Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread

[AVGresponding]

What's obviously happened there is that someone left the plans in a closed car in summer, they stretched, and then they gave them to a builder who didn't understand what "Do not scale from drawing" meant. 

In fairness, sometimes you get told to follow the drawing no matter how stupid/wrong it is. My current job is a case in point; it's a fire alarm in a small sports centre, the designer says it's an L2 (2nd highest grade) system, drawing says otherwise.
Regs say rooms with bulkheads deeper than 10% of the ceiling height have to be compartmentalised (a detector for each bay between bulkheads), line manager says both "just cover the exit routes" and "just follow the drawing", which are contradictory statements, which I have pointed out, in fact even the (at the time) Technically Still An Apprentice (now out of his time, and out of here, to a better job) pointed it out, but I'm sick of the bullshit so I'm doing it to the fucking drawing and when the commissioning engineer refuses to certify it and management have conniptions, I'll just shrug and say "I did exactly as you told me to".

Fucking morons.

[tggzzz]

Hypnotized and near a deep hole is not a good combination. 

I can think of a few people where that particular hole would be beneficial overall.

[med6753]

Hypnotized and near a deep hole is not a good combination. 

I can think of a few people where that particular hole would be beneficial overall.

You took that thought right out of my head. 

[med6753]

See this...

https://www.eevblog.com/forum/repair/fluke-850x-power-supply-overvoltage-on-15v-rail/

I haven't had the 8505A powered up in quite a while so I figured I'd let run a while. Don't see no issue here. 

[Specmaster]

What's obviously happened there is that someone left the plans in a closed car in summer, they stretched, and then they gave them to a builder who didn't understand what "Do not scale from drawing" meant. 

In fairness, sometimes you get told to follow the drawing no matter how stupid/wrong it is. My current job is a case in point; it's a fire alarm in a small sports centre, the designer says it's an L2 (2nd highest grade) system, drawing says otherwise.
Regs say rooms with bulkheads deeper than 10% of the ceiling height have to be compartmentalised (a detector for each bay between bulkheads), line manager says both "just cover the exit routes" and "just follow the drawing", which are contradictory statements, which I have pointed out, in fact even the (at the time) Technically Still An Apprentice (now out of his time, and out of here, to a better job) pointed it out, but I'm sick of the bullshit so I'm doing it to the fucking drawing and when the commissioning engineer refuses to certify it and management have conniptions, I'll just shrug and say "I did exactly as you told me to".

Fucking morons.

You really need to have that in writing to avoid any fall out when the sh1t hits the fan.

[Specmaster]

Hypnotized and near a deep hole is not a good combination. 

I can think of a few people where that particular hole would be beneficial overall.

Ditto, most of them can be found around Westminster 

[med6753]

 

[Saskia]

Keto beef stew. For those playing along at home ...
800 grams of minced meat (beef / pork)
2 lbs of chopped tomatos
150 grams feta cheese
300 - 400 grams broccoli
150 grams veggies (the provencale type), I am lazy, I am using the frozen stuff
mushrooms
habanero
pepper and salt

Roast meat in butter. When meat is done, add the rest and let it simmer.
Enjoy.
Healthy with a minimum of carbs. ...

Hubby is doing Keto now as well. 5 kg weight loss ...

[mansaxel]

Brutalism looks fine, in isolation in architect's photos, but as something to live with en masse it's soul destroying.

<snip>

Ha! People who fête brutalist architecture should be made to live in it!

I have, and I to some extent do. I feel fine. And I want more.

And of course nothing has been done by Royal Decree for two centuries or more.

Not that it stops the Prince of Wales from trying to, especially regards to architecture. The man is responsible for much demolition, having blessed and banned, within the confines of his "accidental power", among others describing the Birmingham Library as “a place where books are incinerated, not kept” and so on.  I wish your queen a very long life.

[Saskia]

Now for our friends in Pommyland ... it also applies to our country tho ...

[TERRA Operative]

TERRA Operative.....

In reference to the rectifier kit you sent me. I'm not sure I actually need this modification. The kit assumes you had to install new battery assembly P/N 146-0033-02. My scope came with the old battery pack P/N 146-0033-00. I disassembled that battery pack and ditched the dead Nicd batteries and installed Nimh batteries. I verified weeks ago in testing the PSU that while the charge profile is not ideal for the Nimh batteries it does keep them charged and doesn't over charge them. I'm not sure how this new kit would react to the Nimh batteries.

Second, I think you said you had a 211 scope. Well I have a 212 scope and that rectifier board is mounted differently. See diagram. The 211 scope has the board mounted as per figure 1. The 212 scope has the board mounted as per figure 2. The component side of the board faces the CRT. There should be an insulator installed on the foil side of the board which was not included with your kit. Without that insulator the foil of the board will contact and short out to the foil shield installed on the covers. That would not be a good thing.

