Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread

[mnementh]

yeah...   https://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_from=R40&_trksid=p2334524.m570.l1313.TR1.TRC0.A0.H0.Xasus+rampage+3+extreme.TRS0&_nkw=asus+rampage+3+extreme&_sacat=0&LH_TitleDesc=0&_osacat=0&_odkw=x58+rampage+3+extreme&sc=0&LH_TitleDe=   https://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_from=R40&_trksid=p2334524.m570.l1313.TR1.TRC0.A0.H0.XEVGA+x58+Classified.TRS0&_nkw=EVGA+x58+Classified&_sacat=0&LH_TitleDesc=0&_osacat=0&_odkw=EVGA+141-GT-E770-A1+Classified3

there is a reason this stuff still gets these prices... W3670 has a locked multiplier, you might do some reading before you spend money, the X5660-X5670 were the sweet spot for price/performance in the surplus market if I remember correctly, its all in that forum link...91 pages to wade through though.

3rd Gen Ryzen:      W-Series doing more:      Lurking:   

Yeah, I looked into the X=Series, but anything above 3GHz stock is ridiculously overpriced. IMO, spending more than $50 on a processor NOT 3rd Gen Ryzen is wasted money. THIS build is going to be wasted money unless I flip the board after I'm done playing with it, which is why I'm really only willing to risk $28 on that W3670. Obvi the W-series CAN do more, but that was not with a Intel board.

I'm no stranger to prehistoric computing gaming... I still have this lurking in my closet.

Cheers,

mnem
*toddles off to hork up a lung*

[bd139]

Ryzen is pretty damn good. I am impressed with mine.  For me 2600X is still pricing sweet spot. 52% the price of a reasonable 3rd gen and 80% of the real world compute performance.  That’s a good trade off.

Edit: not sure why anyone is futzing with Intel stuff. Only thing it wins on is per core performance and you pay hard for that.

[WastelandTek]

I think that such excellent service needs to shouted about when it happens, so here goes, the seller goes under the name of MS Graphics. I have used them on a number of occasions and can highly recommend them.

right?

that is great

I am lucky to live in one of the few cities on earth where one can purchase any vacuum valve one needs at 9PM.

https://www.worldtubecompany.com/

[bd139]

I live somewhere you can get laxatives at 3am on Boxing Day morning. Beat that 

[worsthorse]

dammit. i wasn't paying attention and missed out on a set of SG503, SG504, and PG506 in a TM500 frame for two hundred bucks. i've been looking for that set for two years.     

[worsthorse]

I might just make a voltage divider so I can use one of my usual meters.

Oh that reminds me, I need some recommendations for HV epoxy for sealing terminations on stuff like this.

You are a whole lot braver than I am. No way would you catch me fooling around with something like that. 

And as mentioned. Get one of these:

*sigh* last week it was household appliance failures. this week it is scope failures. med, which HV probe is that? looks like i have to buy one, finally.

[Specmaster]

Every mother sez their baby is cute. 


Do I spy some hash or noise on that base line trace or is it just dirt on the screen?

No I think its OK, the intensity is wound right up and the focus can't handle it correctly then. Lets wait till he gets it but, my money is on it being OK.

[Martin.M]

the little weekend restoration is done. 

[Zucca]

Zucca, as you can see, they are not 24 mm but they do fit fine. (Attachment Link)

Thanks Grey! I just measured mine Hakko and it is indeed 21,something mm 

[Specmaster]

Bloody Murphy gets you every time, the bastard, turns out I goofed big time when I ordered those resistors, I ordered from the parts of the bloody USA model,  and they have different testing voltages on their electrolytics being 25/150/250/350 and 450V, so I had to scratch around and MacGyver the correct resistor combinations for the UK version which uses different voltages.

