Products > Test Equipment
Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread
GerryBags:
VintageTek on YouTube is great. The second clip, above, is gold for anyone tackling the early Tek scopes, and it shows why the silver solder was needed on those ceramic turret strips, along with the right way to solder to them.
It's a shame that there is nothing similar to distinguish the modern Tek gear from its competition. A tube of Tek branded lead-free SMD solder paste gaffer-taped to the inside of the case wouldn't really cut it. :D
bitseeker:
--- Quote from: Cubdriver on May 15, 2018, 07:55:49 am ---
--- Quote from: bitseeker on May 15, 2018, 04:52:12 am ---
--- Quote from: Cubdriver on May 11, 2018, 02:33:10 am ---
--- End quote ---
They're congregating...or perhaps colluding. Did you recently schlepp some of the units I see there?
--- End quote ---
Indeed I did. You obviously recognize the pile just to the left of center as my recent score.
--- End quote ---
That I do. Thought I might've been seeing things, heh heh.
--- Quote from: Cubdriver on May 15, 2018, 08:20:58 am ---It's funny when packing the instrument to ship it winds up being more challenging than bringing it back to life was...
--- End quote ---
Haha, yep. Hmmm, if only we could set up a compound, like back in the '60's, where TEA members could live. Imagine the hackerspace we'd end up with. :o
mnementh:
--- Quote from: tggzzz on May 15, 2018, 04:41:09 pm ---
--- Quote from: mnementh on May 15, 2018, 01:32:12 pm ---
--- Quote from: tggzzz on May 15, 2018, 09:48:54 am ---
--- Quote from: Specmaster on May 15, 2018, 08:16:50 am ---Heads everyone, TTi TGP110's are back in stock again and they have 18 in cream and 19 in grey.
--- End quote ---
I'm not really sure why I would want a pulse generator; any of the pulses I would want would be more conveniently generated by a pattern generator.
Having said that, I recently picked a Tek 115 up for £5, and that does one thing a pattern generator won't: have (independently) variable rise and fall times. Mind you, neither does that TTI.
The Tek 115 is remarkably versatile, being able to generate double pulse and, with an external signal triggered bursts. The TTI doesn't look like it does that either.
Example, with equal rise/fall times:
Ob porn: the front panel showing rise and fall time controls, and one interior shot showing old-school wiring looks and, if you look closely on the left, 863pF, 908pF and 9.85nF capacitors.
--- End quote ---
Oh, that is quite delicious... has much of the same "precision analog built for the space program" feel as my old 454... also would be a good module (if collected together with a dozen of its brothers) for analog computing or synthesizer stacks.
--- End quote ---
Actually, it is a module. If you look at the lower left front panel you will see the single screw securing it in its slide-in housing. Took me a while to figure out that I didn't need to remove panels to get at the innards, doh.
Much more detailed porn here: https://www.flickr.com/photos/anachrocomputer/albums/72157690644170820
Keep an eye out for the two hidden tunnel diodes and the roll of solder. And the gold, of course.
--- End quote ---
Nice photography. :-+ That thing is the same age as me. :o
I knew about needing silver-bearing solder for working with their ceramic terminal strips; it's a testament to their foresight, and the fact they felt it was important enough to do the job right to include some of "the right stuff" as a consumable along with this product. Back then, they designed their stuff to last indefinitely as long as one was prepared to maintain it; there was a time when automobiles, telephones, and even desklamps were also designed and manufactured with this mindset.
Funny how in this world of disposable utensils, plates, tools and even people, no matter how amazing the tech in our everyday lives becomes, we still harken back to those same generations when we need to evoke a feeling of quality.
It isn't just nostalgia; we took pride in a job well-done and a thing well-made, and we lived in our communities rather than each of us building ourselves a little island in the middle of a moat.
mnem
Just imagine modern-day Americans pulling together against a common enemy the way we did in WWII; our society simply isn't capable of that kind of unity.
tggzzz:
--- Quote from: mnementh on May 15, 2018, 10:45:28 pm ---
--- Quote from: tggzzz on May 15, 2018, 04:41:09 pm ---
--- Quote from: mnementh on May 15, 2018, 01:32:12 pm ---
--- Quote from: tggzzz on May 15, 2018, 09:48:54 am ---
--- Quote from: Specmaster on May 15, 2018, 08:16:50 am ---Heads everyone, TTi TGP110's are back in stock again and they have 18 in cream and 19 in grey.
--- End quote ---
I'm not really sure why I would want a pulse generator; any of the pulses I would want would be more conveniently generated by a pattern generator.
Having said that, I recently picked a Tek 115 up for £5, and that does one thing a pattern generator won't: have (independently) variable rise and fall times. Mind you, neither does that TTI.
The Tek 115 is remarkably versatile, being able to generate double pulse and, with an external signal triggered bursts. The TTI doesn't look like it does that either.
Example, with equal rise/fall times:
Ob porn: the front panel showing rise and fall time controls, and one interior shot showing old-school wiring looks and, if you look closely on the left, 863pF, 908pF and 9.85nF capacitors.
--- End quote ---
Oh, that is quite delicious... has much of the same "precision analog built for the space program" feel as my old 454... also would be a good module (if collected together with a dozen of its brothers) for analog computing or synthesizer stacks.
--- End quote ---
Actually, it is a module. If you look at the lower left front panel you will see the single screw securing it in its slide-in housing. Took me a while to figure out that I didn't need to remove panels to get at the innards, doh.
Much more detailed porn here: https://www.flickr.com/photos/anachrocomputer/albums/72157690644170820
Keep an eye out for the two hidden tunnel diodes and the roll of solder. And the gold, of course.
--- End quote ---
Nice photography. :-+ That thing is the same age as me. :o
I knew about needing silver-bearing solder for working with their ceramic terminal strips; it's a testament to their foresight, and the fact they felt it was important enough to do the job right to include some of "the right stuff" as a consumable along with this product. Back then, they designed their stuff to last indefinitely as long as one was prepared to maintain it; there was a time when automobiles, telephones, and even desklamps were also designed and manufactured with this mindset.
Funny how in this world of disposable utensils, plates, tools and even people, no matter how amazing the tech in our everyday lives becomes, we still harken back to those same generations when we need to evoke a feeling of quality.
It isn't just nostalgia; we took pride in a job well-done and a thing well-made, and we lived in our communities rather than each of us building ourselves a little island in the middle of a moat.
--- End quote ---
But there was also an awful lot of sheer crap back then, which really is best forgotten. Ted Sturgeon was spot on when he proclaimed "90% of everything is crap".
I'm sure 10% of what we do today isn't crap.
mnementh:
--- Quote from: bd139 on May 15, 2018, 05:41:40 pm ---Some insight into how it's done:
--- End quote ---
"...Because of the high component density offered by the use of these boards, it is possible to build more sophisticated instruments with greater versatility and reliability."
What are there, maybe a dozen actives on it?
*Thinking to a modern SnapDragon CPU with billions of transistors in the board space one of those transistors occupies, operating at thousands of times the speed*
That's the development of one person's lifetime, boys and girls. Actually, I'm surprised we haven't crossed the Singularity threshold already.
mnem
The Adolescence of P-1 was entirely too optimistic.
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