Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread

[Vince]

Is it ?! I thought it was the physical length of the rendered page 

Oh dear..... thanks for that, will know next time ! 

[Vince]

So here it is, my Tek scope type 5111.

Yes, that 's all... you can forget my "pushing your buttons" list now, don't need that any longer.... you can go back to your normal activities.

Poor scope is quite sick. Used to work fine 5 years ago when I got it and restored it, but since I moved in to my new house, it's very sick. I think it didn't like the 12 months spent in that storage box in an industrial estate...    Maybe a cap or two to replace...

Will work on it some day, hopefully not in the too distant future... I love it very much and certainly want it to work as best it can.

It's a scope for real men : rack mount, 8 channels, storage tube, fanless, extra large CRT, and a mind boggling 1MHz bandwidth. High B/W scopes are for small dicks that need to compensate.

Tek wiki sez 2 MHz BW. Is yours really only 1? I may have doubled your BW for free.

https://w140.com/tekwiki/wiki/5111

Yes but no ! 

IIRC, the mainframe as such is 2MHz, but the scope I have, the whole thing, is 1MHz.

IIRC you only get the full 2MHz of the mainframe if you use single channel amplifier plugins.
If you use 2 channel plugins, it goes down to 1.5MHz, and with the 4 channel ones like I have in my scope, it goes down even lower, to 1MHz.

Something like that....

[mnementh]

My current distraction...     

mnem
Caffeine levels dangerously low... must stop for refill...   

   Printed successfully, but too fine detail; not enough mass in the "snap-together" bits. They just fall apart.

In the middle of a complete redesign. You can click on the link above and see current iterations. New version should print well at 0.20LH, tho.

mnem
"The role of failure in design."

   Rev 11 printing. A wee bit more material now... 

mnem
          ...and there might have been a little scope creep; I should probably confer with my assistant, Mr Bluebottle fly...
*yawwnnnn*

      

This is somewhere around Rev 17; aboot half of which have actually been printed and test-fit. Finally have something I like the looks of that can actually be printed and assembled without major post-production fettling.

It can be a real dicksore trying to design something for other people to print and use... 

I added finger-grips to be able to pull the adapter out of the HP Pod, as that has quite a bit of hold with 40 pins all at once. Also a key-peg to match the slot on the pod as well.

Note that the back of the adapter has a slight taper away from the body of the scope so it doesn't make contact and scar up the panel. And yes, those are 1.6mm dia printed pins that lock the halves together. You can easily substitute any ~m2 screw you might want to use instead.

Now I need to get to work on Part 2 - a redesign to fit the original TK adapter, since he so graciously included both.

mnem
*toddles off to ded*

   

First version of the new cover for the original TK adapter; now printing. Then of course comes the fettling to get it to actually work...

mnem
*fettle-fettle... tinker-putter... fettle-tinker....*

   3D Model Web Viewer

Final Revision (I think ) now printing.

mnem
*toddles off to watch Star Trek: The Pike Years with SWMBO*

[Saskia]

Page 5111 AT LAST !

Almost 2AM, geez I can go to bed now 

[Robert763]

Some quick lunchtime fun:

I didn't have a specific need for a Fluke 8060A but it was available for reasonable money so I got it to complement the IBM branded version of the 8060A I've had for a few years.  I did a couple of quick tests on it and so far it loooks good
<SNIP>



Here are the two takes of the same meter side by side.  I'm not sure why the contrast on the two displays is so different; both meters are original and have not been recapped so I don't know if it's attributable to that, the zebra stripes, different specs from IBM, different ageing or luck of the draw.

There were at least two standards of LCD on the Fluke badged 8060A. The earlier one had a separate front polariser, the later had it stuck to the glass.  The interconnects were different too but they don't normally affect the overall contrast.

