Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread

[Vince]

I am just done oiling my brand new oak parquet in the bedroom.
(...)

I am fully out of my waters here, but to me, it sounds like the oil had gone off, started to polymerize, if you will, making it high viscosity?
Was it over its "best before" date, or stored too hot, or maybe container damaged and leaked air into it a tiny bit?
But good job anyway getting it done 

No I don't think it's that... can is brand new. I also have another one, that got supplied by the manufacturer of the parquet, same brand and "model" of oil, but custom dyied "white" for me (they didn't ask me about that...). It had the exact same "thickness". I didn't like the white effect so searched online and bought the same oil but with a "clear" finish.
Also I looked at French woodworkers  Youtubers and when they use the oil it's also the same thickness it looks like, and they don't dilute it.

I am truly at a loss as to why it took an entire can of 80m2 to get my 10m2 done...
My only hypothesis is that the parquet, being brand new, maybe didn't get much pre-treatment at all, and therefore was still "soaking" liquid/oil like mad, very very thirsty so to speak.
If this is the case then when I get to apply that same oil again in a year, it should "slide" over the parquet much easier and spread more easily. We shall see...
In the meantime I think I will contact Rubio France, as apparently the guys running the French branch are approachable and are happy talking to customers over the phone or e-mail.

I am probably misunderstanding something fundamental or doing something wrong without even realizing it... because I am basically clueless ! It's the first time I have parquet

[Saskia]

*sigh*
storm damage of the garden shed.
Trying to squeeze some lumber back in place but may have to cut out some with a plunge saw, pull it out and fit something in place.
Not looking forward to it.

picked up 100 m of NYM-J 3x2.5 yesterday to do the electrical wiring upstairs.
need to pick up some cable to do the ethernet stuff (while I am at it)

Wondering if I can program the keysight robo car to pull the cables thru the Jeffrey's tubes ...

Ultra 10:
complains about dead NVRAM.
Dug up IDE DVDROM, hooked it up. System starts to boot but hangs after kernel load.
Suspect knackered date/time/ethernet address/hostid.
oh great joy ...

Waiting for some stuff to show up:

- Festool MFT 3 plus add ons
- Bosch GTA 60 table saw stand
- Keithley 2001 for repair/fixerupperidoodling

And:
someone is mining to my wallet. I have an idea who the culprit is, but no intention to stop him.

[mnementh]

I am just done oiling my brand new oak parquet in the bedroom.

(SNIP)

Oh, now that the towel and micro-fiber "broom" pad are soaked with oil... I made sure NOT to soak them with water... I WANT to see if they will catch fire !       

Will leave them outside of course... don't want to burn the lab and house down !

Well, FWIW... it looks gorgeous, V.

I dunno about over there... but over here, that kind of huge-ass floor polisher is mostly used on large area floors (like empty classrooms, hallways and gymnasiums) that have already been sealed with polyurethane or similar... and is mostly used to strip (with water/detergent and ginormous Scotch-Brite pads) and later buff (with varying density brushes and fuzzy pads) periodic maintenance coats of floor wax applied to protect the sealed floor.

Is it possible your rental place (I imagine they're usually staffed by complete muppets, just like over here ) didn't understand what you were doing, and gave you a buffer that was totally wrong/outfitted incorrectly with the wrong pads?

Judging by your tale of woe, obviously it was not the right tool for this job... good on you for sticking to it anyways.   

mnem

[mansaxel]

Ultra 10:
complains about dead NVRAM.
Dug up IDE DVDROM, hooked it up. System starts to boot but hangs after kernel load.
Suspect knackered date/time/ethernet address/hostid.
oh great joy ...

One usually can go FORTH and tell it some plausible host ID and have it in effect as long as the machine is powered.

Procedure here, and there are others like it.

A lot of the easily found FAQen deal with what was attainable as "junk" machines back in the day, when the U10 was a rather fast machine that still was supported, so I believe the above tip is one of the more correct ones, FSVO correct.

I'd take a look at the NVRAM chip to see if it has the bar code on it, kinda nice to get it back to old address again.

[TERRA Operative]

Been getting a few surplus TM500 modules ready to be put on the 'for sale' pile.
A couple new resistors to replace drifted carbon composites here and there and a final adjustment and they'll be good to go.

[mnementh]

<snip>

and my sandwich/coffee got cold. 

