Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread

[BU508A]

Some bad news. Solartron 7050 is unfortunately currently scrap. The main ASIC is where the ranging fault resides and that is unobtainium. All the right signals are going into it and it can display the decimal points if it wants to (tested) but it doesn’t.

Is it that Plessey MP954B?

There is was one in .cz for ca. 6 Euro (150 Kč):
https://aukro.cz/integrovany-obvod-plessey-mp954b-7008797962



Edit: seems, it is out of stock. Sorry ...

[bd139]

That's the one! I will mull on it. Good find! 

[Neomys Sapiens]

A rather strange news item from the German Federal Police:
After a passenger, who tried to use a power outlet in a German regional train, did receive an electrical shock, it was found that the outlet had been illegally manipulated to become dangerous.

https://www.presseportal.de/blaulicht/pm/116091/5279052

[Specmaster]

TV REPAIR

We have picture !!! 

The old LED strips were much easier to remove than I had feared. The adhesive wasn't that adhesive... 

The new strips came with adhesive already on them, and it was quick and easy to get them positioned properly, no drama 

Put it all back together and the LCD looks like it survived, can't see any defect or weird thing going on.

My second and first successful flat TV repair. I hate these things with a passion, hopefully next one won't be before... as many years as possible.
Huge/impractical/impossible to handle, not designed to be serviced/taken apart without breaking plastic clips. LCD screen that consistently requires to be removed in order to get access to the LED strips....  big fail from end to end.
I don't care how big or expensive or "smart" these TVs are... they are all made the same, all junk. If people are crazy enough to pay more than 50 Euros for one, their problem.
I can't believe this piece of garbage is still on sale right now for 1650 Euros, it just blows my mind, truly does 

Anyway, happy to see that I somehow managed to fix one of these things, and even more happy that it can now get the fuck out of my lab/living room, it fills half the room !! 

Need the space to walk across the room, and need space on the bench for more interesting activities.

Gonna call my friend, hopefully he can take this thing away from me ASAP and free the space....

I think the real cost in those large screen TV's is just that, the large screen. I don't have any idea what they cost to make, but I do know that if you were to try and buy a replacement screen, they cost a small fortune. That said, however, I suspect the high retail price is more than likely to be a significant magnitude higher than it need to be due to the one-up-man ship factor that is so rife in world economics today. (Ducks to miss all the incoming rotten wellies).

[TERRA Operative]

'New' computer time!
This will be on the way soon, and will be getting an NI GPIB ISA card or two for Tek TDS scope calibrations etc.
I have a 600MHz CPU spare here too that I'll stick in there for a quick upgrade.

Hopefully it works, or is at least fixable........  It was sold cheap as 'untested'...

[Specmaster]

Edit: one thing I was really not impressed with. Whoever trimmed off the leads on it at the factory used blunt as hell cutters. All the leads are flattened at the end meaning you need to trim them more before desoldering otherwise the legs won't go through the holes   

I wonder if that was the intention, i.e., insert everything, then trim the leads before soldering, maybe they never had flow soldering at the factory? Just saying, no? OK I'll get my coat.... 

[bd139]

A rather strange news item from the German Federal Police:
After a passenge, who tried to use a power outlet in a German regional train, did receive an electrical shock, it was found that the outlet had been illegally manipulated to become dangerous.

https://www.presseportal.de/blaulicht/pm/116091/5279052

Never attribute to malice that which can be explained adequately by incompetence…

[Robert763]

Solartron 7050 update. The power supply just exploded 

Looks like Philips cap went short and took out the bridge rectifiers before the fuse decided to join the party 

Aaaand it's now parts mule. My interest in it has declined to 0. It's now a healthy supply of BC107's and 40673's and jurassic era LED displays

Still worth the £1 I paid for it.

Edit: one thing I was really not impressed with. Whoever trimmed off the leads on it at the factory used blunt as hell cutters. All the leads are flattened at the end meaning you need to trim them more before desoldering otherwise the legs won't go through the holes   

My £110 Keithley is still OK

[Cubdriver]

Solartron 7050 update. The power supply just exploded 

Edit: one thing I was really not impressed with. Whoever trimmed off the leads on it at the factory used blunt as hell cutters. All the leads are flattened at the end meaning you need to trim them more before desoldering otherwise the legs won't go through the holes   

That may have been intentional - I seem to recall reading/seeing years ago something about a cutter that also flattened the lead ends as a means of retaining them in the circuit board during the time between their installation and the trip through the wave solder machine. 

