Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread

[AVGresponding]

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.

I use a Komerci too, I picked this one, very reasonable for £50 or £60 shipped from Deutschland: https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Komerci-KML-LED-Loupe-Magnifier-Lamp-with-Dimmer-Tripod-3d-5d-Lens-Rolling-Tripod-/152854262717





EDIT: These aren't available in the UK right now, I got mine before the Big Sulk.

[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..."

Cub, it is a shame about both.  I worked for RS in the early 90's.  Snagged lots of stuff out of boxes in the back rooms that were written off but not disposed of.  My best was a 3" display red LED alarm clock that worked for about 28 years before giving up the ghost.  They did sell good stuff at one time.

Nmem, nothing like the wearing of fresh sawdust.  This past weekend, I was playing with the jointer/planer practicing on some pallet wood.  I plan to make a desktop for my computer desk out of pallet wood.  I was playing for about 20 minutes, I had a pile of shavings almost a foot deep. I am really going to have to figure out some sort of a catch basin to make clean up easier. There are some smells I just can't get enough of: fresh sawdust, fresh cut grass, gunpowder and my own marinara sauce recipe.

I am truly blessed for Mrs. GreyWoolfe.  She calls me spoiled but she is the enabler.  All the kill/maim yourself power tools I have are her saying; sure, we can get that, I'll find projects for you to use it on. Thankfully, we have an over sized 2 car garage for me to play in.  She also knows I am not going to buy something if I didn't have a use/need for it and I am going to hunt for the best price/value for the money.  The table saw, for example was $75 USD, I sold my 10+ year old cheap Ryobi table saw for $65 so the saw actually cost 10 yankee bux.  Plus I certainly got more than my money's worth out of the Ryobi so the initial cost is out of the equation as far as I am concerned.

Not only yeah, but HELL YEAH! I even like the smell of gunpowder, as long as it comes in fireworks.   



mnem
"I like coconuts; You can crack them open and they smell like ladies lyin' in the sun..."

[mansaxel]

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

My wife, the enabler, gave me a Metabo miter saw 2 years ago, for my birthday. It is a wonderful tool. Makes me, the eternal 85° / 95° joint hobby carpenter build things that are actually straight. Sneaky as she was and is, I got the saw as morning gift, and in the evening, to dinner with the extended family, I got the leg stand.  Earlier this summer, before we were to start off on a gecko terrarium build, we were ogling table saws at the local Swiss-German home improvement store, with her cheering me on... In the end we held back, and did the terrarium with miter saw, hand-held circular saw, and Proxxon multitool. I did employ my drillpress (3-phase, of course!) for a few holes too.

Edit: I had a plane and wood chisel rabbit hole excursion earlier this year, ended up buying (used, all of it) a No 4 1/2 plane, a couple small No 110 planes and a No 78 Rebate plane, and a bunch of used chisels. They of course also were employed.

(not wanting to jinx things, but I do believe that I just might be in for a repeat performance; my Tormek grinder that I was given earlier this week can be extended with a large menagerie of jigs. My b'day was Monday, and Sunday lunch we're seeing extended family again. )

You know when you've found gold. Cherish it. I do.

[med6753]

My ex, the discouraging, gave me nothing but debt and misery. Haven't seen nor talked with her in 10 years and I have no idea where she is nor do I care. Funny thing is when she found out I was seeing the Lady Cop she suddenly wanted me back.  Are you nuts?    Women are strange creatures. 

I feel lucky too. While Lady Cop isn't what I would consider an "enabler" she certainly respects my "addiction" even though she doesn't totally understand it. She never criticizes and gives encouragement. She respects my space although she will bust my nads when I get a new piece of equipment and rolls her eyes and then asks "where are you going to put it? "     

[duckduck]

Dave just mentioned the EEVblog forum TEA thread in his latest video at the 10 min 30 second mark.

"There's even a Test Equipment Anonymous, ah, in case you've got, you know, psychological problems collecting test equipment, which is quite common."

He forgot to mention that the folks on the TEA thread will not help cure TE-collecting addiction, but are all enablers.

[Wolfgang]

My ex, the discouraging, gave me nothing but debt and misery. Haven't seen nor talked with her in 10 years and I have no idea where she is nor do I care. Funny thing is when she found out I was seeing the Lady Cop she suddenly wanted me back.  Are you nuts?    Women are strange creatures. 

I feel lucky too. While Lady Cop isn't what I would consider an "enabler" she certainly respects my "addiction" even though she doesn't totally understand it. She never criticizes and gives encouragement. She respects my space although she will bust my nads when I get a new piece of equipment and rolls her eyes and then asks "where are you going to put it? "     

I recommend to move all your tech stuff from your bedroom to a decent new building called "the temple of Tek" of the earlier day saints. 

