Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread

[Andrew_Debbie]

That is quite a beautiful thing you built there! 

Thank you.

Here it is on the 100x100 mounting plate.   I'm working on several devices to go on the bottom half of the plate.   




I've also been playing around other 100x100 projects.   This unregulated power supply is ready to submit with my next PCB order.    Shipping costs far more than the PCBs, so I try and get at least 3 different boards in a single order.

It is based around parts I already have (Amveco / Talema 25VA transformer, Vishey W01G bridge rectifier...)  Of course this would need to go in a real case.  Putting it on a PCB plate would be unsafe.



 

[Neomys Sapiens]

If this were what it's auction title says, I would have been won over by it's mechanical design...
https://www.ebay.de/itm/393908017990?hash=item5bb6bf5b46

[ch_scr]

If this were what it's auction title says, I would have been won over by it's mechanical design...
https://www.ebay.de/itm/393908017990?hash=item5bb6bf5b46

The indicated shipping cost is as amazing as the item! 

[Specmaster]

Mnem, because of my diabetes, my coffee has Truvia and unsweetened almond milk in it.  I have grown to quite like it.   I put the leftover coffee into a large glass, adulterate it and let it chill in the fridge overnight.  I will do what I need to get off my meds in the next 6 months, already had my Metformin reduced by half in the past 3 months and my A1c is 5.1.

As of a couple months before we left Canada, I'm still not diabetic; I'd done a week of morning/bedtime glucose and well normal. Of course I know that even if I'm not diabetic yet, at my weight and age I am on the waiting list; hence jumping back on the hard keto as it is the only diet I've ever been able to stay on long enough to actually lose an appreciable amount of weight.

At this point, losing the weight has to be priority one... I can deal with the other problems once I'm not staring down a very short and miserable existence of dialysis and congestive heart failure incursions.

I've tried almond milk and quite frankly, I'd rather give up coffee. I believe I'm allergic; it gives me cramps. I've been considering Stevia, but have been hesitant since a similarly bad experience with Agave. *blerk* That stuff is for people who don't like sweets in the first place. 

mnem
 

Personally, I prefer to use good old-fashioned coffee mate with my coffee, but then again, I just use Gold Blend instant coffee so not in your league. I do have a coffee peculator and some ground coffee of sort or other that we normally have at Christmas but this year neither I or SWMBO could be arsed with it so we didn't. Our tipple of choice is tea, but when I'm working on some item of TE, I normally drink coffee just to keep alert and not fall asleep 

[mansaxel]

... is to grab the stag by the antlers (Swedish proverb for Doing It Right) ...

English idiom: "[to] Grab the Bull by the horns". To undertake a difficult or unpleasant task by taking immediate action, or the first [difficult] step. It has the implication that once the first step is taken the rest must follow, sometimes with bad consequences if one does not see the task through to completion. Also has the implication that it is the opposite of procrastinating around a difficult or unpleasant task.

Quite similar, then. Thanks.

[ch_scr]

This seller really put the work in! "The uncommon packaging is because of the sensibility of the parts" indeed 
https://www.ebay.de/itm/255370771930
Heartfelt recommendation 

[Cerebus]

That is quite a beautiful thing you built there! 

Thank you.

Here it is on the 100x100 mounting plate.   I'm working on several devices to go on the bottom half of the plate.   

If you haven't already, it'd be worth your time to investigate KiCad 'template' projects. You can get all the basic board setup, outline, mounting holes, constraints, stack-up and so on all set up and ready to go.

I have several set up all ready to go. For example this, a 4 layer 100x100mm board, set up for JLC's 2313 stack up, complete with mounting holes, stencil registration tooling holes, and tooling holes for JLCs assembly service (if I ever get around to using it).

[Vince]

LOL... hardly. CCGs like YuGiOh! and Pokemon are huge business everywhere they have chiddlers and teens. I have no doubt there are comic book and card shops near to you, even if your little corner of civilization actually is as benighted as you paint it to be.

mnem
*tzzzzzzt*

"benighted" ?! Had to look that one up. If the translation I got is the right one, then well I don't think I tried to paint France as being benighted... USA would spring to mind for that way before France 
France is trying to copy the US though, and year after year it gets a little bit more like the US, for the worst. 

Anyway, not much e can do about it hey, other than try to raise our kids as best we can, for those who have some.


Didn't think of the play cards for kids, since I am not into that kind of thing, but yeah that's cool then if thanks to these stupid cards I can buy a cool box for my resistors !!!    Will give it a shot, thanks for the idea ex-dragon ! What should we call you now BTW ? The "smoking knight" ? It's not so clear any more to me.

[Carl_Smith]

Recent versions of Marlin are 32-bit and no longer use ArduIDE, but PlatformIO. As I said earlier; not at all comfortable with that, so haven't fucked around with my CR-6SE yet.

