Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread

[Specmaster]

Looks like its a common problem with the 9501 handles, seems to work perfectly with the 907 handles as these photos show.

[bd139]

Second one looks like my experience. Although after a couple of minutes it fell out. I don't want my genitals tattooed by soldering iron.

The greatest irony of all is it fits in the Weller stand better

[Specmaster]

Second one looks like my experience. Although after a couple of minutes it fell out. I don't want my genitals tattooed by soldering iron.

The greates
t irony of all is it fits in the Weller stand better

My own experience with the ashtray type of stand is the same as mentioned earlier, currently suits me because because I have my stand on top of of my desoldering station, which it self sits on a shelf so it sits 17cms above my bench and the power unit sits 22cms above the bench so I don't have a lot of cable on the bench to get caught and add to the risk of pulling the iron out of the stand and doing a tattoo of my genitals either.

I have done a couple photos (not very good ones as it turned out) of the stand on the bench with the 9501 handle and also the 907 handle and you see that the 907 fits it much better, just as it would do with your yellow stand, so the search continues. I do have in the garage somewhere one of those wire cone types that I may have to dig and try, but I'm not a great fan of those personally, but seeing as these T12's can be set to sleep after so many minutes, it might be OK as I always found with normal irons that the spring became really hot.

[mnementh]

Doing a little detective work it would seem that you have a stand sold by Ksger yes? It says for FX950/951/952 and FM203 and checking on the Hakko site they sell their units fitted with those yellow sleeves   which replace the black screw in bits that we have on the 9501 handles, so the finger guard that we have is not present on the genuine Hakko handles.

The handle with the yellow (or red or blue or green) gel grips is the FM-2028; they are a completely different handle and the grip part snaps in & out & is meant to stay on the tip. (Ka-CHING!) It was offered for late production FX-951s like mine, but I preferred the feel of the FX-9051 black silicone sleeve handle to the stickier feel of the silicone gel grip. I also preferred not having to buy extra gel grips at $16 a pop to go with my $40 Hakko tips. 


It appears the Hakklone FX9051 handles have considerable variation between makers. After seeing you having problems, I checked each of my existing handles. The handle on my OLED T12 build shown to the left came from a random WalMart Marketplace vendor and the stand came from AliEx. They fit perfectly together, just like my original Hakko stand. The raised ridge on the grip measures right at 18mm diameter.

The handle shown on the right is the first station I converted to T12; it is my Aoyue 2702. This one came from Aliexpress years ago; the raised edge measures 19.5mm diameter. The partial handle on the bench is the one I just received from KSGER that I haven't built yet; it measures 18.75 mm and doesn't even try to fit in either of my Hakko stands. 

For reference, the sockets in my stands both taper slightly; they measure 18mm at the bottom, and 18.5mm at the top edge. Looks like I'm going to be breaking out my Dremel for my own stands as well...


mnem
moo. Or don't; it's entirely up to you.

[neo]

Having just put new caps in and reassembled my 8300A i have to say, if i never have to work on the inside of that thing again it will be too soon. 

One slightly misaligned board, not even noticeable to me, nearly let the magic smoke out. 

[Specmaster]

Doing a little detective work it would seem that you have a stand sold by Ksger yes? It says for FX950/951/952 and FM203 and checking on the Hakko site they sell their units fitted with those yellow sleeves   which replace the black screw in bits that we have on the 9501 handles, so the finger guard that we have is not present on the genuine Hakko handles.

The handle with the yellow (or red or blue or green) gel grips is the FM-2028; they are a completely different handle and the grip part snaps in & out & is meant to stay on the tip. (Ka-CHING!) It was offered for late production FX-951s like mine, but I preferred the feel of the FX-9051 black silicone sleeve handle to the stickier feel of the silicone gel grip. I also preferred not having to buy extra gel grips at $16 a pop to go with my $40 Hakko tips. 


It appears the Hakklone FX9051 handles have considerable variation between makers. After seeing you having problems, I checked each of my existing handles. The handle on my OLED T12 build shown to the left came from a random WalMart Marketplace vendor and the stand came from AliEx. They fit perfectly together, just like my original Hakko stand. The raised ridge on the grip measures right at 18mm diameter.

