Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread

[Specmaster]

Bought something similar but I can't work / solder with it, because the working distance is pretty much zero -->  in order to focus, get a neat image, I need to stick the glasses pretty much ON the board, or a inch away from it tops. Can't solder like that...
Plus, being so close to the board means the overhead lighting of the bench can't get to the board, so it's dark.. so I have to stick my nose to the board, hold the board with one hand to bring it to my nose, and with the other hand I grad a torch light to shine some light on the board so I can actually see something... So I can only use it to inspect a board : see where the problems are, rework an area  "blind"/ naked eye, then inspect again to check if what I did fixed it and if the quality of the job is good enough ! Rince and repeat as necessary.... 
A pain. But  still happy I bought them so I can at least inspect traces and joints, and tiny part numbers / markings on SMD stuff...

I've got one of the previous generation of these:



Details here at Ikea.

I've been meaning to get another. Makes a great task lamp as the flexible gooseneck lets you put the light exactly where you want it, like this:

Those flexible goosenecks all seem to have the self same problem, they are fine for the first few positionings of the lamp, and then they start getting loose, and you find the lamp position altering all by itself after awhile, so annoying as the lamp always in my experience always ends up in the wrong spot for the item you're working on. I recently purchased one with a magnifying lens on the end as well, it is no longer on my bench, it has been replaced with a more traditional lamp, far better IMO.

[AVGresponding]

Just a heads-up, CDL have just put up a boat - load of GW Instek GDS 820S and 2102 scopes at £70-90 opening bid

[McBryce]

Unrelated to TE but funny nevertheless. “Electronic failure”

Thermal printer?

McBryce.

[med6753]

Another fine day of doing whatever the hell I please. It never gets old. 

Anyway, the other day when I first connected the external supply to the Type 547 I slowly brought up the voltage to see if there would be a spike in the current indicating a short. There wasn't....but....when I hit approx 60V and 80V there was a buzzing noise for a few seconds.  Before I could identify exactly where it was coming from it stopped. And it would not repeat. But I think it was coming from the power up sequence relay shown in the picture under the blue cover. So last night decided to pull that cover just for giggles. The relay is not in a socket and the wiring underneath is soldered directly to tabs on the relay. The contacts are facing inward and I couldn't rotate the relay to see all of them but what I did see, or I think I saw, raised some concerns. It appears some of the contacts are burned and at least one set of contacts fused together. If that's the case it would most likely explain why the +100V supply keeps destroying itself.

Thinking that this relay would certainly be unobtainium decided to check Ebay anyway. Much to my surprise I found one, brand new, in it's original box. Best of all....$10 USD plus shipping. Snapped it up and should have it in a few days. Once I get it compare it with the old one and If my observations are correct then replace it. And the external +100V supply will remain in place until that's done.


     

[tggzzz]

Those flexible goosenecks all seem to have the self same problem, they are fine for the first few positionings of the lamp, and then they start getting loose, and you find the lamp position altering all by itself after awhile, so annoying as the lamp always in my experience always ends up in the wrong spot for the item you're working on. I recently purchased one with a magnifying lens on the end as well, it is no longer on my bench, it has been replaced with a more traditional lamp, far better IMO.

My gooseneck from Ikea continues to work well after ~5 years. Naturally they no longer sell it.

I have a cheap undershelf LED light from ALDI. It pivots along the axis so I can change the amount of glare, and it has two colour temperature settings; I use the cooler white.

Where those don't reach, I use a torch

I don't like those illuminated lenses either, preferring a head mounted visor with different clip in lenses.

[beanflying]

Bought something similar but I can't work / solder with it, because the working distance is pretty much zero -->  in order to focus, get a neat image, I need to stick the glasses pretty much ON the board, or a inch away from it tops. Can't solder like that...
Plus, being so close to the board means the overhead lighting of the bench can't get to the board, so it's dark.. so I have to stick my nose to the board, hold the board with one hand to bring it to my nose, and with the other hand I grad a torch light to shine some light on the board so I can actually see something... So I can only use it to inspect a board : see where the problems are, rework an area  "blind"/ naked eye, then inspect again to check if what I did fixed it and if the quality of the job is good enough ! Rince and repeat as necessary.... 
A pain. But  still happy I bought them so I can at least inspect traces and joints, and tiny part numbers / markings on SMD stuff...

