Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread

[bitseeker]

Mirror grinding. You make/made telescopes?

[Cubdriver]

I think I need another power supply and another meter, what do you guys think?  (LOL).

Jennifer, I think you need a REAL meter!!!

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Hewlett-Packard-HP-nixie-tube-3440A-Digital-Voltmeter-3444A-DC-Multi-function-/131975082436?hash=item1eba53f1c4:g:hkgAAOSwxKtYBpAq

 

-Pat

[rachaelp]

and here I"m about to add a Amscope SM-4T microscope!

Oh I have my eye on an Amscope trinocular microscope at the moment!

[xrunner]

Jennifer, I think you need a REAL meter!!!
 

-Pat

Really - get some Big Iron in your lab!

[JenniferG]

Latest acquisition.  $145 including shipping.  I'll have it on my doorstep in a few days, can't wait.  Auction was at $112 plus $29.99 shipping.  I put my max bid in the last second at $132 and got for $114

Before I purchased it, I did write the seller and ask if the version he's selling truly matches the photo because he has four of them up there.  He said it matched.  We'll see.. I don't want the one with the overshoot problem. Turns out he used the same photo for each of them btw, so the one I get in the mail might look even better (i.e. without that mark on the right above the knob).

EDIT: I just sent the seller a message and asked me to send me the nicest looking one of the lot, because he's using the same photo for the lot.  I told him I am picky.  (I am not really but figure I have a better chance getting the nicest looking one if I said that lol.)

I guess now I am officially a true member of the TEA.  Because I already have a tri output power supply that would of been sufficient for the AoE books!

[JenniferG]

Jennifer, I think you need a REAL meter!!!

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Hewlett-Packard-HP-nixie-tube-3440A-Digital-Voltmeter-3444A-DC-Multi-function-/131975082436?hash=item1eba53f1c4:g:hkgAAOSwxKtYBpAq

OH MY IT HAS NIXIE TUBES!  Tempted!  Love nostalgia!  Oh my!

[tautech]

My addiction is maybe more than just test equipment, it's more like tools in general. And I use them all (except that airbrush and compressor I bought, but I just haven't had time to play with it yet).

Mine too, I also have a thing for production gear. It's probably a good job that SMT pick and place gear is stupidly expensive or it might have a full garage with a complete SMT assembly line by now!

I need to make some more TEA's now to distract myself from my thoughts of pick and place machines and reflow ovens....

Same here.  Tools in General.

I have akways wanted a decent electronics bench, and now I'm putting it together.   But there are far more toools of other types at my disposal. 
Bridgeport milling machine Special   11' x 54' table
12 x 36 Lathe
Table saw, Radial arm saw, Planer, Sander, etc...
Every kind of automotive and wrenching tool you can gather over 40 years. (4 roll away tool chests)
Model airplane building tools galore
Mirror grinding equipment
220 amp Lincoln mig welder, Everlast powerTig 250Ex, general Oxy acet setup, and a full kit of Meco midget torch and tips for fine work.
Gunsmithing tools from 20 years as a general gunsmith.  (more roll aways..)
And the list goes on...   

and here I"m about to add a Amscope SM-4T microscope!

Got a similar assortment here except a mill. <envy>
Nice to know there's another gun nut on the forum. 
Too scared to grind mirrors, don't want to look at my ugly mug in any more detail. 

[Cubdriver]

Same here.  Tools in General.

I have akways wanted a decent electronics bench, and now I'm putting it together.   But there are far more toools of other types at my disposal. 
Bridgeport milling machine Special   11' x 54' table
12 x 36 Lathe
Table saw, Radial arm saw, Planer, Sander, etc...
Every kind of automotive and wrenching tool you can gather over 40 years. (4 roll away tool chests)
Model airplane building tools galore
Mirror grinding equipment
220 amp Lincoln mig welder, Everlast powerTig 250Ex, general Oxy acet setup, and a full kit of Meco midget torch and tips for fine work.
Gunsmithing tools from 20 years as a general gunsmith.  (more roll aways..)
And the list goes on...   

and here I"m about to add a Amscope SM-4T microscope!

