Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread

[Specmaster]

Well I had to think long and hard about flipping my analogue scopes, some of which were only about 15 years old but when I got my Combiscope, I had to let let them go, no room. I can honestly say that I have not missed them at all and how nice it is to be able to switch something on and know that it is going to function correctly. I don't think I'll ever need a more powerful scope, not for my area of interest. I think it will see me off, but I do miss the rotary switches of an older analogue, easier to operate.

[mnementh]

Are you sure that isn't a feature? 

Well that is a very impressive tally over the years, but maybe the older scopes are getting just a bit to old now and its about time they were allowed to die in peace? The 453 lasted from 1965 to 1974 so they could anything from 45 to 54 years old now and at just 10 hours a week over its life, its had an awful amount of stress and things like multipliers are bound to be extremely fragile by now. So then whats your plan now, start looking at scopes from say the late 80's to 90's or is that it, done now for all time?

Completely agree with all points. The statistical rate of failure is too much of an enthusiast thing now to fight and honestly I don't have the time. You either have to go simpler or newer. Thus I'm going to stick with the DS1054Z as my one and only scope now and give up the analogues. Once they fix all the stuff in the MSO5000 and it's readily crackable I'll hit that. The whole journey has been productive for sure and Jim Williams was very much right with the assertion that a broken scope is an effective classroom. I've learned a hell of a lot of design and diagnostic tricks.

As for what's next, I don't know. Perhaps the Tower of Flukes needs to happen but no more scopes at all!

I give it a week before you're Jonesin' for the smell of warm dust and capacitors! 

mnem
Hmmm... low hours scope... means good healthy CRT. Hmmmmm...

[med6753]

Found the 2 problems on the S-3 Electronic Switch but now have a new problem.

I don't have a manual for this unit, just a schematic. So when I disassembled it I removed the tubes as they were plugged and wrote down their locations. (There's no markings on the chassis). Upon reassembly I plugged the tubes back in the same locations as I had originally found them. Well guess what?? Four tubes....two 12AU7's and two 12AX7's were swapped. In the wrong sockets. That damn gorilla again.  Once again had to shovel his crap. 

Straightened out that mess and here's the result. Almost there. "B" input, the square wave, has garbage on it. I just have to do some scoping around to find out where it's coming from. But it's been a long day so I'll tackle this in the AM.   

[tautech]

 
LMAO as you're using a 475 like bd just blew up. 

Nuthing like rubbing it in ! 

[med6753]

LMAO as you're using a 475 like bd just blew up. 

Nuthing like rubbing it in ! 

Gee....wasn't intentional but now that you mention it. 

[tautech]

LMAO as you're using a 475 like bd just blew up. 

Nuthing like rubbing it in ! 

Gee....wasn't intentional but now that you mention it. 

Yeah right  you're just evil ! 

[Neomys Sapiens]

Today I was looking for a book and found in a box these nice ones:

So? How many volumes of the Telefunken Laborbuch?

Just only this reprint. Do you collect them?

No need to collect, as I have all 6 of them.

[med6753]

LMAO as you're using a 475 like bd just blew up. 

Nuthing like rubbing it in ! 

Gee....wasn't intentional but now that you mention it. 

Yeah right  you're just evil ! 

Who? Me? 

[tautech]

Biggest order I've made just arrived, a dozen assorted DSO's, couple of E loads and half dozen PSU's plus some other bits and bobs.
Finally I have 20+ scopes in the stable. 
Plus the other 1/2 dozen busted ones to fix saved for a rainy day.

And yet more are about to leave the factory !   

[beanflying]

Not all evilbay sellers are created equal  Makes up for the other slightly tweaked bit of actual TEA that arrived today.

Brought on a whim but will finish up in the kitchen for weighing spices while my 0-100g good electronic ones can live in the shack permenantly. Woodwork will get a proper going over before it gets to the kitchen.

[Kosmic]

Little update on the HP 53310a.

Since electrolytic was poring out of the PSU I recapped the whole thing.




So decided to do a quick test just after, half expecting a success. But nothing happen. The PSU was just dead.

Quickly started debugging the primary and found 2 open resistors. So apparently the electrolytic all over the board shorted the 2 pins of C3 and R13 and R14 just died with all the current flowing through them. The funny thing was that the main and secondary fuses were fine.



Replaced the 2 resistors, double checked everything on the primary side, and everything looked in order this time.



