Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread

[tggzzz]

OK, the temperature here seems to have peaked for the day at 40.48ºC. Feels like I could solder things by blowing through a straw.

I have inherited a device for doing exactly that! Want to buy it for a pittance?

Similar to the thumbnail.

[Saskia]

Thinking about downsizing my scope collection.

Anyone (Germany, northern Europe) interested in:
Keysight MSO 3054T w/MSO option, 4/16 channels, 4 500MHz probes, 1 active probe (N2795A), Ethernet interface (asking 5k€) rarely used, excellent condition
Keysight 2002A w/ adaptations and MSO cable plus 2 150 MHz probes, additional front panel (for adaptation to 4 channels) (asking 900€) ? rarely used, excellent condition

I still have enough scopes to afford selling of those 2. Offering them here, first.

Both have been claimed by a nice forum member who currently wishes to remain anonymous.

[Neper]

For those who think my benches are never a mess. 465B spread all over bench 1 and 2. I finally have some time today to clean this up.

The severe storms last night bypassed here. Not even a rumble of thunder. It's 8 AM here and I already have the A/C cranked up in anticipation of +90 F temps today.

I can't spot any mess. What are you talking about?     

He doesn't have the first idea of what a decent mess looks like.

[Saskia]

this is far too uncluttered.

[med6753]

For those who think my benches are never a mess. 465B spread all over bench 1 and 2. I finally have some time today to clean this up.

The severe storms last night bypassed here. Not even a rumble of thunder. It's 8 AM here and I already have the A/C cranked up in anticipation of +90 F temps today.

I can't spot any mess. What are you talking about?     

He doesn't have the first idea of what a decent mess looks like.

I guess I never was good at being a slob.     I should post a pix of what my neighbors have done to their side of the garage. 

[Specmaster]

Oh look some TE content 

Ok Tek 465B update. Couldn't resist it and have some dead time to burn. Literally burn today. Eish.

So stripped down the 465B and decided to test the pin that was controlling the faulty address line to make sure that it wasn't being shorted to something other than the 5V rail before stuffing a new chip in it. Tested fine. Looks like the chip was a random failure of some sort. I will see if I can crack open the cerdip and have a look at some point at what happened but I lack a suitable vice and microscope (at the moment  ).

To do this, I slipped the leg off something else into the hole and clipped it with the Keysight micrograbbers. They are quite good. Fluke 75 because, well it was already on the desk.



After I was happy I probably wasn't going to blow the investment up immediately, in it went:



The entire unit channel switching was retested and all is good 

Showcase shot of course of both working 465's connected to the DG811.  They have been put away as they suck up 90W and it's too fucking hot to run them for more than that.



Not visible too well from the picture is the 465B is super crisp compared to the 465. Once I get my probe situation sorted I will check the power supply out on the 465. It may need some filter caps. I have a plan for a new way to solve the capacitor problems in these scopes which I will detail shortly. It involves a simple "module" on one PCB. No individual adapter boards!

Remaining issues are the CH1 attenuator knob on the 465B is on the wrong location clearly because I was drunk when I cleaned it. The slope switch on the 465 delay timebase is broken and they both need new feet. I will sort those issues out when I've moved.

Now I'm going to sit in front of the fan with a pot noodle and beer like a chav 

Payment has been sent to the seller as discussed with them on iMessage. Always good to foster good business relations because I'm probably going to need them in the future and I'm sure they need reliable customers too.

They look good together and I was just going to say that the 465 display was not as crisp, but then you covered that in the text  Looking forward to seeing what this capacitor module solution thingie is when you unveil it soon 

[Saskia]

This is heavy weight clutter (still trying to reorganize and get that shit back to operational)

[mnementh]

For those who think my benches are never a mess. 465B spread all over bench 1 and 2. I finally have some time today to clean this up.

The severe storms last night bypassed here. Not even a rumble of thunder. It's 8 AM here and I already have the A/C cranked up in anticipation of +90 F temps today.

I can't spot any mess. What are you talking about?     

He doesn't have the first idea of what a decent mess looks like.

I guess I never was good at being a slob.     I should post a pix of what my neighbors have done to their side of the garage. 