The handle shown on the right is the first station I converted to T12; it is my Aoyue 2702. This one came from Aliexpress years ago; the raised edge measures 19.5mm diameter. The partial handle on the bench is the one I just received from KSGER that I haven't built yet; it measures 18.75 mm and doesn't even try to fit in either of my Hakko stands. 

For reference, the sockets in my stand both taper slightly; they measure 18mm at the bottom, and 18.5mm at the top edge. Looks like I'm going to be breaking out my Dremel for my own stands as well...


mnem
moo. Or don't; it's entirely up to you.

In the morning I'll find my calipers and measure mine, they should be the same measurements since I sourced them from the same place, but both of my stands are of the ashtray (bd139 description) and the 9501 handle does lay in it almost on the horizontal.

[mnementh]

And now for something completely... the same. Well, mostly.



What do all you TEA-timers think of Radio 4 producing another installment based on Colfer's post-Adams work in the HHGTTG mileu with as many of the original cast as they could put together?


mnem
*ZZZzzzZZZzzzZZZzzz...*

[tggzzz]

Having just put new caps in and reassembled my 8300A i have to say, if i never have to work on the inside of that thing again it will be too soon. 

One slightly misaligned board, not even noticeable to me, nearly let the magic smoke out. 

if you wrote that up as a separate post in the repair subforum, it might save other people some angst. A photo of the correctly aligned board would be ideal.

[beanflying]

Mmm post passing material. WRONG!

Having to suffer TEA outdoors again today. Shack is over 40 and outside after 6 still 30+.

TEA to go. 35Ah 750W UPS, 2 34970A dataloggers and PC above topped off with a 25C cabinet.

Physical rack construction phase.

[neo]

Having just put new caps in and reassembled my 8300A i have to say, if i never have to work on the inside of that thing again it will be too soon. 

One slightly misaligned board, not even noticeable to me, nearly let the magic smoke out. 

if you wrote that up as a separate post in the repair subforum, it might save other people some angst. A photo of the correctly aligned board would be ideal.

Well the problem is that i don't know how it was wrong, took it out put it back and it just worked. That says to me that the thing is not only finicky but questionably constructed. The knowledge that the way the thing is built dictates almost complete disassembly and careful reassembly may be of use if anyone else had one.

I'm sure there are other owners but I've yet to find one, anyone here even here of this multimeter before i mentioned it?

If you would like i could create a repair thread just to note the construction of this one obscure oldy, but to me it seems a mute point unless their more common than i think.

[BravoV]

Ooh that looks interesting. Let us know how it goes.

Cosmetically its still very good, powered on & passed self test, but that is it for now, as I can't afford the time spent when tinker with a new toy, time flies really faassstt. 

More details shots attached below.

[Specmaster]

Having just put new caps in and reassembled my 8300A i have to say, if i never have to work on the inside of that thing again it will be too soon. 

One slightly misaligned board, not even noticeable to me, nearly let the magic smoke out. 

Was this board sort of flapping in the breeze with pin header to socket interface on the edge of it? I had one like that on a HP 1740A be case both boards had inadequate support it was possible to move connections along by 1 pin, luckily it didn't do any damage.

[neo]

Having just put new caps in and reassembled my 8300A i have to say, if i never have to work on the inside of that thing again it will be too soon. 

One slightly misaligned board, not even noticeable to me, nearly let the magic smoke out. 

Was this board sort of flapping in the breeze with pin header to socket interface on the edge of it? I had one like that on a HP 1740A be case both boards had inadequate support it was possible to move connections along by 1 pin, luckily it didn't do any damage.

What i think the problem was that, despite the screw, it didn't go all the way down and pressed against the metal above it, thus creating a short...

Thats just one theory it could just as easily not felt like the way this thing is assembled. 

EDIT: To add, the construction is not completely incompetent, for example they have guides on the pin headers. Countering that, you just about have to take the whole thing to bits to get access and reassembled. Too many finicky bits, tight fit and blind angles. At least its a strong design electrically.

[Specmaster]

Doing a little detective work it would seem that you have a stand sold by Ksger yes? It says for FX950/951/952 and FM203 and checking on the Hakko site they sell their units fitted with those yellow sleeves   which replace the black screw in bits that we have on the 9501 handles, so the finger guard that we have is not present on the genuine Hakko handles.

