Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread

[med6753]

Talking about volt-nuttery: anyone (confirmed volt-nuts only) that might be interested in playing around with a 34420A. Shipping is free. Playing with it is free. Shipping back is free. EU only.

Is this to remove any possibility of it being returned painted blue?   

 

[mnementh]

Agreed. And I promise; I was being sincere when I wished you luck. More power tooya.

Thanks. I'm trying to decide whether to keep the red extruder or send it back while I can, along with a few other bits. More data points helps make that an informed decision.

mnem

I use the red extruder and I'm quite happy with it. Even if you have a better one, I'd still keep the red one as a spare.

Getting back to your concerns about the parasitic capacitance on my DER EE expansion. I thought I'd do some tests on a few bodged lengths of coax and I don't think there will be any extra capacitance to zero out. There are 4 coax leads, each carrying one signal - Sense+, Sense-, Load+, Load- and the shield of each coax is connected to the Guard. As far as I can see, the only capacitance build-up would be between any line and guard, but I assume that the sense lines are being measured differentially relative to each other, not relative to the guard (if they did it properly). So how would any capacitance be added to the circuit, no matter how long the coax leads are. Inductance perhaps, but not capacitance.

McBryce.

P.s. Version two of the DER expansion is printing at the moment, with all the changes I manually made to V1. I also added anti-rotation features to the BNC socket holes.

   Capacitive, inductive, HF, LF, common-mode noise & even sunspot interactions will all affect you when you're down around the 1-100 puff range, right where the laboratory-level accuracy you're shooting for will be most important; the longer the leads the bigger the antenna, the greater the chance for the aether to fuck with your head. 

But you're a lot more of a voltnut than I am; you know this better than me. I applaud you in your experimentative nature.     

While this tinkerdwagon does love hoarding spares, I have a large hoard of spares already packed away with my Tornado. Don't know that even I want a third extruder right now. If I order the REAL CReality extruder, that'll be a 4th.

Of course, the sensible solution would be for me to cowboy up and learn to compile my own Marlin firmware so I can recal the e-steps on that dual-gear extruder...

But I decided to press the EASY button as I suggested earlier; added all 24V fans and a E3 UltraBase plus a few electrical/electronic groceries I needed anyways (some screws, Dupont & JST-SH connectors, etc) to bring me right up to the minimum for free shipping. That paid for the UltraBase right there, and brought cost of the E3 hotend backing plate down to US$17.  

With that in mind I think I'd rather have the $20 than a extruder & 12V fan I don't need. Until the good one gets here.

mnem
*tinker-tinker... putter-putter...*

[beanflying]

I've had the Fluke 8505A burning in all day after resetting the zero reference on each DCV range and I have some results and they are impressive.  I use both my AD584-M references as well as had a Fluke 8800A connected just a control and a reference. Here are the results:


AD584-M Ref 1        Fluke 8505A          Fluke 8800A
(Stated voltage)

2.50066V                   2.50068V              2.5006V

4.99794V                   4.99796V              4.9979V

7.50011V                   7.50007V              7.5001V

9.99691V                   9.99689V              9.9968V


AD584-M Ref 2        Fluke 8505A          Fluke 8800A
(Stated voltage)

2.49937V                  2.49939V               2.4994V

5.00030V                  5.00031V               5.0003V

7.50042V                  7.50039V               7.5004V

10.00096V                10.00093V             10.0009V


Ambient temp is 75 F with a R/H of 33%. This 8505A hasn't been calibrated since 2003 and clearly it is fine as is. But what I don't understand is why the zero references were off.  I suspect that the Ohms function zero ref is probably off too but I haven't checked that yet. That's tomorrow's project. And this puts the last nail in the coffin that the Siglent SDM 3055 is clearly not properly calibrated. It will read consistently low as I have demonstrated in the past but the nay-sayers insist I'm wrong.  And I guess Siglent is not going to release a method for cal tweak as originally promised so I may have to send it to a cal lab at my expense.   

Here's 7 digits of goodness. Will I ever actually upgrade to 7.5 digits? Never say never I guess.   