I will look into Klipper; that resonance tuning would be a godsend on my floopy old Tornado.

mnem
 

The current marlin can be compiled for 8 bit boards.  And you can still compile it with the Arduino IDE if you wish, even though it's set up for PlatformIO.

Platformio is much more powerful though, once you get it set up and climb the learning curve (which I am still doing.)  I'd also recommend installing the C++ Intellisense and the GitLens extensions.  Gitlens is an extension that integrates git into vscode more.  It does things like, as you move through each line of code, tells you who last commited a change to that line of code in the repository. 

Platformio can automate a lot of stuff.  Like for my job, I am learning how to compile firmware for different printer models, and we have it set up with a sort of "jobs" tree where we can make a change to the code, then just open up the tree on the side and pick a printer model, and platformio will change a bunch of compiler defines and re-compile the code automatically.   Maybe not as useful for a hobbiest that only has one printer to compile for but it saves us lots of time at work.

My current battle at work is figuring out how to use vscode and openocd and an atmel-ice debug probe to do real debugging of the marlin firmware on an Archim2 board. I am not yet successful with that...

[Neomys Sapiens]

For those with a craving for a particularely ugly VTVM:

https://www.ebay.de/itm/334311832398

and a RCA senior Voltohmyst

https://www.ebay.de/itm/353890545789

and a cute  little Tek, even with probe:

https://www.ebay.de/itm/363712368633
 

[med6753]

and a cute  little Tek, even with probe:

https://www.ebay.de/itm/363712368633

Not "cute" to work on. Gigantic pain in the arse. 

 

[Neper]

and a cute  little Tek, even with probe:

https://www.ebay.de/itm/363712368633

Condition: The item may have some signs of cosmetic wear, but is fully operational and functions as intended.

Description: Doesn't switch on.

Make of that what you will.

[factory]

If this were what it's auction title says, I would have been won over by it's mechanical design...
https://www.ebay.de/itm/393908017990?hash=item5bb6bf5b46

The indicated shipping cost is as amazing as the item! 

Clearly they don't want the hassle of international shipping, much the same as some sellers abroad, UK shipping is £12.
No interest to me, I want nothing to do with NDT ultrasonic testing, seen it at work & decided I don't want to be involved. Guess you would need the charger & some transducers to make any use of it too.

David

[factory]

The hp 5216A is nearly on the "it's dead Jim pile", turns out to have manufacturing defect, one of the wires going to the transformer primary was trapped underneath the transformer, eventually it had damaged the insulation & shorted out half of the transformer primary, i.e ended up with 230V across one of the 115V windings, resulting in the blown fuse & it getting sold for spares on evilbay.





I've removed the squashed wire & added heatsink sleeving. Unfortunately on testing with the DMM, I found one of the split 115V primary windings is open circuit.
And testing with a 110V step down transformer, it is still drawing to much current, I've run out of time to determine if the transformer has shorted turns, or the PSU has died again.

For anyone else with an early 5216A, here is the A6 (05216-6002) PSU diagram, as the one in the Agilent scanned manual is complete utter shite.   


David

[mnementh]

Personally, I prefer to use good old-fashioned coffee mate with my coffee, but then again, I just use Gold Blend instant coffee so not in your league. I do have a coffee peculator and some ground coffee of sort or other that we normally have at Christmas but this year neither I or SWMBO could be arsed with it so we didn't. Our tipple of choice is tea, but when I'm working on some item of TE, I normally drink coffee just to keep alert and not fall asleep 

Hey, I've made my morning fix out of Taster's Choice dumped triple-strength into a cup of nuked Carnation, so I don't dare pass judgement on anybody's caffeine predilections.

Just that... as I've gotten older, I've gotten to enjoy the whole coffee thing; I'd even enjoy the roasting and grinding ritual if it weren't so fucking messy.

I deliberately budget carbs and calories for my morning cuppa; I look forward to it, and especially when I'm on the Keto, that blast of flavor is important.

As for CoffeeMate... ehhh, it's corn syrup and vegetable oil, so the worst of both worlds. Def not Keto-friendly, or even continued-existence-friendly. 

mnem

[mnementh]

Didn't think of the play cards for kids, since I am not into that kind of thing, but yeah that's cool then if thanks to these stupid cards I can buy a cool box for my resistors !!! 

Yeah, I figured once you realized how cheap & easy they are, you might could bother to look for a card shop in your un-benighted little corner of the dramasphere. 

Will give it a shot, thanks for the idea ex-dragon !What should we call you now BTW ? The "smoking knight" ? It's not so clear any more to me.

Ehhh... I was just dressing up as Bender for the occasion; don't read too much into it.

mnem
This too shall pass.

[Robert763]

I've got to stop looking at ebay when I'm bored 
I put a £15 offer on a £30 Sunset E10 tester and it was accepted (not sure why ebay says £25 winnng bid  )
I've absolutley no use for a 2048 kbs telecom tester. but though I'd have a play with it. I guess you could use it for testing coaxial cables and it will mesure propagation delay.
At least I'll get a carry bag, mains PSU, loads of weird adaptors and a 2MB PCMCIA card 

www.ebay.co.uk/itm/175135702148?