Interesting; I've never dug into the service information on these meters.  The IBM one came with a photocopy of the operating instructions tucked into the case.  Here's the picture I took of the IBM 8060A when I got it on 5 November 2020:



The display doesn't look so dark in that picture but that was held at a different angle under weak autumn sun.  I'm going to have to take the IBM one outside in the even when the sun's going and see if the display looks the same or if it really has darkened over the last two years it's been in the drawer.  The side by side picture was a bit difficult to take since I was trying to balance the best angle to have both LCDs at the same time while avoiding glare from the overhead lights at work.

Could it possibly be that the IBM one has a polarising filter beneath the screen glass? I recently disassembled an old calculator in order to replace its button cell, and in doing so the LCD popped out. When I put it back together, the display was almost unreadable and of course my first reaction was that the button cell must be flat, so I took it all apart and checked its voltage. It was 3.3V, I had actually put the polarising filter in back to front, reversing it cured the problem.

See my earlier post. Some 8060As (early) have a separate polariser. If you flip it the display is unreadable. You can't rotate it because it has notches at the bottom.

[bd139]

Wow woke up this morning and no one has killed anyone after Vince”s epic trolling yesterday. Is everyone ok? 

[BU508A]

It's midnight here, I can understand the European people being quiet, but the guys in the US should all be up and energetic... where are you all ?

Point being : please be a bit more talkative and expedite page 5110, I have an agenda and don't want to wait 'til 5AM for it to realize, I would like to go to bed before that.

Thanks.

If you don't comply I will have to resort to..... no, it's best no to tell, hopefully I won't have to resort to that.. that would be very nasty. Please don't make me do it.

Usually TEA doesn't need any incentive to get talking, what's wrong with you this evening ?

Let me help, let's see :

1) Guns are dangerous, they should be banned
2) My god is better than yours
3) 80yo strippers should be advertised in the street on bus stops.
4) Diesel engine is better than Petrol engine.
5) Global warming is a scam
6) 3DP XYZ is way better than  3DP RZA even with customized version of the open source F/W v6.2.0
7) HP Scopes are much better than Tek scopes
8 ) Brand XTY of speaker sounds much better than GTR Speakers.
9) It never rains in England
10) Frogs have the best English accent on the planet.
11) Electric cars suck, they are a scam and will never save the planet.
12) RPN calculators suck, it's for backward retards.

Pick whatever you like, but get talking FFS ! 

You've forgotten number thirteen: discussions about fishes and how fresh they are (or to whom they belong to).

[bd139]

Random question. Does anyone know what these HP trimmers are? I know they are made by CTS that is all.

Some of the ones in this HP427A are rusty so I’m intending replacing them with something a little more modern. Plan is to find the data sheet and make a mini adapter PCB for a modern Bourns trimmer.

Edit: after much googling I found a datasheet eventually (attached)

[BU508A]

Random question. Does anyone know what these HP trimmers are? I know they are made by CTS that is all.

Some of the ones in this HP427A are rusty so I’m intending replacing them with something a little more modern. Plan is to find the data sheet and make a mini adapter PCB for a modern Bourns trimmer.

Edit: after much googling I found a datasheet eventually (attached)

The datasheet is saying something about "RoHS compliant". Are those trimpots in your 427A that young?

[TERRA Operative]

Wow woke up this morning and no one has killed anyone after Vince”s epic trolling yesterday. Is everyone ok? 

I'll spare Vince's life if he gives me a copy of the firmware in his TDS694C. 

[Ero-Shan]

Every now and then, I start another try catching up, just clicking on 5-page increments and skimming over them, looking for juicy pictures.
Two from Vince  resonated with me:

1. Sorting components (and other stuff). That's most of what I'm doing with regards to TEA and electronics since months. This morning I had a go at my binding posts and "Telephonbuchsen".

  Hirschmann old style and a bit newer KPI 110:

 

  Rest of the posts, mostly singletons, and the phone jacks:
 
 

  So, everything's squared away nicely in those two boxes, right? Not quite, I've forgotten about them ...

