Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread

[Cerebus]

5440 update: <snip> Bedtime or thereabouts now, will ponder on through the week.

Now have nice A3 printouts of the Artek-supplied schematics. This will improve work.

That's indispensable even !     I have plan to try and get an old cheap A3 B&W printer solely for that very purpose ! In the mean time I make do with A4 size, or if I am well motivated, two A4 sheets taped together...

Pffft! A3 size is for those who don't know how to leverage the corporate machine. Artek scans are usually of sufficient resolution to blow up to 18" x 24" or even 24" x 36" poster size at your local KINKO's or equivalent. I got the 18" x 24" done on large-format laser printer from my local FEDEX depot when I was working on my Tek 2230 more than a decade ago... cost me $2/sheet on plain paper, and schematics were crisp & clean as a new dollar bill. 

More than worth the assache.

mnem
 

Ther is a OCE A0 printer/plotter/scanner on my local trash nothing group. If only I had somewhere to put it.....

I consistently have that problem with cheap/free roll fed wide inkjet printers (e.g. HP Designjet). Want one, could get one quite easily, buggered if I know where I'd put it.

Actually I have a cunning plan. Next to the bannisters we currently have a tall, narrow stack of boxes of birch flooring, destined for the hall when I get a round tuit, with an Indian printed cotton throw covering them to cover my shame and make them look tidy. If I can coordinate laying them with acquiring a Designjet or similar I can put it where the boxes were, hide it under the same throw, and SWMBO will take weeks to notice its arrival. When she does eventually notice that I've cluttered up her hall with a dirty great printer I can be all "Well we weren't using that space anyway, excpet for storage, and I did lay the floor didn't I?". How do we rate my chances of survival? Poor, indifferent, or good?

[Vince]

Chinese Tester Time.

When the components leads are too big or too far apart to fit into the ZIF socket... what do you do...

So far I made do with grabbing 3 Dupont wires, shoving them in the socket, then grab 3 crocodile test leads and connected them to the Dupont wire.

This was not very convenient... takes time to set up, wires are way too long, it's a mess on the bench that takes way too much space, looks crap and wires just catch on stuff whe I drop stuff around the bench.
And it takes time to dismantle and put stuff back into the drawer.

So... after 6 month of hard R&D work and many prototypes, testing, qualifying, quality control etc.. I have finally just come up with that state of the art revolutionary solution.
Soon for sale for only 150 Euros + 50 Euros shipping.

Had bought some grabbers a fdew years ago, never used them... cheap Ebay stuff.... they look and feel very cheap, but they do the job 
Still, when I am rich I think I will replace them with better quality ones. That must exist somewhere, I guess.

Now the cable is short, much more "manageable" both on the bench and once stored in the drawer.
One piece cable, and devoted to the tester, which means set up time is much reduced. Cable can just stay plugged in the tester at all times. Grab the tester... cable is already htere ready to use. Don't need it ? just open the ZIF socket and pull the cable out.

It makes my life so much better, I love this little cable... and it took only a few minutes to do. Well worth it....

Obviously designing and building such a tremendously advanced piece,  has blown my neuron budget for the next 20 years, so not much will happen in the lab for a while now...

You solder your 3 leads onto a 3 pin .1" header which fits into the ZIF socket perfectly.

Yes that was my original intent, but alas I don't appear to have any, would you believe it.
I have a drawer full of 0.1" headers, mostly thanks to Neomys... in all kinds of configurations, but I couldn't find the appropriate type, i.e. single row, straight, male to male.
I guess I ought to get some then....

My cable is proving to be very easy / quick to insert in the ZIF socket as it is, so I am not too bothered...

I guess an angled header could also be acceptable, will check if I have a single row male/male one....

[capt bullshot]

And now for something (not so) completely different: Fun with TEA

I was inspired by (who guesses it right?) to test the X/Y mode of the fancy new oscilloscope. Just to discover it can kind of do two X/Y plots in one.
So I fired up the function generator and the BFPA (big fucking pointless amplifier)



to test it's built in capability to make 3ph from a single input over a limited (about 10Hz to 1kHz) frequency range:





Looks even more interesting with some input waveform other than a sine wave:




BTW, anyone here to answer the big question?

[tggzzz]

And off to TE. Nothing on eBay today. Disappointing. Will be attending Newbury radio rally next weekend though

Lots of Fluke 87V-EX on Ramco tomorrow, currently at £40-50, plus some Agilent spec anals at £550. No doubt they'll become too expensive for my taste.

I might come to Newbury, if it looks like being rain free.

[Cerebus]

Mmmm. Pie...

[tggzzz]

In the past, when my large format plotter was working, I have been known to print some schematics out in A1 size.

