Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread

[bd139]

Yeah. My value add is testing, packaging and turd polish.

[Specmaster]

Yeah. My value add is testing, packaging and turd polish.

I reckon that there is a good living to be made doing that with the right gear and storage space. Better then that waiting shit for China Post.

[med6753]

Biscuits are for tea. Heathens! 

Then again you put the tea in the sea!

Your point? 

[bitseeker]

As i did when buying a HP boatanchor of a 4 channel SMU and then found 5 Triax connectors on the back and ended up spending more on triax cables than what i bought the boatanchor for.

EDIT: Oh and then bought a different HP SMU and found the triax connectors on that have a different pinout after noticing it was reading garbage with my existing cables.

Yes exactly that. The one that makes me laugh and then cry at the local amateur radio club. It starts with "so I got this HP power meter off ebay - how do I plug my signal into this connector?" followed by "did it come with a power sensor?" followed by "what's one of those?". This is one reason I'm throwing together this power sensor board and an associated tap attenuator combo is so I can say "give me 50 quid to make your problems go away".

Oof! Triax cables/adapters and power sensors. They make Pomona patch cables look like pocket change.

[Cerebus]

Biscuits are for tea. Heathens! 

Then again you put the tea in the sea!

Your point? 

You're supposed to put the milk in first!

[med6753]

Biscuits are for tea. Heathens! 

Then again you put the tea in the sea!

Your point? 

You're supposed to put the milk in first!

And then toss it overboard? OK, got it! 

[bitseeker]

That's sort of what I hope will become of my designs. I'm going to publish them free, Chinese will copy them, then I will import the cloned ones and sell them for a markup here thus not having to deal with PCBA and supply chain shite 

Getting them to copy the design in order to manufacture them inexpensively would be cool. That's essentially what happened with the $20 transistor tester, which can now be had in some variations for $9 or less. Of course, the quality varies quite a bit, but that's a given at the bottom of the barrel.

As mnem said, there are so many power meters going for cheap. Inexpensive power sensors would give them a new life.

[mnementh]

That's sort of what I hope will become of my designs.

I'm going to publish them free, Chinese will copy them, then I will import the cloned ones and sell them for a markup here thus not having to deal with PCBA and supply chain shite 

MRM250V2 Promotional build for multirotormania.com

Happens all the time in the RC Hobbyist electronics and gear market.

One of the best FCs of the 8-bit APM generation was actually a STM32F1-based board called the CC3D released under GNU Creative Commons by a group of hobbyist devs known as OpenPilot. The Chinese factory-direct sellers (banggood, GoodLuckBuy, DealExtreme etc) glommed onto it, and eventually destroyed the OpenPilot brand; the founders gave up and tried to restructure as LibrePilot but infighting and ego-driven douchebaggery killed them.

Even as a dead brand, their STM32F4-based version called the Revolution was the most advanced hardware on the planet; it eventually became the building block testbed that birthed RaceFlight.

For about 3 years, even with abandoned firmware being traded between users due to poisoning of the GitHub and other stupidity, the clone CC3D was still the go-to $10 FC for noobs just getting into the hobby. It is what killed the Naze32.

The quadcopter frame above is a version of the ZMR250 FPV; this is a carbon-fiber frame based on the Luminier QAV250 designed by some hobbyists and also released under Creative Commons in the HOPE those Chinese manufacturers would take it to market.

Even though the design is 6 years old, thanks to cheap ZMR250-based kits it is still one of the most popular entry-level frames on the market; in total, it and its descendants are probably the single best-selling multirotor frame ever designed.

The MRM Zeus 20A ESCs on it are also historical... I know the fellow who first released them; at the time they were groundbreaking and he bankrolled the R&D. In a really egregious case of China-direct double-dealing... once the first shipment was out and he'd made a name for them as a quality product, the manufacturer/supplier he'd gone into business with started shipping under their own name and then treated him like just another wholesaler.   

mnem
No fear.

[Specmaster]

Biscuits are for tea. Heathens! 

Then again you put the tea in the sea!

Your point? 

You're supposed to put the milk in first!

