Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread

[Cerebus]

Well, mostly for Mike's entertainment, that Judas Priest is all the excuse I need to post a Metallica cover by that well known gardener Toyah Wilcox from a Sunday lunchtime during lockdown. Watch Bob's face at the end.

[med6753]

Well, mostly for Mike's entertainment, that Judas Priest is all the excuse I need to post a Metallica cover by that well known gardener Toyah Wilcox from a Sunday lunchtime during lockdown. Watch Bob's face at the end.

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Is she really a he? You gotta ask that question now a days because you never know. 

[bd139]

Definitely a she. And completely bananas.

[grizewald]

@grizewald
Did you follow any of Defpom's vids on Datron repairs ?
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL2z3V9RkHQE3JrgdtFlmEC6LDbg-5Ah00

Yeah, I think I've watched most of them. I was particularly jealous of the fact that he'd managed to get hold of a 1082.

[grizewald]

Philips CRAPacitors are also very common in Fluke equipment and are to be shot on sight without trial. 

Totally. I've never seen one older than a decade which still works!

[grizewald]

Could it be a bad connection? I had this with my Solartron 7075, it was working fine before I got it, when it arrived it would only display even numbers (original cal seals were intact), I reseated some connectors & have had no problems since.

David

Let me guess, it has the same blue IC sockets as mine for all the ribbon cables?



Bloody things can't hold on to anything. I'm seriously tempted to replace them all with turned pin sockets. After a journey from the UK to Sweden, just about every cable had disconnected itself!

[Cerebus]

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Is she really a he? You gotta ask that question now a days because you never know. 

Ask Toyah that and I suspect you're likely to wake up with a crowd around you.  If you haven't seen it, you should watch Derek Jarman's "Jubilee", in which Toyah does a particularly psychotic turn as the character "Mads".

Definitely a she. And completely bananas.

More than bananas. I think perhaps the full fruit bowl.

Toyah's 63, Bob 76, which is proof (as if it was needed) that just because you're old doesn't mean that you have to be a boring old fart.

[Vince]

...You have entirely too much "free" time on your hands. I think you should drag out one or two of your scopes and revisit them... maybe post some hollow-state pr0n in the thread.

mnem
 

I will get back to my regular boat anchor activities as soon as schedule permits. Maybe in 3 months. For now, need to finish sorting and organizing my components and misc H/W, almost done. Then I need to resume work on my Rochar Nixie DVM because it's in a millions bits all over the bench so I need to finish it, assuming I am competent enough to actually managed that, while it's still fresh in my mind, and before I lose parts and/or forget how to put them back together...

But if I can get those first few things I listed, done this year, that would be cool.

Ahhh, I had forgotten that you did in fact already have a smallish on your bench. So what specifically is the holdup on that; I know funds are short?

Not a money problem. It's just that it's a very sick puppy with numerous intertwined random problems, that drive me nuts. So after battling very hard, I managed to make progress, but there is still much to be done, and it was always on step forward one step back... eventually reached mental exhaustion and needed a break, I had no juice left for this thing. So I put it aside and switched to other things, then one thing led to another, and soon the Nixie DVM moved down the priority list. As the saying goes : " Life got in the way " ! 

So let me see... searched TEA a bit and found that my lat post / work on it was exactly 3 months ago. Since then :

- Acquired that rack mount Tek type 317 hollow state scope, so worked on that. Still need to finish it up by replacing some electrolytic caps.

- Worked on my HP 120B hollow state scope, CRT glass / neck got broken and HV winding in the main transformer is arcing badly, no HV anymore.

- Embarked in identifying and sorting all my components, what an adventure.