I've got one of the previous generation of these:



Details here at Ikea.

I've been meaning to get another. Makes a great task lamp as the flexible gooseneck lets you put the light exactly where you want it, like this:

Those flexible goosenecks all seem to have the self same problem, they are fine for the first few positionings of the lamp, and then they start getting loose, and you find the lamp position altering all by itself after awhile, so annoying as the lamp always in my experience always ends up in the wrong spot for the item you're working on. I recently purchased one with a magnifying lens on the end as well, it is no longer on my bench, it has been replaced with a more traditional lamp, far better IMO.

My dogpile has four of these 3W gooseneck spots on arms about level with where my hands sit and around level at there lowest with the top of my head. These with the bigger ones down the middle of the shack hit daylight or close to it levels across the bench. I did also put all of them on a 'proper' transformer based power supply as the SMPS was giving me PPM voltage issues on the meters. The Arms make for some extra hang space too.

[med6753]

Mine are the cheap Chinese and they do get sloppy after a while and I have to re-tighten screws and then all is well.

[tautech]

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.   

-Pat

Ah OK, you Yanks any your terminology. 

If you think your MIG is old you don't wanna see my much older Danish Migatronic AutoMIG 180 that I scored for $100NZ which needed a 10c transistor to fix it.
Thinking it's probably '80's vintage.

Looks like a fine old box of angry pixies!  At some point I’d like to get a bigger MIG machine - currently have only a small 135 A Lincoln portable (the one I bought to fix the exhaust).

Should probably buy a tungsten sharpener before reconnecting the Miller - I’ll be so rusty with TIGing that more time will probably be spent at the grinder sharpening contaminated electrodes than welding at first...

-Pat

Yep and nearly bit off more than I could chew with the ol' girl however as full manuals, parts and circuit block diagrams and schematics were still available online it saved the day. 
Potentially I could well have got my money back in scrap copper as the output cap bank of 6x 10kuF PCB filled old nasties had shit themselves but luckily not on anything that mattered however hoarded away was a 50kuF cap that I'd got for a few buck at a surplus shop so that and the TO92 transistor had it up and running again after little effort.  again !
It's been a good little MIG despite control is only via 5 primary tapings done with a rotary front panel switch and how hard you push the wire feed but it runs either 0.6 or 0.8mm wire just fine.
If we need get serious and the 400A arc isn't enough our neighbor has a monster 450A MIG running 1.2mm wire ! 

Anyways a new and potential TIG current source arrived today, a shiny new SPS5042X 40V 60A PSU. 
Miniscule little thing it is too at only 5 1/2" wide and high although ~16" long.
It's gunna get some  privately and then go to Defpom for a teardown vid. 

[beanflying]

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.   

-Pat

Ah OK, you Yanks any your terminology. 

If you think your MIG is old you don't wanna see my much older Danish Migatronic AutoMIG 180 that I scored for $100NZ which needed a 10c transistor to fix it.
Thinking it's probably '80's vintage.

Looks like a fine old box of angry pixies!  At some point I’d like to get a bigger MIG machine - currently have only a small 135 A Lincoln portable (the one I bought to fix the exhaust).

Should probably buy a tungsten sharpener before reconnecting the Miller - I’ll be so rusty with TIGing that more time will probably be spent at the grinder sharpening contaminated electrodes than welding at first...

-Pat

Yep and nearly bit off more than I could chew with the ol' girl however as full manuals, parts and circuit block diagrams and schematics were still available online it saved the day. 
Potentially I could well have got my money back in scrap copper as the output cap bank of 6x 10kuF PCB filled old nasties had shit themselves but luckily not on anything that mattered however hoarded away was a 50kuF cap that I'd got for a few buck at a surplus shop so that and the TO92 transistor had it up and running again after little effort.  again !
It's been a good little MIG despite control is only via 5 primary tapings done with a rotary front panel switch and how hard you push the wire feed but it runs either 0.6 or 0.8mm wire just fine.
If we need get serious and the 400A arc isn't enough our neighbor has a monster 450A MIG running 1.2mm wire ! 

