Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread

[Cerebus]

Weird to hear how badly that 0.5mm treated you; the ones I have for my T12 station work admirably for just that kind of work as you describe, as long as you treat them like a ~25W tip. I expected the SmartHeat version to be even better...

I think it's just a basic geometry thing, too much thin bit between heater coil and business end.



Fuzzy, but I think you can make out enough to see what I'm on about.

It's funny, but since I got a proper tool chest, and some other boxes for tools that don't live in the tool chest I can find everything immediately when I need it. How does that work?

[Cerebus]

You might have a very good shape ... 

Would you be saying the same thing if you'd seen a photo of him? 

[xrunner]

You might have a very good shape ... 

Would you be saying the same thing if you'd seen a photo of him? 

I might ... 

Quick and dirty snapshot. Say between these two - no question I prefer the chisel on the right (T12 tips: IL vs D16).

[Cerebus]

Chisel tip = 

Conical tip = 

I like conical tips for most things.  The only thing I use a chisel tip for is doing silver soldering in Tek ceramic strips. You need as much thermal mass as you can get for that. And that tip only sees silver solder.

I've had ZERO issues mixing 60/40 solder with the silver solder on the ceramic strips. Just use care and don't go overboard.

I got a deal on a pound of Kester 2% Ag. I'm set for life. 

Relatively recent experience with solder with circa 2% Ag in it has really sold me on it. I rarely encounter anything where the silver content is a technical necessity, but it goes on so buttery smooth that I just want to use it. However, as I don't even seem to have made a dent in the reel of Multicore 60/40 that I've had for at least 10 years, perhaps 20, I don't even have a good excuse at the moment. A decent reel of decent solder always seems expensive when you shell out for it, and seems really cheap when you discover how long it lasts you at home consumption levels.

[BU508A]

Chisel tip = 

Conical tip = 

I like conical tips for most things.  The only thing I use a chisel tip for is doing silver soldering in Tek ceramic strips. You need as much thermal mass as you can get for that. And that tip only sees silver solder.

I've had ZERO issues mixing 60/40 solder with the silver solder on the ceramic strips. Just use care and don't go overboard.

I got a deal on a pound of Kester 2% Ag. I'm set for life. 

Relatively recent experience with solder with circa 2% Ag in it has really sold me on it. I rarely encounter anything where the silver content is a technical necessity, but it goes on so buttery smooth that I just want to use it. However, as I don't even seem to have made a dent in the reel of Multicore 60/40 that I've had for at least 10 years, perhaps 20, I don't even have a good excuse at the moment. A decent reel of decent solder always seems expensive when you shell out for it, and seems really cheap when you discover how long it lasts you at home consumption levels.

I'm using the stuff from Felder: Felder Iso-core "EL" Sn62Pb36Ag2

RS has it (geez, that stuff is expensive in the UK)
https://uk.rs-online.com/web/p/solder/1047577/

[mnementh]

Just a point on Metcal life.

Metcal cartridges (the element) have about 400h continuous life. I'm on my second one in ~ 3 years and I do a shit load of soldering. I suspect that one died because I dropped the handpiece on the floor rather than it was dead.

I have the original tip. It's as good as new still.

My kit is the PS900 (production iron) and it's cheaper than the current Magnastat WTCP 51 which was quite frankly disappointingly shit. It used to get stuck to ground planes 

When I bought the iron I got a stack of consumables with it - sponges and brass wool for tip cleaning, a couple of tips and a spare cartridge. Was a good investment overall. I still love it after over 3 years.

It may be worth investing in the "standby holder" if you spend a lot of time idling. That has a magnet in it which sticks the iron in low heat mode when it's in the holder. I haven't got one (yet).

Or you can make one like I did. That is a Hakko stand with a speaker magnet fabricobbled onto it. Works a treat; "cool idle" temp is aboot 225°C.

mnem
 

[vk6zgo]

However we do speak often of the French guys from Paris ! Every body in the country hates them. They are just unbearable, you can spot them from a mile away and after 3 seconds usually the only thought that crosses your mind is  :" FUCK ME I will kill that SOB !!! "   
That's how much we like them.

OK I gots to know. Why are they hated? Sorry I don't get out much. 

AFAIK from international reputation: arrogant superiority !
Correct me if I am wrong Vince.

In a nutshell yes ! 