I can see you now needing a more stable reference The LM399 is an affordable drug....... 

[BU508A]

Here is a little repair report of mine of a Braun visacustic 2000 digital 8mm projector.

Enjoy!

https://www.eevblog.com/forum/repair/repair-of-a-braun-visacustic-2000-digital-8mm-projector/

[med6753]

I can see you now needing a more stable reference The LM399 is an affordable drug....... 

I was wondering when you were gonna chime in. That's right, you just woke up. Go have some more coffee. 

[Ice-Tea]

Talking about volt-nuttery: anyone (confirmed volt-nuts only) that might be interested in playing around with a 34420A. Shipping is free. Playing with it is free. Shipping back is free. EU only.

Is this to remove any possibility of it being returned painted blue?   

 

Hahhaha! Lol, no, import/export duties. Shipping.

Oh man, you're stressing me.   
I'd like to have one but these are offered in a price range I can't explain to my wife...   

I'm actually not trying to flip it on someoneon in the TEA section (wouldn't turn down a good offer, but that's another matter). Background: sold one of these a few weeks back. Guy, who seems knowledgeable (sp?) enough now returns it because he feels the noise figures are out of line. I've currently no idea if he's right, if his setup is lacking or if it's simply within spec.

I'll provide more info when I get round to organizing my thoughts but essentially I'd like someone who knows what he/she is doing to have a look. Payment is the pleasure of fooling around with it for a few days or weeks

[tautech]

I can see you now needing a more stable reference The LM399 is an affordable drug....... 

I was wondering when you were gonna chime in. That's right, you just woke up. Go have some more coffee. 

Nah, like me today bean was also up early.......and I'm gunna have my 3rd !

[beanflying]

I can see you now needing a more stable reference The LM399 is an affordable drug....... 

I was wondering when you were gonna chime in. That's right, you just woke up. Go have some more coffee. 

Working on the Second as I type    Think if all the Zeros you could chase with a 'better' Vref 

[AVGresponding]

Hahhaha! Lol, no, import/export duties. Shipping.

I'm actually not trying to flip it on someoneon in the TEA section (wouldn't turn down a good offer, but that's another matter). Background: sold one of these a few weeks back. Guy, who seems knowledgeable (sp?) enough now returns it because he feels the noise figures are out of line. I've currently no idea if he's right, if his setup is lacking or if it's simply within spec.

I'll provide more info when I get round to organizing my thoughts but essentially I'd like someone who knows what he/she is doing to have a look. Payment is the pleasure of fooling around with it for a few days or weeks

Ah ok, I got you. Interesting quandary.


The EP-613 has been running for a couple of hours under load without flipping out. The output has drifted down by 200mV or so, but that's no surprise.
Loaded it with 720mA at 18V, well above the level it was unhappy at before. The pass transistor heatsink is running at 55 degrees C.
I guess it's "fixed"   


Just realised, one of my cheapy probes looks like a hunter-seeker from Dune!   

[Specmaster]

Just had a good ebay win. Got the 160m + 2nd RX antenna option kit for the K2 off ebay unbuilt for less than half the retail price . That gives it AM broadcast band RX as well which is handy. Also more importantly something to build / do / fettle with

Well, the K2 radio wasn't retired for long, was it 

[mnementh]

grr. clog. furry print fail. going back to bed.

mnem
also, grr.

So much pain could have been avoided - Ender 3

            

Soon enough it will be... soon enough. 

mnem

[Mr. Scram]

            

Soon enough it will be... soon enough. 

mnem

How much does this cheap printer owe you now?

[Cerebus]

            

Soon enough it will be... soon enough. 

mnem

How much does this cheap printer owe you now?

Don't be mean to him. If he'd bought something that 'just worked' he wouldn't have had to do any tinkering.
If he didn't have any tinkering to do he wouldn't be happy.
If he wasn't off happily tinkering with that printer he'd be getting under our feet.
Therefore the 'cheap' printer was a good thing - Q.E.D.

He's a right little tinker that dragon.

[mnementh]

How much does this cheap printer owe you now?

