Products > Test Equipment
Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread
tggzzz:
--- Quote from: bd139 on June 26, 2022, 07:35:59 pm ---I blocked my escapades in 3d printing out of my mind so I don't go down that rabbit hole again. Then again, never know what might happen :popcorn:
--- End quote ---
Any printer at home is a rabbit hole. But OpenSCAD + Shapeways/DirtyPCBs isn't deep enough for rabbits.
mansaxel:
--- Quote from: Vince on June 26, 2022, 03:47:41 pm ---
That's a rather colourful Tant you have here ! So far I had only seen them yellow orange red or blue, now I see they even exist in flashy green.
Soon we can make a rainbow out of them.
Any other colours I am not aware of ?! ;D
--- End quote ---
Charcoal black. >:D
I also have "Rainbow striped, with a black hole" :-DD
The "broken caps" ziplock bag is getting to be quite big at the moment. Mostly consists of Frako electrolytes, some with a strong urge to fly, as can be witnessed from their desire to push the bottom bung out...
tggzzz:
--- Quote from: factory on June 26, 2022, 07:36:27 pm ---
--- Quote from: bd139 on June 26, 2022, 06:17:56 pm ---I will make amends. My purchase rate of TE is higher than ever :-DD
I got rid of the 7L12 because quite frankly it scared me. It could literally turn into a brick at any moment with no hope of repair. There are literally no parts mules for it or anything.
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Looking at the pile of SA crap I got at the last PP auction, the HP 8557/8/9 SA plug-ins aren't any better, the same mechanical parts, switch wafers & knobs are broken/missing on most of them.
Clearly the mixer, Yig oscillator and attenuator are trouble too, judging by them either being missing or labelled as futzed, though I suspect some of that might have been the operators fault. :-BROKE
David
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Sounds like the HP MDA / Time Interval Analyser I got from PP. That rapidly turned into a pile of metal-for-any-use and an 80111 10MHz OCXO. So I broke even :)
Robert763:
--- Quote from: bd139 on June 26, 2022, 08:18:26 pm ---
--- Quote from: factory on June 26, 2022, 08:15:57 pm ---
--- Quote from: bd139 on June 26, 2022, 07:42:10 pm ---
--- Quote from: factory on June 26, 2022, 07:36:27 pm ---
--- Quote from: bd139 on June 26, 2022, 06:17:56 pm ---I will make amends. My purchase rate of TE is higher than ever :-DD
I got rid of the 7L12 because quite frankly it scared me. It could literally turn into a brick at any moment with no hope of repair. There are literally no parts mules for it or anything.
--- End quote ---
Looking at the pile of SA crap I got at the last PP auction, the HP 8557/8/9 SA plug-ins aren't any better, the same mechanical parts, switch wafers & knobs are broken/missing on most of them.
Clearly the mixer, Yig oscillator and attenuator are trouble too, judging by them either being missing or labelled as futzed, though I suspect some of that might have been the operators fault. :-BROKE
David
--- End quote ---
Yes same with the SA's that were floating around today. I enquired about a couple. I was being pushed a 20GHz one for £60 and told what a good deal it was. But it came with a printed manual in a tesco carrier bag and a little zip lock bag taped on the front with some HP leaf contacts in it. He said he'd tried to repair it but not got around to finishing it. My daughter who was with me today actually laughed slightly too loudly at that. I passed on it.
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Yes probably best avoided (unless in perfect condition & fully working), I should have mentioned turning one of the controls and there was the sound of one dropping off. :-DD
The 400ish page PDFs put me off doing anything with the most complete one, shame they didn't come with any manuals, the joblot of 141 series SA plug-ins (in similar condition) did at least come with some. Oh that & the corrosion of the gold plated traces, some of which are used for those rotary switches.
Much prefer the older 141 series SA.
David
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Yes the 141T was more "Apollo Era Engineering" as I call it. If I was to grab an SA it'd be a bang up to date one (that doesn't go rusty like one vendor) or a 141T. So probably the 141T and a hernia it is.
They keep turning up for affordable amounts and I quite fancy having a go at one.
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If you have used a more modern SA with direct frequency entry and digital storage you will not want to go back to a 141T. If you have space for a 141T think about a HP 8568A/B or 8566 if you need micrware. They are reasonably repairable and fairly high performance.
tggzzz:
--- Quote from: Robert763 on June 26, 2022, 07:17:40 pm ---
--- Quote from: tggzzz on June 26, 2022, 07:01:28 pm ---OK, so my haul was
* a Fluke 515a portable calibrator for £20. Quick check shows Vdc excellent, µVdc cockeyed, resistors good, Vac not bad, missing the unique front panel switch
* three Muirhead decade resistors for £5. Looks good.
* Cropico 4 decade resistor box. A few resistors o/c, but can be replaced
* and the thing below, which is probably as near as I will get to having a slice of the one lying around in my first job
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Ooh submarine telephone cable?
--- End quote ---
Yup.
The one in the lab was 3m of TAT-7, the last transatlantic coax cable. 61.8ohms impedance.
I'm going to try to measure the impedance of that cable with my Tek1502. The challenge will be making an acceptable connection (i.e. better than croc clips). I have an idea for using my favourite 50ohm scope probe in both directions :)
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