Correct[emoji106]

[bd139]

If you want a pissy cup of tea yes. Bag, hot water, top up with milk, ISO sugar 

I am in disagreement of BS 6008:1980

[tggzzz]

Biscuits are for tea. Heathens! 

Then again you put the tea in the sea!

Your point? 

You're supposed to put the milk in first!

It would reduce the thermal shock when boiling water hits the porcelain. Is there any point beyond that?

[bitseeker]

Minimizing thermal shock to the cup is the primary purpose. However, I heard that the fat molecules in the milk supposedly clump in undesirable ways when poured into hot water thereby altering the taste. I haven't investigated this and never noticed anything significantly objectionable in the taste of the tea when putting milk in second.

[bd139]

Never noticed either. Than again I buy wine mostly based on lowest price rather than desired attributes 

[Cerebus]

It would reduce the thermal shock when boiling water hits the porcelain. Is there any point beyond that?

Yeah, I want to see med6753 trying to squeeze juice out of  a cow into the Boston harbour.   

[mnementh]

If you want a pissy cup of tea yes. Bag, hot water, top up with milk, ISO sugar 

I am in disagreement of BS 6008:1980

You disagree with the methodology or the apparatus used?

I personally prefer a perforated china infuser, or if the mix has fine enough elements to need it, a stainless steel mesh equivalent. But I prefer not to contaminate my teapot with milk; it is nearly impossible to clean 100%, especially from a well-seasoned pot, and colors the flavor unpleasantly once the milkfat spoils. Meanwhile, aged tea oils generally complement the flavor.

mnem
 

[bd139]

Find used but not too bad builders mug. Tea bag in builders mug. Boiling hot water in. Two sugars. Milk to top up. Whizz round. Sling tea bag in sink until it goes furry. Drink tea after forgetting about it for 30 minutes.

That’s an English cup of tea. Cures many ailments due to the Penicillin content.

[Wolfgang]

This broth is a good reason to support the Brexit. British cousine rules slurpreme ! 

[Cerebus]

This broth is a good reason to support the Brexit. British cousine rules slurpreme ! 

Brave of a man from the land of Currywurst to make slurs about another country's cuisine. 

[Wolfgang]

I am not from the land of the Currywurst (and Sauerkraut). I'm Viennese, and these people are brave, thats correct, but they also have *taste*. Best coffee in Europe ! 

[mnementh]

Find used but not too bad builders mug. Tea bag in builders mug. Boiling hot water in. Two sugars. Milk to top up. Whizz round. Sling tea bag in sink until it goes furry. Drink tea after forgetting about it for 30 minutes.

That’s an English cup of tea. Cures many ailments due to the Penicillin content.

Coffee - Tea - Iced Tea

There is a difference between drinking tea and "having tea".

I like my tea like I like my coffee and my women; more than a handful,  strong enough to break me, and dripping with cream & honey.   

I usually drink my tea brewed in the cup as well, though I have yet to develop the requisite tolerance for "recycled" teabags. The closest I can admit to is occasionally slopping a few fresh scoops on top of yesterday's grounds to boost my caffeine-blood ratio sufficiently that I'm coherent enough to brew a proper pot.

mnem
"mnem honey... I need that talented tongue of yours." "Yes, dear."   

[Cerebus]

Interesting oddity in this UK ebay listing, a four channel chart recorder combined with a CRO.



I've seen built in thermal printers before, but never a full blown chart recorder.

[bd139]

Interesting. Although it immediately makes me think of:

https://youtu.be/NcHdF1eHhgc

[PA0PBZ]

Interesting oddity in this UK ebay listing, a four channel chart recorder combined with a CRO.

I've seen these devices in medical applications, but while Medelec suggests medical the ranges surely do not.
An interesting device for sure.

[Specmaster]

It's a machine to bring those who are afflicted with TEA and GAS out of a coma, come on people get real, it's bloody obvious. Wheel one of those in and and we don't come round then switch off the life support as we are clearly dead 

[Cerebus]

OK, as that has obviously whetted some appetites, another ebay UK listing that caught my eye a while back. BTW, the asking price on the previous item is £70, and on this a less tempting £195.

Gentlemen (and lady), I give you the "Pantos Thermal Oscillo Unicorder T-9385":