Author Topic: List your test equipment "scores" here!  (Read 775052 times)

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Offline Cubdriver

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Re: List your test equipment "scores" here!
« Reply #825 on: August 09, 2016, 04:41:31 pm »
My TEA (test equipment addiction) is so bad I am scrounging around dumpsters looking for a hit.
Came up with the goods tonight, a used but nothing wrong, Hewlett Packard Trolley, best price = free. HiHi.

Seriously I do find ir sad that such potentially good gear gets trashed all the time.

Great find - it must have cost a fortune when it was new.  And in my experience here, HP carts are a rarity (I've never seen one firsthand) compared to the Tektronix ones that, relatively speaking, grow on trees (I wish!).  Based on the wheels, that one looks more like a medical type cart than test lab.  Regardless of its originally intended use, it looks nice and solid.

-Pat
If it jams, force it.  If it breaks, you needed a new one anyway...
 
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Offline Falkra

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Re: List your test equipment "scores" here!
« Reply #826 on: August 09, 2016, 05:04:41 pm »
That's indeed a very nice catch. Well done.  :)
 
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Offline Jwalling

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Re: List your test equipment "scores" here!
« Reply #827 on: August 09, 2016, 06:24:48 pm »
That's indeed a very nice catch. Well done.  :)

Just an FYI: It helps to quote a bit of what you're replying to, otherwise nobody knows what you're talking about.  ;)

Jay
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Offline timb

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List your test equipment "scores" here!
« Reply #828 on: August 09, 2016, 11:13:32 pm »
My TEA (test equipment addiction) is so bad I am scrounging around dumpsters looking for a hit.
Came up with the goods tonight, a used but nothing wrong, Hewlett Packard Trolley, best price = free. HiHi.

Seriously I do find ir sad that such potentially good gear gets trashed all the time.

Great find - it must have cost a fortune when it was new.  And in my experience here, HP carts are a rarity (I've never seen one firsthand) compared to the Tektronix ones that, relatively speaking, grow on trees (I wish!).  Based on the wheels, that one looks more like a medical type cart than test lab.  Regardless of its originally intended use, it looks nice and solid.

-Pat


Speaking of medical carts...

About 6 or 7 years ago, I was managing my parent's business after they retired. It was a pallet recycling operation. We got a lot of our pallets from these guys who would basically drive around in pickup trucks with a little trailer or small flat beds and collect the pallets from local businesses, maybe 20 or 30 a week. Anyway, these guys would come in sometimes with *amazing* dumpster finds.

So, one of the guys brought us pallets he collected from the local hospital. One day he had one of those big medical carts on the back of his truck. The kind with all the drawers and the big flat top, the huge rubber castor wheels; constructed out of rugged plastic, rubber, fiberglass and metal... Sort of like the one below, only with more (but not quite as tall) drawers on the right hand side.

Apparently, they were upgrading to newer carts on that floor and were just trashing the old ones! He ended up giving me two of them. They make *amazing* tool carts for a shop or garage! I left one at the pallet plant (for fixing stuff around the shop) and took the other one home. Used it until I moved for fixing my car and bike (it was fantastic, because I kept it loaded up with pretty much any tool you'd need to work on a vehicle, and it had that flat top so you could work on parts and stuff).



When I moved, I put it in storage. I should dig it out, as it'd make an awesome lab cart.
« Last Edit: August 09, 2016, 11:15:49 pm by timb »
Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic; e.g., Cheez Whiz, Hot Dogs and RF.
 
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Offline VK5RC

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Re: List your test equipment "scores" here!
« Reply #829 on: August 10, 2016, 02:39:45 am »
One of the really funny things is,  my daytime job is a doctor,  so there I am pulling this beast out of the skip in the hospital carpark,  wearing a neck tie white shirt etc it was 8pm at night and lightly raining,  one of my colleagues walks by and says hello like nothing unusual is happening.
Lots of medical gear gets thrown out inappropriately. 
Whoah! Watch where that landed we might need it later.
 

Offline Enigma-man

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Re: List your test equipment "scores" here!
« Reply #830 on: August 10, 2016, 04:53:17 am »
After your colleague walked by you probably didn't see the eye roll.  ;D
I hope you used hand sanitizer after your dumpster dive, doc...  :scared:

I'm only kidding, of course.

 
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Online Berni

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Re: List your test equipment "scores" here!
« Reply #831 on: August 10, 2016, 05:11:38 am »
That medical cart looks rather useful, if i could roll it under my tall workbench it would be perfect for my lab. Il have to have a look around locally as there is no way such a huge thing would get shipped.

It could finally let me get my tools,probes, cables etc properly organized Right now i use clear plastic bins and empty paint cans.
 
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Offline HighVoltage

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Re: List your test equipment "scores" here!
« Reply #832 on: August 10, 2016, 07:04:19 am »
My brother is working in a hospital and every time he finds something interesting in the dumpster, I get a call.
In my lab I have one of these OP lights from an operating room.
It makes perfect lighting !
It is amazing, what hospitals are throwing away these days

Great cart btw.
There are 3 kinds of people in this world, those who can count and those who can not.
 

