Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread

[FransW]

Some more sorting. If I do a little bit every day, I will get there.. eventually... I hope...

Philips used them to connect loudspeakers

[Saskia]

The old Dual had them, too.

All this talk reminds me that I cleaned out the lab of the (retired) head of development of Braun.

That's where our Metrahits came from.

[Neper]

Just put "Apple Braun" into a search engine and have a look at the pictures coming up.

Or do a search for "Dieter Rams" who was the designer of all the Braun gear, some of which even made it into the MOMA.

[Saskia]

Continued for a bit.
Arcade corner about done.



Waiting for pinball spares ...


Set up a desk for soldering and stuff.
Will need to set up a small desk for retro computers.

And maybe a bar, and a stereo set, and ...

This should become a nice Saskia cave ...

[med6753]

What is that on the ceiling?

[Specmaster]

working on my relaxation room ...

I played Asteroids until I was wasted when I was a little one.
If I become stupid and/or rich, I want one in my basement.

If there ever was a game that got me hooked (in my early youth or childhood), it was the tank game with the green vector graphics.

Battlezone. That and Asteroids got me hooked too!

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battlezone_(1980_video_game)

The description matches, but I would have placed it several years earlier. Strange.

Maybe you just feel a few years older than you really are?



 

I dunno about anyone else, but in my head I reached about 28 and stopped.  Sadly the calendar has not...  (And I often miss the passage of the entire decade from 2000-2010 - the 90s do NOT feel like they were thirty years ago, and there's no way in hell that more than two decades have passed since all the Y2k craziness.)

-Pat

Quite agree, it seemed to me that the school years just seemed to drag along so slowly as if time had been suspended, but since leaving school and entering the work place, time has been passing too quickly that I keep looking for the brakes, but there aren't any 

[david77]

All the European HiFi manufacturers used that "Lautsprecher Stecker" thing until well into the 80's. It's not that bad as long as the socket in the amp does not corrode. I've still got a Grundig MV100 receiver in my lab that uses them.
You also sometimes find it on cheapo lamps, fairy lights or stuff like that as power connector. I wouldn't trust it with more than maybe 1A?

[Specmaster]

Those are plugs for loudspeakers, to be exact "Lautsprecherstecker nach DIN 41529" and they are horrible!
Burn them with fire!

Yes, exactly.  I knew them as soon as I saw the close-up ... and I 100% agree with the above recommendation.  Even if I was stuck and needed something for a 2W bookshelf speaker I would drive half an hour to get something else.

My first encounter with them was in the 70's - and even being a newbie, I was not impressed ... at all.

Forever had slightly bending the pins apart slightly to make contact, dreadful things.

[Specmaster]

Damn, bunch of enablers you are!     

Just bought my first step drill ever.

https://www.ebay.de/itm/254480042021



Reason why I've bought it at this seller:
I've bought two drill sets there and I'm very pleased about the quality.
So, besides being a happy customer there are no further affiliations with that seller.

Generally I'd go for a straght flute step drill. They don't get drawn into the workpiece the way spiral flute does. They are also easier to sharpen. As they re basically a thin material, through hole cutter they don't need a spiral to clear swarf.

Another reason for the straight flute step drill is also that they tend to have fewer steps per drill, thus making it easier to achieve the right size that you require.

[Specmaster]

Oh, yeah, once you've got them, the punch path is the one to take. I've got a small selection, among which the 22,5mm one is frequently used; makes for very nice installs of signal lamps, buttons, and similar stuff in control panels et c.

22.5 mm sounds suspiciously like Neutrik XLR territory, if memory serves correctly. Done more than a few of them in my time.

No, the male old school XLR (the narrow one) is 19mm or 3/4"; the female is 24mm. The "new" series unisex D-type hole (new as in 30 years old, not 50+!) is also 24mm.  All have 2 off 3mm mounting holes; the D-type and the "old female" differ in where the mounting holes are placed. (There also was a Switchcraft variant with a bigger flange, and another with 1-hole mount and threaded body, dunno if they make them any more. Probably, though. Switchcraft are "keepers of the faith", not product evolvers...)

