Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread

[mansaxel]

spent a little time in "underground facilities"......and yeah.....now that you mention it the walls did seem to be painted in odd colors.

but the most important thing was that the chow hall was much better than average.  it almost made it worth the hassle of getting in and out of the damn place.  AND it was always a hassle.

Oh boy; you and me both. The food is something extra, check. The guards. Oh my, the guards. Or more precisely, the shift supervisors for the guards. Those came in a few different flavours, but most were on the border between paranoia and sadism.

[drussell]

The strippers arrived today and I must say that I'm very impressed with them indeed, and they are just the same as your photo, they came with the stripping gauge and the allen key (hex wench for you Mericans).

Uhhh...  we pretty much always call them an Allen Key or Allen Wrench over here...

The "Allen" name is a registered trademark, originated by the Allen Manufacturing Company of Hartford, Connecticut circa 1910, and currently owned by Apex Tool Group, LLC. The standard generic name used in catalogues and published books and journals is "hex key".
...
Explained by the geographical and commercial history of the drive type's development, the term "hex key" is best known as "Allen" in the UK, Australia and the USA (The “Allen” name is a registered trademark, originated by the Allen Manufacturing Company of Hartford, Connecticut circa 1910, now owned by Apex Tool Group, LLC, which was acquired by Bain Capital in 2014), and also in Spain (llave Allen pronounced with Spanish double L, /ʎaβe aʎen/), as "Inbus" in Germany (the term “INBUS” is a registered trademark, originally an acronym for Innensechskantschraube Bauer und Schaurte introduced in 1934 by the German company Bauer & Schaurte, in 2015 acquired by INBUS IP GmbH, Breckerfeld, Germany),[1] and as "Unbrako" key or wrench in Scandinavia (originally a Pennsylvania company established in 1911, in 2008 acquired by Deepak Fasteners Limited).[2] In Italy, it is known as brugola, for the company Officine Egidio Brugola (established 1926).

Edit: My plumber friend from Ontario always looks at me sideways when I call a Crescent wrench a Crescent wrench...  He just calls them "an adjustable"....  (an adjustable spanner in other parts, I suppose?)  so it is probably another one of those terms/names that is even more localized than just by country, especially in geographically huge places like Canada or the US.

In the United States and Canada, the adjustable spanner (adjustable wrench) is sometimes colloquially referred to as a "crescent wrench" due to the widespread Crescent brand of adjustable wrenches; the former Crescent Tool Company was the assignee of the 1915 U.S. patent for the most familiar form factor of adjustable wrench.[13] The Crescent brand of hand tools is now owned and marketed by Apex Tool Group, LLC.

Geez, Apex seems to have been diligent in buying up all the "real" names for tools.      

[Mr. Scram]

This thread has gone full on bat shit. 

The question at hand is what colour the bat shit is.

[nixiefreqq]

spent a little time in "underground facilities"......and yeah.....now that you mention it the walls did seem to be painted in odd colors.

but the most important thing was that the chow hall was much better than average.  it almost made it worth the hassle of getting in and out of the damn place.  AND it was always a hassle.

Oh boy; you and me both. The food is something extra, check. The guards. Oh my, the guards. Or more precisely, the shift supervisors for the guards. Those came in a few different flavours, but most were on the border between paranoia and sadism.

ha!  they must all be cut from the same cloth.

pain in the ass when they let you in.   they inspect all your shit.......and then on the way out when trapped between the blast doors they confiscate the very stuff that caused the commotion on the way in.  a couple of days later after phone calls from your security office they return the very government property that looked suspicious to them.  (laptops, drives, software disks, TE, anything that they don't understand).  funny thing is that i had multiple clearances waaaaay above what they give to guard force morons.   but hey.....the productive time lost was the governments anyway....no skin off my ass.

edit   courier cards be damned......guards don't care about no stinkin' courier cards.

[Wolfgang]

When I did my courses about metal blasting we got a big hexogene shaped charge as a gift from a company. We tried it on a steel rod like in the video,
did everything by the book and set if off (600m away). The boom was incredible, but unfortunately no remnants of the DUT could be found after a one hour search.
Moral: Too much of a good thing can kill you in the end. 

[Cerebus]

Edit: My plumber friend from Ontario always looks at me sideways when I call a Crescent wrench a Crescent wrench...  He just calls them "an adjustable"....  (an adjustable spanner in other parts, I suppose?)  so it is probably another one of those terms/names that is even more localized than just by country, especially in geographically huge places like Canada or the US.

