Good sharp fine tip multimeter probes with very flexible leads

[FreddieChopin]

I think the other end is stainless tubing, at least for my set. I dont see it as aluminium because it's particularly soft and its easily damaged when small force is applied especially with such thin tubing.

My probes issue was fixed by tugging and twisting the wires near the end of the handle. The crimp connection near the wire is the problem. Probe Masters are soldered not crimp. So its much better solution.

It is aluminium and a very soft one. You can shave it with a blade like a butter..

You could probably replace it with a sharpened tungsten electrodes used for TIG welding. They are very hard and pretty cheap.

[2N3055]

I think the other end is stainless tubing, at least for my set. I dont see it as aluminium because it's particularly soft and its easily damaged when small force is applied especially with such thin tubing.

My probes issue was fixed by tugging and twisting the wires near the end of the handle. The crimp connection near the wire is the problem. Probe Masters are soldered not crimp. So its much better solution.

It is aluminium and a very soft one. You can shave it with a blade like a butter..

You could probably replace it with a sharpened tungsten electrodes used for TIG welding. They are very hard and pretty cheap.

Not the tips. Tips are pogo pins or SS hard tips. They are very good. It's the tube inside handle that you insert tips into.. That one is made of soft aluminum, that is connected somehow to other piece of brass tube that is crimped on the cable and that whole thing is injection molded around it into plastic handle.

[chris_leyson]

After the third or fourth failure of a pair of Fluke TL910 probes in three or four years I decided to open up the a probe. On high density surface mount boards I was making less than 100 measurements in a week on average. It would appear that the open circuit was somewhere where the cable is crimped to the internal brass tube, I might have been in the cable just behind the crimp. The connection from the brass tube to the probes themselves was OK.

When I first discovered the TL910 probes I splashed out and bought myself a pair and they were not cheap at the time and I think they are £68 from Farnell these days. When they work they are great for high density surface mount debugging but when they fail you are stuffed, what do you use to probe 0402 or 0201 components ? I still have them but rarely use them.

I think Fluke and Pomona need to step up their act and have a design review with a failure analysis.
The probes might get a 5 star review but that is probably when they are brand new and just out of the packet.

To be honest I wouldn't be surprised if it hasn't got something to do with moisture ingress findind its way to the cable.

Dave did a review a while back and I wonder if they're still working.



Edit: Actually I really like the pogo pin approach to probe tips because you can always buy new pins if the need arises and you have the option of different pin styles for different situations.

If they really cost £68 a pair and you buy one or more pairs of test leads a year then that's equivalent to how many Fluke multimeters ? It's quite a sizable income.

[tooki]

Another vote for probe master here. I have both their fine, spring loaded probes and their regular probes.

Even the regular probes (which are gold plated stainless steel) are extremely sharp, easily able to draw blood, and fine enough for most components. Maybe not 0201, but they work fine for 0402. Without a receiving tube for the pogo pin insert, these probes cannot really fail. (I did have the fine spring loaded ones fail, which they replaced under warranty.)

[ender4171]

I will through my lot in with ProbeMaster as well.  I have a bunch of their DMM and DSO/MSO stuff, but for basic probes, you can't really beat their 8000 series on price or quality.  Their customer services is out of this world as well, should you ever need it!

[moss99]

I purchased Probemaster fine spring loaded tip probes through Simon on this forum and have not looked back. They are excellent quality and the spring loaded tips are perfect for keeping the tip where you want it, there are ‘solid’ tips included as well.

https://probemaster.com/dmm-multimeter-test-leads/

My probe set.....

https://probemaster.com/spring-loaded-micro-tip-test-lead-kit/

They are the best test leads that I have used.

I have a set of the Pomona 6341 fine tipped probes and whilst they work for me, they do appear fragile. I treat them with great care !

Fraser

Are these available in the uk anywhere  ? , the links you added are not currently shipping to uk

[2N3055]

I purchased Probemaster fine spring loaded tip probes through Simon on this forum and have not looked back. They are excellent quality and the spring loaded tips are perfect for keeping the tip where you want it, there are ‘solid’ tips included as well.

https://probemaster.com/dmm-multimeter-test-leads/

My probe set.....

https://probemaster.com/spring-loaded-micro-tip-test-lead-kit/

They are the best test leads that I have used.

I have a set of the Pomona 6341 fine tipped probes and whilst they work for me, they do appear fragile. I treat them with great care !

Fraser

Are these available in the uk anywhere  ? , the links you added are not currently shipping to uk

You can try getting them from Simon:
https://simonselectronics.co.uk/product-category/probemaster/

Also other source I know in EU is Welectron in Germany..

[moss99]

I purchased Probemaster fine spring loaded tip probes through Simon on this forum and have not looked back. They are excellent quality and the spring loaded tips are perfect for keeping the tip where you want it, there are ‘solid’ tips included as well.

https://probemaster.com/dmm-multimeter-test-leads/

My probe set.....

https://probemaster.com/spring-loaded-micro-tip-test-lead-kit/

They are the best test leads that I have used.

I have a set of the Pomona 6341 fine tipped probes and whilst they work for me, they do appear fragile. I treat them with great care !

Fraser

Are these available in the uk anywhere  ? , the links you added are not currently shipping to uk

You can try getting them from Simon:
https://simonselectronics.co.uk/product-category/probemaster/

Also other source I know in EU is Welectron in Germany..

Thanks , i thought those links were for simon ..

[moss99]

  i just got blocked on his site , too many page not found replies for a human !! ,,

[SpecialK]

I must be doing it wrong.  I have a set of Pomona 6275 at work and another set at home.  I love them, and have had no issues.