[med6753]

Dave just mentioned the EEVblog forum TEA thread in his latest video at the 10 min 30 second mark.

"There's even a test equipment anonymous, ah, in case you've got, you know, psychological problems collecting test equipment, which is quite common."

Yea, I think he called us crazy. 

[med6753]

My ex, the discouraging, gave me nothing but debt and misery. Haven't seen nor talked with her in 10 years and I have no idea where she is nor do I care. Funny thing is when she found out I was seeing the Lady Cop she suddenly wanted me back.  Are you nuts?    Women are strange creatures. 

I feel lucky too. While Lady Cop isn't what I would consider an "enabler" she certainly respects my "addiction" even though she doesn't totally understand it. She never criticizes and gives encouragement. She respects my space although she will bust my nads when I get a new piece of equipment and rolls her eyes and then asks "where are you going to put it? "     

I recommend to move all your tech stuff from your bedroom to a decent new building called "the temple of Tek" of the earlier day saints. 

Should I start a go fund me? 

[ch_scr]

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 ...

Arrived in Besancon after 10h drive, my impression was that german drivers were unusually relaxed? Just a few road works making a 3 lane go to 2...
Where I will arrive for vacation? Hopefully tomorrow I can tell 

[Saskia]

Dave just mentioned the EEVblog forum TEA thread in his latest video at the 10 min 30 second mark.

"There's even a test equipment anonymous, ah, in case you've got, you know, psychological problems collecting test equipment, which is quite common."

Yea, I think he called us crazy. 

[Cubdriver]

Dave just mentioned the EEVblog forum TEA thread in his latest video at the 10 min 30 second mark.

"There's even a test equipment anonymous, ah, in case you've got, you know, psychological problems collecting test equipment, which is quite common."

Yea, I think he called us crazy. 

...if the shoe fits...   

-Pat

[Cubdriver]

Dave just mentioned the EEVblog forum TEA thread in his latest video at the 10 min 30 second mark.

"There's even a Test Equipment Anonymous, ah, in case you've got, you know, psychological problems collecting test equipment, which is quite common."

He forgot to mention that the folks on the TEA thread will not help cure TE-collecting addiction, but are all enablers.

Dunno about anyone else here, but I have no psychological problem collecting test equipment - it doesn't bother me in the slightest.   

-Pat

[Saskia]

I am collecting Arcades, Pinballs, some Test Gear to repair aforementioned Arcades and Pinballs, and I also collect Kanguroos ...

Anyone has a problem with that ?
 

[Cubdriver]

I am collecting Arcades, Pinballs, some Test Gear to repair aforementioned Arcades and Pinballs, and I also collect Kanguroos ...

Anyone has a problem with that ?
 

None whatsoever.   

-Pat

[Wolfgang]

My ex, the discouraging, gave me nothing but debt and misery. Haven't seen nor talked with her in 10 years and I have no idea where she is nor do I care. Funny thing is when she found out I was seeing the Lady Cop she suddenly wanted me back.  Are you nuts?    Women are strange creatures. 

I feel lucky too. While Lady Cop isn't what I would consider an "enabler" she certainly respects my "addiction" even though she doesn't totally understand it. She never criticizes and gives encouragement. She respects my space although she will bust my nads when I get a new piece of equipment and rolls her eyes and then asks "where are you going to put it? "     

I recommend to move all your tech stuff from your bedroom to a decent new building called "the temple of Tek" of the earlier day saints. 

Should I start a go fund me? 

I think yes. You have collected a ton of vintage stuff, you cleaned and fixed it, put it into a decent shape. Now its there, waiting for people that appreciate it. Problem: all these people are not necessarily rotten, but definitively old. Some some day all this will go to the dump - OR to the Tek temple. Tek temple is better, IMHO. 

[Wolfgang]

I am collecting Arcades, Pinballs, some Test Gear to repair aforementioned Arcades and Pinballs, and I also collect Kanguroos ...

Anyone has a problem with that ?
 

Not all all. Just keep your C4 collection below the legal limits. 

[bd139]

My ex, the discouraging, gave me nothing but debt and misery. Haven't seen nor talked with her in 10 years and I have no idea where she is nor do I care. Funny thing is when she found out I was seeing the Lady Cop she suddenly wanted me back.  Are you nuts?    Women are strange creatures. 

