Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread

[bd139]

I just take my car to the least respectable place to get it done and it goes straight through every time (fiat dealer).

[Specmaster]

I've only had 1 car fail in all the time I've had a car and thats been since I was 18 and that passed minutes later as it was a bulb blown and I popped a new one in there and then.

[tggzzz]

Thats so much better than our crappy system, a test is £54.85 and lasts only 1 year. If it fails and you can repair it and return to the same test centre within 24 hours, the retest is free. 24 hours to 10 days you pay a partial test fee (note that they don't state what that fee is, I expect that to allow the test centre to set their own charges and make more money  After 10 days your back to the full fee again.

Last week my car had its MoT (cost £25 inc VAT), and failed, justifiably.

I had it repaired (could have done it myself, probably, but the extra cost wasn't worth it), and took it back within a week. They passed it for zero extra cost, when I was expectign to have to pay another £5.

[bd139]

Yeah I’ve never had to pay for a retest. They don’t usually put it through the computer if it fails the first time.

For that price is it at the local council depot?

[factory]

I'll see your HP moulded branded plug with the branded moulded plug on my HP 6236B and raise you a Vactrol and a heatsink.

That does look a bit newer though, the stuff I usually buy is ancient in comparsion, also the leads are usually missing or the plugs have been changed for newer ones.

David

[factory]

Re: HP supplies...

Very nice 6205. Original Harrison branded one too.

Not going to part with this one. It did fine service this evening when I was measuring step response of a filter I designed. I really like it. Just feels solid, tactile and just nice to use.

I might pick up some more if they’re in good condition. There’s one up there now, the 0-320V model but the price is stupid high and I’d kill myself in two minutes flat with it.

Yes I would have also been tempted by that one if the price was lower and I didn't already have several other high voltage supplies (HP 711A & very early Farnell E350).

David

[Specmaster]

Thats so much better than our crappy system, a test is £54.85 and lasts only 1 year. If it fails and you can repair it and return to the same test centre within 24 hours, the retest is free. 24 hours to 10 days you pay a partial test fee (note that they don't state what that fee is, I expect that to allow the test centre to set their own charges and make more money  After 10 days your back to the full fee again.

Last week my car had its MoT (cost £25 inc VAT), and failed, justifiably.

I had it repaired (could have done it myself, probably, but the extra cost wasn't worth it), and took it back within a week. They passed it for zero extra cost, when I was expectign to have to pay another £5.

How did you get it cheap, check the mot   test site which is where I got the info from.

From mobile device so predictive text might have struck again [emoji83]

[Cerebus]

I'll see your HP moulded branded plug with the branded moulded plug on my HP 6236B and raise you a Vactrol and a heatsink.

That does look a bit newer though, the stuff I usually buy is ancient in comparsion, also the leads are usually missing or the plugs have been changed for newer ones.

David

Week 38 1984 going from the serial number.

[tggzzz]

Thats so much better than our crappy system, a test is £54.85 and lasts only 1 year. If it fails and you can repair it and return to the same test centre within 24 hours, the retest is free. 24 hours to 10 days you pay a partial test fee (note that they don't state what that fee is, I expect that to allow the test centre to set their own charges and make more money  After 10 days your back to the full fee again.

Last week my car had its MoT (cost £25 inc VAT), and failed, justifiably.

I had it repaired (could have done it myself, probably, but the extra cost wasn't worth it), and took it back within a week. They passed it for zero extra cost, when I was expectign to have to pay another £5.

How did you get it cheap, check the mot   test site which is where I got the info from.

From mobile device so predictive text might have struck again [emoji83]

That gives the maximum allowable price. Try contacting the people that actually do the tests, e.g. Kwikfit.

[med6753]

Nonetheless... if your state hasn't already implemented these minimum emissions tests, they ARE coming soon. Get ready.

Hmmm.... here in WA, the test is $15 and you get a free retest if you fail.  Also, once you've spent $150 on diagnosis/repair at an approved specialist, you can get a waiver!  So $165 worst case.  Once you get the certificate, it's valid for two years and by renewing your registration early (they allow up to six months), you can milk it for three.