Just because Paris is the largest city in the country, the capital, they got the Eiffel Tower, all the rich people, the cool museums and stuff, nice architecture here and there, the government, all the politicians, all the TV stations, because apparently somehow Paris is the #1 destination worldwide for tourists, blah blah blah..... so they just think that they are the best in the country (world), that anything that's not like them, is shit.
Their narcissism and egoism is outstanding.

They refer to "the rest of the country" with condescending terms that clearly show that they think we don't belong to the same country or same race...

To them, France IS Paris... they don't just realize that it's the other way around : Paris is some STRANGE, weird speck on the map ! It's just 0.00.1% of the country's surface, but somehow they think it's the other way around ?! 

Sounds like (some) people from Sydney or Melbourne.
We had a prominent ex-Victorian State Premier come to WA a few years back, who promptly alienated both sides of politics by shooting off his mouth about "how we were doing everything wrong!"

Thankfully, most of the time Melbourne & Sydney are too busy sniping at each other & stay out of our hair.

So when they "go out"  ... they act as if they own the place and that tehy can act like shit liek they do in Paris ! NOPE !!!!

Other big problem si that :

1) They love Paris and shit on the other 99.9% of the country but.... but.... somehow...

2) When they have money, they RUSH to buy a leisure house in some place far away from Paris, to get a taste of nature and peace.

3) So in my neck of the woods, on the Altantic cost south brittany, lots of cool places. A house by the coast used to cost 100K now thanks to the rich Parisian people, market value tripled and now the locals can't even buy a house in their own village, they are forced to live outside their OWN freaking town !! All the nice houses in nice places are owned by arrogant rich Parisians who can cough tons of cash like there is no tomorrow, and they come to their house like 3 weeks a year at best !
So the anti-Parisian feeling is extremely strong as a result... not only they shit on us, but on top of that they come where we live to deprive us of our own stuff ! That's too much to take !!! 

4) They drive like shit, they park like shit, they behave on the road like shit !

5) They drive big shiny SUV's that they park across two parking spaces, diagonally, because it's too big for as single spot, and they don't know how to drive anyway !

I HATE PARISIANS, KILL THEM ALL !!!! 

Now contrast that with "The French Canadian Problem", ehh...?



mnem
Props to Pat for digging this gem up a couple years ago... no, I didn't forget, ya hoser.

Canuck "Bogans"!

[mnementh]

     A-HAHAHAHAHA!!!

mnem
hey... I resemble that remark...

[Zucca]

Yes on both counts.  The Thermaltronics tips are color coded, with blue being equivalent to the Metcal 6xx- tips, yellow to the 7xx-tips and red to the 8xx-tips.

I used the nail polish my wife to color code my Metcal ones.

[mnementh]

I can't speak totally to the reliability of the other brands, but bought the Metcal at the beginning of 2020, IIRC.  Got a few OEM and a few Thermaltronics tips for it, and can't really tell a difference between them use-wise.  Just before the nastiness hit, I had to go to my CA office to assemble something that had proven to be a challenge to solder with the old station we had out there (a Xytronic).  They were antennas that had copper fins a bit smaller and thinner than a US penny, with slots that needed to be soldered to a piece of coax.  The old station had to be cranked up to full bitch, and even then could barely heat things enough to get a nice joint.  It had a bevel tip a few mm in diameter, so it had a decent thermal contact with the fin, but still struggled.  When time came to go back out to build up the remaining antennas, I ordered a Theremaltronics iron and a few tips for the lab out there.  It seems pretty close quality-wise to the Metacal here at home, and soldered the fins with nary a whimper.  the other guys in the lab like it, too, so I'd say you're safe with either Metcal or Thermaltronics.  I've never used any kind of Hakko, so I've no comment there.

-Pat

Thanks for that. So one can use thermaltronics tips on a real/genuine Metcal, good to know, that's excellent !  I mean obviously the Thermaltronics tips must be cheaper than their Metcal counter parts.. otherwise not much point to it...
Competition, good ! 

As always, there's more to than that. Part of the SmartHeat system is that the RF energy delivered is regulated by the base dependent upon the mass it detects as loading of the RF energy being fed the tip. More metal mass in contact alters that, and it ramps up (increases duty cycle) the RF energy applied. This is the "Smart" part of the SmartHeat system.

There's been a bit of a "scandal", if that's what you want to call it; in the course of development (or so they claim) Oki/MetCal changed the way the SmartHeat system responds to loading when it detects an increase in the mass of the material it contacts. As a result, Thermaltronics tips in a MetCal station generally don't "ramp up instantly" like a MetCal tip, or for that matter, a Thermaltronics tip in a Thermaltronics station.

