Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread

[AF6LJ]

My diddle-stick collection is a bit larger than that, but not so big it takes up a shoe box.

[rrinker]

 I'm just going to pretend you never said that...   

[xrunner]

Ceramic screwdrivers and a few others -

[AF6LJ]

Just a few....
I do have a stash of Motorola alignment tools if I bust the one in the picture....
The Motorola tuning tool is the largest one in the pile.

[Martin.M]

low Resistance Meter (4 wires), warm 

1-3-10-30-100-300 Ohms full scale . it works with a small sine wave of 10kHz

[AF6LJ]

Looks nice Martin.

[bitseeker]

Just a few....

Ah, I see you also have the universal mighty-morphin' technician's tool in the upper-left. I use those for all kinds of things, the least of which is to hold sheets of paper together.

[mtdoc]

Is it TEA when you're slightly concerned about always having the right tuning tool, even though you only really use about 5 of them?

Nope. You're in the wrong place. The Precision Tool Anonymous (PTA) meeting is down the hall, second door on the right. . 

Hmm - well maybe we could merge the groups or add a subsection of TEA?  I definitely suffer from both GAS and TAS.

[SeanB]

Just a few....

Ah, I see you also have the universal mighty-morphin' technician's tool in the upper-left. I use those for all kinds of things, the least of which is to hold sheets of paper together.

It does that as well? Would never have known!

Now, if I could get those cool looking X shaped ones that were popular in the 1960's as project parts....

[mmagin]

Is it TEA when you're slightly concerned about always having the right tuning tool, even though you only really use about 5 of them?

Nope. You're in the wrong place. The Precision Tool Anonymous (PTA) meeting is down the hall, second door on the right. . 

Hmm - well maybe we could merge the groups or add a subsection of TEA?  I definitely suffer from both GAS and TAS.

Ha Ha.  Don't get me started on the torque wrenches I have for proper tightening of SMA and N connectors.  (Got a pretty good deal on them used.)

[AF6LJ]

Is it TEA when you're slightly concerned about always having the right tuning tool, even though you only really use about 5 of them?

Nope. You're in the wrong place. The Precision Tool Anonymous (PTA) meeting is down the hall, second door on the right. . 

Hmm - well maybe we could merge the groups or add a subsection of TEA?  I definitely suffer from both GAS and TAS.

Ha Ha.  Don't get me started on the torque wrenches I have for proper tightening of SMA and N connectors.  (Got a pretty good deal on them used.)

There is one of those wrenches in my future.
Now that I am acquiring gear that works beyond UHF I'm going to need one of those.

[xrunner]

Here's a lovely little item. This is a cool flexible JAMMA extender, one would use for troubleshooting video game boards, but it works with the TM500 series connectors. This will be a keen tool to use for working on the plug-ins, one of which I have coming is known to have "no output". 

[bitseeker]

That looks like a handy harness, indeed. Gives you lots of wiggle room as compared to a riser board.

[AF6LJ]

That is way nice...

 I need to make some edge card extenders...

[xrunner]

That is way nice...

 I need to make some edge card extenders...

Thanks, it's gonna make life with these units a lot easier.

That looks like a handy harness, indeed. Gives you lots of wiggle room as compared to a riser board.

Oh man, trying to do detailed troubleshooting with a rigid card edge extender would not be fun. Having this is way easier as you can turn the unit in any direction you please. If anyone gets one keep in mind that on the PCB of this JAMMA extender pins 1/2 and 3/4 on each side are bridged. Best to cut those apart else you would short the +11.5VDC and 25 VAC power supplies together (if you chose to put that end at the bottom ) of the TM500 connector.   

[Cubdriver]

Here's a lovely little item. This is a cool flexible JAMMA extender, one would use for troubleshooting video game boards, but it works with the TM500 series connectors. This will be a keen tool to use for working on the plug-ins, one of which I have coming is known to have "no output". 

That's a sweet find.  I gots ta get me one of those...   

-Pat

[xrunner]

More of what can happen when dealing with older test equipment ...

So as I said earlier some of the fuses were blown, and some were of the wrong value, so I ordered new ones, and received the today. So far so good. They are the correct size and values, but brand new. No problem right?

Wrong.