In the United States and Canada, the adjustable spanner (adjustable wrench) is sometimes colloquially referred to as a "crescent wrench" due to the widespread Crescent brand of adjustable wrenches; the former Crescent Tool Company was the assignee of the 1915 U.S. patent for the most familiar form factor of adjustable wrench.[13] The Crescent brand of hand tools is now owned and marketed by Apex Tool Group, LLC.

Geez, Apex seems to have been diligent in buying up all the "real" names for tools.      

A "Stillson" in these parts. Strict, it's a "Stillson pattern spanner" only if it's in this pattern:

Otherwise it's an "adjustable spanner" or just a 'justie.

[drussell]

A "Stillson" in these parts. Strict, it's a "Stillson pattern spanner" only if it's in this pattern:

Otherwise it's an "adjustable spanner" or just a 'justie.

Here, that's just called a Pipe Wrench.  I don't know of any commonly used commercial tradenames for them.
Old, established companies like Ridgid have been making them for 100 years, but we don't normally call them a Ridgid or a Stillson.

An adjustable wrench could be of MANY types, when I ask for a Crescent Wrench, I want that style, not a pipe wrench (which is also adjustable) or a monkey wrench (which is also adjustable) etc.

If I just say "hand me an adjustable," what do I mean?  A basin wrench?  A pipe wrench?  A monkey wrench?

Maybe some CHAN_NELLOCKs?!  (No, because those are types of PLIERS!!  Not to be confused with slip-joint, needle-nose, linesman, etc!)

No, I want you to hand me the Crescent Wrench, a specific type of adjustable... 
That big 12" one, over there by the axle housing....

[Neomys Sapiens]

spent a little time in "underground facilities"......and yeah.....now that you mention it the walls did seem to be painted in odd colors.

but the most important thing was that the chow hall was much better than average.  it almost made it worth the hassle of getting in and out of the damn place.  AND it was always a hassle.

Oh boy; you and me both. The food is something extra, check. The guards. Oh my, the guards. Or more precisely, the shift supervisors for the guards. Those came in a few different flavours, but most were on the border between paranoia and sadism.

ha!  they must all be cut from the same cloth.

pain in the ass when they let you in.   they inspect all your shit.......and then on the way out when trapped between the blast doors they confiscate the very stuff that caused the commotion on the way in.  a couple of days later after phone calls from your security office they return the very government property that looked suspicious to them.  (laptops, drives, software disks, TE, anything that they don't understand).  funny thing is that i had multiple clearances waaaaay above what they give to guard force morons.   but hey.....the productive time lost was the governments anyway....no skin off my ass.

edit   courier cards be damned......guards don't care about no stinkin' courier cards.

Yes Sir, I understand your concerns, Sir, but we will now check the contents of this 373 position toolcase against the list your fellow guards signed IN today earlier, yes?
 

[Neomys Sapiens]

Edit: changed avatar. The Ferengi was making me uncomfortable 

Pity, I liked the "no equal sign" picture 

What's the meaning of the new one? Looks like a draft from a marketing company selling Batterizers. 

He changes avatars more often than I change underwear. 

They also get dirty more often.

[Specmaster]

Edit: My plumber friend from Ontario always looks at me sideways when I call a Crescent wrench a Crescent wrench...  He just calls them "an adjustable"....  (an adjustable spanner in other parts, I suppose?)  so it is probably another one of those terms/names that is even more localized than just by country, especially in geographically huge places like Canada or the US.

In the United States and Canada, the adjustable spanner (adjustable wrench) is sometimes colloquially referred to as a "crescent wrench" due to the widespread Crescent brand of adjustable wrenches; the former Crescent Tool Company was the assignee of the 1915 U.S. patent for the most familiar form factor of adjustable wrench.[13] The Crescent brand of hand tools is now owned and marketed by Apex Tool Group, LLC.

Geez, Apex seems to have been diligent in buying up all the "real" names for tools.      

A "Stillson" in these parts. Strict, it's a "Stillson pattern spanner" only if it's in this pattern:

Otherwise it's an "adjustable spanner" or just a 'justie.

I've always known them as pipe wrenchs.

An adjustable spanner to me has always been something that resembles an open-ended single headed spanner like this.

[drussell]

I've always known them as pipe wrenchs.

An adjustable spanner to me has always been something that resembles an open-ended single headed spanner like this.

^^^
Yes.  That's what is known here as a Crescent Wrench. 

