Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread

[Robert763]

One for the Vintage Tek fanboys
www.ebay.co.uk/itm/132504933736
A NIB P6007 100:1 probe with PL259 connector

[Andrew_Debbie]

Dishwasher update: E15 all over again. Wife has ordered and paid for a new one, and I've evicted the old one

I hope to never see the inside of a Bosch dishwasher again.     

[Andrew_Debbie]

One for the Vintage Tek fanboys
www.ebay.co.uk/itm/132504933736
A NIB P6007 100:1 probe with PL259 connector

NOS.  Wow.

[mansaxel]

Dishwasher update: E15 all over again. Wife has ordered and paid for a new one, and I've evicted the old one

I hope to never see the inside of a Bosch dishwasher again.   

The new one, IIRC, is Siemens. Or, it is more correctly another fork on the brand tree known as B/S/H -- Bosch Siemens Haushaltsgeräte.

With the Siemens name, there of course is a TE connection, even if it is very thin, convoluted and completely irrelevant. My resistor standards are made by Volkseigene Betrieb Rundfunktechnik Gerätewerk Karl-Marx-Stadt, formerly known as Siemens & Halske Werk Erfurt. 

Siemens still (again) do things in Erfurt, but I don't know if there's a lineage here.

[Cerebus]

Just like with the Japs...

I don't know if you realise, but that there's a racial slur... 

Na, just further evidence that Antipodeans feel the need to come up with a two or less syllable shorthand for any word of three or more syllables - I mean, who else would shorten 'afternoon' (and make it easy to confuse with a pear, also shortened because of its terrifying four syllables). 

In what alternate universe does "arvo" sound like a pear?

Ohh I forgot!
The UK ---- a universe of its own!

I could imagine that by holding your head "just so", & ignoring  the "r", it could be "Avocado Pear" a strange name which is pretty much obsolete everywhere else.
Why not confuse it with a real Avocado, or a multimeter?

That's way too much analysis for a gentle piss-take. I'd have thought it pretty obvious: Avocado -> Avo. Avo/Arvo - pretty close sounding.

[ch_scr]

Dishwasher update: E15 all over again. Wife has ordered and paid for a new one, and I've evicted the old one

I hope to never see the inside of a Bosch dishwasher again.   

The new one, IIRC, is Siemens. Or, it is more correctly another fork on the brand tree known as B/S/H -- Bosch Siemens Haushaltsgeräte.

With the Siemens name, there of course is a TE connection, even if it is very thin, convoluted and completely irrelevant. My resistor standards are made by Volkseigene Betrieb Rundfunktechnik Gerätewerk Karl-Marx-Stadt, formerly known as Siemens & Halske Werk Erfurt. 

Siemens still (again) do things in Erfurt, but I don't know if there's a lineage here.

Neat, you got a picture of those resistor standards? Not sure about the connection to S&H Erfurt though -
From here the history reads like this:
until '45 it was called "Gebr. Langer KG" and manufactured nuts and bolts
after the war it was part of different Soviet state companys called "SAG"'s, beeing handed from
"SAG Pribor" ("Device"), to "SAG Transmasch" (transport machines), then onto  "SAG Kabel" (cable)
When it got back into east german control, it was called "VEB Gerätewerk Karl-Marx-Stadt" from '53 to '70
from '70 onwards it was part of "VEB Messgerätewerk Zwönitz". In '81 it was restructured to still be part
of "VEB Messgerätewerk Zwönitz" but that one now was itself part of the even bigger "VEB Kombinat Nachrichtenelektronik".
The "VEB Funkwerk Erfurt" goes back to the tube manufacturing of "Telefunken Röhren und Gerätewerk" -
really not sure how the S&H works fit into this 

[xrunner]

One for the Vintage Tek fanboys
www.ebay.co.uk/itm/132504933736
A NIB P6007 100:1 probe with PL259 connector

NOS.  Wow.

More NOS scopes, this time Kenwood, factory sealed seller says -

eBay auction: #165147588151

eBay auction: #255195329284

eBay auction: #255195327258

[mnementh]

Todays crazy eBay valuation  https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/392307906399

I think the original price new was around £500 and has recently been discontinued, so this price is utterly stupid.

That one has been listed and re-listed by them at that price for at least a couple of years now. Not sure the reasoning (if any) behind it.
Pretty much all their other items are similarly stupidly priced.