Nice collection!  Tools in general for me, too.  I have an old South Bend 10K lathe, but a Bridgeport is definitely on my list of 'WANT!!!'  Have MIG, TIG, stick and gas welding covered, along with a small plasma cutter.  (Projects are an excellent excuse to 'justify' buying new tools!    )  Lampworking bench burner and torches & gear as well (beadmaking - my ex got me into it - much fun - fire, molten glass, chemistry and making things that women like!  Win, win, win, win from my point of view!) - I need to set that up again as it's been a few years since I've done any.  Assorted jewelry making tools to go with that - Little Torch, draw plates, etc...

Various mechanic's and woodworking tools, along with years worth of power tools for general work collected over time.

Too many passtimes, and not enough time to pass!

-Pat

[Cubdriver]

Jennifer, I think you need a REAL meter!!!

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Hewlett-Packard-HP-nixie-tube-3440A-Digital-Voltmeter-3444A-DC-Multi-function-/131975082436?hash=item1eba53f1c4:g:hkgAAOSwxKtYBpAq

OH MY IT HAS NIXIE TUBES!  Tempted!  Love nostalgia!  Oh my!

Come to the orange glowie side!  We have cookies!!!   









  <cackles evilly>     

-Pat

[Cubdriver]

Nice to know there's another gun nut on the forum. 

   Raises hand

-Pat

[tautech]

Nice to know there's another gun nut on the forum. 

   Raises hand

-Pat

We try not to flaunt it too much as in many parts of the world shooting sports are not PC. 
On another forum as this guy:
http://forum.accurateshooter.com/threads/welcome-to-the-reloading-forum-introduce-yourself.218732/page-50#post-36630469

Edit
To keep OT....I get about the right amount of therapy for the prevalent itch on my forefinger from the crosshatching on a trigger. 

[Housedad]

I did for a few years.   i think I made a little less than 150 mirrors from 6" to 14" during that time.     

[xrunner]

We try not to flaunt it too much as in many parts of the world shooting sports are not PC. 

Oh I got a few here ... it's good to have some for the Zombie attacks which occur every few weeks, I like to use .45s for the big Zombies - the really mean ones. 

[bitseeker]

Glossary of Terms and Condition Variations
...

These are great.

The glossary is open for submissions, Sue.

[AF6LJ]

Glossary of Terms and Condition Variations
...

These are great.

The glossary is open for submissions, Sue.

I am working on some...
The problem is they have to be good.

[JenniferG]

Thanks Cubdriver, now I want a nixie display multimeter

[Cubdriver]

Thanks Cubdriver, now I want a nixie display multimeter

My pleasure - happy to be of service!   

Another one to keep an eye out for is the Data Precision 3500 - what you get when a nixie tube mates with a 7 segment display - panaplex!    (Just make sure it's the 3500 - the 3400 is regular LED.)   



Panaplex display unit:





-Pat

[med6753]

Lots of vintage Flukes on display here. I'll toss in my recently repaired 8010A.

I always wanted an 8010A. Because...well, just because. After all, this is the TEA. I don't have to explain why. A few months ago found this beauty on flea bay that appeared to be in good physical shape, had a bright LCD, and was less than $40 USD. But it had the typical “powers up but not tested” ad line. I figured for the price I'll take a chance.

The DMM arrived as advertised. In good physical shape, clean, powered up with bright LCD. But that's about all it did. DC volts 20 range and above was grossly out of spec. 10 volt input sometimes yielded as high as 14 volts. Ohms was way off too. AC volts totally non-functional and showed permanent over range across all ranges. Clearly this Fluke had a hard life. I wasn't very confident that it was going to be worth fixing.

First thing I did was get a service manual. Artek Manuals had it in PDF format for a reasonable fee. If you've never used them I highly recommend them. Started basic trouble shooting with the power supply first. Measured all the supply voltages and as insurance re-capped it. Found no issues here which eliminated the power supply as the source for the issues observed.