The "scandal" arose when the guys at Thermaltronics claimed it was deliberate to keep people from buying their product to use on Oki/Metcal stations, while Oki/Metcal claims it was just the usual product development, which those engineers were no longer part of... 

Having had both in my hands, I can say that the quality of the two handsets is night/day; I like my old used Oki/Metcal handle better than the new Thermaltronics one I bought and returned. This is due in part to the quality of the cable used as well as other things about the handle. Also note that at least with the MX-500 family, there is a "regular" handle and a "premium" handle from both manufacturers. All allegedly work on a MX-500 power brick like mine.

One of my conical tips is Thermaltronics, and true to these claims it works and comes up to temp, but it is not as responsive as the genuine Oki/Metcal tips. It also doesn't "feel" as well-made; but that's entirely subjective.

Bottom line is that for the tips I use all the time, I buy Metcal. If I find a Thermaltronics that looks like it might be useful, I'll buy it if the price is "extra reasonable"; but I know the chance I'm taking.

mnem
 

[vk6zgo]

To be fair the biggest problems that lead to rail crashes here are simply our biggest cultural defect: dire lack of rigour and competence. British is best they crow but no never buy anything British made on a Friday afternoon.

The rot set in many years back------- the Brits made many fine pieces of equipment, but also many which were seriously dire.

Just a small thing, ------many years back, I couldn't find my centrepunch, so set out to buy a new one.
The big tool shop in the city had some fancy looking ones which were packed in a bubble wrap & sported the information that they had received a "Duke of Edinburgh's export award".

They really were quite snazzy, with a moulded teflon cover so you wouldn't transfer impact to your fingers during operation---- apparently to reduce the need to take a break if you were doing a lot of operations.

Anyway, it was "on special" at only twice the price of the "El Cheapo" ones, so I bought it.

The first time I used it, the tip snapped off!
Luckily, the local hardware store was still open & had some "rough as guts" Aussie ones (a whole bunch wrapped in some oiled paper, that looked like they had come straight from some backyard workshop), so I bought one "to get out of trouble".


It worked a treat, & continued to do so till, a few years later, inevitably, I lost it!
One day, I'll find it, along with all the others!

Meanwhile, the Duke's broken one sculled around in the bottom of my toolbox for years!

[mnementh]

I'd love to know the secret sauce in the standby stands. I mean obviously it's a magnet or two but what's the orientation, what's the necessary field strength. Reason being that I haven't got a magic stand and I haven't seen one at a good price and I'm sure that it's just a case of sticking a couple of neo-diddlyum magnets in the right place.

The photos show the orientation with the strongest changes. The first and last are relatively "free floating", the middle three are solid.

Cool, thanks. I'll try and figure that out later. I'm presuming that the intent of the static field is to saturate the 'core' element of the tip so it can't be too delicate a balance - just a strong enough field to push it off the top of the BH curve.

   From my research, that is also part of the SmartHeat sensing mechanism; at least on the MX-500, there is a switch that one actuates in the power brick to tell it you have the magic standby stand.

On mine, I aligned the magnet so the cartridge is centered in the hole in the magnet, and in the stand the tip barely goes through the magnet such that the bottom of magnet lines up with the joint between tip and barrel.

It seemed to make a difference which way I had the magnet flipped; one way cooled more than the other, but I never got around to checking polarity against a marked hobby magnet. Of course, it is also possible that the difference was nothing more than exact placement changing when I flipped the magnet. 

Hope that helps you figure out how to make your own!

mnem
*toddles off to ded*

[Cerebus]

As always, there's more to than that. Part of the SmartHeat system is that the RF energy delivered is regulated by the base dependent upon the mass it detects as loading of the RF energy being fed the tip. More metal mass in contact alters that, and it ramps up (increases duty cycle) the RF energy applied. This is the "Smart" part of the SmartHeat system.

I'd like to see a reference to that that is more than just marketing bullshit i.e. proper technical documents. I have circuit diagrams for both the original MX500 and the SP-200 and there's nothing in them that would do that. They just react to the match/mismatch between the source and the load according to the curie point element doing its bit. If they've done something genuinely smart in the newer supplies (remembering that these need to retain compatibility with the existing handpieces/tips) I'd be pleasantly surprised.

Here are the two schematics (Ain't the MX-500 one a perfect example of how NOT to draw a schematic).

Exits pursued by a nap-attack.