Insurance BS, probably. Some of the newer deregulations on insurance allow the adjuster to use prices found on CL, eBay and other online auction sites as a basis for valuation, rather than confirmed, known-real sales listings from a legitimate sales channel like Kelly Blue Book or NADA book values are created from.

Some entity with a money interest in that procurement chain (either finding an unusually high-priced or low-priced example) either puts up a bogus ad themselves or pays a third party to do so.

Then that valuation is used to generate an inflated replacement value by someone filing a claim, or by an adjuster to devalue a vehicle so replacement cost is much less than the actual fair market value.



When my daily driver Saturn L300 was demolished by a jackhole in a jacked-up 4x4, the insurance company tried to do that BS on my claim; this car had at the time a NADA value of over $5K, yet they used this new regulation to bring that down to $2100 by using a list of bogus eBay and CL listings, THEN applying the usual insurance appraisal modifiers for high mileage and deducting for options they thought they could get away with saying it didn't have.

The only thing that saved my case was the fact it was a "replacement value" policy (because I needed the car; it was essentially my independent contractor "company vehicle"), and the fact I did the legwork and tried to call/email every one of the listings used 5-10 times over the course of a week and never got a single response; proving they were bogus listings. I threatened legal action to get the correct appraisal for my vehicle and eventually had it adjusted to $4200 + keep the car (and they tried to fuck me on daily storage charges ); not as much as it should have been, and it took 3 months of going back and forth with the insurance companies (mine and theirs) before the shit settled.

During which time I had to patch ol' bloo up with a new battery, relay module, strut and headlight cell just to keep working.

In retrospect I probably should have used the settlement to fix up ol' bloo, but I bought Franken-Cruiser and paid off another debt instead. It seemed the sensible thing to do at the time...

Point being that there's a whole underground fraud racket in bogus eBay/CL, etc. listings, as well as drug deals and prostitution as well. I'm certain these ridiculously high valuations of industrial equipment are somehow used similarly to these bogus car listings.

Any time there's money changing hands, there's going to be somebody looking to find a way to game whatever system makes it possible. 

mnem
 

[med6753]

I braved the near freezing temperatures this morning to get the 2 Type 547's cleaned up enough so they could be brought inside. Scope 1 first. I used a brush and got most of the loose crap. It will need to be brought inside and the tubes pulled for the final spit and polish.



Scope 2. Went crazy with the shop vac. Turns out it is JUST sawdust. No other contamination that I could determine. I was unable to reach all of it unless the tubes are pulled. But I didn't want to do that out in the garage. So like scope 1 will need to be brought inside for final cleaning.

The dilemma now is getting them inside and up the stairs without killing myself. I think my landlord has a hand truck. If not I may rent one.




And roll out the red carpet and strike up the band. The $50 USD gold plated and 100% mu tested 8416 vacuum tube arrived. I don't know if my immoral and unclean hands can touch it without it turning to dust. 

Anyway, I'll plug it into the Type W plug-in, RTFM, and then see if it works.

My arse is still sore from that purchase. 


 

[Cerebus]

They also cater to companies who like to have a minimum number of suppliers due to approvals and administration costs.

I strongly suspect you've hit the nail on the head. When I looked at the original listing I also looked at other things they had listed - which included perfectly ordinary, standard electrical switchgear from the likes of Eaton listed at double or triple what I'd expect to be list price. Stuff that is current manufacture and directly interchangeable with other manufacturer's parts - so no special reason to need just the right part to fit something old or obsolete in a hurry, and unlikely to need anything beyond industry-wide standard approvals that any respectable part would have. If you were however limited on who you could buy it from the crazy pricing makes sense.

I've had to deal with places with that problem, after a while you just give up and let the company spend three times what something is worth just to give yourself a quiet life. Literally the kind of place where to buy a 13A plugtop from a non-approved source you need to send RFQs out to three suppliers, wait for three quotes to come back, wait for purchasing/accounting to do their thing (probably including paying for Dun and Bradstreet reports on the suppliers) and six months later you'd get approval to buy the plug. Or you can say "Fuck it, it's not my money!" and pay £10 + carriage + minimum order charge from a listed, approved supplier.

[mnementh]

So I can't give away a TF2730 SA on here but PP auction one for £51 plus mark up plus VAT =£70   

This one sold for 22 quid delivered (plus 10 quid packing?) 5 years ago...

https://spheremusic.com/Bargaindtl.asp?Item=15409

Not sure if that makes it better or worse... 

mnem
*toddles off to ded*

Well that one was  , shipping cost was not specified. The £10 was a packing charge.