As I think on it more, it might have been at an assembly house we were working with - he was showing me the semi automated board stuffing machine they had bought (this was all through hole, late 90s possibly early 00s) - the board mounted on the face, components were pre-prepped (leads formed) and stored in round trays with radial dividers making pie-slice shaped compartments.  It was programmed to sequentially indicate board locations, and the tray with the appropriate components would be the only one open.  A light would shine through the appropriate holes on the board, the operator would take a part from the open tray and install it in the lighted holes then step on a foot pedal.  The machine would cut and crimp the newly installed component leads, then move the light to the next location.  I maybe misremembering some of it, but that was the gist.  Early pick and place might be the reason the leads are crimped on your board.

-Pat

[grizewald]

... CA accelerator is acetone ...

No, acetone is not an accelerant for CA polymerisation. It is often used as a solvent for the actual accelerator - as is hexane - but the accelerant is generally either an amine such as N,N-dimethylbenzylamine, N,N-diethyl-toluidine or N,N-dimethyl-p-toluidine, or a disulphide such as dibenzodiazyl disulphide, 6,6-dithiodinicotinic acid or 2,2-dipyridal disulphide. Calixarene compounds can also be used to assist polymerisation with acidic items to be bonded such as wood, leather and paper. There are more accelerators and the choice of which is used depends very much on the application. Some are unpleasantly toxic.

CA accelerator mixtures may contain acetone, but acetone itself is NOT a CA accelerant.

[bd139]

My £110 Keithley is still OK

For now. For now 

[bd139]

Solartron 7050 update. The power supply just exploded 

Edit: one thing I was really not impressed with. Whoever trimmed off the leads on it at the factory used blunt as hell cutters. All the leads are flattened at the end meaning you need to trim them more before desoldering otherwise the legs won't go through the holes   

That may have been intentional - I seem to recall reading/seeing years ago something about a cutter that also flattened the lead ends as a means of retaining them in the circuit board during the time between their installation and the trip through the wave solder machine. 

As I think on it more, it might have been at an assembly house we were working with - he was showing me the semi automated board stuffing machine they had bought (this was all through hole, late 90s possibly early 00s) - the board mounted on the face, components were pre-prepped (leads formed) and stored in round trays with radial dividers making pie-slice shaped compartments.  It was programmed to sequentially indicate board locations, and the tray with the appropriate components would be the only one open.  A light would shine through the appropriate holes on the board, the operator would take a part from the open tray and install it in the lighted holes then step on a foot pedal.  The machine would cut and crimp the newly installed component leads, then move the light to the next location.  I maybe misremembering some of it, but that was the gist.  Early pick and place might be the reason the leads are crimped on your board.

-Pat

Yeah could be right there actually. I had a summer job at university stuffing boards with one of those bloody things . I lasted about a week before they promoted me much to the disgust of people who had been doing it for 30 years.

The board dates from around 1976 which suggests it may be pre automation though.

I'm starting to think the best period for electronics was the window between about 1980 and 1998. That was the late TH and early SMD days. The late TH was less crappy and the early SMD was large enough to still work with without having to consume a couple of beers first 

[factory]

Talking about that, just saw one for sale here a minute ago, at only 50 Euros at that !
Yes, my first old HP Nixie counter, finally found one !!!

https://www.leboncoin.fr/collection/2194828839.htm


... Or not 

Local pickup only... but the guy for a change, is not located at the other end of the country. 120kms away, 1H30 drive, all highway.
But.... look... left handle is broken off, good luck finding that, and for cheap.
Then look at the plugin... it looks eviscerated ?! Big knob has been replaced with a blanking plug, and the meter movement in the top left corner is gone as well, replaced with that dark opaque window.
Too bad, front panel looks real nice, not rotten at all, look at the BNC connectors. So the inside probably looks the part as well.

Looked at the other ads the seller has on-line. Looks like he is a HAM. He is selling a "CB" amplifier, and is looking for a Yaesu radio.
So I guess he was using that poor HP counter as a luxurious CB frequency counter, didn't need the Frequency conversion plug-in and did god knows what with its guts.
Then because he is a cave man, he dropped the HP counter and the left handle took the hit and snapped.

Did the counter survive internally, who knows.

