Cheap upgrade for your multimeter, a pet peeve of mine corrected

[Lightages]

I have a pet peeve about some selector dials on many multimeters. The pointers on the dials have nice little grooves to show which end is the pointer, but why don't the manufacturers just add a little bit of paint and complete the design? This makes things much easier to see what is selected.
If you compare these to the standard faces:

From Frankie's ebay store
and

from tme.eu

you can see the the dials are much easier to see.

All you need to do is use some nail polish and get it into the groove. If the nailpolish gets outside of the groove don't worry too much. All you need to do is let it dry for 30 seconds or so and then wipe off the excess from the outside of the groove.

[Wytnucls]

Yes, I have done the same to my multimeters, with some white ink pen. I think our fading eyesights might have something to do with it! 
White nail polish? You're very hip; I still only use the pink variety. Boring, I know.... 

[steve30]

Can't say the lack of paint ever bothered me on a modern multimeter, but I do like the look of it.

I just checked my Mastech MS8218 which I use a lot, and that has a piece of white plastic on the knob .

[robrenz]

Nice touch!   just the kind of obsessive attention to detail I like

[SeanB]

If you have a teenage daughter ( mostly) then you can get every colour in nail polish in the room, from white to black and every colour and fluorescent variety in between, along with a lot of UV fluorescent ones.

[Lightages]

Who needs a daughter? I have red, green, yellow and white. I have these to mark wires and plugs.

[codeboy2k]

Nice touch!   just the kind of obsessive attention to detail I like

instead of nailpolish, paint or white-out/liquid paper, I think you might be the type to mill
a little brass insert for yours, sized for just the right press-fit

* codeboy2k waits for the video

[Lightages]

I could mill a piece of something to insert, but nail polish works very nicely!

[Matje]

I have a pet peeve about some selector dials on many multimeters. The pointers on the dials have nice little grooves to show which end is the pointer, but why don't the manufacturers just add a little bit of paint and complete the design? This makes things much easier to see what is selected.

But, but, but - look at the thingies!

There is only one ambiguous position, between "Off" and "uA/A". And I'd guess the manufacturers figured that a switched off DMM is easy enough to spot... ;-)

In fact they could leave out the groove too where it not for blind users, .oO, naah, scratch that. Or do DMMs with speech output actually exist?

Aesthetically though the white stripe is a winner in my opinion.

[jaqie]

Very nice.   I miss when they actually bothered to do things like this.

[robrenz]

Nice touch!   just the kind of obsessive attention to detail I like

instead of nailpolish, paint or white-out/liquid paper, I think you might be the type to mill
a little brass insert for yours, sized for just the right press-fit

* codeboy2k waits for the video

I usualy use epoxy with a filler. I use boron nitride powder for white and carbon black for black like in my push button restoration here. Sorry these pictures will have to do

[codeboy2k]

I usualy use epoxy with a filler. I use boron nitride powder for white and carbon black for black like in my push button restoration here. Sorry these pictures will have to do

Wow. just wow.  I'm speechless.  I've not seen that thread before, you really did a fantastic job on that 30yr old tek scope.  My hat is off to you, sir!

good job! 

[RamboJj]

I like my Extech, it has a larger white arrow shape on it. It just works nicely...

Speaking of which, I need to put some new batteries in it...

[Lightages]

I like my Extech, it has a larger white arrow shape on it. It just works nicely...

You might want to read up on the Extechs on this forum and then open yours up to be sure you didn't get something unsafe, even if it does have a nice white arrow.

[robrenz]

good job! 

Thanks, glad you liked it.

[RamboJj]

I like my Extech, it has a larger white arrow shape on it. It just works nicely...

You might want to read up on the Extechs on this forum and then open yours up to be sure you didn't get something unsafe, even if it does have a nice white arrow.

already did that. mine is fine and works great.

[rsjsouza]

Oh, no! Why did you bring this up?!? Now I won't be able to sleep until I paint the small dot on my Fluke 179... 