Anyway, the range switch is now correctly configured, still have others on the magic eye and the paper/mica switch to swap out and the dreaded selenium rectifier to swap but curiosity got the better of me, and so I have been playing with and every aspect has been improved with just getting swapping the range resistors. I have to say that I'm very taken by this unit capacitors that pass the ESR test and are still within their tolerances for capacity that you say are therefore good, fail the leakage test badly, even some new ones I purchased last year fail that test so on that basis alone I would at this moment, advocate the acquisition of one these ASAP.

Of course, I shall play with it some more when I finish it and test the same capacitors that it failed against the XJW01 digital bridge and see how that stack up against it.
       

[bd139]

Yeah I reckon it's a better bit of kit than the Carlson bollocks tester as well. It actually chucks some voltage across the caps.

Plus magic eye tubes are cool 

[WastelandTek]

the little weekend restoration is done. 

(Attachment Link)

MARTIN!

do I HAVE A DEAL FOR YOU!!

[Martin.M]

That was my very first scope, bought with my first self-earned money in 1975. Good enough for repairing radios and TV sets.

nice. To me it was a HM207 as self solding kit. They was expensive that time.

Today there is a lot of them still working, mostly in Tube Radio restorations.
Also this russian scope (was that in the Völkner catalog?),
and of coars the greatful PIKOSKOP from Talheim.

[Specmaster]

Yeah I reckon it's a better bit of kit than the Carlson bollocks tester as well. It actually chucks some voltage across the caps.

Plus magic eye tubes are cool 

So far though the voltages on the front panel are not indicative of the actual voltage supplied, but more of an indication of which range to select according the caps declared rating.

One thing I have noticed is that Tants don't like to be over volted, I had one that sat between 5V and 25V and it tested just fine on the 5V setting, so selected 25V range and the magic eye is doing a merry old dance, hastily set it back to 5V and it was happy at that.   

[bd139]

Yeah it was probably preparing to let out some fire there 

[mansaxel]

 I'm no stranger to prehistoric computing... I still have this lurking in my closet.

That is modern by all definitions of "prehistoric" I know. A SparcStation IPC is prehistoric, borderline. (For Sun h/w, you'd be looking at SS1 or SS2 to comfortably be historic). Hell, my entire computing history of "real computers[0] actually in use" has been "modern"; I started off with a positively anemic SparcStation 4 (32MiB RAM, 512MiB disk, 256-colour 1152 by 900 graphics, not accelerated) on the desktop. My last non-X86 machine was a SunBlade 150, and from there on, it's just gone downhill, which probably explains why machines crash faster now, what with the support from gravity et al.

[ 0 ] A Real Computer is a machine of preferably 32 bits or more, and it has to be Big-Endian, and it can't be running a Microsoft OS.

[med6753]

*sigh* last week it was household appliance failures. this week it is scope failures. med, which HV probe is that? looks like i have to buy one, finally.

It's a B&K PR-28. I bought it sometime in the late 80's/early 90's and I don't remember what I paid for it but I think it was under $75 USD. 

[mnementh]

OFF the Bench Today:

      

Now that the silicone spooge holding the individual SMPS PCBs to the lid has cured, I can finally get this off my bench and onto my wife's desk. Sorry, I didn't get pics of the guts before I buttoned it up... wasn't exactly running on all 8 this morning. 

The iGroove HG is well-reviewed for both its style and substance; not just "great sound from something this small", but great, room-filling sound... period. I can honestly say that I was impressed; aside from lack of "subwoofer lows" the sound is quite rich & full, while offset & wave-guided independent 2-way speaker systems actually deliver some discernible stereo separation from a single enclosure.    Definitely as good as most mid-size bookshelf systems out there for sure; with a lot more convenience.

Aside from that, the dock is like custom made to fit my wife's monster 160GB iPod that she uses for her music instruction... and since my newer iPods have that infuriating "Charging not supported with this accessory" bunk firmware, I guess this unit pretty much has to be hers. She'd better like it. 

Total cost: ~US$34.

mnem
Yes, you may touch it.