- Fridge thermostat needed replacement, so had to design and build an electronic replacement / timer, while trying to fit that "universal" thermostat my dad sent to me, which didn't quite cut it. Looks like the contact in it is seized closed, compressor runs all the time. So need to buy the proper replacement. But since my electronic timer works just fine, it's running off of it for now. Been a couple months now maybe... runs like a charm. I have now patented it and shall soon start mass producing it for the low low price of 250 Euros a pop. Need to pay for the construction materials for my garage somehow, you see, and their prices have exploded. Not that they were cheap to begin with either.
Then the handle that keeps the small freezer compartment shut, inside the fridge at the top... broke. So now I can't use it anymore, bummer 

- Dad finally, after 3 months, got done manufacturing custom plinths for my bedroom, and delivered them to me. So I then had that on my plate. Was a chore cutting them into bits as accurately as possible with the miter saw, then gluing them in place, then a bead of white acrylic to make it perfect and fill all the small gaps with the wall and at every joint between two plinth pieces. Now need to put two coats of paint but.... it's so fucking hot here with that heatwave, that even at 3AM it's still too hot to do any painting unless you are completely out of your mind.
So I am waiting for the weather to cool down a bit, if it ever does in the coming days, so I can paint that.

- Friend gave me that stereo all-in-one shit box to fix, you must remember that, you helped with it... that cheap CPU that keeps the USB and SD card reader from working...

- Then I fixed that Matra aerospace 3 phase 400Hz 115V inverter

- And the other day I was given to fix that huge 55" smart TV to fix, backlight problem. But the LEDs keep blowing like there is no tomorrow, so I told the guy sorry it's scrap. But then I searched a bit and found out that this TV is still sold today and costs a freaking 1650 Euros, which pre-war would be about 2,000 US dollars. So I thought OK let's make an effort to save that fucking TV. Found new LED strips for that very TV for 45 Euros on French Amazon. Then found the same on Aliexpress for 14 Euros delivered... guy gave the green flag to buy that, accepting the fact that it might be wasted money if after reassembling everything we discover that the LCD got damaged  during disassembly / storage / reassembly. He was fine with that. So, I am waiting for these strips to arrive from China. Maybe in 10 days if I am lucky, in a couple months if not so lucky. We shall see.

I may have forgotten a thing or two but you get the idea : I got busy doing other things, and time flies ! I can't believe I stopped working on my meter 3 months ago already ! Needed a break, for sure, but now it's about time to get back to it I think !!!   

[med6753]

W
T
F
  

Is she really a he? You gotta ask that question now a days because you never know. 

Ask Toyah that and I suspect you're likely to wake up with a crowd around you.  If you haven't seen it, you should watch Derek Jarman's "Jubilee", in which Toyah does a particularly psychotic turn as the character "Mads".

Definitely a she. And completely bananas.

More than bananas. I think perhaps the full fruit bowl.

Toyah's 63, Bob 76, which is proof (as if it was needed) that just because you're old doesn't mean that you have to be a boring old fart.

This? 

[mnementh]

I try and break the law at least once a day.

it's your patriotic duty as an Englishman to resist all that Norman and Roman rubbish! 

Can a damned yankee dwagon from New England join this resistance...? I know y'all have bad history with the last Connecticut Yankee what meddled on your side of the pond... 

mnem

[med6753]

W
T
F
  

Is she really a he? You gotta ask that question now a days because you never know. 

Ask Toyah that and I suspect you're likely to wake up with a crowd around you.  If you haven't seen it, you should watch Derek Jarman's "Jubilee", in which Toyah does a particularly psychotic turn as the character "Mads".

Definitely a she. And completely bananas.

More than bananas. I think perhaps the full fruit bowl.

Toyah's 63, Bob 76, which is proof (as if it was needed) that just because you're old doesn't mean that you have to be a boring old fart.

I thought Robert Fripp sounded familiar. Founding member of "King Crimson"

[mnementh]

...You have entirely too much "free" time on your hands. I think you should drag out one or two of your scopes and revisit them... maybe post some hollow-state pr0n in the thread.

mnem
 

I will get back to my regular boat anchor activities as soon as schedule permits. Maybe in 3 months. For now, need to finish sorting and organizing my components and misc H/W, almost done. Then I need to resume work on my Rochar Nixie DVM because it's in a millions bits all over the bench so I need to finish it, assuming I am competent enough to actually managed that, while it's still fresh in my mind, and before I lose parts and/or forget how to put them back together...

But if I can get those first few things I listed, done this year, that would be cool.

Ahhh, I had forgotten that you did in fact already have a smallish on your bench. So what specifically is the holdup on that; I know funds are short?