Edit: the 22,5mm standard is for actuators in control cabinets and similar. Specmaster territory :-)

Edit: Of course the placement of holes for the 19mm male also differs ;-)

Correct, 22.5mm is more my territory and so is 30mm  which tend to be more for the really robust type of controls used in mines and quarries type of situations. I remember the buttons switches that Crabtree used to make for the 30mm range were made of brass and were heavily chrome plated, my favourites.

[Saskia]

What is that on the ceiling?

some white curtains to keep the sun out. This is the conservatory, made of alumin(i)um and glas.

[Kosmic]

(Attachment Link) (Attachment Link) Continued for a bit.
Arcade corner about done.

(Attachment Link)

Waiting for pinball spares ...
(Attachment Link)

Set up a desk for soldering and stuff.
Will need to set up a small desk for retro computers.

And maybe a bar, and a stereo set, and ...

This should become a nice Saskia cave ...

Nice collection Saskia 

[BU508A]

QUESTION : I dug out some old connectors.  x3 male/female plugs. I am wondering whether I should keep the or not ?
I don't know what they are for (I didn't buy them nor salvage them, it was in an old box full of electrical stuff my dad gave me... I sorted that as well)

It looks like some old DIN style plug or something ?  Idea is to throw them away to make space, if they have no reasonable chance of being used before I die...

I am wondering if maybe this style of plug could be used in some old TE ??  Any example that would spring to mind  ??
If not, I get rid of them...

They have two pins. One is round and thin, the other is flat and beefier. See pics below.

Those are plugs for loudspeakers, to be exact "Lautsprecherstecker nach DIN 41529" and they are horrible!
Burn them with fire!

https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lautsprecherstecker#Lautsprecherstecker_nach_DIN_41529

Thanks ! 

OK will put them in the trash and make some space, cool !

There is some cool vintage BRAUN receiver and amplifier stuff with timeless iconic design.
(Some people say, that Apple was inspired by design principles of BRAUN. Just put "Apple Braun" into a search engine and have a look at the pictures coming up.)
The Braun electronics of those days do use these DIN loudspeaker connections. Might be a reason to keep them and start collecting Braun stuff.   
https://www.ebay.de/itm/144246668688

Always loved the Braun Atelier series:



https://www.ebay.de/itm/304326579865

NAWTS

[Cerebus]

Switchcraft are "keepers of the faith", not product evolvers

I think everybody who could do so, stopped using Switchcraft the minute Neutrik arrived. If I had a penny for every cable mounting Switchcraft XLR that I lost the stupid little grubscrew from while assembling it and had to scramble around on hands and knees finding it, I'd put them all as shrapnel in a bomb casing and send it to the bastard who designed them.

[McBryce]

Some more sorting. If I do a little bit every day, I will get there.. eventually... I hope...

Have not done anything as I was so sick when I woke up, I thought it was the end for me.
Been recovering progressively today.. this evening I am back in business so I sorted some stuff.

Today was switches day !!   

Yes I know, not terribly exciting...

I had way more tactile switches than I thought ! Hundreds of the little bastard... and you would not believe just how many variations of these, are out there ! 
I tried to rationalize a bit otherwise it would take the entire 50 drawer unit to sort them.
In the end, I spread them over 4 drawers, each split in 3 sections.

Then a drawer dedicated to all the micro-switches, unsorted.

Then another drawer with misc small switches, ie not mains rater by the looks of it.

So 6 drawers worth of little switches ! 


QUESTION : I dug out some old connectors.  x3 male/female plugs. I am wondering whether I should keep the or not ?
I don't know what they are for (I didn't buy them nor salvage them, it was in an old box full of electrical stuff my dad gave me... I sorted that as well)

It looks like some old DIN style plug or something ?  Idea is to throw them away to make space, if they have no reasonable chance of being used before I die...

I am wondering if maybe this style of plug could be used in some old TE ??  Any example that would spring to mind  ??
If not, I get rid of them...

They have two pins. One is round and thin, the other is flat and beefier. See pics below.

I'm pretty sure I have some sockets to fit those speaker plugs if you want to use them (Tip: You DON'T want to use them!).

McBryce.

