Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread

[WastelandTek]

carbs guys

seriously

I'm guessing few of us are kids any more

[grizewald]

Is that a Bodnar pulser I see there on your bench grize?

It is indeed! Great little device.

did you print a case for it? what is the blue?

It's based on a case designed by member SWR here on eevblog. I modified the design to emboss the specifications.

See: https://www.eevblog.com/forum/testgear/gw-instek-mdo-2000e/msg2862804/#msg2862804
 

[BU508A]

I'm guessing few of us are kids any more

We are engineers. We LOVE to play with toys. The toys may be different from the ones we've played with back when we were children, but (speaking for myself) I'm still a child when I can work play with my test equipement. 

Just my 2 cents.

[bd139]

Me too. Having Lego as a kid I like to make test gear.

Talking of which, this years project is the long talked about DIY HF spectrum analyser. Just dropped some cash on minicircuits stuff (VCO, 2 mixers) to start with. Will work on front end LPF while they’re winging their way to me. Now I’ve got the nanovna it makes aligning bits of it massively easier!

[mnementh]

No, no, no... you have that wrong. A volt-mutt is the polar opposite of a volt-nut. The guy for whom "Fluke sez BAM!!!" is good enough... preferably 4-5 digit Flukes at most. You've fallen so far down the rabbit-hole no mutt can dig you out. 

mnem

Woof! And........      

I knew that if anybody on here would get it, 'twould be you, old friend.  Weuf!!! (French-Canadian equiv) right back atcha! 

That was a labour of love madao! Were all those capacitors really bad?

All capacitor leaks their eletrolytics, common failure of early SMD eletrolytics.

Believe it or not I came face-to-face with someone here on the blog who questioned how we came to do mass capacitor replacements and considered it "uneducated" troubleshooting.   

Even citing examples such as vacuum tube equipment with wax caps and dry electrolytics, 1970 - 1980's vintage beaded tants, etc did not convince him otherwise. 

Some people just don't get the concept of preventative maintenance, nor have they had to eat the cost in labor/parts on a comeback because they didn't DO the PM. You learn REAL QUICK when it costs you time/money...

mnem
9: Capacitors are Murphy's footsoldiers.

[bd139]

That’s fine for a business but from a hobby perspective preventative maintenance is expensive!

[mnementh]

I have a few Mallory and Sprague caps here. Date code around 1959. Still test good.

Same date code as me, and I still test out good too.

Only downside is they are bloody huge compared to their modern counterparts.

[ Fx: Looks down.]  And that is also true too.
I'll leave the audience to judge whether I'm making a joke about my belly or my little charge pump.

 

mnem
" 'Tis a poor thing, and small, but mine own..."

[Specmaster]

Judging by the way even newish gear can suddenly let you down, there is no real preventive maintenance that can keep you out of trouble, sure you can change every capacitor on a board, but where do you stop, resistors drift, transistors and chips fail with age so your still exposed.

[SilverSolder]

For work, I replace equipment when it reaches its expected service life.  For hobby use I only replace components that actually fail. 

[bd139]

I tend to try and get people to replace kit way before the end of the expected service life, then lift it out of the skip when it's disposed of, ebay it then use the money from that to buy older and cheaper stuff that's fun to futz with 

[mnementh]

If we apply it to the human body then it doesn’t look like quite as good a diagnostic process.

Really only some capacitors get replaced on sight for me. Usually only RIFAs which are cracked. I have 40+ year old electrolytics still absolutely fine. High ESR is an almost perfect indicator of problems and it’s measurable in circuit. The reason stuff tends to get shotgunned is lack of equipment. Best bet is really to:

1. Visible inspection.
2. ESR measurement.
3. Replace anything leaking, high ESR or RIFA.
4. Power up, leave for an hour. Or replace any shorted tants when this doesn’t work.
5. Have a feel around for warm ones and replace them.

The main issue with shotgunning is cost. Secondly risk of screwing up the device entirely. You’ve all seen it, particularly that 475 I picked up at Newbury last year

The difference is, as you've shown right here, one thing: EXPERIENCE. If you don't have the experience, or have sense enough to come someplace like here or the badcaps forums and ASK for the benefit of other people's experience, then you WILL be engaging in  "uneducated troubleshooting" when shotgunning, because you will not know which caps are "of a kind highly prone to failure" in YOUR particular bit of gear.

I make it a habit to look extra close at ANY duplicates of a cap I've seen visibly failed; if I find another one, I'll at least consider replacing all of that breed/value/Mfr Product Line I find. If I find any of suspicious ESR/Tan Delta, I'll usually evaluate the same. But before I even START, I'll usually try and do my homework FIRST and check in the relevant techie forums.

Also, there's a real difference in what you consider to be "shotgunning". Just how far do you take it? Very few cases do we replace EVERY GAWDDAMN CAP in a device. OTOH, I consider the usual rebuild procedure for a 24xx series PSU to be a prime example of shotgunning, but we NEVER replace those big blue soda-can axials in them.

Again... it's all a matter of EXPERIENCE; whether you're taking advantage of your own or someone else's.

That’s fine for a business but from a hobby perspective preventative maintenance is expensive!

Yes, as with most things that men do... our hobby is expensive. Limiting the available funds is part of how we keep ourselves from doing the REALLY stupid shit we would do if we had unlimited funds, free time, and no adult/female supervision. 

I have no problem whatsoever killing off whole handfuls of caps if they're even slightly questionable; no matter how much they cost, my time is worth more.

Within reason, of course.

mnem

[mnementh]

Gee, I'm sitting here wondering why I feel chilly. Forgot to turn the thermostat up. D'OH.