My 2001 Audi likes to throw "warmup catalytic converter efficiency" codes.  The test is too sensitive some say.  Early this year, the check engine light went off voluntarily, so I hied down to the testing station and got my three years worth for $15.  Must have been running really good gas that week   I'd actually fix it, but the offending downpipes are $400 each and the official procedure is to remove the engine to replace them.

There was talk about abandoning the testing program here since so few cars fail these days.  They don't test new cars nor really old ones anymore.

See, each state is different. In NY there are no waivers or limits. I asked an inspector this very question since my Honda Civic is 14 years old and has nearly 190K miles on it. The response was any OBD-II vehicle, 1996 and newer, must pass yearly with no active or pending DTC's stored in the ECU. So you could possibly face a decision on an older vehicle....either fix it or junk it.

[Specmaster]

Thats so much better than our crappy system, a test is £54.85 and lasts only 1 year. If it fails and you can repair it and return to the same test centre within 24 hours, the retest is free. 24 hours to 10 days you pay a partial test fee (note that they don't state what that fee is, I expect that to allow the test centre to set their own charges and make more money  After 10 days your back to the full fee again.

Last week my car had its MoT (cost £25 inc VAT), and failed, justifiably.

I had it repaired (could have done it myself, probably, but the extra cost wasn't worth it), and took it back within a week. They passed it for zero extra cost, when I was expectign to have to pay another £5.

How did you get it cheap, check the mot   test site which is where I got the info from.

From mobile device so predictive text might have struck again [emoji83]

That gives the maximum allowable price. Try contacting the people that actually do the tests, e.g. Kwikfit.

You are quite correct, it is the maximum charge, but that still kind of shouts out at least to me as "Rip of Britain" as I'm sure that there will be some garages etc that will charge that and there's no way that it costs that much to carry out a test.

[tggzzz]

Thats so much better than our crappy system, a test is £54.85 and lasts only 1 year. If it fails and you can repair it and return to the same test centre within 24 hours, the retest is free. 24 hours to 10 days you pay a partial test fee (note that they don't state what that fee is, I expect that to allow the test centre to set their own charges and make more money  After 10 days your back to the full fee again.

Last week my car had its MoT (cost £25 inc VAT), and failed, justifiably.

I had it repaired (could have done it myself, probably, but the extra cost wasn't worth it), and took it back within a week. They passed it for zero extra cost, when I was expectign to have to pay another £5.

How did you get it cheap, check the mot   test site which is where I got the info from.

From mobile device so predictive text might have struck again [emoji83]

That gives the maximum allowable price. Try contacting the people that actually do the tests, e.g. Kwikfit.

You are quite correct, it is the maximum charge, but that still kind of shouts out at least to me as "Rip of Britain" as I'm sure that there will be some garages etc that will charge that and there's no way that it costs that much to carry out a test.

Shrug. Many garages do charge the maximum; no surprises there. Doesn't mean you have to go there!

There is, of course, quite a lot of equipment required (and it is increasing), and some of it takes up significant space - both of which add to the costs.

But there are, of course, more pernicious practices, e.g. failing a car in the expectation that you will pay them to fix the fault. I always make them realise that I will get repairs done elsewhere.

[bd139]

To be fair I actually get a decent deal with local Fiat dealer. They pick it up, do the service and MoT at the same time, fix any shit and bring it back. They itemise everything, the labour costs are reasonable, they pick reasonably priced parts, rarely fuck up, give me all the dead bits to take home, fix it bloody quick (48 hour turnaround) and I don’t get charged for picking it up and dropping it off.

Last full service (inc oil+filters), MoT, replacement tyres on front, front arm, light bulb, front pads, tracking and transporting the vehicle cost me 370 fitted. They even cleaned it.

Edit: looked up price. Was 370 not 320. Still pretty good.