The largest print I ever saw was in 1996, i.e. about the time digital cameras were becoming useful.

The print was a 1-2m high and maybe 20m wide, and you went close to it to see the details in the picture - a panorama of under the Golden Gate bridge.

It was produced in one fell swoop on a large engineering roll-feed HP inkjet plotter, and tacked around all the walls of a meeting room.

The image source was a custom camera inspired by the vintage slit-scan panoramic cameras of our youth. The ones for school photos where people ran from one end to the other, so appearing twice.

[Specmaster]

Coffee table ornament?  https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/265740767106


[/img][/size][/b]

Isn't that a photo of the inside of Robert's second "garage"? 

That reminds me of another great YT channel: The WTF:

https://youtu.be/a4PwAndNQmE

I see those APU's only slightly bigger ones over at North Weald Airfield, they are used by the Folland Gnat display team as air starter units for the Gnats.

[factory]

I want to hear the steppers clicking as the voltage varies. 

I made a quick recording of the unit in operation as it currently stands just a few minutes ago.  The relay contacts are going to need more cleaning - last night the LSD was working most of the time; today it's back to being out more than on.  The third digit was much better last night, too.  More Deoxit is in the cards, but in the meantime, behold stepper relays clattering away for your enjoyment...



-Pat

Did NLS not provide a cleaning & lubrication kit? these were inside the hp 560A digital recorder/clock, no idea if they are any good after 50+ years, I have the cleaning instructions somewhere.



David

[mnementh]

Has anyone ever seen a calculator like this at all? I can't recall seeing anything like myself.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/313959676347

looks like the one the predator wore on his wrist.

      https://www.amazon.com/Boogie-Board-8-5-Inch-Writing-PT01085CYAA0002/dp/B00AFPR68E/   It's just a cheap calcrapulator combined with one of these to jot notes on. The panel is not an input device; it's literally just electrically erasable notepaper.

I am inclined to agree. What I found particularly puzzling was this warning:

"2. Don't rinse with water or directly touch the fire source."

Something you want to tell the group here Mnem..?

Aww, heyall NO! Don't you dare pin this one on me. 

mnem

[Vince]

And now for something (not so) completely different: Fun with TEA

I was inspired by (who guesses it right?) to test the X/Y mode of the fancy new oscilloscope. Just to discover it can kind of do two X/Y plots in one.
So I fired up the function generator and the BFPA (big fucking pointless amplifier)

The nice thing about this super large wide aspect ration screen on modern scopes like this one, is that they can do what you did... display the XY ALONG with the tiem domain view, practical 

But... I see the traces of both the XY and time domain windows, are super fat / blurry !  Is that on purpose to make them easier to see ? Does the scope let you set the trace thickness that you want ?
Or is it just that the signals are super mega noisy ? The test leads are picking up that much noise ??

[mnementh]

Pffft! A3 size is for those who don't know how to leverage the corporate machine. Artek scans are usually of sufficient resolution to blow up to 18" x 24" or even 24" x 36" poster size at your local KINKO's or equivalent. I got the 18" x 24" done on large-format laser printer from my local FEDEX depot when I was working on my Tek 2230 more than a decade ago... cost me $2/sheet on plain paper, and schematics were crisp & clean as a new dollar bill. 

More than worth the assache.

mnem
 

There is a OCE A0 printer/plotter/scanner on my local trash nothing group. If only I had somewhere to put it.....

I consistently have that problem with cheap/free roll fed wide inkjet printers (e.g. HP Designjet). Want one, could get one quite easily, buggered if I know where I'd put it.

Actually I have a cunning plan. Next to the bannisters we currently have a tall, narrow stack of boxes of birch flooring, destined for the hall when I get a round tuit, with an Indian printed cotton throw covering them to cover my shame and make them look tidy. If I can coordinate laying them with acquiring a Designjet or similar I can put it where the boxes were, hide it under the same throw, and SWMBO will take weeks to notice its arrival. When she does eventually notice that I've cluttered up her hall with a dirty great printer I can be all "Well we weren't using that space anyway, excpet for storage, and I did lay the floor didn't I?". How do we rate my chances of survival? Poor, indifferent, or good?

I suggest you hide it under a pile of designer shoes or similar bribery materiel. If you choose well (Like Indy in the cave ), probably better response than cleaning out the Closet of Doom™.

mnem
Probably cheaper too.