Yeah, I noticed that after I first posted, so adjusted accordingly. Again... not sure if that would make you feel better or worse about the one you have.

Unfortunately for your case, most of those who frequent this thread actually have some experience dealing with items that carry such gross levels of enheavyment; WWND? has sadly become "OMFG, my back screams in agony just from looking at that thing!"

Good luck; I'm certain you'll find that beast a good home.

mnem

[mnementh]

As I see, it is a blatant case of profiteering if they think a company is going to pay that money, even with a 2-year warranty when a business buyer could just as easily purchase a new meter for less, and it's not that hard for staff to transition from one meter to another. 

Read what Robert wrote, it might be down to procedures. If there is a (medical, aeronautical, whatever) approval for a device that states "DC Battery voltage on Test Point 4711, shall be 28V +/- 10%, as measured by a Frobnitz 6000 Computing Multimeter" we all here can probably stake our lives more or less on that voltage being in-spec using pretty much any of our devices at hand.

But that is not OK, because the protocol says unless the right device is used it is not right.

And the person checking your work is a consultant from Accenture or similar who earns 5 times your pay for being not you ("independent verification"). He knows nothing except that the boxes shall be ticked.

Robert is probably the one of us in here most knowledgeable on this subject, since high-risk specifications written to be implemented by functional idiots (squaddies et al) apparently has been a part of his professional life for some time. If he says so, it probably is so.

And yes, it is profiteering. I fully agree.

This would be another aspect of the "BS Listing" angle I posited a few minutes ago. Somebody knows there is an important specification that can only be fulfilled by a certain TE, so is capitalizing on that one customer in a million who simply has no choice.

mnem
Another "gaming the system" angle; somebody looking to get money for nothing.

[25 CPS]

They also cater to companies who like to have a minimum number of suppliers due to approvals and administration costs.

I strongly suspect you've hit the nail on the head. When I looked at the original listing I also looked at other things they had listed - which included perfectly ordinary, standard electrical switchgear from the likes of Eaton listed at double or triple what I'd expect to be list price. Stuff that is current manufacture and directly interchangeable with other manufacturer's parts - so no special reason to need just the right part to fit something old or obsolete in a hurry, and unlikely to need anything beyond industry-wide standard approvals that any respectable part would have. If you were however limited on who you could buy it from the crazy pricing makes sense.

I've had to deal with places with that problem, after a while you just give up and let the company spend three times what something is worth just to give yourself a quiet life. Literally the kind of place where to buy a 13A plugtop from a non-approved source you need to send RFQs out to three suppliers, wait for three quotes to come back, wait for purchasing/accounting to do their thing (probably including paying for Dun and Bradstreet reports on the suppliers) and six months later you'd get approval to buy the plug. Or you can say "Fuck it, it's not my money!" and pay £10 + carriage + minimum order charge from a listed, approved supplier.

I ran into something like that last week.  I was working on something with someone else and got stopped partway through because it turned out we needed a tool we didn't have on hand.  After all, when all you need to do your job is your laptop...

Anyhow, the work got stopped, manager and someone else ransacked the building looking for the correct tool, none turned up.  I looked around online.  I could've been on the subway to the nearest Canadian Tire store, bought the tool, gotten back on the subway and been back at work with it and resume what we were doing in the time they spent tearing the building apart before concluding we don't have one but that idea got rejected so we ended up doing a really ugly, brute force on the thing to get by the immediate need, and they're going to go through the whole purchase order through an approved vendor and buy the tool that way.  It's going to arrive well after the time the need for it passed.

This was the project that I brought my own test equipment in for.  I also have a set of the correct tools for the need that came up in my own workshop at home.  The whole fiasco left me wondering how much of my own workshop I should be throwing into the back of my car every day so I keep working effectively and not get stuck whenever a non-laptop-solvable problem comes along.

[mnementh]

That... would be an invitation to Murphy.

They will expect you to bring your tools in for more and more stuff; yet when something inevitably goes wrong they will blame you after the fact as your personal tools (which are probably in better nick than any they have, but lack a paper-trail provenance) were used in some procedure related to the failure and it then becomes an excuse to bludgeon you over something else.

"Mistakes were made; others will be blamed." is the management mantra at play here.

mnem
"There's enough misery to go around without grabbing for more." ~grandmomma

[25 CPS]

That... would be an invitation to Murphy.