I feel lucky too. While Lady Cop isn't what I would consider an "enabler" she certainly respects my "addiction" even though she doesn't totally understand it. She never criticizes and gives encouragement. She respects my space although she will bust my nads when I get a new piece of equipment and rolls her eyes and then asks "where are you going to put it? "     

I recommend to move all your tech stuff from your bedroom to a decent new building called "the temple of Tek" of the earlier day saints. 

Should I start a go fund me? 

I think yes. You have collected a ton of vintage stuff, you cleaned and fixed it, put it into a decent shape. Now its there, waiting for people that appreciate it. Problem: all these people are not necessarily rotten, but definitively old. Some some day all this will go to the dump - OR to the Tek temple. Tek temple is better, IMHO. 

Yep. I like to think of it from a philosophical point of view. On a larger scale everything we know, are and do is transient. At the end of the day it’ll all turn to dust. What we do is slow that down a bit by appreciating forgotten people through their engineering creations and efforts as that’s something we relate to. The best way is to put yourself in their shoes to some degree and feel the magic.

People’s work doesn’t need to end up in a temple but it really shouldn’t end up in a skip with a written down value on it.

[Saskia]

agree wholeheartedly.

speaking of temple, I just forwarded a bit to the Asatru community via Humble Bundle. They got some math / physics / engineering bundles as well as some learn new languages bundles for reasonable money.

Now I do not necessarily need Italian or Korean, but I need to polish up on my Japanese and should at least look at Chinese ...
(my administrative boss is Chinese and I cannot even pronounce her name ...)

Finding the time for that will be difficult.

In other news, fixed the oil leak on my 5 year old Skoda Octavia CNG PoS. Seem to have a gearbox/transmission problem. The dealer quoted 4.5 grand to look at it and recommended putting in a new one.

FFS. My pyro collection may take a hit, I might pommijätkät it ...

[Saskia]

I am collecting Arcades, Pinballs, some Test Gear to repair aforementioned Arcades and Pinballs, and I also collect Kanguroos ...

Anyone has a problem with that ?
 

Not all all. Just keep your C4 collection below the legal limits. 

Don't worry, I will. The autorities authorized a stupendous amount that I will not be able to use up ...

needless to say that all legal limits and laws are observed to the letter. Pyro stuff is no laughing matter ...

[Specmaster]

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 ...

One consolation of being in Vienna is that the city on Google Earth looks to be a very beautiful place with loads of indoor and outdoor attractions to visit and simply masses of museums 

[Saskia]

Actually don't have time for that. Need to see the authorities to get a specific permit and bring Hubby's stuff to an auction house as he cannot take it with him. 
Then meet my boss in the evening, then meet Hubby's friends on Saturday. We don't know if we will see them again
And it will be return travel on Sunday.
So no discord for me this Saturday, no feeling frisky ...
More like ... *sigh*
There are things in life that you do not want to do.
Being a good wife I will try to be what Delenn was for
Sheridan in one of the last episodes of B5 ... Unfortunately I cannot cut myself in half and let one half remain with him in Austria and the other half looking after my daughter up north.
This is a lose lose proposition ...

[bd139]

Quick bit of RF fun. Neighbour has noisy TV because she's deaf. Zero luck talking to her because she's got a "fuck everyone else attitude". However we have a shared antenna which is not boosted and just split.

If I terminate my feed with a short then it's glorious silence! 🤔

[tggzzz]

There are things in life that you do not want to do.
Being a good wife I will try to be what Delenn was for
Sheridan in one of the last episodes of B5 ... Unfortunately I cannot cut myself in half and let one half remain with him in Austria and the other half looking after my daughter up north.
This is a lose lose proposition ...

Life is like that:(

Not quite the same, but I decided that, while I normally looked after my mother, if push came to shove and my daughter needed me, then I would support my daughter in preference to my mother. "Future vs past" made that an easy decision, but fortunately I did not have to implement it.

Best wishes with your dilemma and choice.

[med6753]

Quick bit of RF fun. Neighbour has noisy TV because she's deaf. Zero luck talking to her because she's got a "fuck everyone else attitude". However we have a shared antenna which is not boosted and just split.

If I terminate my feed with a short then it's glorious silence! 🤔

Do it. Video it and upload to YT. 

[tggzzz]

Quick bit of RF fun. Neighbour has noisy TV because she's deaf. Zero luck talking to her because she's got a "fuck everyone else attitude". However we have a shared antenna which is not boosted and just split.

If I terminate my feed with a short then it's glorious silence! 🤔

Suggest to her that she configures her TV's " sound mode" for "clear voice". I find it makes an enormous difference, and I reduce the volume from ~50 to ~30. Expect to have to do her fiddling for her.