very sharp tools from it with no big effort. Once you get some shape into that cow-food propeller, I'll grind it for you. 

Ooh, a Tormek - sweet!  One of those is on my list for some day...

-Pat

[Andrew_Debbie]

electric ones are cheaper than all that shit 

I made the switch to battery electric a few years ago.    I don't miss the noise, oil changes, carb cleaner and last year's stale gas.   Best of all, I no longer suffer the embarrasment of driving my electric car to go buy gas for the mower.

[mansaxel]

Ooh, a Tormek - sweet!  One of those is on my list for some day...

-Pat

I've only tried it on three knives, a Leatherman, a vintage Mora, and a very cheap kitchen knife. They all, with minimum effort, became very useful tools. And that is from only free-hand work; I was given the basic machine yesterday. I guess more parts for the system are forthcoming...

[bd139]

The more I look at the battery powered car being the savoir of the planet, the more I doubt that is true, just a huge money making scheme. Lithium itself is really nasty for the environment, causing bad health for the miners.  And uses so much water during its extraction that it is already in certain countries, causing massive water shortages and every living thing on the planet depends on an adequate supply, more important than food in many ways. As mining is ramped up to meet the demand as the world's cars are switching over to batteries from fossil fuels, the demand for water will skyrocket and could in some locations actually threaten life itself.

Then there is the vast amount of shipping the Lithium around the world for processing, before even more shipping to the Far East for battery production, then even more shipping round the world to the various vehicle manufacturers, which will then result in even more shipping round the world of the finished vehicles to customers.

Then there is the problem with the charging points globally, most house are not suitable for electric charging points, especially in cities as garages and driveways are in main few and people have to park on the street, where numerous charging points would create another set of hazards in its own right both for pedestrians and motorist alike. Then there is the massive amount of electricity generation globally that must be done to enable people to be able to charge their electric vehicles, meaning more and more power stations are required. Even more copper needs to be mined, transported to the factories for processing then sent round the world again to the cable manufacturers

All the above could well possibly generate far more C02 and other emissions. Is the answer to ban all massive fuel guzzling engines and make the smaller and even more efficient?

Yep. As I’ve said before, coming up with new technology to continue our bad behaviour is never going to help anyone.

We need to build our lives and communities around zero travel and use energy that remains for supply and maintenance only. Oh and reduce our expectation of stuff. No jumping on a plane to Spain to get drunk. No three mile commute in a SUV to drop a kid off at school. No shitty disposable toys. No fashion industry. No hyped up android tablets on wheels.

Feet and bicycles are about the only thing that scale environmentally.

But at the end of the day the whole planet runs on “fuck you I’ve got mine” so it’s just going to be suffering and chaos as we go down the spiral.

[Cubdriver]

Ooh, a Tormek - sweet!  One of those is on my list for some day...

-Pat

I've only tried it on three knives, a Leatherman, a vintage Mora, and a very cheap kitchen knife. They all, with minimum effort, became very useful tools. And that is from only free-hand work; I was given the basic machine yesterday. I guess more parts for the system are forthcoming...

   Like buying a lathe or a milling machine, the basic machine winds up being the cheap part.  The pain comes when you start equipping it with tooling to actually DO stuff with it.   

-Pat

[bd139]

Just like scopes and probes 

[McBryce]

In a prior life where others were living in the same residence I always knew when someone was into my tools/equipment. They never put it back in the right spot or would forget to put it back. And I would ask where so-and-so was and no one would own up. Never again will that repeat itself. 

The last person to do that to my tools is dead - and I'm not talking natural causes.

The truth is that Dave was killed by a combination of alcohol, recklessness, a motorbike and a big tree. But I don't tell them that. Dave was, however, the last person to mess with my tools - largely I suspect because ever since I've been able to tell people that he was the last man to abuse my tools, and that he's dead, with a straight face and my hand on my heart.

You'll need to give more details. Those facts could still involve you chasing him on a motorbike with a whisky bottle in your hand etc.

McBryce.

[beanflying]

Ooh, a Tormek - sweet!  One of those is on my list for some day...

-Pat

I've only tried it on three knives, a Leatherman, a vintage Mora, and a very cheap kitchen knife. They all, with minimum effort, became very useful tools. And that is from only free-hand work; I was given the basic machine yesterday. I guess more parts for the system are forthcoming...

   Like buying a lathe or a milling machine, the basic machine winds up being the cheap part.  The pain comes when you start equipping it with tooling to actually DO stuff with it.   