They will expect you to bring your tools in for more and more stuff; yet when something inevitably goes wrong they will blame you after the fact as your personal tools (which are probably in better nick than any they have, but lack a paper-trail provenance) were used in some procedure related to the failure and it then becomes an excuse to bludgeon you over something else.

"Mistakes were made; others will be blamed." is the management mantra at play here.

mnem
"There's enough misery to go around without grabbing for more." ~grandmomma

The latest incident has me at the point where if work grinds to a halt because of a lack of tools or equipment, I notify everyone involved and stop.  My view is that the productivity loss and increased downtime isn't my problem in that kind of situation anymore, not if the answer to the "I can get on the subway, get what we need, come back and resume work" proposal is "no".  Either equip the shop for what we need to do, discontinue work that we're not equipped to do, or get what we need when an unexpected surprise comes up.  I'm not obligated to bring anything in from home and the only reason I did was to make my own life easier, but I won't be doing that anymore, not after that mess, not after enduring years of "I firmly believe the only thing you need to do your job is your laptop" out of management.

On the other hand, there are plenty of employers out there that require employees provide their own tools and equipment, but employees at places like that get an employer provided tool allowance, and I know a bunch of people who have jobs where that's the case, but that's not the situation at my employer.

[mnementh]

...The dilemma now is getting them inside and up the stairs without killing myself. I think my landlord has a hand truck. If not I may rent one.

   

Renting is likely to cost you near as much as buying one at Horror Fraught... I usually have one or two on hand every time I move.

Their HaulMaster hand trucks are excellent for the price, and there's usually a sale or coupon to bring the price down to around US$30-40. I've been using them for decades and the only time they let me down was when I didn't keep the tires aired up. Looks like they have one Bigfoot model on clearance for $34; that's the one I usually get. 

You might get lucky and have it at your HF location:

https://www.harborfreight.com/material-handling/hand-trucks-carts-dollies.html

And the appliance dolly they're flogging for $54 is actually a helluva deal, plus it's made for manhandling things like fridges up a stairwell. Only weakness is the small wheels need pavement or other hard flooring; they don't work worth a frig if you have to go over grass/dirt. That's where the fat tires on the Bigfoot line shine.

Then there's these BF Day sale items; for when a "good enough tool" really is good enough.

https://go.harborfreight.com/20-percent-off-coupons/

mnem
*hauling arse since nineteen mumblety-mumble*

[mnementh]

That... would be an invitation to Murphy.

They will expect you to bring your tools in for more and more stuff; yet when something inevitably goes wrong they will blame you after the fact as your personal tools (which are probably in better nick than any they have, but lack a paper-trail provenance) were used in some procedure related to the failure and it then becomes an excuse to bludgeon you over something else.

"Mistakes were made; others will be blamed." is the management mantra at play here.

mnem
"There's enough misery to go around without grabbing for more." ~grandmomma

The latest incident has me at the point where if work grinds to a halt because of a lack of tools or equipment, I notify everyone involved and stop.  My view is that the productivity loss and increased downtime isn't my problem in that kind of situation anymore, not if the answer to the "I can get on the subway, get what we need, come back and resume work" proposal is "no".  Either equip the shop for what we need to do, discontinue work that we're not equipped to do, or get what we need when an unexpected surprise comes up.  I'm not obligated to bring anything in from home and the only reason I did was to make my own life easier, but I won't be doing that anymore, not after that mess, not after enduring years of "I firmly believe the only thing you need to do your job is your laptop" out of management.

On the other hand, there are plenty of employers out there that require employees provide their own tools and equipment, but employees at places like that get an employer provided tool allowance, and I know a bunch of people  who have jobs where that's the case, but that's not the situation at my employer.

Yes; the management attitude is right there in the relevant dept name: Human Resources.

You are not an individual, or even a skilled tradesperson who knows how to do the job they hired you for; you are a resource to be exploited.

If you eagerly volunteer your life equity in tools you've paid for over years of acquiring your skills, they will not have any compunctions aboot exploiting that aspect of you as a resource either, nor do they feel any obligation to help you pay for replacements when your personal tools are abused and damaged on the job.

In short, as the old man used to say: Keep it in your sneaker.

mnem
 

[DH7DN]

eBay auction: #275035088122
Tektronix 067-0589-00 Calibration Fixture on eBay Germany... Christ....   

