Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread

[med6753]

Just a quick question, if you lot were designing a bench for true boat anchors, as well as just a general work table, how much would you design it to hold without sagging?

Hypothetically for this question lets say that you got a barn full of wood in your back yard that needs used.

*EDIT* to add;
This is completely related, this is hypothetical table is for boat anchors!

Build it strong. My bench dimensions are 5 ft (152 cm) X 2 ft (61 cm). The top is 3/4 inch plywood topped with 1 inch (3/4 inch actual dimension) pine boards. It can safely support in excess of 200 pounds (90 kg) with ease. If I didn't have the upper shelf unit on it there would be plenty of room for the biggest boatanchor.

    

[med6753]

I think our official motto should be "Holy Shitballs!"   What say the group? 

[bd139]

Original source:



Edit: BTW nice bench. Nice to see some wood rather than the plastic shit I have

[GreyWoolfe]

LOL, I didn't know you could put your own splash message in there.

I have my nickname and call sign on my Baofeng.  Chirp is great software.  Very easy to figure out.

[nixiefreqq]

I think our official motto should be "Holy Shitballs!"   What say the group?

the exclamatory form is not bad......"Holy Shitballs!".


but might we consider the interrogative......"Holy Shitballs?"


the simple declarative IS kinda' piss weak......"holy shitballs."

[mnementh]

Ok had another "I'll be screwed if I'm paying for something" moment and made another piece of test gear. It's Sunday so this is a "was made from crap lying around" project.  I need an antenna analyser as I can't take my TDS210 and DG1022Z out without an inverter and massive car battery which is just stupid.

VU2ESE knocked up a design called a sweeperino which is an arduino, synthesizer and power meter that allows you to fart a signal out and then measure returned power. Basically a scalar network analyser, with some caveats but meh. I happen to have the wrong synthesizer IC dev board lying around, an Si5351, a arduino pro mini, a shitty LCR meter I didn't like and a power meter I built ages ago as a prototype for another one. So frankensweeper it is.

Early win... arduino, LCD and synthesizer IC. The synthesizer IC, the Si5351 is pretty damn cool and will quite happily hit 200MHz. I used it for a bit as a 2m CW transmitter on 144MHz by plugging in an antenna directly into it and stepping frequency and walking around the house excitedly jumping around making whooping noises as it worked. Then I limped down the road and it was still readable after about 500m. Then my foot hurt so I went back home. I might use one with an LPF and simple PA to build a little morse beacon. Really cool little IC and costs bugger all. LCD salvaged from LCR meter (which was a piece of shite if there ever was one). New hello world (deadpool 2 reference)...

   

Further down the line it got the power sensor (recycled), a control pot and a 7805 so I can run it off a 12v SLA or an AA pack:

I think it took an hour to rip out all the shite code, fix the frequency conversion stuff, wire in the Si5351 library (properly) and calibrate the frequency. I still haven't done the power calibration as it's too late and I'm too tired now but it mostly works! Showing (nearly) a 6dB loss on the RLB which is correct as it's also known as a 6dB hybrid. Phew...

Now the only dick about it is as it's a clock gen IC rather than a DDS with niceties such as aliasing filters, it has harmonic spurs so you have to think carefully about what it's telling you. It's good enough to use with the RLB to tune up an antenna though.

Edit: credit to VU2ESE (Farhan of bitx and hfsignals fame) for the basic idea and half of the code.

In other News...

Ok had another "I'll be screwed if I'm paying for something" moment and made another adapter. It's Monday (I hate Mondays, so why not just pile on the misery) so this is a "was made from crap lying around" project.  I need to get CHIRP going as my new Baofeng UV-5R from Banggood just arrived and otherwise I'd have to wait for the cable to show up too, which is just stupid.

Some (l)user on the qrz forums knocked up a diagram using an FTDI that allows you to fart a TTL signal out and read back from the radio. Basically a SERVO cable with some soldering, but meh. I happen to have a dozen or so FTDIs in different flavors from every flight controller you can imagine, and plugs off some shitty headphones I didn't like and a power adapter I set fire to "accidentally on purpose" because it was noisy as hell and was a piece of shit if I ever did see one. So frankenserial it is.