[Specmaster]

Yeah, that's not bad considering tyres can be around £100 each. My next service is due about the same time as my MOT and its a big service that will involve possibly a new water pump, cambelt change and brakes so it will probably be around the £400 to £500 mark including the MOT which be done at my local Skoda dealer. I don't have a choice with regard to the major work as it will 5 years on the same cambelt and failure to replace them will result in them snapping and that totals the engine and that will be much more costly to replace.

[mnementh]

[SLICE OF LIFE Random Mode]





Strange how something so mundane and unremarkable can trigger such a flood of memories...  This has been kept in a motor tube in the back of one tool box or another of mine since I was fourteen; as impossible as it seems, I've owned it for 36 years.

This was the first thing I ever bought by myself at a Radio Shack; I'd just gotten my first street bike and I rode it (Illegal as all hell; no license and the previous owner's plates) 45 minutes from the family farm to Elmira NY to get this thing so I could finish setting up the matchbox and antenna on grandfather's old Yaesu. On the way back, it started to rain... I arrived home soaked to the bone with this, a roll of 60/40, and a bag of salted pistachios in my backpack.

My mother and my grandmother were waiting for me; they both read me the riot act and then mother took my keys for a month. I felt about as big as a beetle; I wished I could shrink away even more and disappear under the pantry door.

After dinner, though, mother promised to give me driving lessons and take me to get my permit on my next birthday.

*Sigh*

I feel so very, very old.


[/SLICE OF LIFE Random Mode]





In other news...

BEHOLD! Gaze on in awe and terror; at the amazing CLEAR SPACE ON MY WORKBENCH! I've been working my tuchus off all week to make this hole; it's for a special project.



 

My father's day present to myself was this; a Tevo Tornado 3D printer. It is based on the popular Tevo Tarantula basic design; with a number of bug-fixes and twice the build volume. More importantly, unlike the Tarantula, there are no acrylic parts and the thing comes 95% assembled out of the box. This is how it looked 3 minutes after I took it out of the box; only a few screws and brackets to attach the two main assemblies together and supposedly it is ready to print. At first I was a bit annoyed to see screw marks and scuffs on the parts; then I looked at the hotbed and I realized... the unit has been assembled, and a leveling/linearity test print done prior to boxing for shipment!

And best of all, a printed, detailed and complete assembly manual. If you've never heard of Tevo, you won't know... but this is a huge change of direction for them. They made their name being the cheapest of the cheap; documentation was a joke, the kits were confusing as hell and your primary source of support was other users on their Facebook page. The printer, once assembled and leveled, was quite good; it was just all the flailing in the dark from point A to point Z that drove you nuts.

A'aight... I've had my little time-out; time to get building.


mnem
I shall print the entire Internet.

[bd139]

It’s weird when things invoke memories like that but it’s a good thing. The first thing I bought from Tandy as it was called here was a single red LED when I was about 7. This cost me a week’s pocket money at the time. My father only used bulbs and said that LEDs were not a thing and wouldn’t last. Then I found out I needed a resistor so had to wait for next weeks money as Archer would shaft you 15p for 5 ... still have that LED and resistor soldered together somewhere. Alas it lived longer than he did 

Printer looks rather nice. Congratulations. Playing with the idea of buying one here still but as usual I don’t have the space for it. I still get the idea of buying one and working that out afterwards. Even though it’s relatively crap I’m still considering the Anet A8 as you can get frame upgrade kits now and spread the investment over a few months then. Plus you can get the whole thing for £90 here.

Yeah, thats bad considering tyres can be around £100 each. My next service is due about the same time as my MOT and its a big service that will involve possibly a new water pump, cambelt change and brakes so it will probably be around the £400 to £500 mark including the MOT which be done at my local Skoda dealer. I don't have a choice with regard to the major work as it will 5 years on the same cambelt and failure to replace them will result in them snapping and that totals the engine and that will be much more costly to replace.

I only got cheap tyres. This is mostly a shopping trolley. Similar with mine. Had the timing chain done and that was 400 quid as it’s a bastard to get to in the multijet engines. Definitely worth doing though as they do snap and total everything.