[Cerebus]

The big tool shop in the city had some fancy looking ones which were packed in a bubble wrap & sported the information that they had received a "Duke of Edinburgh's export award".

Given the Duke of Edinburgh's well documented attitude to foreigners you should have know what was coming next.

Flunky: "Sir, this is Mr Hardacre who has been selling lots of pot metal tools overseas. He's here for his award."
DoE: "Been fleecing foreigners have you laddie? Good man! Well done! Here, have a tin star. Carry on! Now, where's m' pink gin?"

[Cubdriver]

As always, there's more to than that. Part of the SmartHeat system is that the RF energy delivered is regulated by the base dependent upon the mass it detects as loading of the RF energy being fed the tip. More metal mass in contact alters that, and it ramps up (increases duty cycle) the RF energy applied. This is the "Smart" part of the SmartHeat system.

I'd like to see a reference to that that is more than just marketing bullshit i.e. proper technical documents. I have circuit diagrams for both the original MX500 and the SP-200 and there's nothing in them that would do that. They just react to the match/mismatch between the source and the load according to the curie point element doing its bit. If they've done something genuinely smart in the newer supplies (remembering that these need to retain compatibility with the existing handpieces/tips) I'd be pleasantly surprised.

Here are the two schematics (Ain't the MX-500 one a perfect example of how NOT to draw a schematic).

Exits pursued by a nap-attack.

That MX-500 schematic layout is awful.  Sheesh.   

-Pat

[vk6zgo]

A Renault 19 was hardly and "old" car in 1998.
 

You know that Renaults get crusty in the brochure?
As a friend always says: Do not buy a car that starts with F: Ford, Fiat, French...
Unnecessary to say that I have two Renaults and one Ford.

I've had three Renaults & two Fords----but I'm happy to say, I no longer  have any of them!

The first Ford was a 100E Ford Popular --- a secondhand beast to get around when I did a "working holiday" in the UK in 1971/72.

Nice looking car, but a late 1950s body filled with 1930s mechanicals-----sidevalve 4, with thermosyphon cooling, 3 speed gearbox, vacuum wipers, 6 volt electrical system, etc.
It was quite nice to drive, but the fuel economy was abysmal for such a small car.

Next Ford was a 1988 Australian Ford Falcon-----about as different from the "Pop" as you could get.
Massive 6cyl OHC engine, automatic, with 4 wheel disc brakes, airconditioning, & its fuel economy wasn't much worse than the 100E!

Secondhand, of course, so "gorilla-isation" began to show its ugly head.
Someone had fitted one of the fuel injectors incorrectly.
Initially, only showed up as a sudden hesitation sometimes when cruising around about 110kmh, but gradually got worse, along with other more "Ford caused" problems.

My first Renault (secondhand) was an R12, locally assembled during the days of "Australianisation", so the electrical system was made locally by Bosch, with a great deal of commonality with other locally made cars.

It was a great little car, but eventually the gearbox failed, & I bought another slightly newer one-----still good, but no where near the first one.
Engine died, so I tried to replace it with the good engine from the first one, only to discover all the mating bits had changed.

Next was a R25---- sheer luxury, compared to the dear old R12, but a piece of crap.
The LCD dashboard gave silly readings, & the "little guy in the dash" gave silly voice announcements, but as if that wasn't enough, the "computer controlled" automatic transmission would suddenly drop down & lock in second gear. (the first "electronic" transmissions in Ford Falcons later than mine did similar things).
For another delight, the (expensive) alternator died, so I finally gave up.

About that time, both the R25 & the Falcon were dispatched to "car heaven", & I bought a Toyota Camry.
It is now as old & ugly as me, but in better health------starts & runs like a new car!

[beanflying]

However we do speak often of the French guys from Paris ! Every body in the country hates them. They are just unbearable, you can spot them from a mile away and after 3 seconds usually the only thought that crosses your mind is  :" FUCK ME I will kill that SOB !!! "   
That's how much we like them.

OK I gots to know. Why are they hated? Sorry I don't get out much. 

AFAIK from international reputation: arrogant superiority !
Correct me if I am wrong Vince.

In a nutshell yes ! 

Just because Paris is the largest city in the country, the capital, they got the Eiffel Tower, all the rich people, the cool museums and stuff, nice architecture here and there, the government, all the politicians, all the TV stations, because apparently somehow Paris is the #1 destination worldwide for tourists, blah blah blah..... so they just think that they are the best in the country (world), that anything that's not like them, is shit.
Their narcissism and egoism is outstanding.