I'm wondering if this is akin to having a ballpoint pen explode.  I've never had that happen either, but other kids at school would.  I think they would use too much pressure and deform the ball into the socket.

That is to say, I don't generally try to stab what I'm measuring.  Nor do I put sideway pressure on the tips.

[2N3055]

I must be doing it wrong.  I have a set of Pomona 6275 at work and another set at home.  I love them, and have had no issues.

I'm wondering if this is akin to having a ballpoint pen explode.  I've never had that happen either, but other kids at school would.  I think they would use too much pressure and deform the ball into the socket.

That is to say, I don't generally try to stab what I'm measuring.  Nor do I put sideway pressure on the tips.

I never had problems with tips. I'm very gentle with them.Original ones are still needle sharp, and I use very little force. Whole point in pogo pins is that you can make sure you don't use too much force.  Problems are elsewhere: Losing contact from tip to cable (by pulling out pogo pins a bit a pushing them back in it gets better, or twisting the cable), and cables being too damn soft and thin, making them like wet threads that are dropping vertically under their own weight and constantly getting caught on to something on the desk or inside device....

I still have them (I really like form factor of probes) but use pogo pin tipped Probemasters most of the time instead, because they have no problems with contact and cables are much better (they are still nice silicone type just better). Probemasters are bigger in hand and smaller Pomonas would be actually better sometimes, but I can't stand the cables.. They are in the way all the time...

It could be that there are actually production variants, and you have slightly different (maybe fixed) version, or maybe mine had a manufacturing defect and your's didn't.

[Fraser]

Moss99,

I have just been blocked as well after browsing Simons site and not a single “page not found error” yet I was told....

Block Reason:   Exceeded the maximum number of page not found errors per minute for humans.

I have reported the issue to Simon.

Fraser

[Simon]

i just got blocked on his site , too many page not found replies for a human !! ,,

Hi, Fraser has kindly let me know that this was happening. I have wordfence installed due to the well known fragility of wordpress and I do take security seriously. I have relaxed the settings to stop this happening. I don't know why this happens as the error is for bots trying their luck with "known" addresses and hitting no page which is not typical human behavior. If you have any further problems do let me know.

[moss99]

i just got blocked on his site , too many page not found replies for a human !! ,,

Hi, Fraser has kindly let me know that this was happening. I have wordfence installed due to the well known fragility of wordpress and I do take security seriously. I have relaxed the settings to stop this happening. I don't know why this happens as the error is for bots trying their luck with "known" addresses and hitting no page which is not typical human behavior. If you have any further problems do let me know.

 
I searched for the probes fraser put a link to a few posts up , do you have them or could you recommend some good quality fine tip probes that you do have  .
Thanks

[Simon]

i have essentially 2 main types, the ones with small sprung tips and the ones for higher currents with solid tips. Each type has a straight or right angle plug option. The ones with sprung tips can be supplied with a set of alternate tips listed separately on my site. The solid tip probes also come in straight and right angle plug variants but also have accessory kits so there are 4 variants of those for plug orientation and with/without accessories. If you tell me what you are looking for I ran link to them.

[moss99]

Hi , im after the right angled plugs , im not sure whether to go for the sprung tips or solid , i'm not doing high current stuff , phones and computers mainly .

[moss99]

i have essentially 2 main types, the ones with small sprung tips and the ones for higher currents with solid tips. Each type has a straight or right angle plug option. The ones with sprung tips can be supplied with a set of alternate tips listed separately on my site. The solid tip probes also come in straight and right angle plug variants but also have accessory kits so there are 4 variants of those for plug orientation and with/without accessories. If you tell me what you are looking for I ran link to them.

Hi , im after the right angled plugs , im not sure whether to go for the sprung tips or solid , i'm not doing high current stuff , phones and computers mainly .

[Simon]

well the sprung tips are good for small things as you can apply pressure without the tip slipping as the spring buffers the force you apply and they are smaller:

https://simonselectronics.co.uk/product/8152-spring-loaded-micro-tip-test-leads-only-90-deg/

optional tips: https://simonselectronics.co.uk/product/8160-alternative-tips-for-8152-8153/

I see that having a section for probes and probemaster is confusing so will make it all probes soon.

[Simon]

The fixed tips cannot be replaced, the sprung ones can as they are more delicate.

[moss99]

well the sprung tips are good for small things as you can apply pressure without the tip slipping as the spring buffers the force you apply and they are smaller:

https://simonselectronics.co.uk/product/8152-spring-loaded-micro-tip-test-leads-only-90-deg/

optional tips: https://simonselectronics.co.uk/product/8160-alternative-tips-for-8152-8153/

I see that having a section for probes and probemaster is confusing so will make it all probes soon.

So these : https://simonselectronics.co.uk/product/8152-spring-loaded-micro-tip-test-leads-only-90-deg/
don't come with the tips , i would have to order the tips separately ?

[Simon]

they do come with tips as shown, there is a separate kit with a second set with other alternatives.

[moss99]

they do come with tips as shown, there is a separate kit with a second set with other alternatives.

Order placed , thanks for your help .

[Simon]

Order picked, will pack and be wandering down to the post office in 1 hour.

[Fraser]

I can highly recommend the spring loaded tips  I work on 0402 components in thermal camera cores and the ‘pogo pin’ type spring loaded tips are superb. You press down on them and they stay in place even if you accidentally lift your hand slightly. Perfect for High density PCB probing. You can also for castellated Point spring loaded tips that apply multiple spikes to a test point for a very secure contact

Fraser

[Simon]

they also don't slip off if you press down more as the spring takes it, unless of course you really hand fisted.