Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread

[Brumby]

Oh, I'm definitely doing that!

[bitseeker]

Several hours of settling and dropped what I suspect is my most accurate meter on the Fluke 335D. I know the Advantest is off.

Mmmm The evidence is that my 18 year old out of Cal 34401A is a chunk better than a 5 year old non Calibrated and non adjusted 34461A. Buy good quality stale old TEA is the answer it seems

Yep, well-aged voltage ref. For stability, old is a good thing. For the rest, YMMV.

[bitseeker]

This is the TEA group.  Masochism is endemic, perhaps even mandatory.

Hells YES! This needs to be No 11 of the 10 Laws of TEA!

mnem
Oh, bitseeker...  *Poke Poke*

Yep, yep. Added! (and total corrected)

[worsthorse]

Is it masochistic to spend an afternoon, ridding a TM503 plug-in of twenty years of accumulated grime with a toothbrush? Not that I know anyone that does anything like that. Just wondering...

[Brumby]

 

[beanflying]

For @GregDunn and anyone else who wants it. 3D printer STL for the Rear Foot of the 3000 series HP Aluminium cases.

Print it with 0.1 layers if you want it cleaner on the angled bits and right way up with supports to keep the holes and strength at their best.

The Zip file contains both the STL and also the Fusion 360 file if anyone wants to play. It could maybe have an extra 1/2-1 degree of Angle where it meets the case but mine all pulled down fine with the stock screws when printed in PLA.

[bitseeker]

Is it masochistic to spend an afternoon, ridding a TM503 plug-in of twenty years of accumulated grime with a toothbrush? Not that I know anyone that does anything like that. Just wondering...

That'd be a TEAthbrush.

[bitseeker]

US$100 for a 5221A? Granted, it has options 02 and 03, badge, and feet, but wowzers.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Vintage-1969-Hewlett-Packard-Model-5221A-Electronic-Frequency-Counter-Nixie-Tube-/264205009124?nordt=true

[Cubdriver]

Wow - a 5221A counter just went for north of $100 on everyone's favorite wallet draining site.  It looked to be in really nice shape, had the full complement of six digits, both feet and was said to include the cord and be working, but that was a bit rich for my blood.  May whoever snagged it enjoy it in good health.   


-Pat

[Cubdriver]

US$100 for a 5221A? Granted, it has options 02 and 03, badge, and feet, but wowzers.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Vintage-1969-Hewlett-Packard-Model-5221A-Electronic-Frequency-Counter-Nixie-Tube-/264205009124?nordt=true

   Guess we were both watching that one, huh?

-Pat

[mnementh]

In other News...



My blog on the  1055T/RX580 Resto-Rod PC  is up; I decided to make it a separate article as it was just WAAAAAY too big to dump in here. 

Go look at the pretty pictures, and have a giggle at my OCD. 

mnem
*Toddling off to ded*

[VK5RC]

If you guys are interested in some RF 'porn' , how about 370W, linear modulation, at 1296MHz,
Below are the splitter and combiner of the PA, needs about 20-30A at 28V.
Output is via the small heliax. Built for some earth-moon-earth but got p****ed off with quite a few transmit-receive sequencing issues - and kept blowing up the pre-amp 36dB gain NF 0.3. I will come back to it at some stage!

[bitseeker]

US$100 for a 5221A? Granted, it has options 02 and 03, badge, and feet, but wowzers.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Vintage-1969-Hewlett-Packard-Model-5221A-Electronic-Frequency-Counter-Nixie-Tube-/264205009124?nordt=true

   Guess we were both watching that one, huh?

-Pat

My, my. What a coincidence. We even posted about it consecutively.

[Specmaster]

Your Canon 5D is actually an upgrade to mine, with Canon, the lower the number the higher grade the camera is culminating with the 1D at some £5,400 just for the body. The ranges in the single digit are the top models and goes like 7, 6, 5 and then 1 so in reality yours is 2 steps up from mine and 1 step down from the top model.