[WastelandTek]

https://www.ebay.com/itm/NASA-ARTIFACT-VPI-Vehicle-Power-Interface-Rack-Console-Hubble-Space-Telescope/261090432601

[0culus]

Well, I'm starting down the deepest and heaviest rabbit hole yet for my lab...I'm looking at 8510C VNA systems. 

The 8510C is seriously badass though. I personally know of several still in professional service, and it can do a lot more than just traditional network analysis. [1] Radar cross section testing, on wafer probing (using a third party test apparatus that probably cost as much as or more than the VNA to procure), dialectric constant analysis, antenna pattern testing, etc.


[1]: http://hpmemoryproject.org/an/pdf/hp8510c_datasheet.pdf

[mnementh]

Ryzen is pretty damn good. I am impressed with mine.  For me 2600X is still pricing sweet spot. 52% the price of a reasonable 3rd gen and 80% of the real world compute performance.  That’s a good trade off.

Edit: not sure why anyone is futzing with Intel stuff. Only thing it wins on is per core performance and you pay hard for that.

Up until the release of Ryzen 3rd gen, Intel's single-thread performance wasn't even approached by anything else. With very few exceptions, that is first/foremost what you care about in a gaming rig. Period, end of discussion.

 I'm no stranger to prehistoric computing gaming... I still have this lurking in my closet.

That is modern by all definitions of "prehistoric" I know. A SparcStation IPC is prehistoric, borderline. (For Sun h/w, you'd be looking at SS1 or SS2 to comfortably be historic). Hell, my entire computing history of "real computers[0] actually in use" has been "modern"; I started off with a positively anemic SparcStation 4 (32MiB RAM, 512MiB disk, 256-colour 1152 by 900 graphics, not accelerated) on the desktop. My last non-X86 machine was a SunBlade 150, and from there on, it's just gone downhill, which probably explains why machines crash faster now, what with the support from gravity et al.

[ 0 ] A Real Computer is a machine of preferably 32 bits or more, and it has to be Big-Endian, and it can't be running a Microsoft OS.

Fair dinkum... guess I should've been more specific.    I've gone back and corrected my original post too... 

mnem
*prehysterical*

[med6753]

Switching gears today and back on the 535A.

Purchased a replacement miniature 200K pot for the Trigger A Stability Preset. BTW, I mentioned the other day that my manual doesn't show this pot. That's incorrect, I found it. Rather than being on the Trigger A schematic it's on the Time Base A schematic. So my manual is correct.

Anyway, even though the pot was a miniature type the adjust screw was too large to fit into the original stand off. And I don't have the proper tools to ream it out. So had to perform a minor bodge. The pot is mounted down against the chassis with 3M automotive grade double sided tape plus a little super glue. It's very secure. And once properly adjusted you really don't have to touch it again.



Success. Adjusted the pot and now have a base line auto trigger. And I STILL am not absolutely sure the source of the arc bang. I turned the Trigger A Mode switch thru it's entire range several times and no bangs.



And it triggers fine now. Going to perform more burn-ins.   

[bd139]

@mnem. Indeed. Need lots of cheap threads here.

I’d rather like a 32-core 4GHz SPARC64 with 128 hardware contexts and optimised Clang and Go compilers myself but they don’t exist 

[mnementh]

https://www.ebay.com/itm/NASA-ARTIFACT-VPI-Vehicle-Power-Interface-Rack-Console-Hubble-Space-Telescope/261090432601

Oh yeah; I totally have an application for THAT...

mnem
I prepared EXPLOSIVE RUNES today.

[worsthorse]

https://www.ebay.com/itm/NASA-ARTIFACT-VPI-Vehicle-Power-Interface-Rack-Console-Hubble-Space-Telescope/261090432601

Oh yeah; I totally have an application for THAT...

mnem
I prepared EXPLOSIVE RUNES today.

so what do you think he paid for that and did he buy it to sell on ebay?  really?