Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread

[AVGresponding]

Please stop posting NIXIE shit, I am resisting for years to build my nixie clock... can't hold it further if you continue....

No.

[AVGresponding]

hey AVG

your box is in the hands of the USPS.

hopefully they will not bend, fold, mutilate or staple it.

Hopefully, then I will not feel the urge to bend, fold, mutilate, or staple them...

[Vince]

Making tools to make holes to make stitches that make a handle when you make a repair on your Tek scope:



Our relative ease of manufacturing things is us standing on the shoulders a large pile of giants that created the technological society we take for granted. 150 years ago, this was high-tech and current. Mankind has indeed accelerated during those years.

Thanks !

Love black smithing but I love so many things I can't do it all... limited space and money and life time expectancy don't allow. sadly. So I try to concentrate on Electronics and wood working mainly.
So I think to redo my Tek handles I will just buy a ready made iron like Cerebrus showed ! 

I do love hand made anything, wood working or metal working like black smithing.

I got meself 4 years ago a beautiful hand made / hand stitched wood rasp, from " Liogier " one of the two remaining guys in France who still do make wood rasps (other guy is "Auriou " who sells a lot in the USA to musical instrument makers I understand. Liogier is more targeting the local/French market). They cost a fortune so could only afford one. Well, not even that...got daddy to offer it to me for X-mas back then. Got a " Cabinet Maker " rasp, they call it. The " do it all " rasp, the most versatile... if you can have only one, that's the one to get. Got the longest one they make, 300mm / 12". Grit ' 9 ', not too coarse not too fine... a good compromise. Bloody thing cost 120 Euros delivered IIRC, like 150 USD.

https://www.hand-stitched-rasp-riffler.com/en/rape/11-fauteuil-ou-chaisiere-ou-cabinette.html#/437-main_d_utilisation-right_handed/20-range-traditional/29-taille-300_mm_12/9-grain-9

Liogier made a little video 10 years ago in their workshop to show the making of their rasps :



Up close it's a work of art, pure porn. It's not just pretty, it's also very efficient... bites wood like mad, you remove material quickly and effortlessly, and the rasp "sings" while working. Love the sounds it makes and how it feels. I understand the semi-randomness of the hand stitching gives them this efficiency, so much so that there are now rasps made  by machines / computers, that try to mimic this randomness... but it's still not as good as a human made one...and definitely not as sexy and charming and satisfying.

Having something of this quality still made in France by hand in 2021 is a wonder... hope they won't go out of business.

Their rasps are so good / efficient / durable they also make tools sculptors and surgeons ! 

[mansaxel]

Please stop posting NIXIE shit, I am resisting for years to build my nixie clock... can't hold it further if you continue....

If you're going to build a clock, do it the TEA way. Overkill.

Looking at the clocks from Dalibor Farny there are a few misses in the design;

• There is no precision offline timing input.
• There is an online mode, but it is -- as is modern today -- full cloud and nothing else.

What I would want from a clock is:

• 10MHz and 1PPS inputs. Of course.
• Sync to an NTP server of my choice, not some random ones.
• Power over Ethernet and not only wifi. An Ethernet connection has much less packet delay variation (what salespeople call jitter) than wifi, which makes it inherently higher precision, and since there is need for a power cable anyway, might as well combine.
• If we're going overboard, a IEEE1588-2008 capable network card and software would be nice. PTP on good hardware lets one get to 1µs offset from the GM with ease.
• If we're going to PTP, I'd like to get the option of having an optical fibre connection too. This of course disables PoE, but the PDV on optical Gigabit Ethernet is better than electrical Ethernet because the forward error correction algorithm used for electrical is non-deterministic in time.
• A serial port with a console UI or a web server would be nice, instead of the app nonsense. Of course it must run, and run well, on an isolated network! 

[mnementh]

Well, the third turd in my day of "everything coming up shit" manifested in the form of... I forgot which locks I put on the trailer, and brought the wrong ring of keys with us from the storage unit in Cleveland.   

Fortunately, I bought this little toy Dremel when I got my cheap-arse drill; mostly because it was only $8 as I was passing by. Do you suppose somewhere in the back of my poor addled brain, some part of me knew I was going to need it...?

Anyhoo... After about a hour of "grind... grind... grind..." for about 5 minutes, then go inside, split the shell and cool the motor under running water then grind, rinse, repeat... I finally had both locks off and:

   For real and for true! The Trailer of Doom is here!

Sorry aboot the crappy smartPwn pic; it doesn't do well in the dark and I couldn't be arsed to hike my aching arse inside to get a proper camera after the day's shitstorm.

mnem
*toddles off to ded*

[tautech]

Oh, menm's got all his goodies again....stand well clear everyone ! 

[tggzzz]

You don't have Nixie shite until you have proper cunter

Nixies? Pah!

This is a proper counter...

[tggzzz]

Our relative ease of manufacturing things is us standing on the shoulders a large pile of giants that created the technological society we take for granted. 150 years ago, this was high-tech and current. Mankind has indeed accelerated during those years.

Just so.

In Iceland there is a wonderful museum of local life; I greatly enjoyed chatting with the founder, Þórður Tómasson. One of the exhibits was made by a farmer when he heard about electricity. He made his own hydroelectric generator, including casting the Pelton wheel.

My father had a series of books describing how to make a car. Naturally it started by describing how to make the tools to make a car, e.g. drilling the engine block.

[BU508A]

Old counter without Nixie-tubes?

Here is mine: a Rohde & Schwarz FER BN 4721



The tubes are Valvo E1T. Here is a description in German.

Pictures from the website:


Video from Martin.M.