Not a cent. This is all because I wanted to CHANGE a working hotend to support the Fang without mixing up my own new base for it. If I had bought a E3, I'd STILL want the Fang to quiet the damned thing down. This would still mean all new fans, and I'd still want to upgrade to the new extruder, Cap tubing & UltraBase.

The following figures are all CAD$; divide by 1.34 for USD$. Over this time the exchange rate has varied a bit, but that's a good mean figure.

I paid CAD$280 for the printer off Amazon, with free next-day delivery. It has upgraded socketed 2208 drivers, 4mm glass-backed removable generic Build-tak build plate, yellow die-formed spring upgrade, and touchscreen the E3 doesn't.   Add $17 for the E3 backplate, and $5 for the 5/16" ball leadscrew coupler mod or $5 for a rigid CReality 5mm x 8mm coupler to make it a fair comparison. ($305)

The cheapest E3 on Amazon.ca is $305 with a non-removable clone Build-tak film; the E3 Pro comes with a magnetic clone removable Build-Tak for CAD$340. Add $30 for 2208s (or $55 for the CReality silent board with integrated drivers), $12 for the yellow springs, $60 for the touchscreen to make it a apples/apples comparison, except the E3 doesn't have a socketed mainboard.  That's ($377-437) depending on how you weight the value of the 4mm glass build surface vs magnetic build-Tak and socketed mainboard vs integrated with 2208s.

I've played with the touchscreen they're selling now as an upgrade for the E3; the UI kindof sucks in comparison and you still have that ugly knob sticking out the front. 


I've sent back several items unopened after better equivalents were bought; this is what I'm gonna have to eat because I spent the last week flailing about like a damn foo:

$20 (2) 5015 Fans

$30 - CR10 Rebuild kit/Hotend

$12 - V6 hotend upgrade parts

$ 10 - 2 Formbot T-Rex 2+ Replacement Hot Ends (bought mostly for the SS 0.4 nozzles)

($72)


Mods I'd have done/bought even if I'd gotten an E3:

$15 - Random nuts/bolts/metal for Strain-relief Mods

$13 - Zero-Lash Leadscrew Nuts

$13 - Micro-Swiss heat-block

$18 - CReality Extruder upgrade

$24 - Dual-drive Extruder Upgrade (for when I start doing NinjaFlex, etc)

$24 - UltraBase

$28 - Fans for Fang/controller

$16 - Capricorn Bowden Tube

$17 - E3 Upgrade MOSFET boards (I didn't need these; I've reinstalled the heatsink that fell off and everything is awesome. I COULD send them back, but I don't wanna.  )

($168)

Now I'll admit that holding them side by side, the OE Diggro "E3 hotend" is NOT as good quality as the genuine CReality one. But the obverse can be said of some of the Ender 3 kits re: quality of chassis components. This Diggro A3 / Longer LK4 aluminum is absolutely top-notch. Clean cuts, countersunk & chamfered holes, all chips cleaned and carefully packed. For a while there CReality was suffering some QC issues in that area; I read stories similar to my experience with my first Tevo Tarantula of razor sharp edges on cuts, dinged extrusion & chips everywhere that had to be cleaned up. I understand that they've cleaned up their QC act in that regard in the last year or so, but they still don't chamfer their holes or use smooth-one-side extrusion to make the look cleaner. 

Just because I'm a wing-nut, doesn't mean the printer isn't a good deal.

mnem
*couch-tuber-time widda boi*

[VK5RC]

Mnem, you are a tinker-dwagon!
I couldn't be arsed but I also know my limits, if I did that much tinkering it would be a pile of rubbish in one or two mods.

[worsthorse]

UPS and USPS are busy, busy around here but not too busy to drop off a couple of packages on my front porch today.  I'll skip the unboxing and go straight to the details:



Yeah, I couldn't resist, a PD 2005A, for a pretty good (but not jammy git) price. Clearly needs some work. The meter isn't reading accurately and the voltage is off by way more than the error range of my DMM.  Will check it out more carefully before deciding if it meets the seller's definition of working. More photos to follow once I open it up. And...