[mnementh]

         

Tektronix  P/N 067-0589-00 7000 Series Plugin Extender & Cal Fixture


Oooooh... that is def gonna generate some interest if it is seen in the right circles. Plus those pics are good enuf that I feel a need to post them here for posterity as a future technical resource.

mnem
 

[mansaxel]

Dishwasher update: E15 all over again. Wife has ordered and paid for a new one, and I've evicted the old one

I hope to never see the inside of a Bosch dishwasher again.   

The new one, IIRC, is Siemens. Or, it is more correctly another fork on the brand tree known as B/S/H -- Bosch Siemens Haushaltsgeräte.

With the Siemens name, there of course is a TE connection, even if it is very thin, convoluted and completely irrelevant. My resistor standards are made by Volkseigene Betrieb Rundfunktechnik Gerätewerk Karl-Marx-Stadt, formerly known as Siemens & Halske Werk Erfurt. 

Siemens still (again) do things in Erfurt, but I don't know if there's a lineage here.

Neat, you got a picture of those resistor standards? Not sure about the connection to S&H Erfurt though -
From here the history reads like this:
until '45 it was called "Gebr. Langer KG" and manufactured nuts and bolts
after the war it was part of different Soviet state companys called "SAG"'s, beeing handed from
"SAG Pribor" ("Device"), to "SAG Transmasch" (transport machines), then onto  "SAG Kabel" (cable)
When it got back into east german control, it was called "VEB Gerätewerk Karl-Marx-Stadt" from '53 to '70
from '70 onwards it was part of "VEB Messgerätewerk Zwönitz". In '81 it was restructured to still be part
of "VEB Messgerätewerk Zwönitz" but that one now was itself part of the even bigger "VEB Kombinat Nachrichtenelektronik".
The "VEB Funkwerk Erfurt" goes back to the tube manufacturing of "Telefunken Röhren und Gerätewerk" -
really not sure how the S&H works fit into this 

No, that is quite a bit different from the nice picture in my head. 

I was 100% certain that Karl-Marx-Stadt had been and again became Erfurt. When it is Chemnitz.  I'll defend myself by saying that I've never been to the DDR when it was DDR, and only twice after, once in Berlin, and once on a transit trip Lübeck-Nürnberg, where we chose an easterly path just west of Berlin.

Thanks for helping me understand where I'm in error.

I'll try posting a couple pics.

[Saskia]

hmmm.
looking for a cordless screwdriver. Have misplaced the Bosch professional. Found a Metabo 12V with a NiCad battery, no charger. hrmpf.
My AEG has evaporated, can't find that PoS.
Makita, 9.6. could be charged, but only one battery pack.

FFS,
I need a bloody cordless gizmo to dismantle and rebuild furniture.

Ended up buying a Metabo SB 18 L set https://www.baumarkt-bender.com/METABO-Akku-Schlagbohrschrauber-SB-18-L-Set-602317870-inkl.-2x-2-0-Ah-Akkus-und-Ladegeraet-SC-30-im-Koffer-mit-Zubehoer-Set?gclid=Cj0KCQiAy4eNBhCaARIsAFDVtI2-xnpLlc2bLAa9tw5pEdA6bWC4i_pUAZZN69lqzSGz3GEiFAIjiTwaAkrPEALw_wcB

which I haggled down to 135€.

Also got an old Festool CDD 9.6 with a dead battery pack but 2 systainers, one of them broken. Fixing the broken one will cost 2.50, fixing the battery pack should be possible as it has 8 welded NiCad cells inside. Need to find a NiMH replacement for furnicle something up myself.
38 Pesos for the Festool seemed too good a price to walk away ...

[bitseeker]

One for the Vintage Tek fanboys
www.ebay.co.uk/itm/132504933736
A NIB P6007 100:1 probe with PL259 connector

NOS.  Wow.

More NOS scopes, this time Kenwood, factory sealed seller says -

Cool!

eBay auction: #165147588151

eBay auction: #255195329284

eBay auction: #255195327258

Ouch! Price, not cool.

[Saskia]

replacement batteries for the Festool on order, 24 Pesos.

[bitseeker]

replacement batteries for the Festool on order, 24 Pesos.

Not bad. NiCd or NiMH?

[Neper]

The new one, IIRC, is Siemens.

As we say in Germany:

Wollen Sie Siemens oder darf es was ordentliches sein?
(Do you want Siemens oder rather something decent?)

alternatively:

Wollen Sie Siemens oder soll es funktionieren?
(Do you want Siemens or will it have to work?)