Tried another power on. So the good news is the psu is alive now but the bad news is that he is suffering from a bad hick-up. Probably got something on the secondary side loading one of the power rails.

[kj7e]

^ Make sure you test it in circuit, it needs a load otherwise it will "tick".

[Kosmic]

^ Make sure you test it in circuit, it needs a load otherwise it will "tick".

Yes I did it's a no go 

[0culus]

Took possession of my new home today...now to load up all the test equipment and get it moved into my new lab space. It's going to be a heavy day tomorrow... 

[med6753]

Took possession of my new home today...now to load up all the test equipment and get it moved into my new lab space. It's going to be a heavy day tomorrow... 

Congrats! Pix of the new bench area required once set up. 

[Kosmic]

Took possession of my new home today...now to load up all the test equipment and get it moved into my new lab space. It's going to be a heavy day tomorrow... 

Heeeyy congrats  always a big adventure buying a new house 

[0culus]

I'll definitely get some pics once I get it set up. No real benches for now, using a couple of 6 foot folding tables plus my heavy duty job site bench for the heavy stuff. Need to recover from all the money I've been hemorrhaging this past month to get this done.  Then I've got my eyes on some nice benches from Bench Pro.

[worsthorse]

Bastard tants! 

Bastard tants, indeed.

Change 'em right away. Don't change 'em. Change these but not those. Wait til they go to change 'em. Whatever you choose, you are likely to be wrong. 

[bitseeker]

I found it!

Copied and pasted from a post to the HPAK mailing list explaining the serial numbering system; the original author worked for HP:

Thank you, Pat! I've added it to the POI (with some bold highlight ).

[bitseeker]

Just a quick postscript. I am now officially giving up on restoring old Tektronix scopes. I'm thoroughly done. Many have passed through my hands now and I am not going to do any more. I need a new challenge. Here's the tally though. I think I did good considering everything I bought was broken or for scrap or was supposedly working but wasn't or wasn't shown as working...

Restored (20 scopes)

- 3x 475
- 2x 475A
- 5x 465
- 3x 465B
- 2x 453
- 1x 2235A
- 3x 2225
- 1x 7603

Scrapped (5 scopes)

- 1x 465B
- 1x 465
- 1x 475
- 1x 453
- 1x 2235

I'm not including the 5x Philips, 2x Hameg, 2x HP, 1x Thurlby, 2x LG, 1x Hitachi, 6x Telequipment (3x D83, 2xD61, 1xS61) ones on top of that as well 

Phew  ...

Holy high tension, Batman. Just looking at your list makes me tired. Tek retirement duly earned.

[bitseeker]

Little update on the HP 53310a.

Since electrolytic was poring out of the PSU I recapped the whole thing.

That's a lot o' caps! What made you use axials in there? Convenient stock? People are usually doing just the opposite since axials cost more.

Hope you get the power supply sorted. Looking forward to seeing how this 53310A runs.

[bitseeker]

Took possession of my new home today...now to load up all the test equipment and get it moved into my new lab space. It's going to be a heavy day tomorrow... 

Talk about a big purchase! Congrats, 0culus!

[bd139]

Completely agree with all points. The statistical rate of failure is too much of an enthusiast thing now to fight and honestly I don't have the time. You either have to go simpler or newer. Thus I'm going to stick with the DS1054Z as my one and only scope now and give up the analogues. Once they fix all the stuff in the MSO5000 and it's readily crackable I'll hit that. The whole journey has been productive for sure and Jim Williams was very much right with the assertion that a broken scope is an effective classroom. I've learned a hell of a lot of design and diagnostic tricks.

As for what's next, I don't know. Perhaps the Tower of Flukes needs to happen but no more scopes at all!

The MSO5000 looks frustratingly slow though.

It’s not that bad actually. I think of it as fractionally faster than a DS1054Z. I played with one on the rigol stand for a bit at Kempton.

[TERRA Operative]

I'm hoping someone here might be able to help me out...

In restoring my Fluke 332D Voltage Standard, I found that the extender card is missing, which makes troubleshooting a pain in the arse...

Does anyone have one they're willing to sell, or have the connectors shown in the attached images, either loose or on salvaged/faulty boards etc?

[Specmaster]

Anyone interested in an old but looks in good condition Cossor 1035 MkIII scope? Someone in Fleetwood has one on Shpock and is open to offers?

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