Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread

[Specmaster]

Holy shit balls, just had an email from our energy supplier where we get our electric and gas from, and from 1st April, our bill is almost doubling to almost £300 a month, put that together with the increase in rent, rates, phone, internet, diesel for the car, all of which are also seeing massive increases, I have to decide between eating and TEA 

It looks as if I'm going to start flipping a few things in order to keep my head above the water line here, thanks to Brexit, Covid and silly boy Putin, geez what a rough ride this is going to be for a while. 

Received same warning from my electric supplier but they don't state how much. If I average my electric out over the course of the year it's about $60USD/mo. Obviously much higher in Summer when I'm using the A/C. My next bill will be on March 23rd so I have time to brace myself. 

Yeah, it sucks don't it. Swap my bill for yours though any day, current £ to US$ makes my bill 402$ 

[Specmaster]

It's gone. The one and only AN225 was destroyed in it's hanger.

Yeah, its a shame that they never flew that puppy out to a safe location before it all kicked off. At least I have seen it up close on the ground at Kent International Airport a few years ago.

Hopefully they managed to save some of it so that they might be able to rebuilt it because it was such a unique aircraft that there are some items that require something like that to transport them to their destinations.

[Specmaster]

It's gone. The one and only AN225 was destroyed in it's hanger.   

Jeebus, the history lost there.  What's the next largest then? The A380?

mnem
*toddles off to brave the mire of the DMV website*

Close!  Airbus has not completed the A380-900.  No idea if they actually have any plans to follow through or not...

That leaves the Stratolaunch as the largest, by MTOW (Maximum Take Off Weight).  It is also a one-off design.

The Regular Airbus A380-800 comes in as a close second.

Yeah, the only problem being is the the A380 is only a passenger plane whereas the AN225 was capable of carrying train locomotives etc.

[Saskia]

The madness of it all. The Russians bought at least 2 fully optioned IBM Z13 mainframes. I happen to see the customer order. Right out in the open it said "Russian Federation". No further comment.

and you did not build in a self destruct ?
sloppy ....

[Robert763]

It's gone. The one and only AN225 was destroyed in it's hanger.

Yeah, its a shame that they never flew that puppy out to a safe location before it all kicked off. At least I have seen it up close on the ground at Kent International Airport a few years ago.

Hopefully they managed to save some of it so that they might be able to rebuilt it because it was such a unique aircraft that there are some items that require something like that to transport them to their destinations.

There is a second AN225 airframe that was never completed. Maybe it will be re-engined (lots of ex 747 RB211-524s or A340 Trent 500s out there) and given modern avionics.
I walked through the cargo hold at Farnborough in 1990 and flown on AN124s several times.

[tggzzz]

The madness of it all. The Russians bought at least 2 fully optioned IBM Z13 mainframes. I happen to see the customer order. Right out in the open it said "Russian Federation". No further comment.

and you did not build in a self destruct ?
sloppy ....

Heaven forbid! A built-in low bandwidth out-of-band transmit/receive mechanism would be much more useful.

[Saskia]

you forget that according to Civilization rules their spies are built as veteran spies ...
with a much higher chance of subverting, etc than your standard agent.

As could be seen during the Manhattan Project.

[BU508A]

Today arrival: Kelvin probes from Keithley, type 5808



Nice add-on for my DMM 7510. 

[ch_scr]

Today arrival: Kelvin probes from Keithley, type 5808



Nice add-on for my DMM 7510. 

Looks fine! Are these the ones that meet inside the handle or do they sport the "dual tip" to get 4-wire all the way to the contact point?

[BU508A]

Today arrival: Kelvin probes from Keithley, type 5808



Nice add-on for my DMM 7510. 

Looks fine! Are these the ones that meet inside the handle or do they sport the "dual tip" to get 4-wire all the way to the contact point?

The datasheet is saying:
"The Kelvin connection at the base of each probe pin results in very low resistance errors, eliminating all wire and probe body resistance."

[Specmaster]

It's gone. The one and only AN225 was destroyed in it's hanger.

Yeah, its a shame that they never flew that puppy out to a safe location before it all kicked off. At least I have seen it up close on the ground at Kent International Airport a few years ago.

Hopefully they managed to save some of it so that they might be able to rebuilt it because it was such a unique aircraft that there are some items that require something like that to transport them to their destinations.

There is a second AN225 airframe that was never completed. Maybe it will be re-engined (lots of ex 747 RB211-524s or A340 Trent 500s out there) and given modern avionics.
I walked through the cargo hold at Farnborough in 1990 and flown on AN124s several times.

Lets hope and pray that it still exists, is viable and it survives the war.

[Cerebus]

The datasheet is saying:
"The Kelvin connection at the base of each probe pin results in very low resistance errors, eliminating all wire and probe body resistance."

Ah, marketing department, him add weasel words!

The prize for obsessiveness over Kelvin probe connections goes to Robin Renzetti as these two videos will show. (Warning, contains machining porn involving views of tiny, tiny, collet chucks for his lathe which will induce workshop envy in the susceptible.)

[ch_scr]

(...)
The prize for obsessiveness over Kelvin probe connections goes to Robin Renzetti as these two videos will show. (Warning, contains machining porn involving views of tiny, tiny, collet chucks for his lathe which will induce workshop envy in the susceptible.)
(...)

Robin Renzettis videos do not come often, but are always worth the watch 

[Andrew_Debbie]

If this is as described (ie: used - previously owned but fully operational) and anyone is near to Chippenham (collection only) this is a bargain:  https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/175177658083

Blasted enablers; I hate you all. I'm picking it up tomorrow, after testing.

