Hilarious oscilloscope for sale

[c4757p]

http://www.ebay.com/itm/HAMEG-Analog-Digital-Oscilloscope-HM407-2-For-parts-/300848172624

Holy hell, look at the pictures.

[PaulAm]

Looks like somebody got a little fast and loose with a soldering iron.

Looks like it still works though.

[c4757p]

Looks like somebody got a little fast and loose with a soldering iron.

Well that's for damn sure! It takes a special kind of crazy to take the time to do that to the poor scope. He didn't kill it, he tortured it!

[Thor-Arne]

Probably a good buy if you have one that's not working with a good front on it.

That kind of treatment is not a good sign for someone's future.....

[Sionyn]

how could some one do that to that nice piece of test equipment 

[c4757p]

A grudge against somebody is my guess... It looks like they were intentionally trying to make it worth as little as possible by ruining every visible part.

[TerraHertz]

Oh! That's sad!

My guess - either someone left a small child alone in their workshop (big mistake), or a very, very disgruntled employee on his last day.

There's one BNC that looks like it was attacked with wire cutters, which makes the 'small child' version a bit less likely.

I suppose there's also 'someone forgot to take their meds'.  That the neat cross cut on the screen isn't centered seems to suggest 'adult, but diminished rationality'. Someone sanely making a point would have done a full-screen 'X', you'd think. Also probably opened the case and really finished the job.

[c4757p]

I'm thinking "asshole student pissed at professor". That covers all points - big enough to attack a BNC with wire cutters, unstable enough to screw around while destroying the screen cover, stupid enough not to finish the job. And I have classmates I wouldn't put this past, especially when grades come in and they find out they fucked up the professor failed them.

[ivan747]

What the hell! $115 for this? 

[c4757p]

It's a fairly uncommon, analog+digital scope. I bet the parts inside it are easily worth a good bit more than that.

[tom66]

Yeah, that looks like student damage to me. Perhaps failed the final term paper and was pissed off.

[N2IXK]

I'm betting pissed-off student here, too.  Remember seeing a few meter faces and such damaged like that back when I was in highschool...

[TerraHertz]

I'm betting pissed-off student here, too.

You're probably right.
Man, what an angry, sorry life such a person will be sure to have. Destructive idiots... definitely could live without them.

As an Urbexer, I see a lot of cases where some arsehole(s) clearly had it in for anything technical enough to be beyond their dim comprehension. Always wished I'd have the luck to come across such a person actually in the act of vandalizing something. I'm not normally a violent person, but I think then it could be very satisfying.

Sometimes I think suite & tie company financial officers also display the same primitive syndrome when destructively disposing of depreciated corporate technical equipment. 'Complicated, don't understand it' ==> subconscious urge to destroy it.

[c4757p]

That's just sad. I can see meters in a high school, but I'm pretty sure that scope came from a college. At that age they really should be past "I'm angry so I'm going to cause hundreds of dollars of damage"... 

[AlfBaz]

Can't be a school kid if it was they would of engraved the standard dick'n'balls

[Jay_Diddy_B]

Hi,

It could have been much worse. It could have been a Tektronix scope 

Jay_Diddy_B (Tek Fan boy)

[amyk]

If it's still working then that's one scope no one is going to want to steal...

[c4757p]

Or look at, or use...

[NiHaoMike]

If they really wanted to do some costly damage, they would have corrupted the calibration. It won't be noticed until someone starts questioning the results, at which point it may have resulted in many days of wasted time tracking down a problem that didn't exist. I have heard about something like that happening at work (from a long time ago) and although they don't think it was deliberate sabotage, it did set up a procedure for verifying calibration of instruments in order for a problem report to be fully valid.

[firewalker]

Hi,

It could have been much worse. It could have been a Tektronix scope 

Jay_Diddy_B (Tek Fan boy)

Yes it would be really worse. It wouldn't even power up! 

Alexander.

[Achilles]

Oh man, I am pretty happy our Hamegs in School were treated well.....
Totally fucked up to damage some equipment because of trouble with the Professor/Teacher/Boss.
Destroyed something, Professor pissed off, Problem still not solved..... Looks like 1:0 for some scope manufacturer....

[lewis]

Shitting crikey, my eyes have just melted out of their sockets.

[grumpydoc]

Can't have done the soldering iron much good either

Sad, not hilarious.

[ivan747]

If they really wanted to do some costly damage, they would have corrupted the calibration. It won't be noticed until someone starts questioning the results, at which point it may have resulted in many days of wasted time tracking down a problem that didn't exist. I have heard about something like that happening at work (from a long time ago) and although they don't think it was deliberate sabotage, it did set up a procedure for verifying calibration of instruments in order for a problem report to be fully valid.

That's a rather sophisticated way to manage your anger, but I would do it if someone really deserved it 

[G7PSK]

I would think that it was a whole class of teenage boys egging each other on.

[firewalker]

Maybe someone used a big scary laser as a laser pointer!

Alexander.

[kizzap]

Forgive ignorance of workplace practices, but would it not be possible that this scope where written off by some company or another, and someone has salvaged this from scrap?

[justanothercanuck]

Forgive ignorance of workplace practices, but would it not be possible that this scope where written off by some company or another, and someone has salvaged this from scrap?

Maybe, but most scrap I've salvaged is in normal condition, aside from having NFG written on it.  Seeing that scope makes me cringe. 

[jeroen74]

Just a bit of TLC and it should be okay again. If you still can get those parts...

[c4757p]

Sad, not hilarious.

I agree, I don't think "hilarious" was my best word choice ever. Though there was definitely an element of shock comedy to seeing such sad destruction for sale at a similar price to a regular scope...

[c4757p]

Just a bit of TLC and it should be okay again. If you still can get those parts...

Those buttons and knobs and whatnot can get pretty expensive. It might be worth it, or it might not - depends on how much you want the scope and how much time you're willing to invest in it. Personally I wouldn't bet on the wisdom of buying it and having to track down a replacement practically every visible part.

Of course, I'm obsessed with making my equipment look good. If you're one of those people who don't give a toss what it looks like - god bless you - you could probably change the destroyed BNC, pop out that screen cover, and it's good to go.

[deephaven]

The seller says he doesn't know how to operate it, but he somehow managed to get a sine wave from somewhere and have it triggered with a reasonable timebase and Y gain setting.

[robrenz]

Of course, I'm obsessed with making my equipment look good.

Don't tell anybody but I am a member of the same club 

[N2IXK]

The seller says he doesn't know how to operate it, but he somehow managed to get a sine wave from somewhere and have it triggered with a reasonable timebase and Y gain setting.

Noticed that too.  Knew enough to show each input channel working, as well.    I assume it is just a Korean seller who figured it was better to just not deal with questions by disclaiming any knowledge of anything rather than dealing with language barrier/translation issues?

Unless idiocracy has progressed so far that somebody would grab those images to use as a "stock photo", thinking that that is what the thing is supposed to look like? 

Not a good buy unless you need a CRT or other $$$ part/board to fix another unit/units.  Guess if you were maintaining a fleet of these you might be able to part this one out to repair a bunch of them with different problems. Buying cosmetic parts like knobs and front panels gets REAL expensive in my experience. You are locked into one vendor in most cases.

[Hydrawerk]

Uhh, very sad pictures... If someone wanted to piss off a professor, he should go to the toilet and write something with marker...
Maybe...

[c4757p]

Unless idiocracy has progressed so far that somebody would grab those images to use as a "stock photo", thinking that that is what the thing is supposed to look like? 

Haha, that thought crossed my mind as well.