Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread

[Peter_O]

Yes me too, but I guess some people like it.... here it is. The Google car / Street view has up to date imagery :

I thought the French were proud of their cuisine. That is an abomination. 

The fence is there to protect the citizens from it!
McBryce.

Looks like a reused trash bin compartment of a housing estate.

Did i say 'reused'?   

[mansaxel]

They're made with that crap cable, of course, but are pretty reliable. It's quite feasible to make them do strange things; I've managed to use some for connecting up potentiometers to PCB's, by cutting them in half and soldering the female part to the pot.

I sorta wish I'd made them myself, because then i coulda made them polarised and stuff.

[Ice-Tea]

Hey Måns, got my message? 

I did! I also realised that I'm going to need 4 new shocks, 4 new tires, a couple rear springs, some sundry rubber items, and a pair of front control arms for the car. And diagnose the ABS error that creeps up frequently...

 

My hesitance to reply solely stems from this.. And I've not seen if I got a raise this year yet..

Mwahaha... Take your time. I'll sit on it for another week, after that I'm sending it off to eBay.

EDIT: 

[Specmaster]

It seems that I was right to make up those extender cables for SC110 after all, even though there were real piggies and I really had to try hard to get my tongue at just the angle. Had I not done that, it would have been even harder to find the fault as where the actual problem was right underneath the vertical board and hidden by a screening plate

It was the emitter lead of an obsolete transistor (BF199) in the differential amplifier had fractured.  Extracted the transistor, tested OK, soldered in a resistor leg to make a replacement emitter lead, replaced transistor and then carefully soldered the remains of the fractured lead to the resistor leg and tested WHOOP, it lives on.       Now to reassemble all the boards and do a calibration check before final assembly and full photos.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                   

Wait... what...? You mean it didn't fracture right flush with the package...? 

Damn, Spec... you got lucky! Run out right now and buy a lottery ticket before it wears off!

mnem
*currently arguing with Frustion360*

Yes, if probed the emitter lead near the top, I could get a lovely sawtooth wave. So next I started to probe around the next stage and nothing, probe the lead, waveform appeared on my TDS210, probe next stage again, zero. Back to probe the lead, nothing and this cycle repeated a few times along with some head scratching. So I came to the conclusion that the transistor must be dodgy, fired up the desoldering tool and removed it. Reached for the transistor tester, when to connect it and found that only 2 and a half legs on the tranny, zero sign of the missing bit of leg, it got sucked into the desoldering gun

Back to the tranny testing, connected it up and it was working, so I fabricated a replacement leg and reinstalled it, and Bingo, full sweep was restored.

As to getting a lottery ticket, I don't think so, because at the same the sweep came back, spigot on my magnifier desk light, same as yours, snapped, leaving the lamp and head dangling on the leads   

So now I have to try and cobble something together with that before moving back to the SC110   

One step forward and then two backwards

[Ice-Tea]

Choices... Choices...

[mnementh]

Good enough for Shirley.   

I'm guessing this is the PSU capacitor oven from that many many thousands of dollars RF gen?

Yup.

Sooo... Does it chooch..?

Dunno. Misplaced the housing for the PSU. I would normally be winging it but I guess I got a little cold feet...

LOL... yeah, lots of opportunity for flash-bang in that little package, especially if you got one in backwards; I can understand wanting the correct plugin to keep the angry pixies where they belong and a cover over it in case stuff tries to go orbital. 

We've all done it, and sometimes double, even triple-checking doesn't save you; I guess it's some aspect of that whole "people see what they expect to see" phenomenon.   

mnem
Good luck!

EDIT: I see signs of life!!! Good deal!

[tautech]

Choices... Choices...

Looks great but could it possibly flood one needs ask ?
That's at ground level but also look at roof guttering and how it would manage with a big rainfall event.

[med6753]

Choices... Choices...

If I had that space I might have room for all my stuff. 

[mnementh]

Choices... Choices...

The Countach goes in that corner... the Testarossa in that one... the Golden Hawk in the front corner, and the car lift right inside the door. Easy. 

mnem
Oh, and the 120in home theater/VR rig right in the middle wall area...

[Specmaster]

It seems that I was right to make up those extender cables for SC110 after all, even though there were real piggies and I really had to try hard to get my tongue at just the angle. Had I not done that, it would have been even harder to find the fault as where the actual problem was right underneath the vertical board and hidden by a screening plate...

   https://www.amazon.com/Elegoo-EL-CP-004-Multicolored-Breadboard-arduino/dp/B01EV70C78/

Oh... and I guess right now is either the best possible time or the worst possible time to bring these to your attention... you know, seeing as I didn't think of it before you spent the money and grief making them yourself. 

mnem
*frustionated³⁶⁰*

Nope, I saw those and thought about them and then discounted them because it only needed me to connect just one or two of those incorrectly, and it could be curtains for the scope. So made up proper leads with 5 and 6 pin blocks at each end to minimise the risks. What I really needed was 1x11pin lead, 1x6 pin and 2x5pin leads, the maximum no of ways the kit went to was 10. So I made up leads in the most common configurations I have come across, 6 and 5 pin versions.