Huh? Such a forced pause is the exact moment one chooses to indulge in coffee and sandwich. If something makes me engage and dive in, I'm all likely to forget my cuppa, and many a stone cold half-empty coffee cup has been found in the workshop because I went a-tinkering on a tangent.  When Computer Says Wait, no cup is left undrained, though...

Naaah... it was just that I had the whole "thing" planned for my relaxation after a miserable day's ogre-ing and unpacking bins of stuff around the house; I was gonna nibble-nibble and cause mischief in the Discord and the TEA... had everything timed perfectly and then Winblows decided to be Windoze... 

I made a tiny bit of progress reorganizing stuff in the dwagon cave while it finished booting... then I went back upstairs (achy knee and back ouchies notwithstanding) and nuked it all, then came down just in time to see the desktop come up... but it was another 5 minutes of hashing disks until I got sick of waiting and killed the damned CompatTelRunner.exe process tree (why the fuck does it need that shit running just AFTER a fucking upgrade...? sheer idiocy) and the poor spinning rust stopped rattling like a Detroit diesel on corn oil...

But yeah... it's all a matter of just how much direct control of your OS you're willing to take responsibility for. I guess in my old age... I've given up on actually owning my PC... and just want to be able to click on stoopit dancing dog videos until the caffiene reaches my brain... 

mnem

[Cerebus]

I am just done oiling my brand new oak parquet in the bedroom.

<snip>

So no... no no no ... NO !

<snip>

Now, do I look like the kind of man who would sit back and smugly say "Told you so"?



Yes, yes I do look like that kind of man.

So all in all... it was quite an experience. Next time I oil that parquet (recommendation are once or twice a year I gather), I will just do it manually like I just did... sacrifice a towel, and kneel down, and rub, rub...     Thank goodness the room is only 10m2 ! 

Once the whole thing is sealed "topping off" the finish with a little oil is easy. It only needs a tiny amount, no more than just enough to wet the surface evenly.

I wish you'd shouted "help!" earlier. For the future reference of others, the standard approach to oiling hardwood is:

(1) Apply an initial coat diluted with white spirit (aka mineral turpentine, mineral spirits, whatever it's called where you are). Dilution ratio is not critical, just enough to make it wipeable rather than gloopy and not so dilute that you're hardly applying any oil. 10%-50% white spirit as a seat-of-the-pants guess.
(2) Leave 15 minutes to soak in.
(3) Wipe off with a clean dry rag.
(4) Leave 24 hours to dry.
(5) Wipe over a thin coat of neat oil. Enough to guarantee that you wet out the surface.
(6) Leave 15 minutes to soak in.
(7) Wipe off with a clean dry rag.
( Leave 24 hours to dry. [That's a 8 followed by a bracket, but SMF is stupid]
(9) Have you got the level of finish you want? Of so, go to 10, if not go to 5.
(10) Drink beer.

[Cerebus]

<snip>

and my sandwich/coffee got cold. 

Huh? Such a forced pause is the exact moment one chooses to indulge in coffee and sandwich. If something makes me engage and dive in, I'm all likely to forget my cuppa, and many a stone cold half-empty coffee cup has been found in the workshop because I went a-tinkering on a tangent.  When Computer Says Wait, no cup is left undrained, though.

[mnementh]

I am just done oiling my brand new oak parquet in the bedroom.
(...)

I am fully out of my waters here, but to me, it sounds like the oil had gone off, started to polymerize, if you will, making it high viscosity?
Was it over its "best before" date, or stored too hot, or maybe container damaged and leaked air into it a tiny bit?
But good job anyway getting it done 

No I don't think it's that... can is brand new. I also have another one, that got supplied by the manufacturer of the parquet, same brand and "model" of oil, but custom dyied "white" for me (they didn't ask me about that...). It had the exact same "thickness". I didn't like the white effect so searched online and bought the same oil but with a "clear" finish.
Also I looked at French woodworkers  Youtubers and when they use the oil it's also the same thickness it looks like, and they don't dilute it.

I am truly at a loss as to why it took an entire can of 80m2 to get my 10m2 done...
My only hypothesis is that the parquet, being brand new, maybe didn't get much pre-treatment at all, and therefore was still "soaking" liquid/oil like mad, very very thirsty so to speak.
If this is the case then when I get to apply that same oil again in a year, it should "slide" over the parquet much easier and spread more easily. We shall see...
In the meantime I think I will contact Rubio France, as apparently the guys running the French branch are approachable and are happy talking to customers over the phone or e-mail.