Good explanation about how this tube is working. In english.

[AVGresponding]

Those are interesting, but only as curiosities (to me). Nixies look nice and are easy to read.



The seller offered 5% off on these, so I ordered one: https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/224100457749

[tonyalbus]

The device seems good, the price is good.
just that funds are not good.... take it away ... so i don't need to borrow from the street from dangerous people.. Help me!
https://www.ebay.de/itm/255276906758
take it away!! 

[AVGresponding]

No mention of calibration history? It's a "No" from me.



EDIT: Also, what's the deal with the DMM connections? Guy clearly hasn't got a Fischer connector, so he's just shoving wire-ends into the socket?!? In the penultimate picture, he has the 7061's in calibration mode, but not using the proper connector means probably noisy readings. Amateur hour...

And the pic of the THD being measured is from 4 years ago.

The cost of getting something like this calibrated is going to be well over €1k.

[tonyalbus]

No mention of calibration history? It's a "No" from me.



EDIT: Also, what's the deal with the DMM connections? Guy clearly hasn't got a Fischer connector, so he's just shoving wire-ends into the socket?!? In the penultimate picture, he has the 7061's in calibration mode, but not using the proper connector means probably noisy readings. Amateur hour...

So if he is calibating it agains the same meters.. yes then he can make everything look good... then i am even surprized its not spot on 
thanks will not go for it... its just i always wanted one.. but for this amount of money you maybe go to 'real' store and indeed some calibration history.

[Andrew_Debbie]

Nixies? Pah!

This is a proper counter...

The first counter I ever used was an HP 524.  ~1978?  I haven't seen one since.   Took me a while to find a decent image.

[med6753]

Meh, this counter is even older.




 

[Per Hansson]

I haven't posted any of Nixie's shit, though if you'd like I could keep a better eye on him and try to get a picture next time he uses the litter box...


-Pat

Beyutifoool photo!

off topic, but for amusement.

This is a lil confusing, are we going to see two Tesla explosions in one weekend?
Improssive job by the Finns!
Beyond the press:
"Be sure to watch next weeks video! We exploded broken down Tesla Model S yesterday and video is coming out next week. And yes the batteries and some other parts were taken out due to environmental and money reasons but it still looked like a 60k€ car"

[Andrew_Debbie]

Dana 5100 DMM rabbit hole depth update:

Work continues on the PROM burner.    I've check-tested most of the sub-circuits on a protoboard.

Easily fits on a 100x100 2-layer board . . . 


Controls - left to right:

Program,   Data (8-bits),  Program / Verify toggle switch,   zero address,  increment, decrement address

Left display - Data 000₈ - 377₈  Right display address 00₈ to 37₈

Work in progress - much to do / fix / improve.

[Robert763]

Anyone want a yellow Fluke?
www.ebay.co.uk/itm/165240134859
No bids on previous listing at £30

[tonyalbus]

The HP arrived from italy.. oven is very off, but on external it functions, the Freq.Converter plugin also needs fixing.
but glad the counter itself works.

[mnementh]

Anyone want a yellow Fluke?   www.ebay.co.uk/itm/165240134859
No bids on previous listing at £30

Damn you, Robert... now you have me missing my Little Yellow Brickbat in storage in Cleveland, when I've just got all my old workbench back... 

mnem
time to start unloading...

[mnementh]

Meh, this counter is even older.      

Yebbut... When you use that one, you can't count higher than 10 widdout taking off your shoes... 

mnem

[tonyalbus]

Meh, this counter is even older.      

Yebbut... When you use that one, you can't count higher than 10 widdout taking off your shoes... 

mnem

Or paints 

[mansaxel]

Yebbut... When you use that one, you can't count higher than 10 widdout taking off your shoes... 

I can. Considerably higher. To 32 using one hand, actually.

[mnementh]

...Looking at the clocks from Dalibor Farny there are a few misses in the design;

• There is no precision offline timing input.
• There is an online mode, but it is -- as is modern today -- full cloud and nothing else.

What I would want from a clock is:

• 10MHz and 1PPS inputs. Of course.
• Sync to an NTP server of my choice, not some random ones.
• Power over Ethernet and not only wifi. An Ethernet connection has much less packet delay variation (what salespeople call jitter) than wifi, which makes it inherently higher precision, and since there is need for a power cable anyway, might as well combine.
• If we're going overboard, a IEEE1588-2008 capable network card and software would be nice. PTP on good hardware lets one get to 1µs offset from the GM with ease.
• If we're going to PTP, I'd like to get the option of having an optical fibre connection too. This of course disables PoE, but the PDV on optical Gigabit Ethernet is better than electrical Ethernet because the forward error correction algorithm used for electrical is non-deterministic in time.
• A serial port with a console UI or a web server would be nice, instead of the app nonsense. Of course it must run, and run well, on an isolated network! 

So... nothing that can't be sorted with a brick under the table full of SMPS and Arduino then...?   

mnem

[mansaxel]

So... nothing that can't be sorted with a brick under the table full of SMPS and Arduino then...?   

I'd be seriously impressed if an Arduino could do IEEE1588-2008 with some kind of precision. Methinks that at least BeagleBone Black or similar hardware would be required, plus an external OXCO.  Your system clock precision will govern how good you can handle time, even when influenced by external clocking.  Keep in mind that PTP is a Gauss curve system; that is, there is eventual, albeit good, clock frequency consistency, but only as a consequence of several consecutive adjustments. If your local clock runs awry between the adjustments, nothing can save you.  And, PTP does of course run on, but does not like, 100Mbit Ethernet. 1Gbit Ethernet is lots better. 10 times better, actually. .