I have several really good old ones that are actual Crescent brand, various other brands of various sizes and quality, and one giant cheap chinesium-grade un-branded monster from Princess Auto that I pretty much only ever use for things like 36mm fan nuts because it was on sale when I went to get a 36mm box-end (actually, combination) wrench for the fan nut on the Dakota since I didn't have anything else QUITE big enough (about 2mm shy on my next-largest Crescent....)    It has come in handy over the years on big hex pipe fittings and such occasionally since then, too....

They're also known in many other parts of the world as a BAHCO for the same common-local-brand trademark reason that it's known as a Crescent wrench here.

[drussell]

As an aside, one time (about 35 years ago?) my dad flew from Calgary to Castlegar to come back out to the lake (which is about a 30-40 minute journey on a DASH-8) after having to return to work for a week or whatever....

He had no checked baggage...

He had two carry-on items...

One was a spice cake with caramel icing in a 9x13 glass pan that grandma had made for my birthday.

The other was a 10" crescent wrench because we had somehow inadvertently not put a large enough crescent wrench in the toolbox to actually undo the propane tank connections on the 30lb'ers on the trailer at the campground to be re-filled.

Good luck getting THAT through y'er TSA-like apparatus these days. 

One way ticket, with only bludgeoning weaponry for carry-on?   

[Mr. Scram]

^^^
Yes.  That's what is known here as a Crescent Wrench. 

I have several really good old ones that are actual Crescent brand, various other brands of various sizes and quality, and one giant cheap chinesium-grade un-branded monster from Princess Auto that I pretty much only ever use for things like 36mm fan nuts because it was on sale when I went to get a 36mm box-end (actually, combination) wrench for the fan nut on the Dakota since I didn't have anything else QUITE big enough (about 2mm shy on my next-largest Crescent....)    It has come in handy over the years on big hex pipe fittings and such occasionally since then, too....

They're also known in many other parts of the world as a BAHCO for the same common-local-brand trademark reason that it's known as a Crescent wrench here.

They're all nut rounders. No need to be more specific.

[drussell]

^^^
Yes.  That's what is known here as a Crescent Wrench. 

I have several really good old ones that are actual Crescent brand, various other brands of various sizes and quality, and one giant cheap chinesium-grade un-branded monster from Princess Auto that I pretty much only ever use for things like 36mm fan nuts because it was on sale when I went to get a 36mm box-end (actually, combination) wrench for the fan nut on the Dakota since I didn't have anything else QUITE big enough (about 2mm shy on my next-largest Crescent....)    It has come in handy over the years on big hex pipe fittings and such occasionally since then, too....

They're also known in many other parts of the world as a BAHCO for the same common-local-brand trademark reason that it's known as a Crescent wrench here.

They're all nut rounders. No need to be more specific.

I believe Mr. ARDUINOSvsEVIL refers to them technically as nut fuckers.

He has a couple of those "Mining Wrench" versions, though, that is also actually intended to additionally be a (pseudo-)hammer instead of just bashing on the wrench anyway.
How convenient!

I don't have any of those.  Yet.   

Edit: Is there a Tool Hoarders Anonymous thread somewhere?
I feel like I'm getting the jitters....   

[0culus]

Ah yes, the Crescent wrench. In certain areas, outside of polite company, these may also be referred to as a "Mexican speed wrench".

[xrunner]

We have a new streaming TV channel available for subscription just advertised on a cable channel I was watching.

True Royalty TV!

"The world’s first TV channel dedicated to all things Royal"

https://trueroyalty.tv/

Only $41.99 / year !!!

[med6753]

We have a new streaming TV channel available for subscription just advertised on a cable channel I was watching.

True Royalty TV!

"The world’s first TV channel dedicated to all things Royal"

https://trueroyalty.tv/

Only $41.99 / year !!!

That's perfect for the "Angry Karen's" who tend to be pre or post menopausal ugly, fat white women who had childhood princess dreams but turned into nasty toads. It will keep them inside and glued to the TV rather than on the streets pissing us off.     

[mnementh]

Edit: changed avatar. The Ferengi was making me uncomfortable 

Pity, I liked the "no equal sign" picture 

What's the meaning of the new one? Looks like a draft from a marketing company selling Batterizers. 

He changes avatars more often than I change underwear. 

*backs slowly away from Stinky Smurf*     

mnem
Agitate more, whinge less. 

Papa Smurf backs away rapidly from stinky Dwagon and stands upwind from him 

Let's go.

I KNEW Saskia was up to somethin' when she gave me that Chalupa. 

No regrets. 

mnem
Old dwagons don't die; they just smell that way.