I am probably misunderstanding something fundamental or doing something wrong without even realizing it... because I am basically clueless ! It's the first time I have parquet

At a guess... either because you have actual solid wood flooring, not veneered masonite, and/or perhaps it is eventually passing through the cracks and being soaked up by your cork underlay. 

How dare you use real ingredients in your recipe for flooring bliss!   

EDIT: Ahh... okay. Looks like C has weighed in. Having never done anything bigger than a table (which I did just like you; straight out of the can with a old towel), I guess that process does make more sense. 

mnem
 

[Cerebus]

That's very nice of you ! Sadly the cost to ship it and get it back, with import shit on top of it, would cost me more than the Vref is worth... I don't have money to burn at the moment...

Thanks for the offer though ! 

Just for reference, if you're sending stuff out with the intention of it coming back you can avoid all the duty etc. by having a customs Carnet for it. The cost/difficulty of getting a Carnet varies a lot from place to place varying from "trivial" to "it would be easier just to leave my firstborn as a deposit, including the mating, gestation and birth". So whether it's ever worth the effort depends on where you are and how much you need to avoid customs duty - you can bet that whenever The Rolling Stones go on tour they've got a Carnet for the tour rig and the geriatric life-support equipment.

[mnementh]

And:   someone is mining to my wallet. I have an idea who the culprit is, but no intention to stop him.

Just make sure you withdraw frequently to another account so they can't dip into your funds... and keep records of the IP/MAC  addresses in case some regulatory agency comes knocking on the door...

mnem
 

[mansaxel]

That's very nice of you ! Sadly the cost to ship it and get it back, with import shit on top of it, would cost me more than the Vref is worth... I don't have money to burn at the moment...

Thanks for the offer though ! 

Just for reference, if you're sending stuff out with the intention of it coming back you can avoid all the duty etc. by having a customs Carnet for it. The cost/difficulty of getting a Carnet varies a lot from place to place varying from "trivial" to "it would be easier just to leave my firstborn as a deposit, including the mating, gestation and birth". So whether it's ever worth the effort depends on where you are and how much you need to avoid customs duty - you can bet that whenever The Rolling Stones go on tour they've got a Carnet for the tour rig and the geriatric life-support equipment.

I've done the carnet dance once, and hated it. The Sweden joined the EU, and it was easy from then on. (in a lot more places, not everywhere, obviously)

[Cerebus]

I am just done oiling my brand new oak parquet in the bedroom.
(...)

I am fully out of my waters here, but to me, it sounds like the oil had gone off, started to polymerize, if you will, making it high viscosity?
Was it over its "best before" date, or stored too hot, or maybe container damaged and leaked air into it a tiny bit?
But good job anyway getting it done 

Neat, fresh tung oil is very thick. Tung oil is the preferred basis for all the very best furniture oils and can be used neat. It gives the best finish and is so resistant to attack that it used to be the standard finish for laboratory benches back in the days when a laboratory bench was a 3 inch thick slab of mahogany. So it may just be very good oil rather than past its sell by date.

[mnementh]

Just for those playing along at home... neat in this context means the same as with drinkable spirits: undiluted with anything; straight from the can/bottle.

mnem

                        *hic*

[med6753]

Some miscellaneous ramblings here.

The NYS Legislature has voted to rescind the NYS gas tax of 33.3 cents/gallon until the end of the year. Should help somewhat as gas approaches $5/gallon. This morning I filled the CR-V and it cost me $48.  I've never been able to stuff nearly $50 worth of gas into a gas tank in my entire life so while you guys in the EU are laughing your asses off to me it's somewhat of a shock. Welcome the real world I guess.     

For some unexplained reason I lost power last night at approx 2300 hours. It didn't come back on until nearly 0500 hours this morning. When I lose power just about everything goes down. No water since we are on a well. The pumps quit. The boiler is oil fired but needs power to operate. The propane hot water heater the same. But since the water goes down it doesn't matter anyway. No pressure. My propane fueled stove is electronic ignition but I can light the burners with a match but not the oven. Last night outside hovered around 0C so by the time the power came back on it was a little chilly in here.