A little while and some love-nips from my MetCal later and I have what looks like it'll work. I double, then triple-check the pinout against the diagram, then plug it in the USB and make sure the signed drivers from SiLabs install. I get a VCOM on port 4, so I fire up CHIRP and try to read from the radio and... NOTHING. Go back and check the wiring yet AGAIN. Nope... it's right. At first I'm like "Did I grab a eukered FTDI?", but no... I make it a habit to smash ANY dead serial adapter to bits with a hammer (took great pleasure in doing that to a dozen or so clone ones back when SiLabs bricked them all) so I'm NEVER tempted to try and use it again.

The cynic in me says " You know this is info from the intard-net. How much you wanna bet..." but I'm already swapping TX and RX, so he shuts up.

Try it again and winner, winner, chicken dinner. We have comms! My inner cynic crosses his arms and grins smugly, but he knows to keep his mouth shut while I'm trying to figure out new software. Of course later he'll nag me to death until I fix that effed-up diagram...

Turns out CHIRP was written by marginally sane people who actually put things together sensibly; once I figured out how the memory slot offset thing worked, I had all the default US FRS, Marine & NOAA channels stacked up, then I poked around to see what else I could fuck up... and whaddayooKNOW! A tiny 7-char + 7-char splash message!

Did I really have ANY choice about what to put there?!? 


mnem
Yes, this should feel uncomfortably familiar.

Splash message was the first thing I set up on mine 

That's probably much better than the official serial cable as well which requires you to pretty much dry hump it in or it barely works

I figured since I was copying your gag, I'd pretty much just lift your entire narrative style lock, stock & two smoking barrels. Whenever I read one of your posts like this one, I always hear it in my grandfather's deep, brown Arkansas drawl. Yes, that's a compliment; he was a master machinist during and after the war with a right devilish sense of humor. 

Oh, yeah... once I got TX/RX right, it connects painlessly; those siamesed plugs always annoyed the hell outta me. They work fine on 1/4"  phono plugs which have a millimeter or two of tolerance, but when you try to shrink them down and make them cheap, then they don't want to align right or make good connection. feh.

Ooh that smarts and it chaffs 

(chafes?) Hells yeah! SHAVE 'EM DRY!!! 

Just a quick question, if you lot were designing a bench for true boat anchors, as well as just a general work table, how much would you design it to hold without sagging?

Hypothetically for this question lets say that you got a barn full of wood in your back yard that needs used.

*EDIT* to add;
This is completely related, this is hypothetical table is for boat anchors!

Build it strong. My bench dimensions are 5 ft (152 cm) X 2 ft (61 cm). The top is 3/4 inch plywood topped with 1 inch (3/4 inch actual dimension) pine boards. It can safely support in excess of 200 pounds (90 kg) with ease. If I didn't have the upper shelf unit on it there would be plenty of room for the biggest boatanchor.

..................................

When you say "strong" this is where I start. These are warehouse "pallet racks" and I've seen them used to hold up cars and trucks. As in multiple. They're available from 30" to 52" deep in standard sizes, and standard sizes start in 4' wide up to 12' wide. They are fully modular; you can add onto either end with just a set of rungs and another frame piece. You can often find them for scrap metal prices at liquidation auctions; otherwise pretty much any large city will have a "warehouse supply" with used ones for about 1/4- 1/8 the price of new, depending on how ugly you can put up with.

I've bought 8' x 6' x 30" deep units many times to build work benches; a 3-layer unit can usually be had used for $200-400 used from these guys. A little grinder abuse, some fresh paint and you're ready to lay down plywood.  I've built similar from scratch, and truth is, the material costs more than you can buy these things for.

My "mobile bench" is one of these motorcycle lifts (I stole mine for $125 when HFT was blowing out the air-powered models at a parking lot sale) with a piece of industrial countertop (think 1 1/2" plywood with 1/8" thick laminate) across it; I built it back in the day when I was doing repair work and projection TVs were still worth good money. I'd show you a pic, unfortunately right now has a motorcycle on it and is buried behind a moving wall of JENGA.  One of these days I'll unearth it again...