[Ice-Tea]

Brand new unit.. Should be fine rain wise. Gear would be either on pallet of racks.

And yes, there would be an old couch and a playstation somewhere 

Bit out of my price range and I'd rather buy than rent but... I need the space.

[cyclin_al]

burglarise (is that a word?)

Yes.

Oh Ifni save us... let's not get into the whole -ise vs -ize thing. Even Even Google will give you different answers depending on the exact word and when/where you look it one up, the weather, sunspots...

For example right here, right now the prevalent answer is that burglarise is the same as burglarize, but Google nonetheless auto-corrects the search to the latter.   

mnem
The English language is as much about propagating an ever-growing list of exceptions as it is about promoting any sort of actual rules as to usage.

I never mentioned it; you're the one that brought it up. I think you enjoy starting arguments just for the sake of it.

Awww jeez... no.  I was just commenting on how hard it can be to get correct information on the web anymore... even something as simple as the correct spelling of a word. I was literally trying to find the least inflammatory topic I could to discuss.

mnem
I enjoy discussion, not argument.

Yep, the ise and ize is I'm afraid all just down to which version of English you speak, if the British version which will be ise or the American version which will be ize.

This is something that my spell and grammar checker is constantly flagging up to me, so you weren't being argumentative, contrary to popular belief but just highlighting this aspect of spelling.

Then there is the Canadian version, which is completely unable to make up its mind whether it following the British version, the American version or the French no Quebecoisno Gatineaois (spellcheck suggests using the word "Negativism" here, which I find humourously appropriate) version...  

[Ice-Tea]

EDIT: I see signs of life!!! Good deal!

Lol, no, that's not the multi dolares unit

[tautech]

Brand new unit.. Should be fine rain wise. Gear would be either on pallet of racks.

That's even more cause for concern as it's not yet stood the test of time and the construction industry being what it is these days. 
Proceed with care.

[Ice-Tea]

Brand new unit.. Should be fine rain wise. Gear would be either on pallet of racks.

That's even more cause for concern as it's not yet stood the test of time and the construction industry being what it is these days. 
Proceed with care.

Let me rephrase. It was built about 5years ago, that's also when I started keeping an eye on them. So in my mind they're new still Know a few of the guys that have a unit there, they haven't had any trouble and the construction company is well known and respected. But I appreciate the heads up!

[Specmaster]

@Vince
I don't know if you are aware or not, but there was a top secret event that happened near you in WW2?

[Specmaster]

Making good progress, as you can see from the attached photos. Now I have collided with another problem, I cannot get the trace to go any lower on the screen (or as in the photos, any higher) if I continue with the Y position control, I either get a horizontal line across the screen, or if rotate the control in the other direction, I can completely move the trace out of sight 

I don't know if I'll be able to get on it tomorrow or not, it may have to wait till Monday, if I'm unlucky because this Sunday is Mother's Day, and it's dinner with Mother in Law then.

[GreyWoolfe]

...Now that I have put a curtain, I have not made any new friends 

What are we... chopped liver...?   

mnem
*agitating-ily*

where's the chopped liver.  I enjoy chopped liver.  Also chopped chicken livers and even gefilte fish.  When I lived in south Flori-DUH, I had some good friends who are Jewish.  They always invited me to dinner for the high holidays.  Everything freshly prepared, nothing store bought and fresh baked Challah bread, YUM!!!

[mnementh]

It seems that I was right to make up those extender cables for SC110 after all, even though there were real piggies and I really had to try hard to get my tongue at just the angle. Had I not done that, it would have been even harder to find the fault as where the actual problem was right underneath the vertical board and hidden by a screening plate...

   https://www.amazon.com/Elegoo-EL-CP-004-Multicolored-Breadboard-arduino/dp/B01EV70C78/

Oh... and I guess right now is either the best possible time or the worst possible time to bring these to your attention... you know, seeing as I didn't think of it before you spent the money and grief making them yourself. 

mnem
*frustionated³⁶⁰*

Nope, I saw those and thought about them and then discounted them because it only needed me to connect just one or two of those incorrectly, and it could be curtains for the scope. So made up proper leads with 5 and 6 pin blocks at each end to minimise the risks. What I really needed was 1x11pin lead, 1x6 pin and 2x5pin leads, the maximum no of ways the kit went to was 10. So I made up leads in the most common configurations I have come across, 6 and 5 pin versions.

Ummm.... okay. Old engineer trick... as in taught me by a old engineer at one of my hackspaces:




You build the connector you need by plugging the individual pins in order into a length of pin or socket header, then put a dot of CA between the individual shrouds where the faces meet.




Now, just pinch the outermost two shrouds towards each other and the CA sets as normal; capillary action pulls it evenly across almost all the convergent surfaces. 




Glue only on the side opposite the retention fingers or the CA will get into the connector itself. This technique does require a steady hand and good glue control, or application with a toothpick.