-Pat

I am still using wet and dry on a flat or Stones as my Router 'needs' a TIG welder to make a new frame for it Also looking at MIC-6 tooling plate for a new table but that will be the other kidney on its third mortgage 

[Cubdriver]

Ooh, a Tormek - sweet!  One of those is on my list for some day...

-Pat

I've only tried it on three knives, a Leatherman, a vintage Mora, and a very cheap kitchen knife. They all, with minimum effort, became very useful tools. And that is from only free-hand work; I was given the basic machine yesterday. I guess more parts for the system are forthcoming...

   Like buying a lathe or a milling machine, the basic machine winds up being the cheap part.  The pain comes when you start equipping it with tooling to actually DO stuff with it.   

-Pat

I am still using wet and dry on a flat or Stones as my Router 'needs' a TIG welder to make a new frame for it Also looking at MIC-6 tooling plate for a new table but that will be the other kidney on its third mortgage 

Sounds like a good excuse to buy a TIG machine.  I used the broken off catalytic converter flange on my Miata exhaust as an excuse to buy a MIG welder back around 2003ish.  Need to replace the drop to my TIG - still haven't tied it to the panel since the renovation.  Gotta get off my lazy butt - it'd be neater than the MIG for making the frame corners for the wheeled carts I started building for my wire shelves.

-Pat

[Cubdriver]

Just like scopes and probes 

And power dividers, and RF cables & adapters, and terminators, and standards, and crimpers, and soldering/desoldering equipment, and, and...     These rabbit holes have express elevators!

-Pat

[Robert763]

The complete absence of pollution control on small petrol engines (mowers, mopeds, motorbikes et al. There's a special level in hell for 2-stroke ones, at that.) is probably not the largest environment problem we've got, but it is still one, and we're better off without it.

Yeah well how do you control which 2 stroke lubricant gets used in such motors....you can't !
When I was a kid proper 2 stoke oils were a rarity and most everything ran on 1/2 pint of SAE 30 to the gal and it smoked like one SOB.
Even today when we still have air and water cooled 2 strokes the lube requirements for each is vastly different however we have totally synthetic lubricants that barely emit any smoke IF administered at the correct ratio.

And that's half the problem.....using the correct 2 stroke lube and at the correct ratio. 
Most 2 stroke owners have just one type and try and use it for everything and often at a single mix ratio so to simplify fueling 2 strokes and lower the risk of one of them running too lean on oil.

Although significant advances have been made in the last decade or so with self tuning electronic carbies in some effort to reduce pollution.

However there's something else to ponder on, when a 4 stroke wears and its oils rings fail to adequately control oil usage it's just as bad if not worse than a 2 stroke !

oh, blackouts in Germany on August 14 ...
they had to take factories off the grid ...

Simple clean solution to the energy problem:
find a rotating singularity, it converts mass to energy with an efficiency of up to 40 %.
Feed it your enemies ...

Problem solved ...

Sounds like a lack of baseload supply. If only you had not shut down all the nuclear plants......

[Andrew_Debbie]

Feet and bicycles are about the only thing that scale environmentally.

Agree 100%.      Battery EVs are better than combustion engine cars, but pale compared to a bicycle. I looked at this carefuly and decided to go electric.    Cycling would be better, but it isn't safe enough here. 



There is far too much attention paid to cars and airplanes and too  little on everything else.     Just over 14% of the worlds greenhouse gas emissions come from livestock.  Half of that is from cattle.

Cement production (8%)   and leaks in the natural gas grid are both significant contributers but we never hear about it.

Outdoor power equiptment, especially 2-stroke ones  pollute  horribly.   They don't have much in the way of controls and are rarely well maintained.   But we never hear about pollution from hedge trimmers or jet skis.


Large ships use 2-stroke diesels, burn bunker fuel and have no emissions regulations.  . .

[Robert763]

"Oil/grease is cheaper than metal." ~grand-dad

mnem
 

Here it's "Noone ever lubricated himself into poverty"

You can over-lubricate. There have been a few aircraft crashes because of this. A recent one was a splined shaft on a helicopter gearbox generator  adaptor. Where it weent wrong was A. they put too much grease in and B. Didn't take the generor off and itted backup using the mounting studs. This caused a hydraulic lock, overloaded a bearing and destroyed the gearbox. Fortunatly it happped during taxi and no one was hurt.