I think our official motto should be "Holy Shitballs!"   What say the group?

the exclamatory form is not bad......"Holy Shitballs!".  but might we consider the interrogative......"Holy Shitballs?"  the simple declarative IS kinda' piss weak......"holy shitballs."

mnem
Great... now I've got "Holy Shitballs!" sung to the tune of "Ride of the Valkyries" stuck in my head...

[bd139]

Spent a few hours yesterday planning how to get to Milton Keynes by train for MKARS hamfest. Ended up rather annoyed about this situation due to “rail replacement bus” and decided four wheels it is. Managed to get the shite box limping well enough to get out and find a replacement TEA transport device tomorrow. Wish me luck

[Specmaster]

Spent a few hours yesterday planning how to get to Milton Keynes by train for MKARS hamfest. Ended up rather annoyed about this situation due to “rail replacement bus” and decided four wheels it is. Managed to get the shite box limping well enough to get out and find a replacement TEA transport device tomorrow. Wish me luck

A bike and a 2 wheeled trailer was your transport of choice yesterday. Public transport is not a good option these days is it?

[bd139]

I’ve actually nipped around on public transport for the last 3-4 days and it has been quite frankly excellent. Oyster here so you just tap your phone on when you get on a bus and you’re done.

But no good for long distance outside of London and no good for dragging heavy shit around (TEA)

[Specmaster]

I’ve actually nipped around on public transport for the last 3-4 days and it has been quite frankly excellent. Oyster here so you just tap your phone on when you get on a bus and you’re done.

But no good for long distance outside of London and no good for dragging heavy shit around (TEA)

I'm watching the day of the Triffids on Amazon Prime. Forgotten about this [emoji44]

[bd139]

Is that a remake or the original one from the 70s/80s?

I read the book when I was a kid.

[Specmaster]

Is that a remake or the original one from the 70s/80s?

I read the book when I was a kid.

The original.

[bd139]

Good good

@mnementh: I’ve had holy shitballs in my head for days now. People were in tears of laughter in the cinema with that film

[Specmaster]

Good good

@mnementh: I’ve had holy shitballs in my head for days now. People were in tears of laughter in the cinema with that film

Holy Shitballs is apt watching this film.

[mnementh]

Good good

@mnementh: I’ve had holy shitballs in my head for days now. People were in tears of laughter in the cinema with that film

Holy Shitballs is apt watching this film.

Yeah... my wife & I went out for our anniversary and saw it. Movie is just six kinds of wrong all at once... but you can't help laughing your gonads off. 

We loved the bit where Deadpool shot Ryan Reynolds in the head over the Green Lantern script... absolutely inspired.


mnem

Meanwhile, Deadpool 2’s film score has received a parental advisory warning.

The official soundtrack includes five tracks titled – ‘Holy Shit Balls’, ‘You Can’t Stop This Mother Fucker’, ‘Make The Whole World Our Bitch’, ‘Pity Dick’, and ‘Courage Mother Fucker’ – as well as some other less offensively titled songs.

It was put together by Tyler Bates, who also worked on the soundtracks for Guardians Of The Galaxy, Dawn Of The Dead, and 300. When he heard of the parental advisory warning, he called the sticker a “badge of honour”.

Read more at https://www.nme.com/news/film/deadpool-2-film-score-first-ever-receive-parental-advisory-warning-2313528

[bd139]

I wish SWMBO would go and watch films like that with me. I love a bit of totally wrong in a fillm Green Lantern bit (and when he killed old deadpool) was great.

Also got Peter Gabriel and Cher stuck in my head now.

Just sold a load of stuff on and off eBay. Now looking for replacement TEA toys on eBay. Need a 30A 12V linear power supply (not switching). I tried one out of a DL380g8 and the damn thing has harmonics every 43KHz one of which is right in the middle of 20m band

Considering building one as I get to add my own crowbar and startup circuit then.

[bitseeker]

When you say "strong" this is where I start. These are warehouse "pallet racks" and I've seen them used to hold up cars and trucks. As in multiple. They're available from 30" to 52" deep in standard sizes, and standard sizes start in 4' wide up to 12' wide. They are fully modular; you can add onto either end with just a set of rungs and another frame piece. You can often find them for scrap metal prices at liquidation auctions; otherwise pretty much any large city will have a "warehouse supply" with used ones for about 1/4- 1/8 the price of new, depending on how ugly you can put up with.