They refer to "the rest of the country" with condescending terms that clearly show that they think we don't belong to the same country or same race...

To them, France IS Paris... they don't just realize that it's the other way around : Paris is some STRANGE, weird speck on the map ! It's just 0.00.1% of the country's surface, but somehow they think it's the other way around ?! 

Sounds like (some) people from Sydney or Melbourne.
We had a prominent ex-Victorian State Premier come to WA a few years back, who promptly alienated both sides of politics by shooting off his mouth about "how we were doing everything wrong!"

Thankfully, most of the time Melbourne & Sydney are too busy sniping at each other & stay out of our hair.

Best place for that particular Premier is somewhere else  The arrogant turd dismantled the very good State Technical School system and screwed up the TAFE (post secondary trade schools) system in the state, broke up and sold of the 'profit making' SEC so our power bills went up, privatized the regional water boards ......

[mnementh]

As always, there's more to than that. Part of the SmartHeat system is that the RF energy delivered is regulated by the base dependent upon the mass it detects as loading of the RF energy being fed the tip. More metal mass in contact alters that, and it ramps up (increases duty cycle) the RF energy applied. This is the "Smart" part of the SmartHeat system.

I'd like to see a reference to that that is more than just marketing bullshit i.e. proper technical documents. I have circuit diagrams for both the original MX500 and the SP-200 and there's nothing in them that would do that. They just react to the match/mismatch between the source and the load according to the curie point element doing its bit. If they've done something genuinely smart in the newer supplies (remembering that these need to retain compatibility with the existing handpieces/tips) I'd be pleasantly surprised.

Here are the two schematics (Ain't the MX-500 one a perfect example of how NOT to draw a schematic).

Exits pursued by a nap-attack.

I recognize the one document; I used it to help me troubleshoot my MX-500. The other SP-200 schematic... no. Do not recognize that.

What I've passed on is from the arguments that went back and forth... jeeezus... ~2000-2005 in one of the bigger repair forums.

Posts from folks who were identified as belonging to both companies going back & forth. The big argument was over the response time in modulating the RF power. You're right; I probably assumed it was altering the duty cycle because of the caveats offered with the reverse-engineered circuit description there & the signal being a square wave.

Those forum discussions were one of the reasons I first wanted MetCal; to see if it actually worked. You can touch the tip to a large mass of metal without a good solder fillet transferring heat and still feel the tip ramping up instantly, so my own experience seems to echo these claims, as does his description of how the voltages at key test points circuit behave. Also, as I said, it obviously does sense something and alter RF power with the magnetic standby base.

I personally see no reason to believe it does anything other than those "marketing claims"... otherwise, it's little more than a conventional thermal-sensing tip and response certainly seems far too fast for that. It really does seem "Spidey-sense" fast, if you know what I mean. 

I assumed the fact of it being that RF frequency combined with the Curie-point metal slug mechanism made a tuned circuit and was why it works this way... I honestly didn't further dissect how it ramped up the power once I found my culprit and fixed the unit.

EDIT: The awful disjointed schematic that fellow drew up was also part of the reason I took  the "theory of operation" in his "reverse-engineering" document with a grain of salt. It seemed more than reasonable that he may have overlooked something.

mnem
 

[Martin.M]

 

anyone knows how to adjust the gear train in 5253B?
The transmission is lost, I do a repair, then it have to be adjust, including this moving boxes at the side..
This plugin looks more as a dust sucker then to be a frequency converter for the 5245L 

[Cubdriver]

anyone knows how to adjust the gear train in 5253B?
The transmission is lost, I do a repair, then it have to be adjust, including this moving boxes at the side..
This plugin looks more as a dust sucker then to be a frequency converter for the 5245L 

Hi Martin - I don't see anything in the online manuals regarding mechanical setup (as I'm sure you've already discovered).  That said, I have a 5253B here and would be happy to take whatever photos and measurements you might like if that will help.  Let me know, and I'll do so tomorrow - hitting the sack now as it's 0320 in these parts.

-Pat

[AVGresponding]

Some absolute cock-end overbid me on one of the £70 start scopes at CDL, leaving all the other ones alone. Now I have to bid on another one. The unsold £90 start ones will all end up relisted at £70 start most likely, so they just spent £2 more than they needed to, in order to annoy someone else.   