[med6753]

I try to be miserly with my overall carbon footprint such as my electrical use and if I need to run errands combining it all into one trip. But yes, I do have an air conditioner that nearly doubles my electric bill over the Summer but again, I try to be sensible in it's use. For example, I set it's auto timer at night so it shuts down after I fall asleep. It definitely is an energy hog and I sometimes feel guilty about using it. But when I'm hot and uncomfortable I get over those guilt feelings rather quickly.     

[tautech]

Ooh, a Tormek - sweet!  One of those is on my list for some day...

-Pat

I've only tried it on three knives, a Leatherman, a vintage Mora, and a very cheap kitchen knife. They all, with minimum effort, became very useful tools. And that is from only free-hand work; I was given the basic machine yesterday. I guess more parts for the system are forthcoming...

   Like buying a lathe or a milling machine, the basic machine winds up being the cheap part.  The pain comes when you start equipping it with tooling to actually DO stuff with it.   

-Pat

I am still using wet and dry on a flat or Stones as my Router 'needs' a TIG welder to make a new frame for it Also looking at MIC-6 tooling plate for a new table but that will be the other kidney on its third mortgage 

Sounds like a good excuse to buy a TIG machine.  I used the broken off catalytic converter flange on my Miata exhaust as an excuse to buy a MIG welder back around 2003ish.  Need to replace the drop to my TIG - still haven't tied it to the panel since the renovation.  Gotta get off my lazy butt - it'd be neater than the MIG for making the frame corners for the wheeled carts I started building for my wire shelves.

-Pat

Drop...do you mean the feed wire liner ?
Often older types were just like a Bowden outer, just twisted wire and they clean up just fine with kerosene.

[Brumby]

Geez.... 6 pages in just 18 hours.  Keeping up with this thread is becoming a real challenge.

[BU508A]

Geez.... 6 pages in just 18 hours.  Keeping up with this thread is becoming a real challenge.

They wanna hit 100000 replies by mid of September...

[tggzzz]

Just like scopes and probes 

And power dividers, and RF cables & adapters, and terminators, and standards, and crimpers, and soldering/desoldering equipment, and, and...     These rabbit holes have express elevators!

Yeah

Just bought a metcal iron.

[Cubdriver]

Drop...do you mean the feed wire liner ?
Often older types were just like a Bowden outer, just twisted wire and they clean up just fine with kerosene.

No, the AC Mains drop to my old TIG machine - a Miller Synchrowave 180 SD I got back in the late 90s - it needs a 60 A, 240 V feed - disconnected it nearly ten years ago ( - where does time go    ) when the house renovation started and the garage roof went away, and haven't yet rewired it.   

Pic pilfered from the net:


-Pat

[Cubdriver]

Just like scopes and probes 

And power dividers, and RF cables & adapters, and terminators, and standards, and crimpers, and soldering/desoldering equipment, and, and...     These rabbit holes have express elevators!

Yeah

Just bought a metcal iron.

Kicks ass, doesn't it?  I finally got one last year - love it!

-Pat

[Brumby]

Anyone in need of a little HP foot fetishism eBay auction: #363517050911 Same seller also has another bunch of mainly RF goodies if you swing that way instead.

Oh brother...  Do I really want to travel this road?

[Robert763]

I upped my curve tracer game. Now to find triax and a test fixture. Have a lead on the latter...triax may be harder. Hence the ghetto zener diode test I set up. 

I just bought a Keithley 236 SMU and I'm also looking for triax cables of the 3-lug variety. I was planning on buying some Belden triax cable at ~USD2 per ~33cm off of ebay and then some of these triax connectors:

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/10000132950232.html

...which are expensive, but not nearly as insanely expensive as the OEM Keithley triax cables that are apparently still in use by somebody that is spending my tax money.

Are there only two flavors of triax connectors (2-lug and 3-lug), or are there others?

That red Soviet voltmeter is the most brutally gorgeous piece of test equipment that I have ever seen.

EDIT:

Was planning on building my own test fixture (how hard could that be?  ) and then start plotting some curves (maybe getting a GPIB adapter eventually).

There are lots of "triax" connectors. Even in the BNC style you have 2 or 3 lug, 3 lug that are not 120 degrees apart and internal connections for either "triax" (1 conducotor 2 isolated screens) or "twinax" (2 conductors 1 screen). Then ther are minature versions, Lemo/Fischer, Ampphenols own (1553), and a whole host based on at least two sizes of military contacts in a range of shells. Dealing with MIL-STD-1553 data buses which use twinax (PL75 is common) I've seen as many as 5 different connector types in a single system