I really do appreciate you taking the time and effort to send me this modification kit but I think for now I'm going to hold off installing it. 

https://imagizer.imageshack.com/v2/xq90/923/hMaoOA.jpg 

I don't know about the different battery chemistry having any detrimental effects. I do have a 212 and the power supply side of things appears to work fine in my unit.
You can see how it is installed in my unit here:
https://youtu.be/wXTlq9ZJQYQ?t=1085

As for the insulation, you just need to cut a small piece of plastic to size and use the included nylon screws to fix it in place. I used a piece of plastic cut from a 'blister pack' packaging.

[TERRA Operative]

Currently on my bench is the HP 334A, taking place of the TDS784C that just got a recap too as they are known for leaky caps when they get older, and mine is an earlier serial number.
 The 334A is getting a full re-cap as some of the Vishay 30D's are giving a good effort at blowing their rubber seals out, and also the noisy and drifty carbon comp resistors are being replaced for metal film.

My janky mod for installing a square peg radial caps in a round hole in place of axial caps seems to be turning out pretty ok so far... 

[Specmaster]

Now for our friends in Pommyland ... it also applies to our country tho ...

LMAO 

[Cubdriver]

Now for our friends in Pommyland ... it also applies to our country tho ...

LMAO 

Sooooooo true!

-Pat

[factory]

Today's amusement: for only £799.99 (and no offers allowed) you could be the proud owner of a "Vintage Solartron Voltmeter Digital CT469 ~ ************ ~ Laboratory Use". https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/174991878233

Strangely some of his items have sensible prices.

That has been advertised for a few weeks now, I'm not convinced the test lead is worth the extra £750, as those big heavy DVMs go for around £50 or less* (even the tube-nonces wouldn't pay that much for those), I think they are going to have it cluttering up their storage unit for some time.....


*The £12.50 one followed me home.

They also have Macaroni counter at a silly price. 
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/403282259359

Another great buy not, a Solartron scope that sold a while back.


Now with another seller at much more £££, but minus a knob (which are not original) and no repair attempted to the dodgy power lead. 
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/165164142634



David

[Ice-Tea]

For fucks sake.

eBay suspended my account due to VAT/OSS regulations. Apparently, the info I put in their system does not correspond to what they read from VIESS. They can tell me that, but not where I can find this wrong info. I'd say for the stupid amount of money they made off me over the last few years they could make an effort. Actually, they could put a 10-man crew of Indians on it for a month and still come out on top.

But seems that's not an option. So, the eBay store is offline, at least for the time being, perhaps permanently.

I'm checking out eBid.net. Maybe I just won't have to bother with eBay anymore.

[factory]

What about this one ? 

David

[tggzzz]

Today's amusement: for only £799.99 (and no offers allowed) you could be the proud owner of a "Vintage Solartron Voltmeter Digital CT469 ~ ************ ~ Laboratory Use". https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/174991878233

Strangely some of his items have sensible prices.

That has been advertised for a few weeks now, I'm not convinced the test lead is worth the extra £750, as those big heavy DVMs go for around £50 or less* (even the tube-nonces wouldn't pay that much for those), I think they are going to have it cluttering up their storage unit for some time.....


*The £12.50 one followed me home.

Sheesh, you just can't please some people. If you don't fancy that, how about this Agilent 8595e in the Ramco auction?



https://www.bidspotter.co.uk/en-gb/auction-catalogues/ramco/catalogue-id-ramco-10321/lot-b12db667-9d90-458f-b8c1-add500e46a95

[Saskia]

For fucks sake.

eBay suspended my account due to VAT/OSS regulations. Apparently, the info I put in their system does not correspond to what they read from VIESS. They can tell me that, but not where I can find this wrong info. I'd say for the stupid amount of money they made off me over the last few years they could make an effort. Actually, they could put a 10-man crew of Indians on it for a month and still come out on top.

But seems that's not an option. So, the eBay store is offline, at least for the time being, perhaps permanently.

I'm checking out eBid.net. Maybe I just won't have to bother with eBay anymore.

Indian Indians, Cherokee Indians, or Cleveland Indians ?

[Wolfgang]

What about this one ? 

David

.. the nickname of these is "the three disgraces" and they are the reason why Liverpool lost its cultural world heritage status.
The order of merit of the "Soviet Brutalism Architectural Society" is yet to arrive.

[Cerebus]

Those 4 Caddock 1776-10 decade divider resistor arrays I mentioned a few days back turned up. Herein follow the details from our Inbound Inspection Department for the information of anyone else who may be tempted by some.




Earliest date code 8044. Yes, 1980; at least they should have shaken off any of the loose ppms that normally fall off over the years. The leads showed a bit of damage from sitting on rotting black conductive foams over the years but they cleaned up OK

Nominal accuracy +0-0.5%, nominal ratio accuracy ±0.1%. All specimens well within their specifications, particularly good ratio matching. Actual measured figures as follows.