Not a money problem. It's just that it's a very sick puppy with numerous intertwined random problems, that drive me nuts. So after battling very hard, I managed to make progress, but there is still much to be done, and it was alwyas on step forward one step back... eventually rezached mental exhaustion and needed a break, I had no juice left for this thing. So I put it aside and switched to other things, then one thing led to another, and soon the Nixie DVM moved down the priority list. As the saying goes : " Life got in the way " ! 

So let me see... searched TEA a bit and found that my lat post / work on it was exactly 3 months ago. Since then :

- Acquired that rack mount Tek type 317 hollow state scope, so worked on that. Still need to finish it up by replacing some electrolytic caps.

- Worked on my HP 120B hollow state scope, CRT glass/ neck got broken and HV winding in the main transformer is arcing badly, no HV anymore.

- Embarked in identifying and sorting my components, what an adventure.

- Fridge thermostat needed replacement, so had to design and build an electronic replacement while trying to fit that "universal" thermostat my dad sent to me, which didn't quite cut it. Looks like the contact in it is seized closed, compressor runs all the time. So need to buy the proper replacement. But since my electronic timer works just fine, it's running off of it for now. Been a couple months now maybe... runs like a charm. I have now patented it and shall son start mass producing it for the low low price of 250 Euros a pop. Need to pay for the construction materials for my garage somehow, you see, and their prices have exploded. Not that they were cheap t begin with either.
Then the handle that keeps the small freezer compartment shut, inside the fridge at the top... broke. So now I can't use it anymore, bummer 

- Dad finally, after 3 months, got done manufacturing customs plinths for my bedroom, and delivered them to me. So I then had that on my plate. Was a chore cutting them into bits as accurately as possible with the miter saw, then glueing them in place, then a bead of white acrylic to make it perfect and fill all the small gaps with the wall and at every joint between two plinth pieces. Then need to put two coats of paint but.... it's so fucking hot here with that heatwave, that even at 3AM it's still too hot to do any painting unless you are completely out of your mind.
So I am waiting for the weather to cool down a bit, if it ever does in the coming days, so I Can paint that.

- Friend gave me that stereo all-in-one shit box to fix, you must remember that, you helped with it... that cheap CPU that keeps the USB and SD card reader from working...

- Then I fixed that Matra aerospace 3 phase 400Hz 115V inverter

- And the other day I was given to fix that huge 55" smart TV to fix, back light problem. But the LEDs keep blowing like there is no tomorrow, so I told the guy sorry it's scrap. But then I searched a bit and found out that this TV is still sold toady and cost a freaking 1650 Euros, which pre-war would be about 2,000 US dollars. So I thought OK let's make an effort to save that fucking TV. Found new LED strips for that very TV for 45 Euros on French Amazon. Then found the same on Aliexpress for 14 Euros delivered... guy gave the green flag to buy that, accepting the fact that it might be wasted money if after reassembling everything we discover that the LCD got damaged  during disassembly / storage / reassembly. He was fine with that. So, I am waiting for these strips to arrive from China. Maybe in 10 days if I am lucky, in a couple months if not so lucky. We shall see.

I maybe have forgotten a thing or two but you get the idea : I got busy doing other things, and time flies ! I can't believe I stopped workign on my meter 3 months ago already ! Needed a break, for sure, but now it's about time to get back to it I think !!!   

Now THAT is the proper TEA attitude! 

Well, we look forward to your future exploits.  And I hope you find the courage to cull the herd a little for the sake of your sanity.

mnem
 

[mnementh]

Could it be a bad connection? I had this with my Solartron 7075, it was working fine before I got it, when it arrived it would only display even numbers (original cal seals were intact), I reseated some connectors & have had no problems since.

David

Let me guess, it has the same blue IC sockets as mine for all the ribbon cables?   

Bloody things can't hold on to anything. I'm seriously tempted to replace them all with turned pin sockets. After a journey from the UK to Sweden, just about every cable had disconnected itself!

Any chance the socket has enuf empty space underneath for one of those 2mm wide mini zip-ties?

mnem
 

[Cubdriver]

New TEA
What could it be?