The next TE project. A member on the Facebook Tek group has had lots of issues with his 7904 due to it running too hot. The 7904 has no fan. I have noticed mine running a lot warmer then I'd like but in the 3 years I've had it after re-capping I've had no issues. But I've often thought about adding a fan anyway. Well he added fans, yes...two of them, and he stated it made a world of difference. I'm going to follow his lead and do the same. He used 5 volt fans but I'm going a slightly different route. I have these two 12V fans. I'll tie them into the +/- 15V supplies through 7812/7912 regulators. The PSU should have enough reserve power that it will probably hardly notice the additional load. We'll see.

         

[Saskia]

@med gas is currently between 10 an 12 Dollars/gallon over here.

[tggzzz]

That's very nice of you ! Sadly the cost to ship it and get it back, with import shit on top of it, would cost me more than the Vref is worth... I don't have money to burn at the moment...

Thanks for the offer though ! 

Yeah Better when we in the EU

[Cerebus]

Current UK price, with appropriate conversions done: 8.477 USD/US Gal (95 RON unleaded), including $3.00/gal fuel duty and $1.41/gal VAT for a total of $4.41/gal in taxes. Yes, 52% of the retail price is taxes, so I laugh at Med's $0.333/gal tax.

[med6753]

Current UK price, with appropriate conversions done: 8.477 USD/US Gal (95 RON unleaded), including $3.00/gal fuel duty and $1.41/gal VAT for a total of $4.41/gal in taxes. Yes, 52% of the retail price is taxes, so I laugh at Med's $0.333/gal tax.

There is also a Federal excise tax on gas which is 18.3 cents/gallon. So yea, taxes here on gas are much less.

[tggzzz]

Herpes couriers are changing their name to Evri. Wonder why - not. https://www.chargedretail.co.uk/2022/03/11/hermes-uk-announces-full-rebrand-to-evri/

So, what will be the new slang name for them?

[med6753]

Herpes couriers are changing their name to Evri. Wonder why - not. https://www.chargedretail.co.uk/2022/03/11/hermes-uk-announces-full-rebrand-to-evri/

So, what will be the new slang name for them?

"Ervi package broken" 

[Cerebus]

Herpes couriers are changing their name to Evri. Wonder why - not. https://www.chargedretail.co.uk/2022/03/11/hermes-uk-announces-full-rebrand-to-evri/

So, what will be the new slang name for them?

I think they should refuse to pay the invoice from Highly Paid Brand Consultants plc because every time I look at "evri" my brain wants to see "evil".

[mnementh]

ON THE BENCH TONIGHT: Temp PSU for 32in Cinema Display

Anyhoo... so after it's all done, I sit down to relax with dinner and check in here and... that damned Cinema display is fucking up again, only this time the PSU brick is doing the tick-tick failure mode. FML... 



So I bring the thing down to the dwagon-cave and pop it apart again; but for the life of me, I can't figure out what holds the aluminum heatsink on the other side to the inner plate all the semis are attached to. This means that even if I did find some questionable caps, I'd have no way of getting them in/out to replace them. I decided that rather than go all Samsonite Gorilla on the damn thing getting it apart, maybe the better idea would be to try a different PSU altogether, just to see if the problem was in the PSU or the display...

mnem
I am gonna be sore in the mornin'...   

Welp... after a dozen flawless sleep/resume cycles, I'm leaning towards the Apple PSU being at fault, not the Cinema Display. I want to go downstairs and attack the thing, but I'm having a hard time working up the Give A Fuck when I can buy a fanless Meanwell LED SMPS rated exactly the same 24V/6.5A as the original for $19 off Amazon...   

https://www.amazon.com/LRS-150-24-Switching-Supply-Single-Output/dp/B018RE4CWW/

mnem
 

[mnementh]

Herpes couriers are changing their name to Evri. Wonder why - not. https://www.chargedretail.co.uk/2022/03/11/hermes-uk-announces-full-rebrand-to-evri/

So, what will be the new slang name for them?

Nevri delivered.

mnem
 

[Zucca]

Welp... after a dozen flawless sleep/resume cycles, I'm leaning towards the Apple PSU being at fault, not the Cinema Display. I want to go downstairs and attack the thing, but I'm having a hard time working up the Give A Fuck when I can buy a fanless Meanwell LED SMPS rated exactly the same 24V/6.5A as the original for $19 off Amazon...   

Was more relaxing for you to have the monitor back or to use your Metcal??