Anyways a new and potential TIG current source arrived today, a shiny new SPS5042X 40V 60A PSU. 
Miniscule little thing it is too at only 5 1/2" wide and high although ~16" long.
It's gunna get some  privately and then go to Defpom for a teardown vid. 

The likely option for me is a 'tiny' 12kg box of wizardry https://www.cigweld.com.au/product/weldskill-205-ac-dc-tig-welder/ way back in the dim dark past we were selling the very (then) first of the Esab compacts DC only and 150A max for $3,500+ tax. Modern box is sub $2k with all the goodies and helmet etc.

[tautech]

The likely option for me is a 'tiny' 12kg box of wizardry https://www.cigweld.com.au/product/weldskill-205-ac-dc-tig-welder/ way back in the dim dark past we were selling the very (then) first of the Esab compacts DC only and 150A max for $3,500+ tax. Modern box is sub $2k with all the goodies and helmet etc.

Yep thems the way to go these days and a really versatile bit of kit.

I do have an early Aussie made (WIA ?) 150A caddy welder but it's not the sort of thing you can hang around your shoulder like the modern SMPS ones are however it does drive 3mm rods OK and has a TIG handpiece too but no fruits like HF start sadly. 

[BU508A]

I'm using since more than 6 years this one:

https://www.amazon.de/dp/B074H95MVT



Important to me was 150mm diameter of the lense which makes it more comfortable to use.

[xrunner]

Starting another ham radio repair thread. Friend of a friend asked me to check it out for the guy. I asked, did he even open it to do a cursory visual inspection? As you guys say, of course not - he couldn't be arsed to do even that. 

I'll include a pic here - it looks like it's going to be a bad PIN diode.

https://www.eevblog.com/forum/repair/yeasu-ft-991-repair/

[med6753]

Starting another ham radio repair thread. Friend of a friend asked me to check it out for the guy. I asked, did he even open it to do a cursory visual inspection? As you guys say, of course not - he couldn't be arsed to do even that. 

I'll include a pic here - it looks like it's going to be a bad PIN diode.

https://www.eevblog.com/forum/repair/yeasu-ft-991-repair/

I'm sure you're aware that most hams today are nothing more than "appliance operators" and in fact would be a danger to themselves and others if they tried to fix their equipment. 

[mnementh]

I recently scored a 1975 vintage belt driven Craftsman table saw that needs a little TLC but cuts fine, and a barely used 1978 vintage belt driven 6" jointer/planer for not a lot of money.  Both built like brick sh!thouses.  The guy I bought the saw from, helped me get it off the stand to get it into my van and I had to get help to get it back on the stand as it was too damn heavy for me to lift on my own.   Got the 2 side extensions leveled and most of the rust cleaned off.  Now it is time to figure out how to lube it as space is tight underneath to get to everything.  The interesting thing about both of them is the way the power switches work.  They both have the safety plugs you can remove to render unusable which is not an issue as we are empty nesters but they aren't hard wired.  Both switches have outlets to plug the power cords from the motors.  First time I have seen that.  I love the old stuff, nothing built like it now.  Even my 1940's Montgomery Ward floor standing drill press still works a treat.

How true.  Their older stuff was top notch.  I still have the radial arm saw my father got in the late 60s/early 70s (rarely use it since getting my General cabinet saw, but it still runs great), and a Craftsman bench grinder that he got for Christmas in about 1962.  You can turn it off, come upstairs, grab something from the fridge & return to the garage before it's fully coasted to a stop.  A much newer one that we had at my previous workplace sounded like a worn out cement mixer filled with empty beer cans when it ran.  Total POS.

Like Rat Shack, it hurt to see Sears fail, but they dug their own grave.

-Pat

mnem
"That's not sawdust; it's man glitter..."

[xrunner]

Starting another ham radio repair thread. Friend of a friend asked me to check it out for the guy. I asked, did he even open it to do a cursory visual inspection? As you guys say, of course not - he couldn't be arsed to do even that. 

I'll include a pic here - it looks like it's going to be a bad PIN diode.

https://www.eevblog.com/forum/repair/yeasu-ft-991-repair/

I'm sure you're aware that most hams today are nothing more than "appliance operators" and in fact would be a danger to themselves and others if they tried to fix their equipment. 