It's a General Radio 2220 Bug Hound. Used for tracing shorts and opens in PCBs and wiring. also good for genearl circuit tracing.
Unlike similar tools like ToneOhm and the HPP current tracer probe it uses AC signals and a phase sensitive detector. I'm looking forward to using it in anger.

So non-contact, or just very tiny current so as not to blow up stuff like the ShortSqweek and Huntrons?

mnem
 

Both.
Non-contact probe with LEDs to show current direction and contact with +- 50uV or 500uV

Ooooooh... does indeed sound like the PCB debugging Holy Grail. I can see why you're so pleased to find one. 

*adds another "must-have" to his watchlist... and slides it right up to the top*

mnem
Damn you Robert! Damn you to... New Jersey!!!

Already been to New Jersey, more than once. I lived and worked in (old) Jersey Channel Islands for a while.

Just to annoy you more I paid £21.37 including shipping for it ($25.35 US)

Damn!! You stole that thing!!   

I put mine aside to order test lead wire to re-do the rock hard self-stripping probe leads, now both are on the shelf waiting to be joined together.  That's one I should probably prioritize fixing.  (And I don't recall how much I paid beyond that it was a hell of a lot more than twenty five clams!)  Damned nice score!  <jealous>

-Pat

[Cubdriver]

But it's as well to know when you are breaking the law, so you can calculate the risks and minimise them.

Aka the 11th commandment.

I always thought that one was simply "Don't get caught."

-Pat

[mnementh]

mnem
*toddles off to get some urethane*

Bought the name-brand spray urethane. What a dog's breakfast that made of things... nozzle sprays a ultra-fine very low-density mist that is impossible to get anything but a fog coat anywhere more than 4" away from the surface.  A few strips where I did the side edges actually got a full single coat; they'll probably run. Everything else is patchy satin finish.

That shit wouldn't be good for anything except to spray one of those stoopit little tchotchke craft boxes... certainly not meant for furniture. What a waste of $11; 3/4 of the can floating in the air, nothing on the tabletop....

mnem
And of course, now I'm done and can barely breathe with my lungs coated in urethane, there's a bluebottle fly buzzing around in here with it...

[Zoli]

Could it be a bad connection? I had this with my Solartron 7075, it was working fine before I got it, when it arrived it would only display even numbers (original cal seals were intact), I reseated some connectors & have had no problems since.

David

Let me guess, it has the same blue IC sockets as mine for all the ribbon cables?   

Bloody things can't hold on to anything. I'm seriously tempted to replace them all with turned pin sockets. After a journey from the UK to Sweden, just about every cable had disconnected itself!

Any chance the socket has enuf empty space underneath for one of those 2mm wide mini zip-ties?

mnem
 

To quote the FUD masters, "there's something even better"^*(and fits in  0.5mm, and, as expected, is aerospace rated):

^*For those who don't remember: M$ vs Novell

[mnementh]

But it's as well to know when you are breaking the law, so you can calculate the risks and minimise them.

Aka the 11th commandment.

I always thought that one was simply "Don't get caught."

-Pat

No... the 11th commandment has always been "Thou shalt cover thine own ass." "Don't get caught." must be 12. 

mnem
but wait... IT Dwagon sez 11th Commandment is:
   
"Thou shalt always have a recent backup!"

[GreyWoolfe]

Not TE and may or may not qualify for jammie git territory but I think I got a hella deal.  I was at the Habitat for Humanity thrift store yesterday looking for anything of interest.  Found a Fellowes 79ci crosscut shredder for $10 USD.  I looked it up and it still current and sells for $289 USD on Amazon.  Additionally, Habitat gives 24 hour warranty on anything that plugs in so you can get a chance to see if it really works.  Works perfectly and much quieter than my older and smaller Fellowes shredder.  It can actually shred the quoted 16 pages also.  I gave Mrs GreyWoolfe my old one as I do much more shredding than she does.

[vk6zgo]

Izzat the "across the pond" equivalent of dis guy...? Not sure bd would be willin' ta shave 'is head like I do... 

mnem
 

Along those lines - the very embodiment of cleaning.

