Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread

[tautech]

in other news I attained my 35kg weight loss. Going for the 40 kg mark.

And for the last 2 weeks all you could say is FML...FML....FML......
Now see what all that exercise has done. 

[med6753]

in other news I attained my 35kg weight loss. Going for the 40 kg mark.

And for the last 2 weeks all you could say is FML...FML....FML......
Now see what all that exercise has done. 

I was going to say something similar. Definitely a good result from all the BS you've been through lately. 

[tggzzz]

Still a bit too cold for the BBQ over here. Was -25DegC this morning

I don't know, I reckon you lot are getting soft. I have Croatian and Indian neighbours who fire up the BBQ all year around.

In Kashmir they wear the barbecue under their clothes. Alps known as a kangri https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kanger

Ooh, Tandoori Testicles!

Fried kid's belly is not unknown

[tautech]

Still a bit too cold for the BBQ over here. Was -25DegC this morning

I don't know, I reckon you lot are getting soft. I have Croatian and Indian neighbours who fire up the BBQ all year around.

In Kashmir they wear the barbecue under their clothes. Alps known as a kangri https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kanger

Ooh, Tandoori Testicles!

Fried kid's belly is not unknown

Good spit roasted too !
Best basted with red wine to prevent it getting too crunchy.

[med6753]

The plug-in cabinet is done. And will be stored under bench 2 as shown. And yes, that's one of the Type 547's that will be the next project. The other one is behind it. Both have the HV issue that I will attempt to repair without replacing the HV transformer.




I still have one additional 500 series plug-in that's in the cabinet under the 7904 cart. Once I get the Type 547's up and running it will have a home. Between the 7904 and 7603N plus additional I have an even dozen 7000 series plug-in's. I still want to get a 7B92 Time Base plug-in to more closely match the 500MHz 7A19 Vertical. There are several on Ebay but for now that's a future purchase.




And finally. I have a total of four 560 series plug-in's. Two are installed in the Type 561B and have two additional vertical plug-in's as shown. That wooden cap keeps the dust out.

[med6753]

As of 0500 hours it is now 1 degree F or -17.2 C outside. Cold? Nah. 

[Robert763]

Still a bit too cold for the BBQ over here. Was -25DegC this morning

I don't know, I reckon you lot are getting soft. I have Croatian and Indian neighbours who fire up the BBQ all year around.

In Kashmir they wear the barbecue under their clothes. Alps known as a kangri https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kanger

Ooh, Tandoori Testicles!

Fried kid's belly is not unknown

Good spit roasted too !
Best basted with red wine to prevent it getting too crunchy.

I think TGGZZZ was refering to children not young goats 

[AVGresponding]

Geez, what the bleeding hell is going on over in America, LA in particular? I've just seen this BBC TV report of goods trains being robbed, even while they are moving. The thieves they say are looking high value items and just throwing other stuff of the trains.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/world-us-canada-60006306

Are you sure it was the news, and not Fast & Furious 5?   

My parents still live in Los Angeles.  LA has always had a lot of drugs and drug crime, but  this is new.   

It used to be mail boxes.  Maybe it still is.   Thieves would pop open the boxes at condo and apartment boxes and take everything.   

Happened to us twice in San Diego.   Along with merchandise, they would be looking for anything to use for identity theft or actual credit and debit cards. 



Unrelated?  -- There are a lot of visible homeless in LA.  There are entire blocks with tents on the streets.    The official count is about 66,000 but it feels like more than that.      We both notice how many more tent there were on our last visit.



https://www.npr.org/2020/06/12/875888864/homelessness-in-los-angeles-county-rises-sharply?t=1642317980726

Kind of sad that this US State with an economy so large it would rank 5th in the world by country has such a poor record in this regard.

[tggzzz]

Still a bit too cold for the BBQ over here. Was -25DegC this morning

I don't know, I reckon you lot are getting soft. I have Croatian and Indian neighbours who fire up the BBQ all year around.

In Kashmir they wear the barbecue under their clothes. Alps known as a kangri https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kanger

Ooh, Tandoori Testicles!

Fried kid's belly is not unknown

Good spit roasted too !
Best basted with red wine to prevent it getting too crunchy.