In the meantime I'll fire up the 535A for a quick burst of warmth. 

And entertainement of course!

mnem

[mnementh]

Suffering from same trouble at moment. An apathetic last quarter was not good. Decided I’m going to knock off some of it in the next few months as I’m fed up of hauling my own arse around. Need to buy a couple of 465’s to lift 

Hell I need to the same as well.

Same here. Have started taking note of the number of times I climb the big spiral staircase in the new place. If it's not at least 10, I make it 10 before I go to bed. 15 if I haven't done walkies with the kids. Surprisingly, I can see the difference on my Misfit in the overall trend; this has encouraged me to raise that number sometime soon and hopefully keep raising it. 

mnem
"Ouchies, Mister Sqweek..."

[WastelandTek]

my new rule is no youtube except on the dammed bike thing

[mansaxel]

Kicad is impressive. The last few days I've been tinkering, for the first time ever, in it, and now my first PCB is approved for manufacture (which of course means diddly-squat, mainly that they recognised the files as a Gerber bundle...  ) by jlcpcb. Probably spent something like 6 or 7 hours on it, reading the tutorial as I went along.  The quality of free software these days is sometimes very high.

[mnementh]

my new rule is no youtube except on the dammed bike thing

*looks up from his Linus videos*  Whoodat say what now...?

mnem

[med6753]

That’s fine for a business but from a hobby perspective preventative maintenance is expensive!

Whenever I buy some vintage equipment I figure into it the potential cost of repair. Usually it winds up being approx half of what I initially paid for the unit itself. But sometimes you do get surprised. The 7904 for example. I stole it for $100 including four plug-ins. I recapped the PSU and everything was within budget until the CRT decided to shit the bed. So I'm upside down on that one.  Another was the recapping of the PSU in the 485. The replacement caps cost almost as much as a paid for the entire scope.   

[mnementh]

Yes, but at least you're not doing this with your money...   

mnem
 

[med6753]

Yes, as with most things that men do... our hobby is expensive. Limiting the available funds is part of how we keep ourselves from doing the REALLY stupid shit we would do if we had unlimited funds, free time, and no adult/female supervision. 

I have no problem whatsoever killing off whole handfuls of caps if they're even slightly questionable; no matter how much they cost, my time is worth more.

Within reason, of course.

mnem

Last time I checked there's no female supervision here and no tire tracks in the living room. 

[Specmaster]

Yes, as with most things that men do... our hobby is expensive. Limiting the available funds is part of how we keep ourselves from doing the REALLY stupid shit we would do if we had unlimited funds, free time, and no adult/female supervision. 

I have no problem whatsoever killing off whole handfuls of caps if they're even slightly questionable; no matter how much they cost, my time is worth more.

Within reason, of course.

mnem

Last time I checked there's no female supervision here and no tire tracks in the living room. 

Aw, come on be fair, thats only because you couldn't get the CRV in there

[med6753]

Yes, as with most things that men do... our hobby is expensive. Limiting the available funds is part of how we keep ourselves from doing the REALLY stupid shit we would do if we had unlimited funds, free time, and no adult/female supervision. 

I have no problem whatsoever killing off whole handfuls of caps if they're even slightly questionable; no matter how much they cost, my time is worth more.

Within reason, of course.

mnem

Last time I checked there's no female supervision here and no tire tracks in the living room. 

Aw, come on be fair, thats only because you couldn't get the CRV in there

That's true but the Civic might fit. 

[Cubdriver]

Yes, as with most things that men do... our hobby is expensive. Limiting the available funds is part of how we keep ourselves from doing the REALLY stupid shit we would do if we had unlimited funds, free time, and no adult/female supervision. 

I WISH that the first two were true, but can definitely relate to the issues that result when the latter is...

TEA sans supervision/moderation by the fairer sex:




-Pat

[Cerebus]

Yes, as with most things that men do... our hobby is expensive. Limiting the available funds is part of how we keep ourselves from doing the REALLY stupid shit we would do if we had unlimited funds, free time, and no adult/female supervision. 

I have no problem whatsoever killing off whole handfuls of caps if they're even slightly questionable; no matter how much they cost, my time is worth more.

Within reason, of course.

mnem

Last time I checked there's no female supervision here and no tire tracks in the living room. 

Aw, come on be fair, thats only because you couldn't get the CRV in there

That is why God invented motorbikes, so you could conveniently strip them down and rebuild them in a living room. Kitchen ovens and freezers are also useful - cylinder block in one and cylinder liners in the other, then push together hard.

[Specmaster]

Yes, as with most things that men do... our hobby is expensive. Limiting the available funds is part of how we keep ourselves from doing the REALLY stupid shit we would do if we had unlimited funds, free time, and no adult/female supervision. 

I have no problem whatsoever killing off whole handfuls of caps if they're even slightly questionable; no matter how much they cost, my time is worth more.

Within reason, of course.

mnem

Last time I checked there's no female supervision here and no tire tracks in the living room. 

Aw, come on be fair, thats only because you couldn't get the CRV in there

That is why God invented motorbikes, so you could conveniently strip them down and rebuild them in a living room. Kitchen ovens and freezers are also useful - cylinder block in one and cylinder liners in the other, then push together hard.

LMAO

[med6753]

Yes, as with most things that men do... our hobby is expensive. Limiting the available funds is part of how we keep ourselves from doing the REALLY stupid shit we would do if we had unlimited funds, free time, and no adult/female supervision. 

I WISH that the first two were true, but can definitely relate to the issues that result when the latter is...

TEA sans supervision/moderation by the fairer sex:

-Pat

Whatever you do don't bring a woman home. She will think you are a loser or serial killer and run in the other direction.