I hate this type of ad with a 50/50% mix of " WANT IT " and " DO NOT TOUCH IT " at the same time, it's a torture to be reasonable and say no.
It would be so much easier to say no if it were more expensive and/or farther away from me.

I guess I could still get it for parts, or just use it as is, after all the frequency converter plugin is not mandatory, neither is the left handle 

I don't know... please help me be reasonable and say no.... yet if I don't take it, nobody else in their right mind won't take it either, and it probably will end up in the skip, not sure I could live with that thought... 

I would buy it at that price, not too expensive, OK the broken handle was probably a delivery victim, I've had this happen occasionally, too often in fact   .
The 5253B is one of the most common plug-ins, shouldn't be to hard to find another in Europe.

David

[Neomys Sapiens]

With USB becoming more and more commonplace in experimental setups and for the comtrol of instruments, I decided that it would be a good idea to have a reliable USB isolator at hand. I had watched that thing for a time, but thought that it is better to act BEFORE a destructive event. 'If I had had an USB isolator' is not how I want to remember one of my  instruments or computers.

[med6753]

International shipping can be a minefield. My Type 547 HV assembly finally arrived at BU508A's doorstep. He sent me pictures of the box and contents. The box was partially crushed on the left side. Luckily the assembly itself was undamaged. However, either US Customs or German Customs opened the box despite the fact that I posted a picture of the contents on the outside of the box. How do I know that? There's packing material in there that I did not put in there.  And to add insult German Customs charged 14 Euro additional which I promptly refunded to Mounty. Bastards. 

[bd139]

Unsurprised. I just paid fees and handling on some swiss cakes a relative sent that I could have got up the road for £1 less   

[med6753]

TERRA Operative, believe or not your package is already departing Osaka. That was freaking quick across the big pond.  Hopefully in a few days you'll have it.   

[med6753]

Unsurprised. I just paid fees and handling on some swiss cakes a relative sent that I could have got up the road for £1 less   

Seems like a legal form of highway robbery. 

[m k]

With USB becoming more and more commonplace in experimental setups and for the comtrol of instruments, I decided that it would be a good idea to have a reliable USB isolator at hand. I had watched that thing for a time, but thought that it is better to act BEFORE a destructive event. 'If I had had an USB isolator' is not how I want to remember one of my  instruments or computers.

I just ordered one(12M) from far away.
Power isolator is included, cost was ~10€, we'll see what will be the reality.

Maybe it's now easier to guess what kind of alternative that very fine proto board is.

BTW,
tried to find 2.54mm chip clip/clamps.
No, just 1.27mm available from the source.

But Boat loads of Pogo pins were everywhere.
Does it mean we are ready to start building pin beads for hobbyists?
I once missed a few.

BTW2,
"What else" in earlier picture was partially integrated terminal.

[factory]

Solartron 7050 update. The power supply just exploded 

Looks like Philips cap went short and took out the bridge rectifiers before the fuse decided to join the party 

Edit: one thing I was really not impressed with. Whoever trimmed off the leads on it at the factory used blunt as hell cutters. All the leads are flattened at the end meaning you need to trim them more before desoldering otherwise the legs won't go through the holes   

That may have been intentional - I seem to recall reading/seeing years ago something about a cutter that also flattened the lead ends as a means of retaining them in the circuit board during the time between their installation and the trip through the wave solder machine. 

As I think on it more, it might have been at an assembly house we were working with - he was showing me the semi automated board stuffing machine they had bought (this was all through hole, late 90s possibly early 00s) - the board mounted on the face, components were pre-prepped (leads formed) and stored in round trays with radial dividers making pie-slice shaped compartments.  It was programmed to sequentially indicate board locations, and the tray with the appropriate components would be the only one open.  A light would shine through the appropriate holes on the board, the operator would take a part from the open tray and install it in the lighted holes then step on a foot pedal.  The machine would cut and crimp the newly installed component leads, then move the light to the next location.  I maybe misremembering some of it, but that was the gist.  Early pick and place might be the reason the leads are crimped on your board.

-Pat

The large & early digital AVO DMMs I have here, also have resistor & capacitor leads flattened, absolute PITA to remove a lead for testing, easier to cut them out completely & replace. 

Had a Solartron 7150 die at work with lots of burnt bits, reed relay coil, bridge rectifier etc. followed by mains fuses, I didn't see it expire, as I had gone for to the toilet. 