[Specmaster]

It’s weird when things invoke memories like that but it’s a good thing. The first thing I bought from Tandy as it was called here was a single red LED when I was about 7. This cost me a week’s pocket money at the time. My father only used bulbs and said that LEDs were not a thing and wouldn’t last. Then I found out I needed a resistor so had to wait for next weeks money as Archer would shaft you 15p for 5 ... still have that LED and resistor soldered together somewhere. Alas it lived longer than he did 

Printer looks rather nice. Congratulations. Playing with the idea of buying one here still but as usual I don’t have the space for it. I still get the idea of buying one and working that out afterwards. Even though it’s relatively crap I’m still considering the Anet A8 as you can get frame upgrade kits now and spread the investment over a few months then. Plus you can get the whole thing for £90 here.

Yeah, thats bad considering tyres can be around £100 each. My next service is due about the same time as my MOT and its a big service that will involve possibly a new water pump, cambelt change and brakes so it will probably be around the £400 to £500 mark including the MOT which be done at my local Skoda dealer. I don't have a choice with regard to the major work as it will 5 years on the same cambelt and failure to replace them will result in them snapping and that totals the engine and that will be much more costly to replace.

I only got cheap tyres. This is mostly a shopping trolley. Similar with mine. Had the timing chain done and that was 400 quid as it’s a bastard to get to in the multijet engines. Definitely worth doing though as they do snap and total everything.

Did you check the braking performance factor of your tyres before buying them? I had to put 4 new tyres on mine recently and went with braking performance rated A as that difference between B rating and A was about 2 to 3 car lengths (C was was far worse) at least shorter stopping distance. Although more expensive, felt that if there was a chance of keeping me, my family and car out of danger, it was worth spending a bit more on the better tyres.

From mobile device so predictive text might have struck again [emoji83]

[bd139]

Nope. Being based on a van it doesn’t make any difference to this unless it is fully loaded which it rarely is. It’s basically a bit of tin foil with an engine so if you put the anchors on, even if the ABS kicks in it bounces along like a killer car from monty python until it is ready to stop.

I’m going to buy a new motor once I’ve finished this product build. Something a little nicer and safer. Trying to find a compromise between comfort and ability to haul crap in it at the moment (TEA crap)

[Specmaster]

Nope. Being based on a van it doesn’t make any difference to this unless it is fully loaded which it rarely is. It’s basically a bit of tin foil with an engine so if you put the anchors on, even if the ABS kicks in it bounces along like a killer car from monty python until it is ready to stop.

I hired a Peugeot Partner van yesterday to take some rubbish and an old garden shed to our local dump. What a right load of shit it was as well. Impossible to get a proper seating position for me as  6ft 4" driver, seat right back hard against the load bulkhead, the steering wheel was about 2" clear of my body, pedals felt as if they positioned beneath the seat. In an accident I reckon the steering wheel could become a guillotine on the poor driver. Next time I'll get Ford Transit, far better, I used to have one of them.

From mobile device so predictive text might have struck again [emoji83]

[bd139]

Yeah those are crap. We hired one for hauling kit around between DCs a couple of years ago. Like riding a kangaroo. Not sure the recent transits are any better though.

[mnementh]

It’s weird when things invoke memories like that but it’s a good thing. The first thing I bought from Tandy as it was called here was a single red LED when I was about 7. This cost me a week’s pocket money at the time. My father only used bulbs and said that LEDs were not a thing and wouldn’t last. Then I found out I needed a resistor so had to wait for next weeks money as Archer would shaft you 15p for 5 ... still have that LED and resistor soldered together somewhere. Alas it lived longer than he did 

Printer looks rather nice. Congratulations. Playing with the idea of buying one here still but as usual I don’t have the space for it. I still get the idea of buying one and working that out afterwards. Even though it’s relatively crap I’m still considering the Anet A8 as you can get frame upgrade kits now and spread the investment over a few months then. Plus you can get the whole thing for £90 here.

I'm dead chuffed with it already; took me 20 minutes to have the frame fully assembled, then I got distracted for a couple hours with "daddy duties", then I tinkered and made sure the belts were running true/not dragging, added a strain relief on the hotend, and scraped the pre-print off the hotbed. You can see it in the background; they even included a putty knife, tho I'll need to sharpen it for it to be of any use. I've done my reality checks and verified the end-stops stop and it know where all the corners are; tomorrow I'll level the bed and do a print off one of the included files on the SD card.