Oh nooo... another rabbit hole. How can be possible? TEA is growing in all directions.
Got a Canon EF 70-200mm f/2.8L IS II USM about a year ago for 1100€ on evilbay when new it was 2K€. It was working fine then about 3 months ago I noticed the manual focus was skipping in one direction. Oh well I will send in for repair. Got the letter from Canon Deutschalnd back yesterday: USM, Stabilization System and IS are done. My budget was 250€ worst case for this repair. And here it comes... wait...

909,76€

to get the shit fixed, 376€ are labor work (4h) already included.

I know it's not an option for everyone, but I have subscribed to Canon's CPS Gold membership.  It provides a free clean and check for all gear which has coverage, a sizable discount on repair and shipping plus expedited turnaround.  So far it has been a wash in terms of cost, but knowing that if the worst happens they can have a repair or loaner in my hands quickly makes for peace of mind.  They'll also do an estimate if you're unsure about whether it's going to be worth it.

That's a thought, that's also a reason why I have 2 bodies in my camera bag, another reason is that I keep another lens on it at all times. This provides me with a working camera as backup if the main one fails, gives instant access to a lens more suitable for job, ie close up or telephoto. This saves swapping lenses over in a less than suitable environment and thus prevents dust getting on the sensor.

[Specmaster]

Yikes! That's a big mo-fo. It has mortgage the farm written all over it. 

Na, it twasn't too bad, NZD950 plus a 1hr drive each way to collect it. 

Nearly 50kg though and the backend pulsed at little getting it into place. 

No dodgy electrics this time, eh[emoji1696]

[Specmaster]

Yikes! That's a big mo-fo. It has mortgage the farm written all over it. 

Na, it twasn't too bad, NZD950 plus a 1hr drive each way to collect it. 

Nearly 50kg though and the backend pulsed at little getting it into place. 

Ouch, $655 USD is still a good chunk of change but you gotta do it when it comes to a decent water supply. And a 110 pounds dead weight...hernia city. 

Really this one was pretty well priced compared to the little 7 stage single phase one that we had as a backup and bought some 35 yrs back. IIRC it was at least as much $, probably more.
The newbie is a beast by comparison.
Here's the manufacturers webpage for the one I bought, a LVR4-12:
http://www.leogroup.cn/pumps/english/productDetail.aspx?id=107&type=41

The seller was a small fry single brand distributor like myself but specialized in pumps. She was pretty switched on and ran all my piping and static head specs over the phone so to be sure it would do the/my job.
Ya just gotta love specialists, in any field ! 

Especially the pretty female variety [emoji16]

[med6753]

I should not have watched this. Our leader telling me I should have a 6.5 digit DMM on my bench. He almost has me convinced. 



If you don't hear from me I'll be on Evil bay. 

[Specmaster]

Yeah, that's a tough call. Do you tell the unvarnished truth, or replace the switch on GP  to justify being there? Some clients require that I replace the part, no matter what. Some allow me to use my best judgement. Some tell me to err on the side of caution.

If I'm working for myself, I usually tell them the truth and let them decide if they want to pay X amount and probably be good to go, or X plus Y amount to have brand-new installed and not have to wonder how long it will last.

Surprisingly, I often get the latter... and I either put the old part in my stash of emergency spares or in the new part box and hand it to the customer, as they choose.

mnem
"Good. Fast. Cheap. Pick any two."

Would have added $25-40 of Switch to the job and taken another 15 minutes to fit resulting in even more Dairy Farmer (most sooky) unhappiness. The contacts and the switch bodies on these are open to insects of all sorts including spiders of the nasty bitey kind. Normally the spring would smoosh (technical term) them into pulp and the 240V induced spark would bake their bodies away but this earwig had enough exo skeleton to prevent the smooshing.

Yeah, I grew up on a farm. I know EXACTLY what you're talking about; as my grandfather used to say: "You can't make a living selling to people who're scraping the earth for pocket change."

There's a reason I got away from "the life" as quick as I could when I grew up: You don't get up and go to work; you get up and you're surrounded by it. And poverty.

mnem
"You want to make a living, sell what people need. You want to MAKE MONEY, you sell what people WANT." ~ grandmother.