[Cerebus]

There is some cool vintage BRAUN receiver and amplifier stuff with timeless iconic design.
(Some people say, that Apple was inspired by design principles of BRAUN. Just put "Apple Braun" into a search engine and have a look at the pictures coming up.)
The Braun electronics of those days do use these DIN loudspeaker connections. Might be a reason to keep them and start collecting Braun stuff.   
https://www.ebay.de/itm/144246668688

It wasn't Braun per se but the work of Dieter Rams who designed for them and other people that Jony (sic) Ives at Apple was influenced by. As well as his Braun stuff, Rams is particularly associated with the (now British) furniture company Vitsœ founded in Germany by a Dane. Rams design aesthetic is very closely aligned with Danish style of the 1960s/70s (cf Arne Jacobsen).

Some Rams furniture:



The most famous photo of a chair probably ever printed is of a Jacobsen chair:



One can see a very "Danish" æsthetic in both. (Ms Keiler's æsthetic is entirely British  )

[Vince]

Some more sorting. If I do a little bit every day, I will get there.. eventually... I hope...

Have not done anything as I was so sick when I woke up, I thought it was the end for me.
Been recovering progressively today.. this evening I am back in business so I sorted some stuff.

Today was switches day !!   

Yes I know, not terribly exciting...

I had way more tactile switches than I thought ! Hundreds of the little bastard... and you would not believe just how many variations of these, are out there ! 
I tried to rationalize a bit otherwise it would take the entire 50 drawer unit to sort them.
In the end, I spread them over 4 drawers, each split in 3 sections.

Then a drawer dedicated to all the micro-switches, unsorted.

Then another drawer with misc small switches, ie not mains rater by the looks of it.

So 6 drawers worth of little switches ! 


QUESTION : I dug out some old connectors.  x3 male/female plugs. I am wondering whether I should keep the or not ?
I don't know what they are for (I didn't buy them nor salvage them, it was in an old box full of electrical stuff my dad gave me... I sorted that as well)

It looks like some old DIN style plug or something ?  Idea is to throw them away to make space, if they have no reasonable chance of being used before I die...

I am wondering if maybe this style of plug could be used in some old TE ??  Any example that would spring to mind  ??
If not, I get rid of them...

They have two pins. One is round and thin, the other is flat and beefier. See pics below.

I'm pretty sure I have some sockets to fit those speaker plugs if you want to use them (Tip: You DON'T want to use them!).

McBryce.

Oh no thanks ! 

as I said yesterday I have already thrown them away. I am not into vintage audio at all, so there is no point keeping them around taking valuable space...

[med6753]

I had to contact Ebay directly today. I still haven't seen the refund for the Tek 7B92 plug-in. The seller told me via Ebay messages that he processed the refund. According to Ebay he did not. Fucking bastard. So Ebay is going after his sorry arse and getting me the refund.

Seller  puuri_surplus. Stay away.

[TERRA Operative]

Oooooohhh, this one is naaasstaayyy 
I've seen some gross nicotine stained gear (not uncommon in Japan), but this one takes the cake... It must have been sitting right in-front of a chain smoker for decades.

Definitely gonna see some dishwasher action when the wife isn't around.. 

[med6753]

Oooooohhh, this one is naaasstaayyy 

Definitely gonna see some dishwasher action when the wife isn't around.. 

I know it's been standard practice forever to hose down Tek's with DI water and detergent but I just can't bring myself to do it. The covers, yes. But not the internals. And I don't have the proper drying oven. I hand clean as best as I can but there will always be some vintage dirt in it.

[AVGresponding]

Just put "Apple Braun" into a search engine

🤔







🤮

[SoundTech-LG]

working on my relaxation room ...

I played Asteroids until I was wasted when I was a little one.
If I become stupid and/or rich, I want one in my basement.

If there ever was a game that got me hooked (in my early youth or childhood), it was the tank game with the green vector graphics.

Battlezone. That and Asteroids got me hooked too!

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battlezone_(1980_video_game)

The description matches, but I would have placed it several years earlier. Strange.

https://games.aarp.org/games/atari-asteroids


https://www.myabandonware.com/game/battlezone-1np/play-1np

Brings back old memories working at Atari on Pong PCBAs etc. troubleshooting 7400 series logic...
1973-75 along with Jobs on nightshift.