The handle with the yellow (or red or blue or green) gel grips is the FM-2028; they are a completely different handle and the grip part snaps in & out & is meant to stay on the tip. (Ka-CHING!) It was offered for late production FX-951s like mine, but I preferred the feel of the FX-9051 black silicone sleeve handle to the stickier feel of the silicone gel grip. I also preferred not having to buy extra gel grips at $16 a pop to go with my $40 Hakko tips. 


It appears the Hakklone FX9051 handles have considerable variation between makers. After seeing you having problems, I checked each of my existing handles. The handle on my OLED T12 build shown to the left came from a random WalMart Marketplace vendor and the stand came from AliEx. They fit perfectly together, just like my original Hakko stand. The raised ridge on the grip measures right at 18mm diameter.

The handle shown on the right is the first station I converted to T12; it is my Aoyue 2702. This one came from Aliexpress years ago; the raised edge measures 19.5mm diameter. The partial handle on the bench is the one I just received from KSGER that I haven't built yet; it measures 18.75 mm and doesn't even try to fit in either of my Hakko stands. 

For reference, the sockets in my stands both taper slightly; they measure 18mm at the bottom, and 18.5mm at the top edge. Looks like I'm going to be breaking out my Dremel for my own stands as well...


mnem
moo. Or don't; it's entirely up to you.

Measured mine this morning and both measure 19.34 mm and I'm pretty sure that will be the same for BD139 as well as we both sourced from the same place. I think maybe it would be easier to grind away part of the handle rather the stand as if you have a belt sander or similar you only need to rotate the handle while sanding the flange as opposed to trying to control a dremmel while trying to grind inside the holder tube?

[Cerebus]

And now for something completely... the same. Well, mostly.



What do all you TEA-timers think of Radio 4 producing another installment based on Colfer's post-Adams work in the HHGTTG mileu with as many of the original cast as they could put together?


mnem
*ZZZzzzZZZzzzZZZzzz...*

I listened to 5 minutes the other day and changed channels in disgust. Completely different feel from the original radio series. The narrator was narrating it, not just making interjections as 'the book', with a flat, monotonous delivery, there was fragmentary dialogue between the narrations, there was too much narration (easily 50% in the portion I listened to)  and the whole thing lacked what it was there for: 'humour' and 'wit'. It would have failed as a stand-alone show; having to stand in comparison to the original radio series it more than failed.

[Specmaster]

And now for something completely... the same. Well, mostly.



What do all you TEA-timers think of Radio 4 producing another installment based on Colfer's post-Adams work in the HHGTTG mileu with as many of the original cast as they could put together?


mnem
*ZZZzzzZZZzzzZZZzzz...*

I listened to 5 minutes the other day and changed channels in disgust. Completely different feel from the original radio series. The narrator was narrating it, not just making interjections as 'the book', with a flat, monotonous delivery, there was fragmentary dialogue between the narrations, there was too much narration (easily 50% in the portion I listened to)  and the whole thing lacked what it was there for: 'humour' and 'wit'. It would have failed as a stand-alone show; having to stand in comparison to the original radio series it more than failed.

What a right load of drivel this is, waste of the license money in my view.

[Specmaster]

Must say that I'm really impressed by Quicko, new T12 controller ordered on the 6th via Aliexpress and today according to the tracking system it is airborne on route to me so I fully expect to see it within a few days now.

That begs the question about some of the other companies in China that use Aliexpress as their shop window to the world, why the hell can't they get their act together like Quicko? How many times have people ordered something and not had the tracking info updated at all or if it is, its always after you receive the goods?

Just wish that others would follow the shining example that Quicko are providing, it would give others the confidence to buy from China. I have to admit that when I started buying from China, I was concerned after hearing all the horror stories from others about the sellers being rip off merchants but I have not found to the case at all, sure I have had a few disappointments, but no more so then I have from local companies, so by and large the only problem I have Chinese companies is the length of time some of them take in shipping the items ordered.   