#1
Nominal	Measured	Absolute Er	Ratio Error
9000000 Ω	8980586 Ω	-0.216%	0.0004%
900000 Ω	898026.5 Ω	-0.219%	-0.0032%
90000 Ω	89799.19 Ω	-0.223%	-0.0070%
10000 Ω	9977.239 Ω	-0.228%	-0.0115%
Total       10000000 Ω	9978388.929 Ω	-0.216%
#2
Nominal	Measured	Absolute Er	Ratio Error
9000000 Ω	8980081 Ω	-0.221%	0.0004%
900000 Ω	897977 Ω	-0.225%	-0.0030%
90000 Ω	89789.72 Ω	-0.234%	-0.0119%
10000 Ω	9976.284 Ω	-0.237%	-0.0154%
Total       10000000 Ω	9977824.004 Ω	-0.222%
#3
Nominal	Measured	Absolute Er	Ratio Error
9000000 Ω	8978418 Ω	-0.240%	0.0002%
900000 Ω	897822.35 Ω	-0.242%	-0.0019%
90000 Ω	89780.56 Ω	-0.244%	-0.0038%
10000 Ω	9974.51 Ω	-0.255%	-0.0149%
Total       10000000 Ω	9975995.42 Ω	-0.240%
#4
Nominal	Measured	Absolute Er	Ratio Error
9000000 Ω	8978332 Ω	-0.241%	0.0007%
900000 Ω	897783.8 Ω	-0.246%	-0.0048%
90000 Ω	89765.15 Ω	-0.261%	-0.0196%
10000 Ω	9975.011 Ω	-0.250%	-0.0085%
Total       10000000 Ω	9975855.961 Ω	-0.241%

[AVGresponding]

Those 4 Caddock 1776-10 decade divider resistor arrays I mentioned a few days back turned up. Herein follow the details from our Inbound Inspection Department for the information of anyone else who may be tempted by some.

-snip-

Nominal accuracy +0-0.5%, nominal ratio accuracy ±0.1%. All specimens well within their specifications, particularly good ratio matching.

-snip-

What about the measuring meter's uncertainty? I'm guessing it's small enough that the possible range of values for the resistors remains within the specs, but you know I had to ask...

[vk6zgo]

This is torn down:

That looks miserable even on a bright dry day. You spend a few winters on a university campus where all the the buildings were grey brutalist lumps, or have to go shopping year round in a brutalist shopping centre open to the (British) weather and you'd soon change your tune and be reaching for the demolition explosives and detonator. Brutalism looks fine, in isolation in architect's photos, but as something to live with en masse it's soul destroying.

Why do you think Kubrick chose the brutalist background of Brunel University to film the authoritarian parts of "A Clockwork Orange"? Because it looks like a prison camp.



Ditto Kubrick choosing Thamesmead to represent a kind of urban dystopia.




Ha! People who fête brutalist architecture should be made to live in it!

And of course nothing has been done by Royal Decree for two centuries or more.

When I went to the UK in 1971, I was surprised by all the massive concrete buildings that to me looked "half- finished".

In Perth, West Oz, we had certainly had an orgy of "pull down that old crap & stick up a big glass box", but at least, the "big boxes" were reasonably inoffensive to the eye, & had proper external cladding, so looked attractive.

The ones in the UK sported the "bare concrete" look, some complete with the rough surfaces of the wooden planks which had surrounded the formwork.

There were hundreds of them-------they were even uglier than the streets & streets of terrace houses they replaced!

[tggzzz]

When I went to the UK in 1971, I was surprised by all the massive concrete buildings that to me looked "half- finished".

In Perth, West Oz, we had certainly had an orgy of "pull down that old crap & stick up a big glass box", but at least, the "big boxes" were reasonably inoffensive to the eye, & had proper external cladding, so looked attractive.

The ones in the UK sported the "bare concrete" look, some complete with the rough surfaces of the wooden planks which had surrounded the formwork.

There were hundreds of them-------they were even uglier than the streets & streets of terrace houses they replaced!

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder.

I'm sick of the production line featureless Mies van der Rohe glass boxes: they are so unimaginative and boring, especially close up.

The woodgrain concrete buildings have two virtues over that: the shape can be interesting and they have an interesting texture when walking by them. In the right place, e.g. the South Bank arts complex, they can be quite pleasant to visit.

Would I want to live in one? No. But then there are many other buildings I wouldn't choose to live in, e.g. the serried ranks of identical rabbit hutches seen in "overflow" towns.

[Robert763]

Interesting TEA relevant devlopment.
We have a new next door neighbour. They don't have a car..... So I'm renting their garage. This means I caput the rakes n move things like the gasturbine Engine, ScopeMobile and bins in there while I sort out my garage and stuff.
When we moved here 14 years ago I had no time or help. All I could do was take the racking and bins from the old place (larger garage plus other storage)  and just stack them in the new garage. They are literally stacked together with no access and little consideration to what went where. There were some existing high level shelves in the garage. These basically wasted space ecause the racks could not go against the walls.
I will now be able to see stuff I've not seen for over a decade. The existing shelves will come out nd the racking go down one side wall and across the back wall. ny that don't fit will go.
A lot of kit will go too. Duplication of function, boat anchors and a lot of books. There are boxes of data books etc. Many of these I now have PDF copies of. The paper ones will go.
20 to 30 years ago OEM data and application books, TITS and DATA "catalogs" were essential. With the WWW there is less need. And I alwasys keep a local copy of anything that is not common and on multiple sites. I've sen too much disappear when websites are "updated".
Who knows what I'll find in the back of the garage