Yes; agreed. Rank amateur mess, that. Would barely get a raised eyebrow from Mrs. Edelson... 

mnem

[Zoli]

OK, the temperature here seems to have peaked for the day at 40.48ºC. Feels like I could solder things by blowing through a straw. Am now going to go and sit in a corner and quietly melt.

*airlifts our resident aardvark a pitcher of chilled apricot brandy and a bale of chocolate-covered ants*

mnem
"heh... let's get C wasted and just listen to him talk..."

That's unforgivable sin; the apricot brandy is proper at cellar temperature.

[Zoli]

This is heavy weight clutter (still trying to reorganize and get that shit back to operational)

Still enough room to move around, even for the Dwagon... 
/ducks

[Saskia]

there are 4 additional pinball cabinets in the garage. plus a time pilot arcade and 5 arcade 1 ups in the next room ...

[mnementh]

For those who think my benches are never a mess. 465B spread all over bench 1 and 2. I finally have some time today to clean this up.

The severe storms last night bypassed here. Not even a rumble of thunder. It's 8 AM here and I already have the A/C cranked up in anticipation of +90 F temps today.

I can't spot any mess. What are you talking about?     

He doesn't have the first idea of what a decent mess looks like.

This is what my bench looked like after I tidied up...




...to make room so I could scribble out a schematic. And getting side-tracked by needing to fix my favorite probes.

mnem
PRIORITIES, man!!!

[Specmaster]

there are 4 additional pinball cabinets in the garage. plus a time pilot arcade and 5 arcade 1 ups in the next room ...

I know, don't tell me, when you go to bed, you just chuck a sheet over them, arrange a couple of pillows and a duvet and climb up 

[Specmaster]

For those who think my benches are never a mess. 465B spread all over bench 1 and 2. I finally have some time today to clean this up.

The severe storms last night bypassed here. Not even a rumble of thunder. It's 8 AM here and I already have the A/C cranked up in anticipation of +90 F temps today.


 

@med6753, I see we both have a TMK500 analogue meter, but when I look closer, there a couple of differences, where my zero ohms adjuster pot is black, yours is red and is also branded IBM where as mine says TMK, otherwise they are the same thing. An interesting fact about these is that while most meters are a 20,000 opv meter, these are 30,000 opv so load a circuit under test, less.

[mnementh]

OK, the temperature here seems to have peaked for the day at 40.48ºC. Feels like I could solder things by blowing through a straw. Am now going to go and sit in a corner and quietly melt.   

*airlifts our resident aardvark a pitcher of chilled apricot brandy and a bale of chocolate-covered ants*

mnem
"heh... let's get C wasted and just listen to him talk..."

That's unforgivable sin; the apricot brandy is proper at cellar temperature.

The way C was talking, anything less than "just shy of so cold it turns to treacle" would just evaporate on his tongue.

I'll take my chances... worst case, the conversational cutlery gets a good polishing on some dragon-hide.

mnem
the much greater sin I've committed: I can't stand any beer that isn't similarly cold... and I've even done it to Guinness. Well, what they'll let us yanks have and call it Guinness, anyways.

[Zoli]

...
The way C was talking, anything less than "just shy of so cold it turns to treacle" would just evaporate on his tongue.

I'll take my chances... worst case, the conversational cutlery gets a good polishing on some dragon-hide.

mnem
the much greater sin I've committed: I can't stand any beer that isn't similarly cold... and I've even done it to Guinness. Well, what they'll let us yanks have and call it Guinness, anyways.

Joking aside, the apricot brandy tastes differently on different temperatures; you can get the most flavor around 16-17°C(and considering the heatwave, it intended to be  a poke).
Joke: Still making love in a canoe? 

[TERRA Operative]

When I turn around, this is what I see....

I am ashamed. 

But I'm working through it, if only people would stop listing tasty gear on Yahoo Auctions....



[EDIT] Oooh, I just noticed an empty spot at the top of the cupboard.... I'll have to deal with that... 