I think TGGZZZ was refering to children not young goats 

Unfortunately, yes. But the phraseology was deliberately ambiguous.

OTOH, I have told my daughter that I don't care what she does with my corpse - and would be content if she used it to feed her dog. I have not addressed the legality of that.

[Neper]

I counted them, 23 DMMs ! Plus 3 analog meters which are not in the picture.

Excusez du peu... ;-)

[Specmaster]

This is why it's so hard to find Metrix meters, Vince has them all!   

Except for the one I have and he isn't getting his grubby little hands on it either, I'm keeping it (centre zero bar graph is very handy to have) 

I did think of you about that.... recently I found, at long last, a good deal for MX 50/51/52 Metrix.

It ticked all the boxes : excellent shape, quasi NIB, came in its plastic suit case with foam in tip top shape, just like my MX53 at the top left of my overview pic. And it was very reasonably priced. Not dirt cheap, but not very expensive either.... I ALMOST fell for it !  But it was an MX 51 not a 52, so I thought no, I am short on cash so it's not reasonable to buy a 51 knowing I would buy a 52 later as soon as I can find one. So I was reasonable and kept my money.  A couple days ago ShakalNokturn told me bought it ! ... but to flip it, already sold it.

Well one day I will find a nice 52 

Yeah, I would like to find a better 52 than the one I have. It works OK but the display window is all cracked, which seems to be a common fault with that type of meter.

[capt bullshot]

Mrrppfff... 5100B calibrator. Mostly fine, except for lower resistance ranges and pretty much all current ranges.

I'd like something that just works from time to time.

These ranges are switched by relays, hidden somewhere in the front panel assembly. Never took mine apart this far, so good luck then ...

[capt bullshot]

This evening was the turn of my DMMs. Started collecting them 4/5 years ago maybe, and every time I would put a new 9V battery in them.

That was maybe not such a good idea. Not just for potential / inevitable long term corrosion damage, but if just for cost because 9V batteries are very expensive and having so many of them draining away unused, is just a huge waste 

...

I simply prefer stuff that's not running on batteries. So I don't have a large collection of handheld meters, about two DMMs that are in use so I keep them with batteries installed, and a handful of other battery operated items, that I've removed the batteries.

[med6753]

This evening was the turn of my DMMs. Started collecting them 4/5 years ago maybe, and every time I would put a new 9V battery in them.

That was maybe not such a good idea. Not just for potential / inevitable long term corrosion damage, but if just for cost because 9V batteries are very expensive and having so many of them draining away unused, is just a huge waste 

...

I simply prefer stuff that's not running on batteries. So I don't have a large collection of handheld meters, about two DMMs that are in use so I keep them with batteries installed, and a handful of other battery operated items, that I've removed the batteries.

About same here. An 8021B, 8060A, and 87. Everything else mains powered.

[SilverSolder]

This evening was the turn of my DMMs. Started collecting them 4/5 years ago maybe, and every time I would put a new 9V battery in them.

That was maybe not such a good idea. Not just for potential / inevitable long term corrosion damage, but if just for cost because 9V batteries are very expensive and having so many of them draining away unused, is just a huge waste 

...

I simply prefer stuff that's not running on batteries. So I don't have a large collection of handheld meters, about two DMMs that are in use so I keep them with batteries installed, and a handful of other battery operated items, that I've removed the batteries.

Me too.  I prefer corded power tools too...   they last for decades and never lose power.

Of course there are situations where batteries make sense...   but given the choice...   no thanks!

[Cerebus]

Still a bit too cold for the BBQ over here. Was -25DegC this morning

I don't know, I reckon you lot are getting soft. I have Croatian and Indian neighbours who fire up the BBQ all year around.

In Kashmir they wear the barbecue under their clothes. Alps known as a kangri https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kanger

Ooh, Tandoori Testicles!

Fried kid's belly is not unknown

Good spit roasted too !
Best basted with red wine to prevent it getting too crunchy.

I think TGGZZZ was refering to children not young goats 

Interviewer: "Mr. Fields, do you like children?"
W.C.Fields: "Fried or boiled?"

[Cerebus]

Kind of sad that this US State with an economy so large it would rank 5th in the world by country has such a poor record in this regard.