[BravoV]

Did mine years ago at one of the cheapo dmm using white correction fluid, it was bright white when was new, now it turned into yucky yellow. For sure it will stay there forever.

Just make sure you wipe the excess fluid fast before it dries up completely, quite difficult to clean at the bumpy surface once it completely dried, remember did quite some buffing job to clean it up.

[T4P]

How about white silicone? I don't have the white variety but A small dose of correction fluid and put a tiny layer of clear silicone which is apart from the super-strong high temperature red silicone that i have
And oh, that bucket of white paint  Just remembered i have a U1273AX on the way to me and it does have a white pointer!

[ivan747]

Reminds me of Dave's early rants on bad product design, beck when he had less than 50 episodes 

[WorldPowerLabs]

That mod looks great on those meters!  My most-used meter is actually an old Radio Shack model with a white housing.  It has a nice, bold black line on the selector switch to indicate position.  Very easy to notice.  My other meters are black with no contrasting pointer; I'll have use your trick on them.

I'm sure that 99% of folks here already know this, but you can also use nail polish on the heads of screws to keep them from vibrating loose -- just put a drop where the screw head meets the panel or whatever it screws into.  When screws are secured in this way, it's easier to break them loose later than if you were to use loctite on the threads (obviously, use the recommended loctite when it's critical that the fastener stay in place, but for most electronics uses, nail polish is perfect).

[RamboJj]

That mod looks great on those meters!  My most-used meter is actually an old Radio Shack model with a white housing.  It has a nice, bold black line on the selector switch to indicate position.  Very easy to notice.  My other meters are black with no contrasting pointer; I'll have use your trick on them.

I'm sure that 99% of folks here already know this, but you can also use nail polish on the heads of screws to keep them from vibrating loose -- just put a drop where the screw head meets the panel or whatever it screws into.  When screws are secured in this way, it's easier to break them loose later than if you were to use loctite on the threads (obviously, use the recommended loctite when it's critical that the fastener stay in place, but for most electronics uses, nail polish is perfect).

This is a new one, I never heard the idea of using nail polish as a "loctite" type product. The problem for me though is I'm a 30+ male and it might be weird if I buy nail polish... LOL, I'd probably get some pretty interesting looks. I should pick up some funky colors just to make for better odd looks, hahaha

[PA4TIM]

Buy a real meter ,my Agilent U1252A has a big white dot on the knob. But besides that, the thing is made so the knob only points to one mode when not in off position. My Fluke 77-III does not have it but I never missed it. The pointing side is much more narrow as the other side.

[RamboJj]

Buy a real meter ,my Agilent U1252A has a big white dot on the knob. But besides that, the thing is made so the knob only points to one mode when not in off position. My Fluke 77-III does not have it but I never missed it. The pointing side is much more narrow as the other side.

you got 350ish I can borrow? indefinitely.....

[PA4TIM]

Just take the bike instead of the car and save a few tanks of petrol and maybe a few weekends no beer, and you can make an investment that gives you joy for years. ;-)

But indeed, if you're a student it will be a lot of money, but, hey, the good news is, your time will come. When I was a student i also could only buy the most cheap meter, and in the 70's that was much more exensive as now ( to bad they most times broke down faster as i had money to buy another, but at college only two or three guys in our class had a car, today it seems every student has one, and a iphone, ipod and a lot of other exensive stuff so then it s natural a Agilent multimeter is out of range)

[SeanB]

Yes, students with the latest designer clothes, bling, fancy cars, latest phones, flash a lot of cash, party all the time..... but cannot afford to pay fees or buy books, and do not come to lectures that are "too early" or "too late" or "other reason not mentionable here".

[RamboJj]

Just take the bike instead of the car and save a few tanks of petrol and maybe a few weekends no beer, and you can make an investment that gives you joy for years. ;-)

But indeed, if you're a student it will be a lot of money, but, hey, the good news is, your time will come. When I was a student i also could only buy the most cheap meter, and in the 70's that was much more exensive as now ( to bad they most times broke down faster as i had money to buy another, but at college only two or three guys in our class had a car, today it seems every student has one, and a iphone, ipod and a lot of other exensive stuff so then it s natural a Agilent multimeter is out of range)

LOL, take a bike... I live no less than 10 miles from civilization so yeah.... bike isn't going to happen. Unless it's my motorcycle but even then I have far too many books to carry to classes to take on the bike.