I was talking about that with the guy who is the "intermediary". I think most of them (of course not all) are too scared to even open the lid anymore. A board full of SMD components is like looking at a mysterious puzzle too small to comprehend. I said well if I can't fix it we might be able to get a new V_U PA board and he can just replace the whole board. Oh no he doesn't want to touch it!

[Zucca]

I'll include a pic here - it looks like it's going to be a bad PIN diode.

xrun I have to say all your pics are in stellar quality. well done.

[bd139]

Starting another ham radio repair thread. Friend of a friend asked me to check it out for the guy. I asked, did he even open it to do a cursory visual inspection? As you guys say, of course not - he couldn't be arsed to do even that. 

I'll include a pic here - it looks like it's going to be a bad PIN diode.

https://www.eevblog.com/forum/repair/yeasu-ft-991-repair/

I'm sure you're aware that most hams today are nothing more than "appliance operators" and in fact would be a danger to themselves and others if they tried to fix their equipment. 

I was talking about that with the guy who is the "intermediary". I think most of them (of course not all) are too scared to even open the lid anymore. A board full of SMD components is like looking at a mysterious puzzle too small to comprehend. I said well if I can't fix it we might be able to get a new V_U PA board and he can just replace the whole board. Oh no he doesn't want to touch it!

Even the full license lot here think a soldering iron goes up your bum. It’s a bit of a disaster.

[Zucca]

I tried with no hope to address the ipv6 FCC violation to my ISP charter... after about 10min waiting for a tier2 support response, all they told me is that only Hawaii has still IPV4.

 

 

[Saskia]

Arrived in Vienna after a 10hour drive. Typical shitshow on the Autobahn ... Road closed cuz a truck went through the center barricade and killedi the oncoming traffic ...

[Cerebus]

Bought something similar but I can't work / solder with it, because the working distance is pretty much zero -->  in order to focus, get a neat image, I need to stick the glasses pretty much ON the board, or a inch away from it tops. Can't solder like that...
Plus, being so close to the board means the overhead lighting of the bench can't get to the board, so it's dark.. so I have to stick my nose to the board, hold the board with one hand to bring it to my nose, and with the other hand I grad a torch light to shine some light on the board so I can actually see something... So I can only use it to inspect a board : see where the problems are, rework an area  "blind"/ naked eye, then inspect again to check if what I did fixed it and if the quality of the job is good enough ! Rince and repeat as necessary.... 
A pain. But  still happy I bought them so I can at least inspect traces and joints, and tiny part numbers / markings on SMD stuff...

I've got one of the previous generation of these:



Details here at Ikea.

I've been meaning to get another. Makes a great task lamp as the flexible gooseneck lets you put the light exactly where you want it, like this:

Watch out for them.  That’s where I started. The LEDs go dim very quickly which you don’t notice until you next go to IKEA 

Edit: 6 days off now. Hopefully some TE time in there but got busy holiday schedule stuff 

If mine has dimmed I haven't noticed and it still works admirably for the things I use it for. I've had mine a good few years and it gets used a fair bit. I keep it clamped to the edge of my desk underneath my monitor and pretty much grab it anytime I need more light, like last night while stripping SMD passives off the tape into little flip-top boxes.

[xrunner]

Even the full license lot here think a soldering iron goes up your bum. It’s a bit of a disaster.

As we go head-long into the future the situation will get even worse as far as any hams repairing the radios. This is because of SDR, which is great, but the radio is more of a computer now than what any of them understand a radio to be. There are, of course, components that could be repaired in an SDR, such as an RF pre-amp, PA output, and other sorts of things. But as far as the main "radio" nope - it's a motherboard and the magic smoke is now magic software. So the days of tweaking coils and replacing individual components in the main radio is going away forever. 