A new restoration project, a Hallicrafter S38B, that is in very good condition and has all the bits, including the original power cord, fiber back and labels.  I already have the caps and other parts on order that I will need for this one.  More photos to follow tomorrow.

And finally, there was a time when looking like this meant you planned to knock over the grocery store:



Now it signifies nothing more than your needing vegetables, butter, and toilet paper.   

[McBryce]

   Capacitive, inductive, HF, LF, common-mode noise & even sunspot interactions will all affect you when you're down around the 1-100 puff range, right where the laboratory-level accuracy you're shooting for will be most important; the longer the leads the bigger the antenna, the greater the chance for the aether to fuck with your head. 

But you're a lot more of a voltnut than I am; you know this better than me. I applaud you in your experimentative nature.     

While this tinkerdwagon does love hoarding spares, I have a large hoard of spares already packed away with my Tornado. Don't know that even I want a third extruder right now. If I order the REAL CReality extruder, that'll be a 4th.

Of course, the sensible solution would be for me to cowboy up and learn to compile my own Marlin firmware so I can recal the e-steps on that dual-gear extruder...

But I decided to press the EASY button as I suggested earlier; added all 24V fans and a E3 UltraBase plus a few electrical/electronic groceries I needed anyways (some screws, Dupont & JST-SH connectors, etc) to bring me right up to the minimum for free shipping. That paid for the UltraBase right there, and brought cost of the E3 hotend backing plate down to US$17.  

With that in mind I think I'd rather have the $20 than a extruder & 12V fan I don't need. Until the good one gets here.

mnem
*tinker-tinker... putter-putter...*

Meeee? A voltnut? The most accurate meter I own is a Keithley 2000 and it rounds every result down to the nearest 6.5 Digits! That's like just guessing what the voltage is!

McBryce.

[beanflying]

3km from home and not in a hurry at all.

[med6753]

Damn those are big turkeys. 

[tautech]

3km from home and not in a hurry at all.

Pull a few feathers for my fly tying kit will ya ? 

[beanflying]

All yours, plucking them live would see the beak and claws used on the pluckee I reckon 

[McBryce]

Here's version two of my DER expansion after all modifications were made, the part needs just minor sanding after printing. In black this time, because that looks sexier (and @mnementh, the carbon used to make PLA black will add additional screening from the ether, sunspots and the gravitational pull of Mars ).

@worsthorse: Attached are the three models (in TL-24.zip), Type-A is a blank case with no holes to make your own type, Type-B has the 4 BNC sockets with anti-rotation feature and the Lid file fits on both versions. I would advise others to add some support blockers to minimise the supports to the centre of the model, otherwise it's quite a bit of work to remove the support frame from within the box. On an Ender 3 Pro at 0,2mm the main case takes about 4.5 Hours, the lid takes just over an hour to make.

McBryce.

[beanflying]

Here's version two of my DER expansion after all modifications were made, the part needs just minor sanding after printing. In black this time, because that looks sexier (and @mnementh, the carbon used to make PLA black will add additional screening from the ether, sunspots and the gravitational pull of Mars ).

@worsthorse: Attached are the three models (in TL-24.zip), Type-A is a blank case with no holes to make your own type, Type-B has the 4 BNC sockets with anti-rotation feature and the Lid file fits on both versions. I would advise others to add some support blockers to minimise the supports to the centre of the model, otherwise it's quite a bit of work to remove the support frame from within the box. On an Ender 3 Pro at 0,2mm the main case takes about 4.5 Hours, the lid takes just over an hour to make.

McBryce.

A delightful level of overkill which of course we know there is no such thing as we are here after all with far to much gear for the job at hand

[Brumby]

Hmmm ... "overkill" ... ??

*looks up dictionary*

  I do not understand.

[mansaxel]

Hmmm ... "overkill" ... ??

*looks up dictionary*

  I do not understand.

Overkill -- see appropriate or sufficient.

So, there.

10KΩ update. Scored some NOS after a visit to the parts dungeon at work as I had to spend an evening there. Will dive into my little project later today.

Same work incident (had to urgently replace a spine switch in the data center network since it had gone titsup) made me miss a Tektronix multimeter on the local auction site.



Irritating.