[Cubdriver]

I dunno about anyone else, but in my head I reached about 28 and stopped.  Sadly the calendar has not...  (And I often miss the passage of the entire decade from 2000-2010 - the 90s do NOT feel like they were thirty years ago, and there's no way in hell that more than two decades have passed since all the Y2k craziness.)

-Pat

Quite agree, it seemed to me that the school years just seemed to drag along so slowly as if time had been suspended, but since leaving school and entering the work place, time has been passing too quickly that I keep looking for the brakes, but there aren't any 

My theory on that is that there are several things at play.

The first is simply that as we get older, each passing year equates to a smaller percentage of the time we've been here - at the age of ten, a year is a tenth of our life; at 25 it's 0.04; by 35 it has dropped to 0.029 - each less than the last.

The other, and more prominent thing IMO is that when we're school aged, there are bigger milestones in life - using the US for example as it's what I'm familiar with, there is the start of school in September, at which point as a kid you begin looking forward to Halloween in October, then on to Thanksgiving in November, then Christmas/New Years break in December.  There (at least were) a few days off some time in Februaryish for a 'winter break', then comes Easter and finally the end of the school year in June, followed by summer vacation.  A series of very distinct milestones that are big deals as a kid and at the time, seem to take forever to come, and clearly mark the passage of time.  Now as an adult, I get up and go to work.  The year starts cold and snowy with short days and long nights and occasionally snow to shovel.  I get up and go to work.  The days begin to grow longer, the nights shorter and the snow melts.  Wow, Easter already...  I get up and go to work.  The shift in night/dark continues and it gets warm then hot out.  I get up and go to work, then cut grass and do yard work.  Then the daylight shift goes the other way and it gets cooler and I clean up leaves.  I get up and go to work.  Holy crap, how is it Thanksgiving next week?  I could have sworn it was Easter a month ago, and Halloween slipped past without me noticing!  I get up and go to work.  Wow, Christmas already?  Thanksgiving seemed like last friggin' week, FFS!!  And now it's time to remember to write a new date on things.  Where did the past year go?  It all merges into a big blur that moves ever faster, like rolling down a long hill.  Not saying it can't be a fun ride, just that it keeps getting faster.

-Pat

[TERRA Operative]

Oooooohhh, this one is naaasstaayyy 

Definitely gonna see some dishwasher action when the wife isn't around.. 

I know it's been standard practice forever to hose down Tek's with DI water and detergent but I just can't bring myself to do it. The covers, yes. But not the internals. And I don't have the proper drying oven. I hand clean as best as I can but there will always be some vintage dirt in it.

I don't mind a bit of washing detergent and a scrub with antistatic brush followed by a rinse under clean water with a blow dry after. Worked wonders for the welder circuit boards when I was in the repair game. Greasy iron filings wreak havoc on PCB's..

I just check for things that don't like water (switches, trimpots etc) and take it easy. I'm not at the level of confidence to stick a PCB in a dishwasher just yet though...

[Cubdriver]

Oooooohhh, this one is naaasstaayyy 

Definitely gonna see some dishwasher action when the wife isn't around.. 

I know it's been standard practice forever to hose down Tek's with DI water and detergent but I just can't bring myself to do it. The covers, yes. But not the internals. And I don't have the proper drying oven. I hand clean as best as I can but there will always be some vintage dirt in it.

I haven't been able to bring myself to do it, either, though I routinely use solder with water soluble flux when I build boards here, then wash them with hot water in the sink and blow them dry in the garage.  Never use that solder on wire, though, and for sure wash the boards within a few days of finishing them - the flux residue MUST be cleaned off because it's hygroscopic and corrosive if left in place - discovered that the hard way at my last job when someone made a bunch of boards but didn't clean them, then they sat in stock for a few months and corroded.

One of the guys on the antique radio forum advocates using a pressure washer on really dirty old chassis, says he does it routinely in the summer, then lets them cook dry in the sun for a few days.  He suggested it to me as something to try on an old HP 330B Distortions Analyzer that will otherwise be scrap as it had a large mouse condo in it and is rather skeevy and corroded inside.  I never got to it this past summer, but may this year.  At this point I've nothing to lose as far as it goes on this piece.







-Pat