[frozenfrogz]

Found some time to play with my latest acquisition, three EMG TR-0463 function generators.
I posted in the "what did you buy today" thread, that the packing job was incredibly lousy. One of the units does not do its signal generation thing, but the modulation part of the circuit is still OK.
Apart from some scratches and dings, three pot knobs broke. However, the seller apologized and sent me back quite a decent amount of coin. I would still have preferred getting three units in good shape for the full amount of money, but oh well... Now the two working ones have been an exceptional bargain and I know the other one is repairable.
I managed to find a copy of the full manual with schematics and theory of operation - all praise the interwebs!

There is some maintenance and calibration that needs to be done, but all in all these do not look to shabby for working on my audio gear

Here are some quick screenshots from the output with sine and square amplitude modulation, because: Squiggly lines!

Why is it, that I am so heavily attracted by early 1980s gear? ... These function generators, my Oltronix LabPacs, HP 16C, Fluke 80xx meters, Sennheiser and AKG headphones from that time,...

[Cerebus]

Found some time to play with my latest acquisition, three EMG TR-0463 function generators.
...
I managed to find a copy of the full manual with schematics and theory of operation - all praise the interwebs!

Where, out of curiosity? (I'm a saddo, I read test equipment schematics like some people read novels.)

[frozenfrogz]

Where, out of curiosity?

There are some sources, archive.org is one of them Did you see, that they have a full manual section?
There is also that polish repository you might already know - the repo is huge!

[mnementh]

Doing a little detective work it would seem that you have a stand sold by Ksger yes? It says for FX950/951/952 and FM203 and checking on the Hakko site they sell their units fitted with those yellow sleeves   which replace the black screw in bits that we have on the 9501 handles, so the finger guard that we have is not present on the genuine Hakko handles.

The handle with the yellow (or red or blue or green) gel grips is the FM-2028; they are a completely different handle and the grip part snaps in & out & is meant to stay on the tip. (Ka-CHING!) It was offered for late production FX-951s like mine, but I preferred the feel of the FX-9051 black silicone sleeve handle to the stickier feel of the silicone gel grip. I also preferred not having to buy extra gel grips at $16 a pop to go with my $40 Hakko tips. 


It appears the Hakklone FX9051 handles have considerable variation between makers. After seeing you having problems, I checked each of my existing handles. The handle on my OLED T12 build shown to the left came from a random WalMart Marketplace vendor and the stand came from AliEx. They fit perfectly together, just like my original Hakko stand. The raised ridge on the grip measures right at 18mm diameter.

The handle shown on the right is the first station I converted to T12; it is my Aoyue 2702. This one came from Aliexpress years ago; the raised edge measures 19.5mm diameter. The partial handle on the bench is the one I just received from KSGER that I haven't built yet; it measures 18.75 mm and doesn't even try to fit in either of my Hakko stands. 

For reference, the sockets in my stands both taper slightly; they measure 18mm at the bottom, and 18.5mm at the top edge. Looks like I'm going to be breaking out my Dremel for my own stands as well...


mnem
moo. Or don't; it's entirely up to you.

Measured mine this morning and both measure 19.34 mm and I'm pretty sure that will be the same for BD139 as well as we both sourced from the same place. I think maybe it would be easier to grind away part of the handle rather the stand as if you have a belt sander or similar you only need to rotate the handle while sanding the flange as opposed to trying to control a dremmel while trying to grind inside the holder tube?

Of course it would be EASIER... but there's no way you'd get it done in any manner that doesn't look and feel like utter shite, especially the silicone grip. Fuck that noise; this is the part you hold in your hand, that YOU interface with for hours a day. I am NOT going to put up with that.

Also, since it appears this is a "thing" with the aftermarket FX-9051 handles, every time you replace or repair your handle you're going to have to mod the handle again; fix the stand, and it's fixed once and for all.

I'm REALLY annoyed by this, BTW...  y'all bought this on my recommendation too, and of course we find out AFTER the fact it has integral suckage. AGAIN.


As atonement, I've bought a Hakklone FM-2028 handle; I'm going to see if it actually fits these stands properly. I suspect this may be why they don't fit our "old school" handles. We'll see in a month or so.

And now for something completely... the same. Well, mostly.