Yep, that looks like what holds up Rob's shack.

[Specmaster]

I wish SWMBO would go and watch films like that with me. I love a bit of totally wrong in a fillm Green Lantern bit (and when he killed old deadpool) was great.

Also got Peter Gabriel and Cher stuck in my head now.

Just sold a load of stuff on and off eBay. Now looking for replacement TEA toys on eBay. Need a 30A 12V linear power supply (not switching). I tried one out of a DL380g8 and the damn thing has harmonics every 43KHz one of which is right in the middle of 20m band

Considering building one as I get to add my own crowbar and startup circuit then.

The only time SWMBO and I have been to the cinema together was many moons ago and to watch Tess of the D'urbervilles, there the only kind of film she likes oh and of course the daily soaps  Anything with a bit of action or humour in it, nah forget it, ain't going to happen 

[neo]

For this table i was think 42 by 34 approximately with a two inch thick solid wood top that has a brace every  22.25 inches center to center and then a cross brace, to support the brace slats, consisting of a 4 by 6. The brace, the slats as i called them, would be 2 by 8 pieces.
Or, if my inferior description doesn't make sense, then see the image included. Black & Gray is the top, red is brace, yellow is cross brace and green are the legs
Black & Gray, top; 3, 11.25 wide by 42 long, 1.5 thick
Red, Brace ; 1.5 wide and 34 long, 6.5 thick
Yellow, cross brace; 3.5 wide, 42 long, 5.5 thick
Green, legs; 3.5x3.5 post 23 tall

The table as described could take up to about 600-1200 pounds. My logic being;
A) I have a barn full of wood.
B) One must account for potential idiocy.
C) I'll wind up with a nice 15 wide pocket just tall enough for one or maybe a pair of smaller bits of TEA.
D) MORE POWER!
E) Sag is evil.
F) I can.

Oh, and this is just the base table i intend to have a shelf on hanging off the back of it.

Can you say solid as a dead rock? 

[bd139]

G) if there’s a nuclear explosion you can bug out under it

[med6753]

Where I live the USPS has what they call "Rural Route Delivery". We each have an individual mailbox at the road. USPS delivers the mail to the mailbox via a driver in a USPS van. Now typically if a package is too large for the mailbox our particular driver will pull up and place the package in our enclosed porch. Today I was expecting a delivery from Mouser. When I woke up this afternoon I checked and it was delivered. So came down to the front porch and no package. I look outside and I see the package wedged between my mailbox and a neighbors. Totally exposed out in the open. Apparently the postman got lazy. And of course while I was sleeping it rained like hell. So I get the package and it's soaking wet and falling apart. It's a good thing Mouser bags and seals each part. They were OK. I guess USPS doesn't check the weather forecast.     

[mnementh]

I wish SWMBO would go and watch films like that with me. I love a bit of totally wrong in a fillm Green Lantern bit (and when he killed old deadpool) was great.

Also got Peter Gabriel and Cher stuck in my head now.

Just sold a load of stuff on and off eBay. Now looking for replacement TEA toys on eBay. Need a 30A 12V linear power supply (not switching). I tried one out of a DL380g8 and the damn thing has harmonics every 43KHz one of which is right in the middle of 20m band

Considering building one as I get to add my own crowbar and startup circuit then.

Damn you.

Now you made me go drag it out to see what died in it... I have a prehistoric Pyramid 25A variable supply made with oodles of MJE2955s driven by a 2N3055 in series-pass with a LM723. It's dead-simple; no short-protection save the line fuse. I've blown it up so many times I can't count... find the shorted transistor, cut it out, replace it when I get around to it. 

I rebuilt it with all 2SD1049s 10 years ago; worked great until I started using it for testing ESCS/BL motors. The spikes those things generate are just too fast, and those 2SD1049s can pass 5A of base current apiece up the chain. I keep telling myself I need to rebuild it again... but then the asshole part of me says I need to gut it and start over; build something monstrous with CC/CV. Of course, those d1049s can handle enough surge current... I could probably put a fuse in there and it would actually make a difference, unlike with the 2955s.