Offline Enigma-man

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Re: List your test equipment "scores" here!
« Reply #833 on: August 10, 2016, 02:53:02 pm »
@HighVoltage:

OP room lighting will give a Frankenstein type ambience to the workshop.  Throw in a Jacob's Ladder
and your neighbours carrying torches and pitchforks will surround your house every time you turn on those
power hungry OP room lights causing brownouts in the area... ;D 
 

Offline TAMHAN

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Re: List your test equipment "scores" here!
« Reply #834 on: August 10, 2016, 03:57:42 pm »
You can help me when moving to new flat. When you are done with the furniture, I will charge you a fee.
There is an elevator, but not big enough for bed or some of wardrobes.

Can one take them apart? I recently bought one of these new-fashioned power screwers and would be willing to help if you live closeby.
Feel like some additional tamile wisdom? Visit my YouTube channel -> https://www.youtube.com/user/MrTamhan for 10min tid-bits!
 

Offline PaulAm

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Re: List your test equipment "scores" here!
« Reply #835 on: August 10, 2016, 10:06:11 pm »
I found a hospital crash cart at a local university surplus outlet for $35.  I'm sure it was like $1500 new; it's really nice.  I use it for my LA.

Recently I pulled a wire restaurant kitchen cart out of a dumpster.  Has very nice casters and 3 levels; I use that as a work cart out in my shop.  I just line the shelves with cardboard to keep small items from falling through.
 

Offline rx8pilot

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Re: List your test equipment "scores" here!
« Reply #836 on: August 11, 2016, 01:05:26 am »
I feel like I should take an annual trip to silicon valley for dumpster diving. Ahead of time I would get the list of the failing tech companies being kicked out of their offices that week. I imagine that area is regularly throwing away gold and diamonds.
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Offline bitseeker

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Re: List your test equipment "scores" here!
« Reply #837 on: August 11, 2016, 02:40:42 am »
OK, Carlos. Let me know when you're planning on going. We can divvy up the diving work, the spoils, and the beer. :-+
TEA is the way. | TEA Time channel
 

Offline lowimpedance

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Re: List your test equipment "scores" here!
« Reply #838 on: August 11, 2016, 12:28:16 pm »
One of the really funny things is,  my daytime job is a doctor,  so there I am pulling this beast out of the skip in the hospital carpark,  wearing a neck tie white shirt etc it was 8pm at night and lightly raining,  one of my colleagues walks by and says hello like nothing unusual is happening.
Lots of medical gear gets thrown out inappropriately.
I just got a vivid mental image reading that   :D totally unexpected your a doc. Where I work I am known as one of the "seagulls" , waiting to dive on any 'tasty dumpster morsel'. I feel its my civic duty to minimise landfill and reuse gear thats still got plenty of life in it.
 So I fully approve of your rummaging, suit tie and all,  :-+.
The odd multimeter or 2 or 3 or 4...or........can't remember !.
 

Offline Jwalling

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Re: List your test equipment "scores" here!
« Reply #839 on: August 11, 2016, 08:18:35 pm »
Got this one on eBay this week.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/112080431631?_trksid=p2057872.m2749.l2649&ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT

No big deal. BUT, the seller/owner is Bernard Goetz.  :box:
He was one of my heroes back in the mid 80s.
He now owns a company (mostly used T&M equipment, I think) called
Vigilante Electronics in NYC. Cool!  :-+

Jay
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Offline Jay_Diddy_B

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Re: List your test equipment "scores" here!
« Reply #840 on: August 11, 2016, 08:37:58 pm »
Got this one on eBay this week.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/112080431631?_trksid=p2057872.m2749.l2649&ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT

No big deal. BUT, the seller/owner is Bernard Goetz.  :box:
He was one of my heroes back in the mid 80s.
He now owns a company (mostly used T&M equipment, I think) called
Vigilante Electronics in NYC. Cool!  :-+

Jay

I met Bernard Goetz a few years ago. He had taken some stuff to the Dayton Hamvention. You are right about Vigilante Electronics in NYC.

Read, if you don't know the story: http://www.biography.com/people/bernhard-goetz-578520

Jay_Diddy_B
« Last Edit: August 11, 2016, 08:39:39 pm by Jay_Diddy_B »
 

Offline pascal_sweden

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Re: List your test equipment "scores" here!
« Reply #841 on: August 11, 2016, 09:20:50 pm »
Nice scope, but how come it is so expensive? The specs seem moderate.
Is it more like a collector's item?
 

Offline TheSteve

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Re: List your test equipment "scores" here!
« Reply #842 on: August 11, 2016, 09:29:32 pm »
Nice scope, but how come it is so expensive? The specs seem moderate.
Is it more like a collector's item?

I haven't looked into it but I'm going to guess an easy upgrade to a TDS3054C perhaps?
VE7FM
 

Offline timb

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Re: List your test equipment "scores" here!
« Reply #843 on: August 12, 2016, 12:33:31 am »
I wonder what the cheapest 1GHz source with sufficient fidelity would be?