[mnementh]

If this were what it's auction title says, I would have been won over by it's mechanical design...
https://www.ebay.de/itm/393908017990?hash=item5bb6bf5b46

mnem

[Neomys Sapiens]

I just found out about Klipper as alternative to Marlin.
Looks good.

Interestingly enough, almost all the "Speedboatracers" (Print a benchy in the shortest time) use klipper -
because they implement a lot of very advanced software features. Relevant on the speed front is "Resonance compensation"
aka "Input shaper" where they filter the frequencys of the printer mechanical resonance from the motor movement inputs
They have other stuff too, like a pretty good delta printer "autocalibration". Originally came in contact with them as the only way
to get my delta printing with the original atmega board, turns out it was too slow to calculate all the basic delta movement stuff on its own. That problem took a loooooong while to figure out. Figuring out my prints came out mirrored because the motors were connected x - y - z in anticlockwise instead of clockwise direction (in a delta they all sit in the base) was easy in comparison 

When you say "Speedboatracers" without any water vehicles involved, I was wondering for a momemt whether you meant "Speedboat-racers" or "Speedboa-tracers". 

[Cerebus]

With all the talk surrounding it about fishing marlin and albacore I was trying to read Klipper as kipper (as in the smoked fish).

[mansaxel]

The hp 5216A is nearly on the "it's dead Jim pile", turns out to have manufacturing defect, one of the wires going to the transformer primary was trapped underneath the transformer, eventually it had damaged the insulation & shorted out half of the transformer primary, i.e ended up with 230V across one of the 115V windings, resulting in the blown fuse & it getting sold for spares on evilbay.

Ha! We can conclude that there worked someone at hp who didn't care for the well-being of striped green transformer leads.  I had a very similar error on my 428b; only that in my case, it was either a GFCI breaker shot, or a fuse blow, depending on which way the mains plug was inserted (We have CEE 7/4 plugs, so the alternating current is free to alternate). I managed to test both cases.



It was on one of the outer ends of the two 120V windings, so shorting it to ground just blew protection, not the meter.  I fixed it with clear shrink toobing.

[Vince]

Didn't think of the play cards for kids, since I am not into that kind of thing, but yeah that's cool then if thanks to these stupid cards I can buy a cool box for my resistors !!! 

Yeah, I figured once you realized how cheap & easy they are, you might could bother to look for a card shop in your un-benighted little corner of the dramasphere. 

mnem
This too shall pass.

Starting my search on French amazon.. not looking good ! Looks like the kid cards storage boxes has turned into a giant money making scheme ! 

16+ Euros for the smallest cardboard one, is the best I found ! 

https://www.amazon.fr/collect-rangement-g%C3%A9ante-tailles-s%C3%A9parateurs/dp/B07RSZD8H8/ref=sr_1_39?crid=5G8XQOK9354X&keywords=boite+rangement+cartes+%C3%A0+collectionner&qid=1644186831&sprefix=boite+rangement+cartes%2Caps%2C143&sr=8-39

Only 30cm long and single width.... 16+ Euros, are you kidding me ?! 

Even buyer comments yell ripoff, but THEN say : "yeah sounds freaking expensive for what it is... BUT I can put 1,000 cards in it, so the price per card is really not that bad, so I am happy ! "

 

So the reasoning from the seller must be I guess : " These cards are worth money now, so the buyers can afford to pay through the roof for a freaking box, let's milk them like there is no tomorrow ! ".

I will keep searching for a bit, but it does not look goo.
Will be much cheaper to just do like you and stick all my envelopes in a show box, and just a divider along the middle and call it done...
Or just search for generic cardboard boxes, maybe some have dimensions that could work out.


What a sad world we live in...

[mnementh]

7g net carb, 370 Cal.

mnem
that is all.

[Vince]

Yes looking for non-pokemon boxes yields much cheaper/ sensible card board options... like say this beauuuutiful slide out shoe box, for 2,80 Euros :

https://www.amazon.fr/Boite-de-rangement-%C3%A0-chaussures/dp/B09KYH2NLC/ref=pd_sbs_1/259-5060158-3179612?pd_rd_w=7Ch49&pf_rd_p=075589f6-3852-493e-aff6-e210133e3ed2&pf_rd_r=WXQ20M3RCF209YWMJAHX&pd_rd_r=20b0eb0e-c190-401a-8663-01ee97e251be&pd_rd_wg=o7Ryw&pd_rd_i=B09KYH2NLC&psc=1


That's more like it...

[Vince]

7g net carb, 370 Cal.

mnem
that is all.

370 Calories that's WITHOUT the huge blob of mayonnaise, nor the can of Coca Cola !! 

Don't fool yourself