Alternately, once you have them laid out on the pin header, instead of CA you can wrap around just the shrouds with Kapton tape, then trim off the excess on the ends with scissors. Regular old desktop Scotch tape or clear carton tape will even work in a pinch. This technique isn't as durable as the CA approach, but it does eliminate all possibility of glue contamination. It is also nice for applications where you just need something temporary and quick for a single job.

Either technique can be used to make headers of all sizes, in single and double-stack. I made a 2x12 just a little while ago with my QT-Py tinkery. Making more than double stack is doable, but you have to build in double-stacks first.




Took me about 3 minutes to make this one, tho I did cheat a wee bit with CA accelerant, which is what made the blobbies.

Of course now that you have the kit, you can always use the shrouds from that kit to turn these into custom header cables and save the assache of fighting with the crimps. If you buy large assortments, the already-made cables are as cheap or cheaper than you can buy the crimps and shrouds.

mnem
 

[mnementh]

   Making good progress, as you can see from the attached photos. Now I have collided with another problem, I cannot get the trace to go any lower on the screen (or as in the photos, any higher) if I continue with the Y position control, I either get a horizontal line across the screen, or if rotate the control in the other direction, I can completely move the trace out of sight 

I don't know if I'll be able to get on it tomorrow or not, it may have to wait till Monday, if I'm unlucky because this Sunday is Mother's Day, and it's dinner with Mother in Law then.

Oh dear... maybe you should've gone out for a lottery ticket then. 

Still looks like you're on the downhill side (*knocks on wood*) with this one, so we look forward to seeing it used in anger!

mnem
 

[mnementh]

...Now that I have put a curtain, I have not made any new friends 

What are we... chopped liver...?   

mnem
*agitating-ily*

where's the chopped liver.  I enjoy chopped liver.  Also chopped chicken livers and even gefilte fish.  When I lived in south Flori-DUH, I had some good friends who are Jewish.  They always invited me to dinner for the high holidays.  Everything freshly prepared, nothing store bought and fresh baked Challah bread, YUM!!!

In the form of liverwurst, and very occasionally, yeah. Otherwise pretty much guaranteed *blerk!* from the tinkerdwagon.

But that's what I get for trying to agitate... of course somebody gonna take me seriously. 

mnem
"If every porkchop were perfect, we'd never get hotdogs." ~Mr. Universe

[med6753]

Making good progress, as you can see from the attached photos. Now I have collided with another problem, I cannot get the trace to go any lower on the screen (or as in the photos, any higher) if I continue with the Y position control, I either get a horizontal line across the screen, or if rotate the control in the other direction, I can completely move the trace out of sight 

I don't know if I'll be able to get on it tomorrow or not, it may have to wait till Monday, if I'm unlucky because this Sunday is Mother's Day, and it's dinner with Mother in Law then.

Check and make sure the DC Balance in the vertical pre-amp is set properly. I assume that mini-scope has the ability to check it and adjust it but I'm not sure. I run into that issue you describe often on 500 and 560 series plug-in's. When set properly the vertical position control should be close to mid-range and the trace on the CRT centered.

[mansaxel]

especially if you got one in backwards; I can understand wanting the correct plugin to keep the angry pixies where they belong and a cover over it in case stuff tries to go orbital. 

We've all done it, and sometimes double, even triple-checking doesn't save you; I guess it's some aspect of that whole "people see what they expect to see" phenomenon.   

I put one of the anode caps in backwards in the TF1041 VTVM as I was recapping it. 



The deceptively simple cable that joins them is loomed around the entire chassis; the caps are about as far from each other as is possible in the box, even though the tap exits the transformer together as those do, and the diodes are concentrated to one spot. It seems that the mechanical designer got help from the Fiat Spark Plug Access Design Team (the alumni of which went on to form the Ferrari Alternator Belt Swapping Procedure Work Group)..

The instrument worked, sort of, but the anode voltage was all wonky. And the replacement cap was very very hot.  Once I'd taken that one out and put a new one in, correctly, the instrument went back to normal operation. IIRC the mistreated cap (which did not go bang!) measured pretty OK afterwards, but I decided that since I'd bought a few extras a retirement was in order.

This is part of the instrument front panel:




Not the most representative image, but it is included to prove (try clicking it!) that there is quality community content on Wikipedia.

[AVGresponding]

Making good progress, as you can see from the attached photos. Now I have collided with another problem, I cannot get the trace to go any lower on the screen (or as in the photos, any higher) if I continue with the Y position control, I either get a horizontal line across the screen, or if rotate the control in the other direction, I can completely move the trace out of sight 

I don't know if I'll be able to get on it tomorrow or not, it may have to wait till Monday, if I'm unlucky because this Sunday is Mother's Day, and it's dinner with Mother in Law then.

Check and make sure the DC Balance in the vertical pre-amp is set properly. I assume that mini-scope has the ability to check it and adjust it but I'm not sure. I run into that issue you describe often on 500 and 560 series plug-in's. When set properly the vertical position control should be close to mid-range and the trace on the CRT centered.

The DC balance is adjustable via a trimmer accessed through the back of the case

[Robert763]

Either a neagative supply is missing or one half of a bipolar / push-pull stage is broken. Likely causes a open transistor or shorted capacitor in the CRT drive stage.