[bd139]

Fairly tidy here. In mid-house-move work mode though 

[GreyWoolfe]

This is heavy weight clutter (still trying to reorganize and get that shit back to operational)

My garage used to look that way, sans pinball machines.  Finally cried UNCLE and asked Mrs GreyWoolfe for assistance.  She's a military brat and also married military in a past marriage so she knows organization.  Now, I can actually go out there and do things.  There is even a big couch out there to go on FB marketplace and it isn't in the way.  Before I would leave everything where it was after a project and get around to cleaning up at some future point.  Now I clean up, put tools away and sweep the floor before I leave the garage, whether the project is done or not.  Now if I can just do the same in my office.  I will need to get it done.  We have company coming 2nd week of August and we are setting up a bed in the office.

[Cerebus]

The trick is to make things super easy to get out, and super easy to put away. I can't believe how much better my life has got since I stuck a proper many drawered tool-chest in the box room.

I have a plan to make a few work surfaces that are a bit like giant draws that I can fold a lid over and put work-in-progress away quickly and tidily and also get it out again with minimal fuss. Of course first I have to find a way to clear enough free shelf space in the box room of doom so that I can have perhaps three of them stored on one shelf.

[med6753]

Finally got all the new caps installed on the 465B. I shot myself in the foot on this project. I got too over zealous in pulling the old cans and I damaged several pads on the circuit board. The result was several open circuits which I had to carefully trace and ohm out and repair. I believe I fixed them all. But before I install the trigger board I'm going to apply power and make sure all voltages are present.

I like Chris' idea of an auxiliary board to mount the new caps rather than the individual adapters. But you still have to unsolder and remove the old cans and that's where I did the damage. Oh well. This is the last of my 400 series scopes that needed a re-cap anyway.



Baby it's hot out there. Nice and cool in here. That 77 F is not accurate. That unit is by an outside wall and the radiant heat is affecting it's reading. Bench area and living room is 75 F. Bedroom is 72 F. Can't wait to see my electric bill. 



 

[med6753]

And of course we tidy up afterwards. 

[Cubdriver]

Finally got all the new caps installed on the 465B. I shot myself in the foot on this project. I got too over zealous in pulling the old cans and I damaged several pads on the circuit board. The result was several open circuits which I had to carefully trace and ohm out and repair. I believe I fixed them all. But before I install the trigger board I'm going to apply power and make sure all voltages are present.

I like Chris' idea of an auxiliary board to mount the new caps rather than the individual adapters. But you still have to unsolder and remove the old cans and that's where I did the damage. Oh well. This is the last of my 400 series scopes that needed a re-cap anyway.

Nicely done - looks good!

Baby it's hot out there. Nice and cool in here. That 77 F is not accurate. That unit is by an outside wall and the radiant heat is affecting it's reading. Bench area and living room is 75 F. Bedroom is 72 F. Can't wait to see my electric bill. 

Damn!!  The one on my front porch (in the shade) is at about 82.6° F currently.  You can keep that heat over there in NYS, thankyouveryplease...

And my mess would put you all to shame.     (lack of a SWMBO is a mixed blessing...)

-Pat

[bd139]

Caps look good to me. Getting those cans out is an absolute bastard even with a Metcal. Last time I had to resort to the Metcal and the duratool at the same time 

The adapter board I’m working on will be one PCB which sits on 10mm standoffs. You solder the caps on, then screw the standoffs onto the board. And drop it in and screw it down on top. I’m just plotting out where the circuits are jumped through the capacitor pins at the moment to work out the lowest number of standoffs.

It’s more expensive to do it this way but the gaps between the pins allow caps to be flush mounted to the boards and silicon’ed down.

[Cubdriver]

When I turn around, this is what I see....

I am ashamed. 

But I'm working through it, if only people would stop listing tasty gear on Yahoo Auctions....



[EDIT] Oooh, I just noticed an empty spot at the top of the cupboard.... I'll have to deal with that... 

If you move that, looks like a steering wheel (?) there at top left over a bit and stacked the helmet on top of it, you'd have more space there, too...  Just sayin'...

 

-Pat

Edit to add - I like that spray can storage thing - is that what it's meant to be, or was it intended as a wine rack?  Regardless, I need to rig something like this up for my garage - standing upright they always get knocked over when trying to grab one, and it's a pain to find the one you want when you can't see the markings.