 

2. He also didn't want to part with 2 crappy transistors (2N2904?). Hold my beer! In my early days of electronics, all components were regarded as expensive, valuable stuff. I salvaged whatever I could. To this day I unsolder them from boards - 3 leads are easily pulled (I'm not talking about SMD stuff). Well knowing that I almost certainly won't ever use them again - there's a few thousand new ones wanting to see some action.
  Of course, they get counted and sorted:

 

Back to catching up ever so slowly

[tggzzz]

Page 5111 AT LAST !
Almost 2AM, geez I can go to bed now 
So here it is, my Tek scope type 5111.

There are two reasonable responses to the preceeding posts:

• somebody please go back and delete one of their messages. I'd volunteer, but all my posts are worth preserving in a museum
• this group is going to get really repetitive for a while...
  
  

[Brumby]

What, where are all of these Tek fan boys then, still only a single bid as yet on this very unusual jigsaw of Jim Williams untidy bench, it ends in just under 30 minutes on eBay..

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/125424439942?.

I was watching it but decided that it might not work as tasteful decor in my new living room 

It went in the end for just £20.

I would forever be trying to arrange the pieces to clean up the bench and then out of frustration take it outside and burn it. 

We haven't yet ruled out the posibility that that the higher bidder knows you, and will shortly have a little present to post to you. 

Now that's a sign of a sick and twisted mind .... and I'm jealous I didn't come up with it first.   

[bd139]

Random question. Does anyone know what these HP trimmers are? I know they are made by CTS that is all.

Some of the ones in this HP427A are rusty so I’m intending replacing them with something a little more modern. Plan is to find the data sheet and make a mini adapter PCB for a modern Bourns trimmer.

Edit: after much googling I found a datasheet eventually (attached)

The datasheet is saying something about "RoHS compliant". Are those trimpots in your 427A that young?

I think they just got lucky with whatever they made them out of 

They are pre 1970 

[mansaxel]

1. Sorting components (and other stuff). That's most of what I'm doing with regards to TEA and electronics since months. This morning I had a go at my binding posts and "Telephonbuchsen".

Speaking of telephone connectors; do you (or does anyone) know what would be a nice search string for matching plugs to the 2+1 banana jacks that I recently got from BD139?  I have, I believe, one such plug, and it's connected to a 3 meter cable with a female XLR on. Would of course like to find more. They're a nice way to go into circuits for testing purposes and similar.

[mnementh]

Every now and then, I start another try catching up, just clicking on 5-page increments and skimming over them, looking for juicy pictures.
(SNIP)

Of course, they get counted and sorted:      Back to catching up ever so slowly

Welcome back! The neverending Taco Truck is right where you left it, bd139 has returned from "going on walkabout", and the wannaba canuck-dwagon started a international incident, so after a life-altering dose of bureaucracy I is now a damned Yankee dwagon hiding out in Connecticut.

Alas, we did get rid of the folding canvas chairs... well, they were collateral damage in a few flamewars... but things have died down to a dull roar of late; I've been busy IRL and not around to stir the pot as much.

Anyhow... pull up one of the new lawn chairs and get comfortable. I kept your usual spot in the spot in "the mind gutter" along with all of the regulars. There's fresh pitchers of Mojitos and iced tea over by the cooler; we have sunbrellas too!

mnem

[Saskia]

just phoned a PV guy.
No "island" solution available, no emergency backup generator solution, lead time 1 yr.
 

[Zucca]

That sucks.

I am about to sign a contract to have the PV company just install the panels on the roof and bring me the HV cables in the garage.
I told them how to connect the 6 strings of panels.

I will do the ESS system myself.

45KWh batteries will be delivered on 15th Sept, bought from China directly with shipping door to door.
Inverters and so on will be delivered next week, bought them myself.

Furthermore PV company agreed to provide me the paperwork necessary to get an official permit.