I bought both of them before I decided to go back to school and I'm kind of regretting it now... I haven't bought a beer in the last IDK how many weeks now. As for the rest... yeah no, I have a laptop that was bought by the program that is paying for my school and my galaxy S3 that my parents and brother hooked me up with to go back to school. other than that all my funds go to my car, right now I need 1200 to fix it up and get it working better. Trying to get a loan for that and it's proving to be a royal pain in the butt to get approval.

Yes, students with the latest designer clothes, bling, fancy cars, latest phones, flash a lot of cash, party all the time..... but cannot afford to pay fees or buy books, and do not come to lectures that are "too early" or "too late" or "other reason not mentionable here".

LOL, I wouldn't mind some new clothes, a nice watch and a nice big wad of cash. Maybe then I might be able to get my car fixed without a loan....

[PA4TIM]

In holland it is very nomal to go to school by bicycle. Including books. I had to drive 15 km to school and did that 8 years. My un is 13, next year he goes to a school 10 km from here, on a bicycle. Then 4 years 40 km ( one way) first two years by 40km/h moped, last two on an old Honda CB550 ( worked two years for that, costed my 800 dolar, summer and winter, rain and snow.

But you still have a car and a motorbike, wow, wish I could afford that back then. You study electronics ? Is a multimeter then not more important than a car and motorbike ? Sell he car, use the motorbike. Save on gass and a you do not need the loan. Plenty off time later to buy a car ( i have 3 motorbikes and 4 cars now, but most are oldtimers, oldest is from 1936). A motorbike ( or rather trike) is still my main transport

[RamboJj]

In holland it is very nomal to go to school by bicycle. Including books. I had to drive 15 km to school and did that 8 years. My un is 13, next year he goes to a school 10 km from here, on a bicycle. Then 4 years 40 km ( one way) first two years by 40km/h moped, last two on an old Honda CB550 ( worked two years for that, costed my 800 dolar, summer and winter, rain and snow.

But you still have a car and a motorbike, wow, wish I could afford that back then. You study electronics ? Is a multimeter then not more important than a car and motorbike ? Sell he car, use the motorbike. Save on gass and a you do not need the loan. Plenty off time later to buy a car ( i have 3 motorbikes and 4 cars now, but most are oldtimers, oldest is from 1936). A motorbike ( or rather trike) is still my main transport

I'm sure that's a great thing there but around here the roads are not conducive to bicycles. The longer roads that I have to travel are 2 lanes (one each direction) and have no bike lane and the ditches off the side of the road are quite deep. So yeah, I'm not going to ride a bike there regardless. Working ERs and medical fields in general for the last 15 years I have seen far too many bicycle accidents that leave some severe lasting damage.

Also I just looked at google maps, it's 12.5 miles to the campus which in Kilometers that would be 20.12Km and no matter how you look at it it's just no good (the main reason being the safety of bikes on rural roads in my area)...  I would like to be able to sell the car but living in my state during the summer it will rain every day at all times of day for weeks. I'd sell the motorcycle but that's my only real enjoyment in life right now and with what I owe on it would really be pointless (0% interest though). Though paying for the car is getting to be quite the pain in the @#$@@#$@#$%@#@#$, fill in a few words in there, lol. Basically if I don't get the school loans soon I'm going to have to sell the bike and probably anything else I can, which isn't a hell of a lot. Though I've been considering turning off my cell for a few months as well.


The other problem around here is that there is no public transportation, so can't even take a bus on bad days either.

It was all fine before I decided to go back to school... I had no issues then. I already sold off my other 2 cars just before starting classes up a yar and a half ago. I don't have much left to go.... LOL. So it's going to be loans from here on out I think.

[Lightages]

Nice to see this staying on topic......