[0culus]

styropyro strikes again, with another hideously dangerous circuit for you to admire from the safety of your computer. 

[mnementh]

*Puts "C-4 Teddy Bear" on X-Mas shopping list*

mnem
 

[mnementh]

^^^
Yes.  That's what is known here as a Crescent Wrench. 

I have several really good old ones that are actual Crescent brand, various other brands of various sizes and quality, and one giant cheap chinesium-grade un-branded monster from Princess Auto that I pretty much only ever use for things like 36mm fan nuts because it was on sale when I went to get a 36mm box-end (actually, combination) wrench for the fan nut on the Dakota since I didn't have anything else QUITE big enough (about 2mm shy on my next-largest Crescent....)    It has come in handy over the years on big hex pipe fittings and such occasionally since then, too....

They're also known in many other parts of the world as a BAHCO for the same common-local-brand trademark reason that it's known as a Crescent wrench here.

They're all nut rounders. No need to be more specific.

I believe Mr. ARDUINOSvsEVIL refers to them technically as nut fuckers.

He has a couple of those "Mining Wrench" versions, though, that is also actually intended to additionally be a (pseudo-)hammer instead of just bashing on the wrench anyway.
How convenient!

I don't have any of those.  Yet.   

Edit: Is there a Tool Hoarders Anonymous thread somewhere?
I feel like I'm getting the jitters....   

As related to this variant; the Thumb-Detecting Nut-Fucker.

https://www.eevblog.com/forum/testgear/test-equipment-anonymous-(tea)-group-therapy-thread/msg2091553/#msg2091553

mnem
 

[mnementh]

I liken this flavor of corruption to the difference between soy sauce and Teriyaki. Soy sauce (like the usual everyday sort of small-time corruption we've been accustomed to for centuries) is a wine-like product distilled from a plant not usually used for winemaking. American-style corruption is a whole 'nuther level; like they took the existing corruption and distilled it to its purest essence.

Just as Teriyaki is distilled from soy sauce, it is an acquired taste with many (arguably a majority) who find it disgusting. Like American-style corruption.

Before you go and use Soy sauce and Teriyaki sauce as similes again, you might want to read up on how they are made - there's no distillation involved.

You're right; both are brewed.  Meh.

mnem
*toddles off to ded*

[mansaxel]

funny thing is that i had multiple clearances waaaaay above what they give to guard force morons. 

"No, I can't tell you what this is or why I'm bringing it through your little kingdom, but if you agree to forget my first superficial description (which was so shallow so as to be possible to tell you) and listen to this other description that is equally shallow but does not include trigger words you and your dogs have been Pavlov'ed on, can you then please let me go about my business?"

The Christmas lunch was legendary; everybody who were on the permanent access list made sure to know when it was, and to not be TDY that day, if that was their normal workplace, and to make sure there was a convenient meeting to attend there that day if they sat somewhere else most of the time.

[AVGresponding]

^^^
Yes.  That's what is known here as a Crescent Wrench. 

I have several really good old ones that are actual Crescent brand, various other brands of various sizes and quality, and one giant cheap chinesium-grade un-branded monster from Princess Auto that I pretty much only ever use for things like 36mm fan nuts because it was on sale when I went to get a 36mm box-end (actually, combination) wrench for the fan nut on the Dakota since I didn't have anything else QUITE big enough (about 2mm shy on my next-largest Crescent....)    It has come in handy over the years on big hex pipe fittings and such occasionally since then, too....

They're also known in many other parts of the world as a BAHCO for the same common-local-brand trademark reason that it's known as a Crescent wrench here.

They're all nut rounders. No need to be more specific.

Like any other tool, if used correctly they are fine. If used inexpertly, much inconvenience ensues.

[mansaxel]

They're also known in many other parts of the world as a BAHCO for the same common-local-brand trademark reason that it's known as a Crescent wrench here.

They're all nut rounders. No need to be more specific.

Like any other tool, if used correctly they are fine. If used inexpertly, much inconvenience ensues.

It's like Leatherman tools or Swiss Army knives, when you add complexity in the name of flexibility, the demands on the quality of the parts in your device go way up. Therefore, even through Snap-On have bought the name and is using it to market shit by way of reputation leeching[0], the only adjustable spanners I'll pay for are Bahcos.

• Reputation Leeching: The habit (by multinational brand-collecting companies) of buying up household name brands and replacing the nice products they made with generic re-branded shit made in factories that have neither been paid nor equipped to deliver the quality previously enjoyed.