Goal to have the ESS system up and running before 2022 end, so I can squeeze the 26% Federal Tax credit out of Biden pockets.
Next year it drops down to 22%.

I am saving and spending a lot of money at the same time.

[Zucca]

Is everyone ok? 

I scheduled an eye doctor appointment.

[mnementh]

1. Sorting components (and other stuff). That's most of what I'm doing with regards to TEA and electronics since months. This morning I had a go at my binding posts and "Telephonbuchsen".

Speaking of telephone connectors; do you (or does anyone) know what would be a nice search string for matching plugs to the 2+1 banana jacks that I recently got from BD139?  I have, I believe, one such plug, and it's connected to a 3 meter cable with a female XLR on. Would of course like to find more. They're a nice way to go into circuits for testing purposes and similar.

Aren't those (the open c-a-b jacks) to fit 1/4" headphone plugs, with a separate SHIELD connection...?

mnem
 

[david77]

No, no they are 3 Pin plugs, in Germany they're called "TF Stecker".

https://www.ebay.at/itm/Varianten-Siemens-Halske-TF-Stecker-3-Pol-DIN-41268-9REL-kli-6-V01-SuH-TF/303134412781?hash=item4694380fed:g:M60AAOSwsvZc9t4c&var=602741156035

I think TF is derived from "Trägerfrequenz", carrier frequency in english. They were (maybe still are?) extensively used in POTS applications.

[Vince]

Every now and then, I start another try catching up, just clicking on 5-page increments and skimming over them, looking for juicy pictures.
Two from Vince  resonated with me:

1. Sorting components (and other stuff). That's most of what I'm doing with regards to TEA and electronics since months. This morning I had a go at my binding posts and "Telephonbuchsen".

  Hirschmann old style and a bit newer KPI 110:

 

  Rest of the posts, mostly singletons, and the phone jacks:
 
 

  So, everything's squared away nicely in those two boxes, right? Not quite, I've forgotten about them ...

 

2. He also didn't want to part with 2 crappy transistors (2N2904?). Hold my beer! In my early days of electronics, all components were regarded as expensive, valuable stuff. I salvaged whatever I could. To this day I unsolder them from boards - 3 leads are easily pulled (I'm not talking about SMD stuff). Well knowing that I almost certainly won't ever use them again - there's a few thousand new ones wanting to see some action.
  Of course, they get counted and sorted:

 

Back to catching up ever so slowly

Congratulations ! Sorting is the way to go ! 

So many nice binding posts, I am jealous, wish I had a tenth of that ! 
I do have a source of nice old gold plated black ones though : my collection of old glowing Tek scopes !!!

Yes it was a 2N2904 I failed to find the force to scrap... because it was in a gold plated can with gold plated legs.... I just didn't have the heart to let them go.

[Vince]

45Kwh batteries will be delivered [..]

I am still watching ! 

[Vince]

Page 5111 AT LAST !
Almost 2AM, geez I can go to bed now 
So here it is, my Tek scope type 5111.

There are two reasonable responses to the preceeding posts:

• somebody please go back and delete one of their messages. I'd volunteer, but all my posts are worth preserving in a museum
• this group is going to get really repetitive for a while...
  
  

Tggzzz, your page counter is broken, you need to do something about it...maybe call your HA that will try to contact the IT guy who sold you your computer...

EDIT : sorry, wasn't it Spec instead dealing with this ? I just have no memory, I just don't 

[BU508A]

No, no they are 3 Pin plugs, in Germany they're called "TF Stecker".

https://www.ebay.at/itm/Varianten-Siemens-Halske-TF-Stecker-3-Pol-DIN-41268-9REL-kli-6-V01-SuH-TF/303134412781

I think TF is derived from "Trägerfrequenz", carrier frequency in english. They were (maybe still are?) extensively used in POTS applications.

That is a nice one: TF-to-BNC connector:
https://www.ebay.de/itm/234337742989