For some reason the new fuses have metal ends are not exactly the same diameter as 30 year old fuses. They are close - very very close, but when you stick them in the spade fuse holder (see pic) they are barely loose. You can see one new one in a clip in the pic, but even though it looks tight, it isn't. It's a matter of a very small amount, but just enough to where it's not holding it tightly.

So naturally I thought I'd gently bend the clips together just enough to make it a tight fit - but one side cracked off. Oh come on, I didn't bend it that far. So I tried another one in a different way, carefully, and another one cracked off. So I stopped with that endeavor.

Does anyone have any ideas? Has anyone seen these kind of fuse holders anywhere? Or - what could I retrofit them with? I can remove the spare lugs and try something with them, but I'm afraid to do anything to another one until I get an idea how to make these clips tighter. Of all the weird things that could go wrong ... 

[PA0PBZ]

This:



and a little bit creative with the legs?

Or this?

[iainwhite]

Wrap a shim e.g. some aluminum foil round one side of the holder 'leg'  ?
Or may melt a drop of solder on one of the holder 'legs' to tighten up the gap?

[xrunner]

Or this?

Thanks yea the first one OK, would need some re-work, how do I search for the second type - what do you call it?

Or may melt a drop of solder on one of the holder 'legs' to tighten up the gap?

Yea put a thin layer of solder on each clip ...

[PA0PBZ]

Thanks yea the first one OK, would need some re-work, how do I search for the second type - what do you call it?

Picture is from here: http://shop.rabtron.co.za/catalog/fuse-clip-5x20mm-p-8348.html?osCsid=3t23qd8ph4eeonls09mdtv6u72

[Housedad]

This would be a far better replacement for the originals:

http://grangeramp.com/shop/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=544&zenid=424a24ed350b133e38c9b99e610e8491

[tautech]

More of what can happen when dealing with older test equipment ...

So as I said earlier some of the fuses were blown, and some were of the wrong value, so I ordered new ones, and received the today. So far so good. They are the correct size and values, but brand new. No problem right?

Wrong.

For some reason the new fuses have metal ends are not exactly the same diameter as 30 year old fuses. They are close - very very close, but when you stick them in the spade fuse holder (see pic) they are barely loose. You can see one new one in a clip in the pic, but even though it looks tight, it isn't. It's a matter of a very small amount, but just enough to where it's not holding it tightly.

So naturally I thought I'd gently bend the clips together just enough to make it a tight fit - but one side cracked off. Oh come on, I didn't bend it that far. So I tried another one in a different way, carefully, and another one cracked off. So I stopped with that endeavor.

Does anyone have any ideas? Has anyone seen these kind of fuse holders anywhere? Or - what could I retrofit them with? I can remove the spare lugs and try something with them, but I'm afraid to do anything to another one until I get an idea how to make these clips tighter. Of all the weird things that could go wrong ... 

Grrrrrr that would infuriate me. 
What a trap for the unwary.  Could it be a metric/imperial measurement conversion discrepancy ?
Old imperial fuse that are now hard to source or poor modern manufacturing that has them just undersize ?   

Anyways, thanks heaps for sharing this with us, it's something I've made a strong mental note of should I come across the same holders.
In some way I hope the replies can offer some therapy for finding yourself in this predicament.

[xrunner]

Grrrrrr that would infuriate me. 
What a trap for the unwary.  Could it be a metric/imperial measurement conversion discrepancy ?
Old imperial fuse that are now hard to source or poor modern manufacturing that has them just undersize ?   

Grrr is right. The fuses are sold as this -

Dimension: 6 mm (1/4 in) x 30 mm (1-1/4 in)

That is correct.

I measured the new fuses vs the old ones. The old vintage fuses are indeed 0.250 on my caliper. The new ones are 0.236" which is exactly 6mm. So the problem is the new fuses are 6mm (nominally 1/4"). Well, it doesn't seem like a big deal to call a 6mm fuse 1/4", most of the time it will fit in many older fuse holders with no issues. But in this case they don't fit tight enough and trying to bend the original holders that Tek used results in a FAIL.

A trap for young players (and older ones it appears  )

This would be a far better replacement for the originals:

Yes indeed and I found some like that on Ebay which I ordered. The Master Searcher comes through again!

[tautech]

 
Not Tek's fault at all then. Nominal measurements, yeah right.   

Still a crying shame those lovely old fuse holders were busted, got any donor units ?
I'd be looking for some NOS real 1/4" fuses.