One could have probably made the same indictment of 1st Century Rome, which just goes to show that Humanity collectively seems to suffer from some sort of learning disorder. I never cease to be impressed by the intelligence, kindness, and generosity displayed by individual humans, it's just that collectively we're a shitshow.

[Vince]

This is why it's so hard to find Metrix meters, Vince has them all!   

Except for the one I have and he isn't getting his grubby little hands on it either, I'm keeping it (centre zero bar graph is very handy to have) 

I did think of you about that.... recently I found, at long last, a good deal for MX 50/51/52 Metrix.

It ticked all the boxes : excellent shape, quasi NIB, came in its plastic suit case with foam in tip top shape, just like my MX53 at the top left of my overview pic. And it was very reasonably priced. Not dirt cheap, but not very expensive either.... I ALMOST fell for it !  But it was an MX 51 not a 52, so I thought no, I am short on cash so it's not reasonable to buy a 51 knowing I would buy a 52 later as soon as I can find one. So I was reasonable and kept my money.  A couple days ago ShakalNokturn told me bought it ! ... but to flip it, already sold it.

Well one day I will find a nice 52 

Yeah, I would like to find a better 52 than the one I have. It works OK but the display window is all cracked, which seems to be a common fault with that type of meter.

I assume you mean the hair cracks in the rounded corner of the window ?  Yes I do notice it's recurrent.. however, among my 20 MX and all those I see over the years for sale, I would say it affect only a very few of them (just one in my case, and only slightly, perfectly acceptable), so don't worry you should be able to find one that's not cracked ! 

The REAL problem with these meters, that affects 100% of them but the NIB ones... is the fact that people just don't know how to open them, because there are no self tapers at the back holding it together, un like all other DMMs. IT's all plastic clips. So they just grab a small flat screw driver and butcher the case allll around, then do the same to the removable front panel / battery/fuse compartment.... until they finally crack it open !     So finding a meter that's not been butchered... OK that one is difficult.  What frustrating is that the tool to easily and harmlessly open the meter and battery compartment was on hand all along, at the back of the meter !  All they had to do was unclip it from the back of the meter and freaking use it !!! 

Oh, just found the ad for that MX51 I was talking about, it's still online ! Sold, but still online... new policy from the website, go figure.

There :  https://www.leboncoin.fr/bricolage/2070524734.htm

I now see another reason why I did not buy it !  It's missing the safety cover on the jacks at the bottom !  It's a no-no for me because it looks too ugly without it, does not fit snugly anymore in the rubber bumper, and that piece is impossible to find on its own, never mind in the appropriate colour !

Same for the bumper... a meter that comes with a bumper is worth a premium, even more so if it's clea/good looking, because from experience a dirty one is can NOT be cleaned up ! The material soaks the dirt in and it's game over ! 

There is a MX56 in excellent shape with a very clean bumper for sale... rare find, but too expensive.

https://www.leboncoin.fr/bricolage/2098766329.htm

Ad title says 280 Euros which is twice the usual going price. If you read the full description of the ad though, guy says he wants 200 for it not 280, so not sure !     So at 200 we could maybe negotiate down to 150+ which would be about acceptable... but the guy does state he won't take any offers ! 
Sooooo... not for me sadly, 200 Euros is too much, even for a nice top of the range MX 56 in tip top shape.

[Vince]

Oh boy just realiized : even the freaking DOOR STOP in the bathroom is smurf blue !!!! 

 

[TERRA Operative]

As an electrician, give me battery power any day.
Grinders, circular saws, etc can stay corded as they use a lot of power. But drills, drivers, impact drivers, sabre saws, etc etc can go stick power cords where the sun don't shine.

[med6753]

Oh boy just realiized : even the freaking DOOR STOP in the bathroom is smurf blue !!!! 

 

Contrary to popular belief, or vivid imaginations, that is the ONLY room here that is blue. 

[Cerebus]

Yes, but is it the only ROOM that is Smurf blue? 

[med6753]

Yes, but is it the only ROOM that is Smurf blue? 

Judge for thyself.

[Vince]

I still have suspicions about the garage and the Civic ! 

[med6753]

I still have suspicions about the garage and the Civic ! 

Well rest easy my son. The garage exterior is red, the interior is natural stone. And the Civic is black.

Proof can be provided if requested.