[capt bullshot]

And now for something (not so) completely different: Fun with TEA

I was inspired by (who guesses it right?) to test the X/Y mode of the fancy new oscilloscope. Just to discover it can kind of do two X/Y plots in one.
So I fired up the function generator and the BFPA (big fucking pointless amplifier)

The nice thing about this super large wide aspect ration screen on modern scopes like this one, is that they can do what you did... display the XY ALONG with the tiem domain view, practical 

But... I see the traces of both the XY and time domain windows, are super fat / blurry !  Is that on purpose to make them easier to see ? Does the scope let you set the trace thickness that you want ?
Or is it just that the signals are super mega noisy ? The test leads are picking up that much noise ??

It's just noise (most probably) picked up by the poor ground connection. The scope can do really fine high resolution traces if proper signals are applied.

[factory]

An auction score from the FB group Old Tek Scopes. He didn't state how much in total he paid but he did state that the plug-in's were as little as $8/each. Given the total it still adds up to a significant chunk of change but the total amount of gear is unreal.   

And I thought two Type 547's, five plug-in's and two carts for $200 was a score.   

Look Allison, it pains me to tell you this, but all that stuff is old worthless junk, a recycler would even CHARGE you to waste his time and petrol to come collect all that stuff.
But because your husband was my best friend, I will empty the garage myself for free. No need to thank me, I am trying to ease your pain, I owe that to your husband.


Wow, impressive collection... this guy clearly had a fetish for the 1A4 4 channel plugin ! I counted 12 of them, 48 channels total... maybe the guy had a grandiose plan of putting together a vintage logic analyzer or something !

A sampling scope as well wow...

And not one but TWO type 180A time mark generator like mine ! Am jealous...

And look in the background to the left ! Another of this rare huge HP counter like the two Cubdriver just got !! 
Looks in nice shape as well. It's the old version pre-Nixie, can't recall how these early vertical form factor displays were called ?
Anyway the one Cubdriver got had 6 "digits" + two small meter movements to their right.
This one looks to have 7 digits and no movements, so must be a different model still.
Comes with THREE plugins as well !

A type 549 storage scope as well. Have two of those, hopefully one day I can get one of them going.

Allison hell, I just changed my mind, I will even give you 50 bucks for the lot, how about that !

The hp counter with the column displays is the 524D, it's the slightly lower cost version of the 524C choob display version. They are both 8 digit as per the earlier 524A/B, that used six columns displays & two panel meters.

Two different Tek readout scopes there as well (where did the covers go?) & two more that are a bit incomplete. Also the addon for the Tek curve tracer, for higher power devices.

David

[Specmaster]

@Vince, get yourself some 0.1" pitch headers sooner rather than later, or you will find the ZIF socket will soon chomp through the soldered end of your leads.

[bd139]

I want to hear the steppers clicking as the voltage varies. 

I made a quick recording of the unit in operation as it currently stands just a few minutes ago.  The relay contacts are going to need more cleaning - last night the LSD was working most of the time; today it's back to being out more than on.  The third digit was much better last night, too.  More Deoxit is in the cards, but in the meantime, behold stepper relays clattering away for your enjoyment...



-Pat

Did NLS not provide a cleaning & lubrication kit? these were inside the hp 560A digital recorder/clock, no idea if they are any good after 50+ years, I have the cleaning instructions somewhere.



David

Immediately thought of this.

[BU508A]

And now for something (not so) completely different: Fun with TEA

I was inspired by (who guesses it right?) to test the X/Y mode of the fancy new oscilloscope. Just to discover it can kind of do two X/Y plots in one.
So I fired up the function generator and the BFPA (big fucking pointless amplifier)

The nice thing about this super large wide aspect ration screen on modern scopes like this one, is that they can do what you did... display the XY ALONG with the tiem domain view, practical 

But... I see the traces of both the XY and time domain windows, are super fat / blurry !  Is that on purpose to make them easier to see ? Does the scope let you set the trace thickness that you want ?
Or is it just that the signals are super mega noisy ? The test leads are picking up that much noise ??

It's just noise (most probably) picked up by the poor ground connection. The scope can do really fine high resolution traces if proper signals are applied.

I second that. Connected my R&S ADS to my scope. But since I can't produce signals with +/-50V I stayed below 1.6Vpp and because of poor grounding/shielding it picked up some noise (thick lines in the Lissajous).

[factory]

DIODES

No 1N4148 in the high power listings ? 

They CAN handle 20A for a few us.

The Advance DMM2 I'm working on ATM uses 1N4148 as rectifiers for the low voltage rails (+5V, -12V & +17V), on the secondary of the switching transformer, I thought they looked a bit of the weedy side, but they must be fine. Was also using them in the Op-Amp circuit, to keep the +5V output pulse from going negative, to the decoder IC input, could get away with the 1N4150 too.