A friend with a signal generator - maybe there is someone local to you on the blog that can help you out.

So, I found a SG 504 on eBay for $800, which is sort of insane. I put in a lowball offer of $70, since it's untested and doesn't include the leveling head. I ended up getting it for $100 shipped!

There's a guy on eBay who's selling homemade (but calibrated) leveling heads for $120. Apparently they provide better accuracy (0.1%) than the original Tektronix versions!

That said, I found a guy in the UK who came up with the parts list, schematic and layout for a DIY version, so I'll try that route first I think.

Either way I'm happy. Combined with my SG 503 I can now produce leveled sine waves from 50kHz to 1GHz at a voltage range of 5mV to 5.5V-PP!
Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic; e.g., Cheez Whiz, Hot Dogs and RF.
 

Online Berni

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Re: List your test equipment "scores" here!
« Reply #844 on: August 12, 2016, 05:15:54 am »

So, I found a SG 504 on eBay for $800, which is sort of insane. I put in a lowball offer of $70, since it's untested and doesn't include the leveling head. I ended up getting it for $100 shipped!

There's a guy on eBay who's selling homemade (but calibrated) leveling heads for $120. Apparently they provide better accuracy (0.1%) than the original Tektronix versions!

That said, I found a guy in the UK who came up with the parts list, schematic and layout for a DIY version, so I'll try that route first I think.

Either way I'm happy. Combined with my SG 503 I can now produce leveled sine waves from 50kHz to 1GHz at a voltage range of 5mV to 5.5V-PP!

Wow now that is indeed a steal.

A cheap way of getting fast signals are also some of these USB powered synthesizers. They are basicaly just a PLL based synthesizer IC with some RF amplifiers and attenuators on it. They go to a few GHz and some are calibrated at manufacture to a flat response, but the spectral purity is crap as it has tons of harmonics, but phase noise might not be all that bad.
 

Offline Jwalling

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Re: List your test equipment "scores" here!
« Reply #845 on: August 12, 2016, 09:51:47 am »
Nice scope, but how come it is so expensive? The specs seem moderate.
Is it more like a collector's item?

I haven't looked into it but I'm going to guess an easy upgrade to a TDS3054C perhaps?

Nothing like that, I don't know of any hacks for it. I bought it to re-sell. Figure I'll make $500 or so. Current MSRP is about $7K. Crazy.
http://www.newark.com/tektronix/tds3014c/oscilloscope-digital-storage-4/dp/84M7359

Jay
Jay

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Offline TheSteve

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Re: List your test equipment "scores" here!
« Reply #846 on: August 12, 2016, 04:45:09 pm »
Just picked up an N2795A 1 GHz active probe that looks to be as new with all accessories and even the original cal cert for $300.00. Should be fun to have a probe with LED lighting on the end. Now to find a nice differential probe.
VE7FM
 

Offline cncjerry

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Re: List your test equipment "scores" here!
« Reply #847 on: August 12, 2016, 10:00:40 pm »
Nice scope, but how come it is so expensive? The specs seem moderate.
Is it more like a collector's item?

I haven't looked into it but I'm going to guess an easy upgrade to a TDS3054C perhaps?

Nothing like that, I don't know of any hacks for it. I bought it to re-sell. Figure I'll make $500 or so. Current MSRP is about $7K. Crazy.
http://www.newark.com/tektronix/tds3014c/oscilloscope-digital-storage-4/dp/84M7359

Jay
[/quote

You can hack it to a 3054 (I hear) as well as activate the features with a simple EPROM. I did the EPROM and it worked well.
 
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Offline rx8pilot

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Re: List your test equipment "scores" here!
« Reply #848 on: August 13, 2016, 12:27:44 am »
Just picked up an N2795A 1 GHz active probe that looks to be as new with all accessories and even the original cal cert for $300.00. Should be fun to have a probe with LED lighting on the end. Now to find a nice differential probe.

Adding the LED is excellent. I would love to see a camera on future probes - that would be awesome.
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Offline Muxr

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Re: List your test equipment "scores" here!
« Reply #849 on: August 13, 2016, 07:41:59 pm »
About 6 months ago I picked up this HP 5385A Frequency Counter. The owner said it was blowing fuses. I finally had some time this weekend so I decided to take a look at it and see if I can fix it.



Armed with the service manual I dug into it.

Main board:

The cover actually has a battery and the battery charger as part of the included options (oven controlled oscillator was the other):

PWM DC-DC +5V main rail regulator section:

Probed around for obvious shorted capacitors or similar and found no issues. The fuse was the only thing that needed a replacement:

So I decided to disconnect the battery charger/battery module replace the fuse and give it a spin.

The instrument came alive, thermal camera also didn't detect any overly stressed parts:

The issue is probably related to the battery option, which I don't care about. So I will just remove the battery and remove the option.

I am currently not able to test 100Mhz + RF frequencies (I have just scored an RF Sig Gen as well, but it's not here yet) but at least the sub 100Mhz frequencies seem fine.


Not bad for $50.
« Last Edit: August 13, 2016, 08:33:39 pm by Muxr »
 
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