I'm tempted; it has a 36V/25A rated CT transformer the size of your head. But it's REALLY 2 separate 18V windings tied together at the CT. I COULD break them apart for 18V/50A capacity... 

And a third possibility is to bridge rectify the output, then buy a couple of those DPS5015 modules and filter the shit out of the outputs. I've got like a shoebox worth of space for caps once I gut the thing, and I could heat-pipe the FETs to the huge-ass heatsinks it's already got.

Yeah... you get the idea. I've vacillated back & forth on this a dozen times over the last couple years...

*humming a wandering tune while I work...* You're right... I'm lucky I have a wife who likes to watch the effed-up stuff with me... but then again, we DID meet in a chatroom devoted to the TV show Farscape. We both knew the other was futtinna'ead when we hooked up.   

Yup. One or more shorted D1049s, pot smoked open... LM723 just gets hot... but 2N3055 is still good! 

Double-damn you now... you got me second-guessing myself. It does seem a crying shame to stick a SMPS regulator after all that delicious linear power... but fuck... those DPS5015s look SO easy. And now they've got a version with Serial/Bluetooth!

Come on... what's 30-80mV/60KHz ripple between friends? 


mnem

[neo]

G) if there’s a nuclear explosion you can bug out under it

I like where your head is at on this but unless the tables grows a foot or i shrink in diameter by that or more it will be a no go. Besides any true atomic bomb would turn the thing to dust in an instant.

[Specmaster]

G) if there’s a nuclear explosion you can bug out under it

I like where your head is at on this but unless the tables grows a foot or i shrink in diameter by that or more it will be a no go. Besides any true atomic bomb would turn the thing to dust in an instant.

I think that it is way too low at 24.5 inches tall

[mnementh]

For this table i was think 42 by 34 approximately with a two inch thick solid wood top that has a brace every  22.25 inches center to center and then a cross brace, to support the brace slats, consisting of a 4 by 6. The brace, the slats as i called them, would be 2 by 8 pieces.
Or, if my inferior description doesn't make sense, then see the image included. Black & Gray is the top, red is brace, yellow is cross brace and green are the legs
Black & Gray, top; 3, 11.25 wide by 42 long, 1.5 thick
Red, Brace ; 1.5 wide and 34 long, 6.5 thick
Yellow, cross brace; 3.5 wide, 42 long, 5.5 thick
Green, legs; 3.5x3.5 post 23 tall

The table as described could take up to about 600-1200 pounds. My logic being;
A) I have a barn full of wood.
B) One must account for potential idiocy.
C) I'll wind up with a nice 15 wide pocket just tall enough for one or maybe a pair of smaller bits of TEA.
D) MORE POWER!
E) Sag is evil.
F) I can.

Oh, and this is just the base table i intend to have a shelf on hanging off the back of it.

Can you say solid as a dead rock? 

Move the back legs outside of the braces; then you can make them 6 feet tall and build your shelving from them with standard brackets. Also, go to  your local homeowner hell and look for truss brackets/joist hangers. They're crazy cheap, and they make this kind of construction dead easy and crazy strong.

Where I live the USPS has what they call "Rural Route Delivery". We each have an individual mailbox at the road. USPS delivers the mail to the mailbox via a driver in a USPS van. Now typically if a package is too large for the mailbox our particular driver will pull up and place the package in our enclosed porch. Today I was expecting a delivery from Mouser. When I woke up this afternoon I checked and it was delivered. So came down to the front porch and no package. I look outside and I see the package wedged between my mailbox and a neighbors. Totally exposed out in the open. Apparently the postman got lazy. And of course while I was sleeping it rained like hell. So I get the package and it's soaking wet and falling apart. It's a good thing Mouser bags and seals each part. They were OK. I guess USPS doesn't check the weather forecast.     

That's why I put up a "Rural Route Mailbox" no matter WHERE I move to. 

There's room in there for electronic parts, car parts, whole oscilloscopes, a 3D Printer, The Mormon Tabernacle Choir...


mnem
But watch out for the Grelber.