What do all you TEA-timers think of Radio 4 producing another installment based on Colfer's post-Adams work in the HHGTTG mileu with as many of the original cast as they could put together?


mnem
*ZZZzzzZZZzzzZZZzzz...*

I listened to 5 minutes the other day and changed channels in disgust. Completely different feel from the original radio series. The narrator was narrating it, not just making interjections as 'the book', with a flat, monotonous delivery, there was fragmentary dialogue between the narrations, there was too much narration (easily 50% in the portion I listened to)  and the whole thing lacked what it was there for: 'humour' and 'wit'. It would have failed as a stand-alone show; having to stand in comparison to the original radio series it more than failed.

What a right load of drivel this is, waste of the license money in my view.

*sigh* I was afraid of this.

Do any of y'all know where I can get the original radio series-es? Preferably in MP3 format? I'm not averse to paying; just can't seem to find them on the beeb's site.

Where, out of curiosity?

There are some sources, archive.org is one of them Did you see, that they have a full manual section?
There is also that polish repository you might already know - the repo is huge!

*snurches links for his Tech Tips folder* 


mnem
*mostly harmless irrelevant*

[Specmaster]

Measured mine this morning and both measure 19.34 mm and I'm pretty sure that will be the same for BD139 as well as we both sourced from the same place. I think maybe it would be easier to grind away part of the handle rather the stand as if you have a belt sander or similar you only need to rotate the handle while sanding the flange as opposed to trying to control a dremmel while trying to grind inside the holder tube?

Of course it would be EASIER... but there's no way you'd get it done in any manner that doesn't look and feel like utter shite, especially the silicone grip. Fuck that noise; this is the part you hold in your hand, that YOU interface with for hours a day. I am NOT going to put up with that.

Also, since it appears this is a "thing" with the aftermarket FX-9051 handles, every time you replace or repair your handle you're going to have to mod the handle again; fix the stand, and it's fixed once and for all.

I'm REALLY annoyed by this, BTW...  y'all bought this on my recommendation too, and of course we find out AFTER the fact it has integral suckage. AGAIN.

As atonement, I've bought a Hakklone FM-2028 handle; I'm going to see if it actually fits these stands properly. I suspect this may be why they don't fit our "old school" handles. We'll see in a month or so.

mnem
*mostly harmless irrelevant*

Hardly your fault is if they decide to change something to make it slightly less of of a direct clone, its only going to take a little ingenuity to overcome the problem, or use one of the many spring type of iron holders on the market. I for one am happy that I followed your advice, even with the problem with the Hakko controller (new one one from Quicko could be with me next week if current progress continues) and then I'll be in action with 2 systems 

[neo]

Having just received the 7A18 spare knobs i noticed that the shaft length is different, so now I'm forced to buy a coupling shaft. But that should be here in a few days, and i now have most of a 7A18, shafts included.

All i took off the thing was the 2 volt div knobs, a volt div vernier and a single screw.

[mnementh]

And now for something completely... the same. Well, mostly.



What do all you TEA-timers think of Radio 4 producing another installment based on Colfer's post-Adams work in the HHGTTG mileu with as many of the original cast as they could put together?


mnem
*ZZZzzzZZZzzzZZZzzz...*

I listened to 5 minutes the other day and changed channels in disgust. Completely different feel from the original radio series. The narrator was narrating it, not just making interjections as 'the book', with a flat, monotonous delivery, there was fragmentary dialogue between the narrations, there was too much narration (easily 50% in the portion I listened to)  and the whole thing lacked what it was there for: 'humour' and 'wit'. It would have failed as a stand-alone show; having to stand in comparison to the original radio series it more than failed.

What a right load of drivel this is, waste of the license money in my view.

*sigh* I was afraid of this.

Do any of y'all know where I can get the original radio series-es? Preferably in MP3 format? I'm not averse to paying; just can't seem to find them on the beeb's site.

mnem
*mostly harmless irrelevant*

I think I found what I'm looking for here.

[bitseeker]

Ooh that looks interesting. Let us know how it goes.

Cosmetically its still very good, powered on & passed self test, but that is it for now, as I can't afford the time spent when tinker with a new toy, time flies really faassstt. 

Yeah, you can say that again. Looks almost new. What a score! Can't wait to see how it performs.