Run, don't walk from any acrylic frame 3DP... even the Tarantula is a better printer. You want to get into something with real leadscrew instead of threaded rod, and the threaded rod supporting the Y-Axis deck is just a PITA to get square. You want either a monolithic aluminum plate like the GEEETECH, or one made of end-jointed 2020/2040 extrusion like these, where the right-angle cuts ensure everything goes together square. For your money, you're pretty much just getting stepping motors and a MKS BASE 1.4/1.4 controller with the small LCD.

For $310 (less $54 I had in affiliate points from Bang-'em-good) I got the Tornado; it has a better extruder, better 24V hotend, rock-solid aluminum frame and 300 x 300 x 400 build volume with 110V-powered (220V available) ceramic-plate hotbed pre-loaded with knock-off Build-Tak that everybody raves about how fast it heats up. 

3DP is an area where it really pays to save up and spend a little more; I paid $110 more for this than the Tarantula, but I got easily 5x the printer and oodles less assache.


Cheers,


mnem
*toddles off to ded*

[tautech]

mnem
Defpom got an Ender printer a few weeks back that looks very similar excepting the control system.
He had some DOA issues with it but it's now up and running.
There's a few vids about it on his YT page:
https://www.youtube.com/user/TheDefpom/videos

Looking forward to some of your 'creations'.

[bitseeker]

[SLICE OF LIFE Random Mode]
Strange how something so mundane and unremarkable can trigger such a flood of memories...

Cool memories. And, yeah, we're all getting old. I try to ignore it.

This was the first thing I ever bought by myself at a Radio Shack

Ah, Radio Shack. Those are memories, too. I used to read their catalogs like a book, learning about various components and thinking of the things I could make with them, including how I'd make my own version of products from the other sections of the catalog.

I still have the Forrest Mims Engineer's Mini Notebooks from Radio Shack.

In other news...

BEHOLD! Gaze on in awe and terror; at the amazing CLEAR SPACE ON MY WORKBENCH! I've been working my tuchus off all week to make this hole; it's for a special project.

It's like seeing crop circles (or squares, as the case may be) in the middle of an open field. Shock and awe!

 

My father's day present to myself was this; a Tevo Tornado 3D printer. It is based on the popular Tevo Tarantula basic design; with a number of bug-fixes and twice the build volume. More importantly, unlike the Tarantula, there are no acrylic parts and the thing comes 95% assembled out of the box.

Awesome! Those acrylic ones are...hrm...no good. What a poor choice for materials (except as a cost-cutting measure). I haven't yet jumped into 3DP, but it's certainly getting better. Maybe soon. Maybe.

I still wish there was a good way to reuse the leftover filament and unsuccessful prints. I saw a company had made a small machine that would melt chopped up material and attempt to spit it out as new filament, but it didn't seem to work very well.

[tggzzz]

I haven't yet jumped into 3DP, but it's certainly getting better. Maybe soon. Maybe.

I'm never going to do that for two principal reasons:

• people seem to spend more time fettling with them than making things
• everytime I make something I use a different material; so far that's been PLA, bronze, nylon and SLA

PLA, hard, poor dimensional accuracy, poor detail (local hackspace):


Nylon, slightly flexible, good dimensional accuracy, medium detail (£12 delivered, IIRC):


SLA/photopolymer, hard, excellent dimensional accuracy, excellent detail (£2 delivered):


SLA, ~10cm high, 1mm thick, excellent 40mm*2mm thread (£12 delivered):

[bd139]

Fettling is exactly what is involved unfortunately. They have the worst characteristics of the worse inkjet printers mxied with the paper jamming ability of the worst laser printers and the level of support of the worst troll that worked in Maplin. Honestly this and the space required are the only reasons I haven’t bothered yet. I could really do with a 3d printer but it’s not a mainstream plug and play device and never will be.