[BU508A]

Bought something similar but I can't work / solder with it, because the working distance is pretty much zero -->  in order to focus, get a neat image, I need to stick the glasses pretty much ON the board, or a inch away from it tops. Can't solder like that...
Plus, being so close to the board means the overhead lighting of the bench can't get to the board, so it's dark.. so I have to stick my nose to the board, hold the board with one hand to bring it to my nose, and with the other hand I grad a torch light to shine some light on the board so I can actually see something... So I can only use it to inspect a board : see where the problems are, rework an area  "blind"/ naked eye, then inspect again to check if what I did fixed it and if the quality of the job is good enough ! Rince and repeat as necessary.... 
A pain. But  still happy I bought them so I can at least inspect traces and joints, and tiny part numbers / markings on SMD stuff...

I've got one of the previous generation of these:



Details here at Ikea.

I've been meaning to get another. Makes a great task lamp as the flexible gooseneck lets you put the light exactly where you want it, like this:

Watch out for them.  That’s where I started. The LEDs go dim very quickly which you don’t notice until you next go to IKEA 

Edit: 6 days off now. Hopefully some TE time in there but got busy holiday schedule stuff 

Congrats to your posting #20000   

[bd139]

Gah didn’t see that. So much spaaaaaam 

[mnementh]

   https://www.amazon.ca/dp/B07WDCMY57/

You want a silicone soldering mat like this one. You can solder directly on it, unlike the cutting mat. you probably ALSO want the cutting mat tho; for general assembly and repair work the silicone mat is too soft and easily cut.

Ah OK, well in this case I would first a large nice cutting mat.. sorry I was wrong to assume you could solder on them, my bad 
So any particular brand for cutting mats to favour,a place no the interweb to get them ? Or is it just a case of just any one you can find it will do the job, they are all equal quality ?!


   https://www.amazon.ca/gp/product/B07H1GVCBP

You want ceramic tweezers like these. You can solder directly on them with iron or hot air and they don't stick to the solder or the part, unlike the SS ones.

Wow they look fancy ! .. though quite affordable somehow.
Is your link just some random page you pulled, or is it the exact brand you are using yourself ? Don't want to buy random ones and figure out I wasted my money when I receive them and give them a test ride...

If you look for "silicone soldering mat" or "phone repair mat" on your local Amazon, you can usually find a smaller one (like 150mm x 200 or so) for $5-10 delivered Prime. DO NOT get any of the ones made for baking; they are made very thin, like .5-1.0mm thick. There are some industrial ones that are very good, and usually grey or black, that will be listed as 3-4mm thick as well, but they are harder to find.

If you are willing to wait for the slow boat from China, you can usually find small or large silicone soldering mats from AliEx for $5-15 delivered.

Yes, that is the exact brand/listing of those ceramic tweezers that I bought. Tips are blunt-ground, approx 1mm across, so they're fine enough for 0603 but don't constantly stab you. They have very little lateral deflection, so very rarely do tiny parts go flipping away, and most importantly, the tips coincide perfectly and the inside faces meet perfectly. I can pull a hair off my arm without cutting it. These have quickly become a go-to tool, and both pairs that I bought are almost identically so precise.

Another place you can find these is "vape supply" houses; vape nerds commonly use them to hold "custom wound" heating coils for flame-annealing once formed. There's a whole subculture on these things, very similar to that surrounding LED flashlight modding, etc.

I realize that a sample size of 2 is hardly representative, but I was blown away by the quality/price ratio.

Cheers,

mnem
 

[bd139]

Even the full license lot here think a soldering iron goes up your bum. It’s a bit of a disaster.

As we go head-long into the future the situation will get even worse as far as any hams repairing the radios. This is because of SDR, which is great, but the radio is more of a computer now than what any of them understand a radio to be. There are, of course, components that could be repaired in an SDR, such as an RF pre-amp, PA output, and other sorts of things. But as far as the main "radio" nope - it's a motherboard and the magic smoke is now magic software. So the days of tweaking coils and replacing individual components in the main radio is going away forever. 

The old stuff still works

I did notice, before I gave up, that the SDR police are starting to appear on CW now.

Also rant: someone gave me a bad tone on RST. Never had anything but a 9 on that. Looked them up on QRZ. Dude I’m using a crystal and three transistors, I’m sorry I’m drifting when I key a bit on your SDR with 20Hz filter, TCXO. Open it up a bit and chase me like the 1950s again. Oh I’m sorry, does your rig have an encoder which steps in 100Hz or something?!?