Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread

[Cubdriver]

   https://www.ebay.com/itm/392788330566

   https://www.ebay.com/itm/221186199687

*sigh*   $40ish... brand-new... free shipping...   

Fuck all of y'alls... 

mnem
*wibble*

Damn you!!!!   

There goes $95.....   

 

-Pat

[mnementh]

Please help, I've purchased six ratcheting screwdrivers this week, and I'm planning on buying a seventh. I never knew how good a ratcheting mechanism could be until I used a PB Swiss...

Best ratcheting screwdriver is the Creative Tools Easydriver Ratchet Ball.  Hasn't been manufactured for decades though.

That is arguably true. This is the screwdrivers drawer of my toolcart; these are the tools I always use when mechanicking and there is not a dud tool in the lot. I have two Easydrivers; and I'd fight to keep them. 

mnem
It Just Works™. 

[Neomys Sapiens]

I heard someone mention Knipex. Can someone recommend a suitably decent pair of their needle nose pliers for electronics work? I actually have no pliers at the moment at all as I knackered the Piergiacomi ones. Need to have grips on and cutters. Utterly fed up of shit ones.

Not Knipex. Either Bernstein or the premium series from Xcelite. Or Lindstrom or the ones BU508A proposed. That said, there are Belzer 'Flachspitzzangen mit Schneide' of the type I like most, i.e. 115mm, in real nice condition and unused on Ebay.de to be had around 25.-! Look for 'Belzer' and '2459'. Nothing comes even close.

[Zucca]

Yes, absolutely; that is not to code here in the US. The entire point of the 4-wire pigtail is to keep GND and N separate. Doing this makes the GND a current-carrying conductor. BIG no-no!
mnem
 

Tell me what you think, this is how they installed it:



so I removed the yellow/green from the neutral white but....



the freaking yellow/green is looping back to the neutral white on the top

[Neomys Sapiens]

Please help, I've purchased six ratcheting screwdrivers this week, and I'm planning on buying a seventh. I never knew how good a ratcheting mechanism could be until I used a PB Swiss...

Best ratcheting screwdriver is the Creative Tools Easydriver Ratchet Ball.  Hasn't been manufactured for decades though.

Riiight. Can we offer offer our heartfelt condolences on that severe case of deformed paws? Yuck to that ball.

[mnementh]

   https://www.ebay.com/itm/392788330566      https://www.ebay.com/itm/221186199687

*sigh*   $40ish... brand-new... free shipping...      Fuck all of y'alls... 

mnem
*wibble*

Damn you!!!!       There goes $95.....         -Pat

Fuck, Pat... I was looking for someone to talk me off the ledge, not run up 10 flights of stairs and jump off right next to me...

mnem
*twitch... twitch... twitcha-twitch...*

[Neomys Sapiens]

BD, you also will need bent medium/small length/weight long nose for awkward angled stuff....probably my most used set.

I actually have some of them I haven't buggered yet (Clarke branded). Totally agree 

You must be a rough bastard with tools ! 
Looks at his nearly 50yr old Diamondalloy long nose that are still quite serviceable however showing their age and decades of misuse.
For general hack use you need a small set of slip jaw pliers/polygrips and they'll save all your better pliers in the absence of all manner of sockets and spanners for small work.

One 125mm or 140mm Belzer slip joint pliers is always at hand with me - one in every toolkit and some outside of them. They are simply invaluable for instrument work, like reaching the locking nuts of potentiometers/rheostats or switches especially in case of double front panels - and also very handy for connector work. Next should be slightly below 200mm. 

[Cubdriver]

   https://www.ebay.com/itm/392788330566      https://www.ebay.com/itm/221186199687

*sigh*   $40ish... brand-new... free shipping...      Fuck all of y'alls... 

mnem
*wibble*

Damn you!!!!       There goes $95.....         -Pat

Fuck, Pat... I was looking for someone to talk me off the ledge, not run up 10 flights of stairs and jump off right next to me...

mnem
*twitch... twitch... twitcha-twitch...*

You should know by now you're in the wrong place to expect to hear THAT kind of advice!   

Sheesh!!   

-Pat

[mnementh]

Of course I should know better... but as always, hope prevails... 

mnem
Since when does common sense have anything to do with it...?