Isn't that farmers do? We all need food, cannot survive without it. Hmm, come to think of it, us Brits might have to survive with less of it after March 29[emoji44]

[Specmaster]

It just occurred to me...

When removing the attenuators from my 8656B, I only ever used a single spanner on the SMA connectors - but when I put it back together, I needed a second, smaller spanner to tighten up the connection between the short piece of solid coax attached to the rear panel socket and the longer shaped piece that ran around to the output of the attenuators towards the front.  This was an inline connection, just floating in mid-air.

Could it be that this connection was loose all along with the centre conductors not touching, but close enough for a weak capacitive coupling?  If that were the case, then the output being down -116dB would seem pretty reasonable to me.  This explains why I didn't detect anything ... my ability to detect low level signals drops off at around -70dBm to no hope in hell at -80dBm.

Was the fault simply a loose SMA connection that I could have fixed in 5 seconds (quite literally)?

Or is this the trap set by Murphy?

It sure sounds plausible to me.

[beanflying]

Yikes! That's a big mo-fo. It has mortgage the farm written all over it. 

Na, it twasn't too bad, NZD950 plus a 1hr drive each way to collect it. 

Nearly 50kg though and the backend pulsed at little getting it into place. 

No dodgy electrics this time, eh[emoji1696]

It was made in China from potentially dubious stainless steel ources and involves mains wiring what could possibly go wrong 

Is the motor ex China @Tautech or a local sourced IEC flanged one that meets a local spec?

[beanflying]

I should not have watched this. Our leader telling me I should have a 6.5 digit DMM on my bench. He almost has me convinced. 

If you don't hear from me I'll be on Evil bay. 

Inverted was still alive as of an hour ago when I had an email from him I am sure he has a 'spare' he would send your way for a small donation 

Seems likely if the list is still correct. Chief Enabler working hard 

Fluke 8502A, 6.5 digit, DMM, no issues and loaded with ALL the option cards.                                                                                 $200 (not GPA)
Fluke 8506A, 6.5 digit, DMM, no issues, loaded minus current shunt card.                                                                                       $150

[bd139]

If you guys are interested in some RF 'porn' , how about 370W, linear modulation, at 1296MHz,
Below are the splitter and combiner of the PA, needs about 20-30A at 28V.
Output is via the small heliax. Built for some earth-moon-earth but got p****ed off with quite a few transmit-receive sequencing issues - and kept blowing up the pre-amp 36dB gain NF 0.3. I will come back to it at some stage!

That’s a beasty! Want to try some EME myself when I get somewhere big enough for a yagi array

[Specmaster]

I should not have watched this. Our leader telling me I should have a 6.5 digit DMM on my bench. He almost has me convinced. 



If you don't hear from me I'll be on Evil bay. 

Dave always finds the cracking deals [emoji106]

[med6753]

Not more than 5 minutes ago an event took place that I've been anticipating since 1968. The first Social Security payment just passed into my account. That's MY money that I've been contributing since then and I want it.  I'm glad something in the .gov is working despite the politicians using SSI as a slush fund for other stuff and is going broke. 

The first job in 1968: part time in a Stationery dept in a now defunct department store.     

The spending restriction here has been lifted. Just submitted orders to Amazon and Mouser. More to follow.   

[tautech]

Yikes! That's a big mo-fo. It has mortgage the farm written all over it. 

Na, it twasn't too bad, NZD950 plus a 1hr drive each way to collect it. 

Nearly 50kg though and the backend pulsed at little getting it into place. 

No dodgy electrics this time, eh[emoji1696]

It was made in China from potentially dubious stainless steel ources and involves mains wiring what could possibly go wrong 

Runs a bit too warm Bean and researching as to why this arvo.

Is the motor ex China @Tautech or a local sourced IEC flanged one that meets a local spec?

Funny you ask as my sparky mate said most Chinese 3 phase motors are only rated to 380VAC and as a consequence they can run hot on our 3 phase 415VAC.
The name plate looks OK and I don't think it's forged as the motor is drawing the correct labeled current whereas the LEO website only lists 380VAC versions drawing 4.7A.



The fan on it is pretty pitiful though and could be much better IMHO. Bloody thing would fry in OZ.