[Martin.M]

https://wellenkino.de/hp/5253b.mp4

this 

[vk6zgo]

They had a show playing on the Motor Trend channel last year I thought was interesting, because of the conversion to batteries and because it had Euro cars I don't see over here. Some Brit guys were doing the conversions. Hope they have it on again.

https://www.vintagevoltage.tv/

OH NO !! Poor old cars ruined with electric BS , that's a tragedy ! Can't they leave them alone retiring peacefully ?! 

There are enough modern cars crap and ugly and dull that you can practice on if so you want, why destroy poor old cars ! 

They should go to jail. Thankfully they only do a handful of cars so in the grand scheme of things they don't endanger the old car population to any sizeable extent, but still, that's mutilation, I thought law sent you to jail for eternity for mutilating people ! Should be the same for cars ! 

But, it that show let you see "exotic" (to you) cars, I guess at least it had some good to it...

This was true back in the days of brushed forklift motors and golf cart electrics... not so anymore. The conversion kits have evolved quite a bit, due to demand; most of the properly done ones make a vehicle which is better than OEM in terms of performance and reliability.

As with all "things in demand", you'll have a certain percentage of fuckwits and/or predators doing shitty contract work; however the vast majority are done as a labor of love, and it shows.

Several of the conversions I've seen turn a car that is known in car builder circles to be a habitual dicksore into a joy to drive. In the end, I believe that is more important than spending a decade pulling together used parts from junkyards on multiple continents to get a year or two of driveability from a carbureted petrol drivetrain, which is exactly what a lot of my favorite cars have been reduced to in this modern age.

When I was younger, I had a similarly unbending attitude, and I had the energy for that shit... but time gets more precious when there's less of it to waste. I want to enjoy my hotrod ride now; and I can do that just as well with the hum of 400-600kW of electric motors as I can with 600 ft/lbs of torque from a big-block V8.

mnem
*vrooom-vrooom*

I remembered reading in the Oz mag "Restored Cars" an article where someone modified a Renault 4CV for electric power.
That one used lead acid traction batteries & (I think) a forklift motor, but was quite a good little "runabout" for city use.

This was a while back, & it seems that "RC" doesn't have an Internet presence, as although I check fairly often to see if there is any sign of them, I have seen "neither hide nor hair".
This thread encouraged me to try again, & although I didn't find the original article, I found this:-

https://www.tradeuniquecars.com.au/feature-cars/1306/renault-750-electric

This is a different person, in my home town-----the other one was in a different State.
Those baby Renaults were a nice looking little car, but were a bit sluggish in performance.

[AVGresponding]

I'll tell you what's BS aboot EV. It's that the leading EV manufacturer right now is led by a vapour-ware salesman who is pushing the closed-shop, replace rather than repair agenda, which does NOT help the environment, but rather rapes the shit out of it just as badly as ICE.

Elon Musk and his business practices can fuck off. Then keep fucking off until he's fucked right off. Then he can fuck off some more.

Got to say I know a couple of Tesla drivers and they have to have a lot of repairs so that's not strictly true. Hell they mostly seem to not be assembled and painted correctly in some cases  . That doesn't stop the rabid cult Musk fanbase which is the thing that annoys me. It's taking internet startups and applying that bullshit to infrastructure that's the real problem. That is utterly dangerous. Look at the influence and damage this is going to do just from the marketing.

The environmental issue is more as stated before which is something I've glad to hear people agree with me on which is we built society around cars which was very short sighted. But that's not strictly true either when you look at it and think about it either. Neatly merging this with Specmaster's points about Harlow and Stevenage, both of which have very well structured cycle routes end to end and were designed with this in mind. But they are stinking shit holes - I worked in both  . Despite the places being fitted for public transport the local authority never looked after the cycling infrastructure, privatised the public transport which now charges extortionate amounts to keep afloat and punishes drivers with parking fees. The only viable and affordable transport in some of these areas are independent taxi firms which are low ball outfits running whatever piece of shit that still has wheels that hasn't fallen off.

The only thing is the common denominator race to the bottom on inefficiency and revenue generation only. Solving real fucking problems is dead. And the grave is being pissed on by new problems and marketing solutions for them.

Yeah this is the specific case that fuelled my rant:



Add to that the fact that the touch-screen infotainment centre bricks the car if it dies (and they do) and apparently aren't covered by the usual industry construction and durability standards.

Now, don't get me wrong, in broad concept I like them. I just despise the usurious, meretricious, and disingenuous business model.

[bd139]

Oh totally agree on that. As I told my uncle who has a model S: it feels like I’m in a cheap android tablet with wheels on it. Horrible cars with horrible ride and too many unsafe distractions as well.