Anybody want a Tek 2467? https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/165357463536   

*wibble*   

Does not ship to US.   

Send him a message mentioning GSP? Check he knows how to pack a scope

I fucking hate you.     Very cordially, of course.

mnem

I've put it on my watch list.  If it stays at £99, which it wont,   I'll be the next owner.

[Andrew_Debbie]

Holy shit balls, just had an email from our energy supplier where we get our electric and gas from, and from 1st April, our bill is almost doubling to almost £300 a month, put that together with the increase in rent, rates, phone, internet, diesel for the car, all of which are also seeing massive increases, I have to decide between eating and TEA 

It looks as if I'm going to start flipping a few things in order to keep my head above the water line here, thanks to Brexit, Covid and silly boy Putin, geez what a rough ride this is going to be for a while. 

You forgot to mention the National Insurance tax increase.   Workers above pension age like Debbie are facing a big NI tax rise next year.   After years of zero pay increase we got 1% last year. 
Our Pension contributions   - 2018 8% of salary,  2019 - 9.6% of salary.   2022 planned increase to 11% of salary.  At the same time pension benefits are going down.   About 1/2 of the universities are out on strike again over pensions.   Not getting any press coverage because of other on-going events.

The lease on my car ends in three weeks.  The way things are right now, I'm not going to risk replacing it.   

[tggzzz]

If this is as described (ie: used - previously owned but fully operational) and anyone is near to Chippenham (collection only) this is a bargain:  https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/175177658083

Blasted enablers; I hate you all.

I'm picking it up tomorrow, after testing.

Picked up the Keithley 2015 DMM/THD. I tried it on a voltage standard and a couple of standard resistors, and it worked nicely. Amusing to see the THD of my audio signal sources 0.02%-0.4%, and that it's sine wave output is undrflw%.

The seller knew that he was selling it cheaply and could get more if he could be bothered to ship it, but was surprised the DMM was the first to sell. He's in the middle of an office move, so wants stuff out the way.

Other stuff he is getting rid of are boring scopes and HP audio analysers. He's gone over to RPi+Rigol scope+his analysis software, so is disposing of the old analogue gear. His company hand makes pretty audiofool valve amplifiers, where you can choose your own colour scheme. The valves don't come from Tek scopes, but are new Russian and Czech valves.

One of his USPs is that he designs his own output transformers, and has them made by local companies. I would guess that they would also make mains transformers for hollow-state Tek scopes.

[Zucca]

Robin Renzettis videos do not come often, but are always worth the watch 

+1000! Unfortunately he is no more active on this forum.

[Zucca]

Picked up the Keithley 2015 DMM/THD. I tried it on a voltage standard and a couple of standard resistors, and it worked nicely. Amusing to see the THD of my audio signal sources 0.02%-0.4%, and that it's sine wave output is undrflw%.

Now turn it off and recap it. Those old Keithley 2XXX are known to have leaking caps.
If it is not happened now it will.

[AVGresponding]

Picked up the Keithley 2015 DMM/THD. I tried it on a voltage standard and a couple of standard resistors, and it worked nicely. Amusing to see the THD of my audio signal sources 0.02%-0.4%, and that it's sine wave output is undrflw%.

Now turn it off and recap it. Those old Keithley 2XXX are known to have leaking caps.
If it is not happened now it will.

Stop increasing my repair queue!   

[mnementh]

*Holds up a mirror for AVGresponding*

mnem
 

[AVGresponding]

*Holds up a mirror for AVGresponding*

mnem
 

Hey, I'm not the one decided to fit leaky Nichicons in Keithley 2XXX meters!

[med6753]

After considerable cussing, praying, and persuading the range switch deck is installed. Alignment of all those individual decks was critical and took a number of attempts to get it right. But it's done, finally.  I still have to resolder all the connections but that should go smoothly.



The action of the range switch is best described as a little heavy, but positive and absolutely no slop. The heaviness no doubt is due to the sheer size and number of decks. But I am very happy that it's finally freed up and working. 



Edit....the capacitors and other parts to continue the restoration should arrive Wednesday.

[mnementh]

*Holds up a mirror for AVGresponding*

mnem
 

Hey, I'm not the one decided to fit leaky Nichicons in Keithley 2XXX meters!

Didn't you really...? I mean, when you decided to buy that meter, knowing it had them...? 

mnem
*looks over at his 2465, still waiting for its own PSU recap*

[mnementh]

After considerable cussing, praying, and persuading the range switch deck is installed. Alignment of all those individual decks was critical and took a number of attempts to get it right. But it's done, finally.  I still have to resolder all the connections but that should go smoothly.



The action of the range switch is best described as a little heavy, but positive and absolutely no slop. The heaviness no doubt is due to the sheer size and number of decks. But I am very happy that it's finally freed up and working. 



Edit....the capacitors and other parts to continue the restoration should arrive Wednesday.

Good work, Papa Smurf!   

I hope you find the little chip out of that knob and can fix it with some CA. A replacement will not avail itself easily, unless you are very lucky.

mnem
I hate when that happens. 

[AVGresponding]

*Holds up a mirror for AVGresponding*

mnem
 

Hey, I'm not the one decided to fit leaky Nichicons in Keithley 2XXX meters!

Didn't you really...? I mean, when you decided to buy that meter, knowing it had them...? 

mnem
*looks over at his 2465, still waiting for its own PSU recap*

No, because I didn't know it was a specific issue until I read the thread on the K2001 recently.