Next I went after the DCV trouble. Started at the front end and isolated the varistors (VR1, VR2, VR3) which made no difference in the observed readings so I assumed they were OK. I was getting some wacky and inconsistent resistance readings around precision resistor network U1. Decided to remove U1 and replace it with selected 0.1% discrete resistors. Since this is a high impedance area I positioned the resistors above the main board as much as possible. The repair looks ugly and a total bodge but after fixing additional issues it's working fine. Those resistors can be seen in the photo just to the right of the selector switches.



After replacing U1 DC volts improved but still had an offset of approx 100mV – 200mV. Figured this was due to board contamination so scrubbed it with IPA then distilled water and a bake at approx 150 degrees F for 2 hours. No real improvement. Next on the hit list were Q1, Q2, Q3, and Q4. I figured one or more of them must have some high leakage. I lack a transistor tester so I changed them all. They are common 2N3904 (3) and 2N3906 (1) so it was a no brainer. Progress! After changing them the DC offset dropped to under 20mV.

I figured the remaining off set was board contamination due to all my handling. So some more scrubbing with IPA and distilled water and a bake cycle. Success...at least at first. Once everything fully cooled the off set came back. I let it sit for a few days then scrubbed it and baked it again. It's fixed! The DC volts calibrated just fine across all ranges and is stable. Ohms is now OK too. It's been 2 months since this repair and it's still rock stable.

And finally to the AC volt issue. For some reason the RMS to DC Converter (U8) was outputting a high level DC voltage all the time to the A/D Converter causing the over range. That turned out to be a leaky 10uf tantalum cap (C33) which can be seen in the photo just to the left of U8 and above the 8 pin DIP. Decided to also change the other tantalum caps in that area as well as the IC AR-1 (LF351N op amp). The AC volts is now fixed and calibrated.

So here it is in a prominent location on my bench ready for work. It even has it's own LED book light to better illuminate the LCD display. I must have TEA bad because there were a few instances where I considered junking the Fluke. But I was determined I was gonna fix it!         

[SingedFingers]

Nice one with the persistence there and good outcome.

I'm glad to see a thin film network replacement as well. Those things are trouble, especially in Tek attenuators.

If I'm honest I genuinely get disappointed when something just works.

[Cubdriver]

    Excellent job on the meter!  Glad to hear that you got it working again, and that its nice and stable.  Nice write up, too.

-Pat

[rachaelp]

The glossary is open for submissions, Sue.

Can we add another one for TEA please? I like to make Test Equipment Acquisitions! It doesn't get confusing with too many things that TEA could mean because of the context in which it would be used.

E.g. I couldn't measure the signal I needed correctly so I had to go and make some TEA!

Best Regards,

Rachael

[JenniferG]

Glad you got that 8010A working correctly again

By the way, are there any web resources which go over the history of Fluke multimeters from the start to present?  And perhaps comparing the details of each along the way.  Would be a great read.  Wondering the same for HP/Agilent/Keysight line of multimeters.

[tautech]

By the way, are there any web resources which go over the history of Fluke multimeters from the start to present? 

Not exactly what you asked for but well worth the time to read:
https://www.eevblog.com/forum/testgear/old-fluke-multimeters/

[SingedFingers]

Glad you got that 8010A working correctly again

By the way, are there any web resources which go over the history of Fluke multimeters from the start to present?  And perhaps comparing the details of each along the way.  Would be a great read.  Wondering the same for HP/Agilent/Keysight line of multimeters.

There's a thread here with some history in it: https://www.eevblog.com/forum/testgear/old-fluke-multimeters/

HP history is well documented here: http://hpmemoryproject.org/

[Teza]

Dear god, this is my 5. forum post, I have not received/unpacked all my new equipment nor have the knowledge to build a circuit...
Yet it been indicated that i might suffer from CAP, FUSS, GAS, LED, LSUG, PETA and TEA.

My name is Teza, and I think I might need to see someone about the above...