David

[bd139]

Unsurprised. I just paid fees and handling on some swiss cakes a relative sent that I could have got up the road for £1 less   

Seems like a legal form of highway robbery. 

Yep.

ACAB should be repurposed from All Cops Are Bastards to All Couriers Are Bastards.

[m k]

Solartron 7050 update. The power supply just exploded 

Edit: one thing I was really not impressed with. Whoever trimmed off the leads on it at the factory used blunt as hell cutters. All the leads are flattened at the end meaning you need to trim them more before desoldering otherwise the legs won't go through the holes   

That may have been intentional - I seem to recall reading/seeing years ago something about a cutter that also flattened the lead ends as a means of retaining them in the circuit board during the time between their installation and the trip through the wave solder machine. 

As I think on it more, it might have been at an assembly house we were working with - he was showing me the semi automated board stuffing machine they had bought (this was all through hole, late 90s possibly early 00s) - the board mounted on the face, components were pre-prepped (leads formed) and stored in round trays with radial dividers making pie-slice shaped compartments.  It was programmed to sequentially indicate board locations, and the tray with the appropriate components would be the only one open.  A light would shine through the appropriate holes on the board, the operator would take a part from the open tray and install it in the lighted holes then step on a foot pedal.  The machine would cut and crimp the newly installed component leads, then move the light to the next location.  I maybe misremembering some of it, but that was the gist.  Early pick and place might be the reason the leads are crimped on your board.

-Pat

If they did MIL-STD that's a must.
Soldering must be last, leg/solder interface can't be left open.

[Specmaster]

Solartron 7050 update. The power supply just exploded 

Edit: one thing I was really not impressed with. Whoever trimmed off the leads on it at the factory used blunt as hell cutters. All the leads are flattened at the end meaning you need to trim them more before desoldering otherwise the legs won't go through the holes   

That may have been intentional - I seem to recall reading/seeing years ago something about a cutter that also flattened the lead ends as a means of retaining them in the circuit board during the time between their installation and the trip through the wave solder machine. 

As I think on it more, it might have been at an assembly house we were working with - he was showing me the semi automated board stuffing machine they had bought (this was all through hole, late 90s possibly early 00s) - the board mounted on the face, components were pre-prepped (leads formed) and stored in round trays with radial dividers making pie-slice shaped compartments.  It was programmed to sequentially indicate board locations, and the tray with the appropriate components would be the only one open.  A light would shine through the appropriate holes on the board, the operator would take a part from the open tray and install it in the lighted holes then step on a foot pedal.  The machine would cut and crimp the newly installed component leads, then move the light to the next location.  I maybe misremembering some of it, but that was the gist.  Early pick and place might be the reason the leads are crimped on your board.

-Pat

So, my logic on this might not be so far off target after all, then 

[Cerebus]

Edit: one thing I was really not impressed with. Whoever trimmed off the leads on it at the factory used blunt as hell cutters. All the leads are flattened at the end meaning you need to trim them more before desoldering otherwise the legs won't go through the holes   

That may not be blunt cutters, that may be a cutter that was designed to not only cut, but lead-form as well to make sure that the part didn't pull out before soldering. I used to have a pair like that, many years ago.

[m k]

TV REPAIR

We have picture !!! 

Excellent job! I hope you are well rewarded for it.
Just the stress of having to lever all of those plastic snap connections apart to get at the electronics would have been enough to turn me into a gibbering wreck.

Reward ? Not a cent, as usual 
But my friend said the guy / colleague who owns that TV, has a bucket truck that can go up to 10 meters high.

So he can reverse his truck into my back yard and help me trim my 10 meter high tree that's taking way too much space in my tiny garden.
Would cost me lots of money to get a pro to do it. So that's my "payment"...

Some years back we had few pines in the middle of our backyard.
They were so tall they easily reached smashing neighbors.
When they were chopped down from the top they filled the place.
The man doing it was a pro arborist and we paid without an argument, the price was dirt cheap, we would have paid double or triple without a blink.
Next day the place was empty and cleaned and I didn't have to move a muscle, one neighbors relative made a shed.
One of those trees was also a lightning target from earlier years, then the force cooked a ground route for itself and few houses were victims.
Lightning left its mark of course and some of the trunk was gray.
How much gray was a bit of a surprise, only a small fraction of the bottom was healthy.
So all those years the tree was standing there with pure luck and supporting winds.