I've been thinking (while board at work, watching scrap rotate) about switching the two Op-Amp circuits round. I currently have the pulse inverter one first, then the amplifier one second, would have liked to do it with just one Op-Amp per BCD output, but I couldn't get it to work yesterday.

David

[capt bullshot]

I second that. Connected my R&S ADS to my scope. But since I can't produce signals with +/-50V I stayed below 1.6Vpp and because of poor grounding/shielding it picked up some noise (thick lines in the Lissajous).

TBH, I didn't produce signals of this amplitude, I confess guilty not changing the probe setting from 10:1 to 1:1 ...
And cheated a bit ... I did set the acquisition mode to "high resolution" to produce finer lines in the X/Y plot.

[factory]

I want to hear the steppers clicking as the voltage varies. 

I made a quick recording of the unit in operation as it currently stands just a few minutes ago.  The relay contacts are going to need more cleaning - last night the LSD was working most of the time; today it's back to being out more than on.  The third digit was much better last night, too.  More Deoxit is in the cards, but in the meantime, behold stepper relays clattering away for your enjoyment...



-Pat

Did NLS not provide a cleaning & lubrication kit? these were inside the hp 560A digital recorder/clock, no idea if they are any good after 50+ years, I have the cleaning instructions somewhere.



David

Immediately thought of this.

Or this, I must be missing a bottle. 

David

[Robert763]

The starter with the Gnat is a Palouste. A very early engine, crude and heavy (90kg). On the "sausage" video (Iknow the guys on it) it's a Safir. Modern, electronic controlled, light (45kg) and quite delicate. The Safir also produces four times as much air.
I've owned and run examples of both in the past. The Palouste is not an engine I want to have again.

I must get started with the Honywell APU before the weather changes.

[Robert763]

Nice HP 4329A high resistance meter on ebay UK claen with leads and shown working.
I'm tempted but have 3 high resistance meters already. £150 BIN.

www.ebay.co.uk/itm/115434641814

[Specmaster]

Given the current microchip shortage and the value of 2ndhand cars going skywards, how can we safeguard our cars from stolen to order and shipped to Nigeria and other dodgy destinations, as this video shows. This is a serious question, with the car manufacturers being generally reluctant to tackle the problem head on, as pointed out in this video by the Canadian Police? Steering locks etc are not a solution, so any ideas that could be made to work?

[bd139]

Given the current microchip shortage and the value of 2ndhand cars going skywards, how can we safeguard our cars from stolen to order and shipped to Nigeria and other dodgy destinations, as this video shows. This is a serious question, with the car manufacturers being generally reluctant to tackle the problem head on, as pointed out in this video by the Canadian Police? Steering locks etc are not a solution, so any ideas that could be made to work?

Yeah drive something that no one wants to nick.

[Vince]

The hp counter with the column displays is the 524D, it's the slightly lower cost version of the 524C choob display version. They are both 8 digit as per the earlier 524A/B, that used six columns displays & two panel meters.

How does the meters indicate teh reading ? They just have scale from 0 to 9 and the needle is moved to the appropriate "digit" ?
Why not just use also column displays for all th 8 digits ?! Plus, the emlters take more space (wider) than the column displays.... or use 8 meters instead... ?!
What's the deal with those meters ?

Two different Tek readout scopes there as well (where did the covers go?) & two more that are a bit incomplete.

Oh stupid me ! My brain parsed the pic a bit too fast, I didn't realize what these frames were, I assumed they must have been 56X series scopes as I thought I saw a few such plugins on the ground.
Doh...

Also the addon for the Tek curve tracer, for higher power devices.

Oh again ! I did spot this thing, but though to myself hey looks like a nice beefy PSU, didn't know Tek made PSUs, would be cool to find one some day ! 
Yes, a PSU it is indeed, admittedly but ! 
Makes more sense now...
Anyways, a super rare PSU that must be...

[Specmaster]

Given the current microchip shortage and the value of 2ndhand cars going skywards, how can we safeguard our cars from stolen to order and shipped to Nigeria and other dodgy destinations, as this video shows. This is a serious question, with the car manufacturers being generally reluctant to tackle the problem head on, as pointed out in this video by the Canadian Police? Steering locks etc are not a solution, so any ideas that could be made to work?

Yeah drive something that no one wants to nick.

Well, once upon a time a Skoda fitted that bill, but now 
Edit: And no, I won't drive a Vectra or a Insignia. The last time I drove an Insignia while mine was in the body shop, I drove a brand new model with 800 miles on the clock and it creaked, squeaked and groaned worse than a 40 year old car, it was disgusting. My car is 9 years old and the only rattle or squeak is coming from my sunglasses in their storage locker, if I put them in the wrong way round