[tautech]

BD, you also will need bent medium/small length/weight long nose for awkward angled stuff....probably my most used set.

I actually have some of them I haven't buggered yet (Clarke branded). Totally agree 

You must be a rough bastard with tools ! 
Looks at his nearly 50yr old Diamondalloy long nose that are still quite serviceable however showing their age and decades of misuse.
For general hack use you need a small set of slip jaw pliers/polygrips and they'll save all your better pliers in the absence of all manner of sockets and spanners for small work.

One 115mm or 125mm Belzer slip joint pliers is always at hand with me - one in every toolkit and some outside of them. They are simply invaluable for instrument work, like reaching the locking nuts of potentiometers/rheostats or switches especially in case of double front panels - and also very handy for connector work. Next should be slightly below 200mm.

Only have ~200mm Crescent brand ones here in the EE and home workshop, a pair inherited from the wifes father and my they are handy but already with a good selection of hand tools they don't get used on EE work much.
Earlier today who was it going on about SAE/UNC/F, metric, Whitworth and BA ?
Yeah well I have all those but for the Whitworth, only the sizes that don't properly cross over to SAE or metric of which 1/4" Whit is the most annoying.....not 1/2", or 13mm but just a touch larger where 9/16" and 14mm are too big ! 
Unhappily the FIL had to pass before getting his Stahlwille 1/4" drive BA socket set in near pristine condition that lives in its special place on the bench with other special tools.
Many years back when still twisting spanners a quite reasonable set of ignition spanners where acquired that also no longer live with the mechanic tools but on the bench also where they also have saved the day on many occasions. 

Once I was a tool slut, spending a disproportionate amount of income on tools.....good stuff too but certainly not the best like that $ $ Snapon stuff ! 
But when you loose a large amount of it in a workshop fire  you tend to reassign priorities.

[Neomys Sapiens]

Yes, absolutely; that is not to code here in the US. The entire point of the 4-wire pigtail is to keep GND and N separate. Doing this makes the GND a current-carrying conductor. BIG no-no!
mnem
 

Tell me what you think, this is how they installed it:



so I removed the yellow/green from the neutral white but....



the freaking yellow/green is looping back to the neutral white on the top

Those crimps get 'marginal' in the workmanship inspection. The red one gets 'fail'.

[mnementh]

Yes, absolutely; that is not to code here in the US. The entire point of the 4-wire pigtail is to keep GND and N separate. Doing this makes the GND a current-carrying conductor. BIG no-no!
mnem
 

Tell me what you think, this is how they installed it:

   so I removed the yellow/green from the neutral white but...   

the freaking yellow/green is looping back to the neutral white on the top

           But... but... but...         

Okay... that yellow/green GND pigtail is supposed to be removed when you install the 4-wire cord on the dryer. The GND wire on the dryer cord is supposed to go under the green screw in the body of the dryer; this is supposed to be required by code.

He probably did that to keep the yellow/green pigtail from being lost in case a future owner needs to install a 3-wire cord...

Technically I suppose it doesn't matter, really... except it fails "the rule of least surprise/alarm" test I believe I've heard you mention before; it is definitely alarming at first glance and as described in random conversation.

In your case, I'd put it under the white screw (you can loop it in a knot to keep it out of trouble or just let it lay flat down the back of the dryer) that you have the GND wire from the dryer cord under.

Also, as none of those terminals have proper strain reliefs, I'd probably at least add a couple layers of heat-shrink to slow down the inevitable process of wire insulation creep. I've seen ones like that in service for a few years with 10-15mm bare wire hanging out the end of the terminal. 

 But first, do a reality-check on those crimps to make sure they're tight-tight; I've seen some really horrible cheap ones where you could literally wiggle the wire out of the crimps on a brand-new cord.       

And now I think of it, they all looked just like that one.

mnem
eeep!

[vk6zgo]

...I am not looking at Lindstrom. They are really nice but out of budget unfortunately. I have owned a pair before

Y'all know my love affair with Lindström... those are my very favoritest close/side cutters. So much so that I made double damned sure they came back with me from Canada, while my fully-restored Logitech Z-5500 THX-certified SpeakerGeddon™ did not.

Of course, as you say, they cost a left nut (and I've paid it ); but if cost is a problem, they are definitely a thing I'd put in my fleaBay search script.