He was an old fashioned pilot cartoon character with a handlebar moustache who flew about cleaning things.



The products were OK but they didn't work quite like that.

The Oz version of Mr Sheen, who according to Wiki was the original, was this guy:-

[Cerebus]

W
T
F
  

Is she really a he? You gotta ask that question now a days because you never know. 

Ask Toyah that and I suspect you're likely to wake up with a crowd around you.  If you haven't seen it, you should watch Derek Jarman's "Jubilee", in which Toyah does a particularly psychotic turn as the character "Mads".

Definitely a she. And completely bananas.

More than bananas. I think perhaps the full fruit bowl.

Toyah's 63, Bob 76, which is proof (as if it was needed) that just because you're old doesn't mean that you have to be a boring old fart.

This? 

That's a couple of minutes from the whole film, yes.

[Cerebus]

mnem
*toddles off to get some urethane*

Bought the name-brand spray urethane. What a dog's breakfast that made of things... nozzle sprays a ultra-fine very low-density mist that is impossible to get anything but a fog coat anywhere more than 4" away from the surface.  A few strips where I did the side edges actually got a full single coat; they'll probably run. Everything else is patchy satin finish.

That shit wouldn't be good for anything except to spray one of those stoopit little tchotchke craft boxes... certainly not meant for furniture. What a waste of $11; 3/4 of the can floating in the air, nothing on the tabletop....

mnem
And of course, now I'm done and can barely breathe with my lungs coated in urethane, there's a bluebottle fly buzzing around in here with it...

Which is why I own a 3 hp compressor that's really too big for my place because it was the smallest one that would drive a pukka DeVilbiss spray gun which eats 14 cuft/min at around 2 bar. Rattle cans are fine for small things, but as soon as something's bigger than maybe a foot square you just can't get paint/varnish/whatever on fast enough to stop yourself from trying to lay wet paint onto stuff that's already part dry.

[vk6zgo]

I have avoided the Bay of Evil for a long time, but yesterday, I finally staggered down the pebbly beach, & stuck one toe in the icy water.
I bought :
A nano VNA:-

And

A voltage ref "fing wot's for checking DMMs, like":-

All for a total of just under $A114, from an Australian seller-----yes, I know they probably would been cheaper from the PRC, but this way, I have someone in the same country I can whinge about, if it all goes eggshaped.


Here's hoping both pix appear as I seem to be having problems with attachments recently.

[mnementh]

mnem
*toddles off to get some urethane*

Bought the name-brand spray urethane. What a dog's breakfast that made of things... nozzle sprays a ultra-fine very low-density mist that is impossible to get anything but a fog coat anywhere more than 4" away from the surface.  A few strips where I did the side edges actually got a full single coat; they'll probably run. Everything else is patchy satin finish.

That shit wouldn't be good for anything except to spray one of those stoopit little tchotchke craft boxes... certainly not meant for furniture. What a waste of $11; 3/4 of the can floating in the air, nothing on the tabletop....

mnem
And of course, now I'm done and can barely breathe with my lungs coated in urethane, there's a bluebottle fly buzzing around in here with it...

Which is why I own a 3 hp compressor that's really too big for my place because it was the smallest one that would drive a pukka DeVilbiss spray gun which eats 14 cuft/min at around 2 bar. Rattle cans are fine for small things, but as soon as something's bigger than maybe a foot square you just can't get paint/varnish/whatever on fast enough to stop yourself from trying to lay wet paint onto stuff that's already part dry.

Yeah, what I should do is set up both my compressors in tandem like I did when I painted Franken-Cruiser; but I dunno if I kept my HVLP sprayer when we moved.

That said, this rattle-can was egregiously bad; simply not fit for purpose. I can usually get a passable job with a rattle-can that actually works; this was not that. It was obviously never vetted for usability, or some 1d10t substituted a different can/nozzle that was wrong for this product sometime during production. 

mnem
 

[TERRA Operative]

Papa Smurf's Chop Shop in action.*  Parts salvaged from a duff 7A26 to make the long trip to the Land of the Rising Sun this coming week.





* All parts salvaged lawfully and legitimately. 

Yaaaay!