Alternately, I would also highly recommend you look into the XURON product line. A lot of their stuff is made from stamped steel, it is true... but they make it out of good steel, and then they machine it properly to make a good tool at a decent price. I've never regretted a XURON purchase; I first discovered them as a add-on pair of flush-cutters to go with a fleaBay purchase decades ago. I liked how cleanly they cut, so I sought them out from distributors and at one time had easily a dozen of their pliers. When my venerable Craftsman flat-bill pliers finally broke in my hand, they were the brand I shopped immediately:

   https://xuron.com/index.php/main/downloads

mnem
*still toolish after all these years*

Back in the day, work would say:- Ok, what replacement tools do you need?

Most guys would look up the catalogue & order the most "you beaut" expensive, brands.
I would buy several cheaper pairs of stamped steel sidecutters--one set for cutting copper only, & the other for component leads which are often steel, or "loaning to others", plus a couple of cheapie longnose pliers.

By the next such occasion, half the blokes had killed their expensive choices, & my "crazed loaner" was getting a bit beat up, so I retired it, bought one new pair of stamped steel sidecutters for copper wire, & sacrificed the previous one to the "loaner" position.

[Zucca]

Those crimps get 'marginal' in the workmanship inspection. The red one gets 'fail'.

Red is a good color choice for a fail

[Zucca]

GND wire on the dryer cord is supposed to go under the green screw

I did not mention the green screw fell in some in the dryer nowhere bottom during the installation.
The guy was embarrassed and took another white screw from the dryer body to fix the green PE cable...
Of course I rescued tonight the green screw.... but the monkey has stripped the thread with the white "that will do the same" screw...
Oh well I used the green screw on the left side and left a hole in the white one.....

I do not like when they mix colors in the mains. It is just like farting in an elevator.

 

Tomorrow I will check those terminal crimp, but they felt tight.

[mnementh]

      *just for Z*

Dammitall... I was closing out those other tabs so I'd stop looking at them... and this one mugged me:


   Brand New, $23 and free shipping to the US: https://www.ebay.com/itm/195087818144

mnem

[bd139]

Ok so it appears that I mentioned pliers and made an impact on the global economy from it 

What else should I mention? 

[BU508A]

Fuck all of y'alls... 

Shout at bd139, he started all this chain reaction. 

[BU508A]

Fuck all of y'alls... 

Shout at bd139, he started all this chain reaction. 

Now I'm a victim of all this carzyness as well:
just ordered at TME a ES6023B.CR.BG and a ES6025.CR.BG, both ideal-tek.     

The tungsten carbide cutter I have postponed, because this one alone costs more than the two pliers from above together.

ES552GTX.CR.BGO.ITU

[bd139]

There’s a rush on pliers! I should start insider trading 

[BU508A]

There’s a rush on pliers! I should start insider trading 

Shouldn't you be busy with some tinder business? 

[bd139]

There’s a rush on pliers! I should start insider trading 

Shouldn't you be busy with some tinder business? 

Shelved that. Seems to be a money pit full of people who should be single and out of the gene pool. Plus it was interfering with the toy budget 

[Cubdriver]

The two Engineer screw extraction pliers from the rain forest should be here later today...

-Pat

[Robert763]

I'm considering a trip to Nevada in November but not to Vegas, If I go it will be to Gerlach. I'd probably stop at Reno for a night as I can get a cheap hotel. Accomodation in Gerlach is "basic".

Speed record reunion?

I'm not going to Vegas until April. NAB. Been a few times earlier. Still haven't touched a gambling utensil while there. Or made a fool of myself. BD would probably consider it a failed Vegas trip. 

Yes, 25 years. We are having a UK get together in September. The team have been invited to Gerlach but I don't know how many will go. There are costs and some team members are getting on a bit.
The only gambling I do in Nevada is 10 cent video blackjack at the bar. It gets you free drinks  I started my woring career fixing amusement and gambling machines so they hold little interest as a player.

[BU508A]

There’s a rush on pliers! I should start insider trading 

Shouldn't you be busy with some tinder business? 

Shelved that. Seems to be a money pit full of people who should be single and out of the gene pool. Plus it was interfering with the toy budget 

Yeah, no surprise.
Tinder is one of those things which are monetarizing the hopes of lost souls. Very ugly business imho.