Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread

[wrieken]

Hi,

Where you able to find a solution to the "Parallel BCD Interface" problem? I have been searching the planet, but so far have found anyone alive who seems to have an idea on how to solve the problem. It seems that Parallel BCD is so old that everyone that knew about it is dead.

Thanks,

Will...

[tggzzz]

Where you able to find a solution to the "Parallel BCD Interface" problem? I have been searching the planet, but so far have found anyone alive who seems to have an idea on how to solve the problem. It seems that Parallel BCD is so old that everyone that knew about it is dead.

Er, what parallel BCD problem? A link would be helpful.

[mnementh]

Just get a decent ISP that doesn't block all the torrent sites (Zen here) and torrent the damn thing.

Yup. Then you'll probably get watchable coies of your video too, instead of cam BS in someone's living room with every truck going by and siblings fighting in the background.

I mean, you'll get that too; but at least you'll get a choice of better qwality if you're willing to dig for it. 

Except... Brave Little Toaster... I loathe that movie. When I was a kid, that and BeastMaster were like literally the only shows HBO used for filler. 3 channels, and between them, 40 hours a day would be those two movies. And Richard Simmons infomercials... *Shudder*

mnem
“I repeat Sturgeon's Revelation, which was wrung out of me after twenty years of wearying defense of science fiction against attacks of people who used the worst examples of the field for ammunition, and whose conclusion was that ninety percent of SF is crud. Using the same standards that categorize 90% of science fiction as trash, crud, or crap, it can be argued that 90% of film, literature, consumer goods, etc. is crap. In other words, the claim (or fact) that 90% of science fiction is crap is ultimately uninformative, because science fiction conforms to the same trends of quality as all other artforms.”

[mnementh]

In Other News... The ToolDwagon needs TOOL ADVICE!

   Okay... this is an area where I have no experience. I have lots of experience with traditional body work, and I have an idea about how these should work... but zero practical knowledge. Does anybody here know anything about paintless dent repair tools? Do these little lever and hot-glue gadgets actually work? What first-time pitfalls top avoid?

mnem
 

Eastwood sells a kit. I'm sure you're familiar with them. Generally sell good stuff.

https://www.eastwood.com/eastwood-paintless-dent-removal-kit.html

Yeah, that's my problem. I have pretty much THAT level of knowledge about the art, and that is really what it appears to be: an art. Like panel beating and English Wheel; it's 20% tools and 80% technique.

I'm trying to get a little insight from folks who've used the tools but aren't just trying to sell me THEIR tools, if you know what I mean. Looks like time for another depth-first search on yoobToob... 

mnem
SPOOOON!!!

[mnementh]

This was the Muppets protecting their bottom line backed by our idiots in charge

https://www.smh.com.au/business/companies/internet-providers-ordered-to-block-15-torrent-streaming-sites-by-federal-court-20180618-p4zm6b.html

https://torrentfreak.com/australian-court-orders-isps-to-block-181-pirate-domains-including-subtitle-sites-181220/

Jeezus H. Christ A-hoppin' on a pogo stick... where the fuck did they get that "calculated at $50/domain" BS? I hope the ISPs document every fucking minute spent sysadmin-ing those blocks for 3 years and bill the judges PERSONALLY.

Fucking ignorant assholes making law about shit they know NOTHING about. 

mnem
"I don't know nothing. I know just enough to have an inkling how much nothing I actually know."

[med6753]

This was the Muppets protecting their bottom line backed by our idiots in charge

https://www.smh.com.au/business/companies/internet-providers-ordered-to-block-15-torrent-streaming-sites-by-federal-court-20180618-p4zm6b.html

https://torrentfreak.com/australian-court-orders-isps-to-block-181-pirate-domains-including-subtitle-sites-181220/

Jeezus H. Christ A-hoppin' on a pogo stick... where the fuck did they get that "calculated at $50/domain" BS? I hope the ISPs document every fucking minute spent sysadmin-ing those blocks for 3 years and bill the judges PERSONALLY.

Fucking ignorant assholes making law about shit they know NOTHING about. 

mnem
"I don't know nothing. I know just enough to have an inkling how much nothing I actually know."

Geez......3 posts in a row of bitching and moaning.    Go have more coffee then come back. 

And knock it off or I'll have Batman bitch slip you. 

[bd139]

 

More bitching here. Just sent an order off to JLCPCB and realised I fucked up two TQFP pins. This is only a prototype run so not end of world but do I bodge it with kynar when it turns up or order another batch?

[neo]

Capacitance/Inductance in your leads and a GigOhm input on the Keithley I would hazard a guess rather than an issue with the 5440A. There may also be some components after the enable on the 5440A?

Turn off any Switchmode Supplies (in particular), Wallwarts, LED lights and or anything else possibly noisy and check again.

You nailed it, thanks mate!

I am monitoring the 0.100mV range and unplugged and moved the laptop I am typing on and it made a big difference. I am silly enough to forget my setup in the breakfast nook is not ideal for these low level measurements...I think I scored a winner but I will put this setup in the shop room tomorrow with proper test leads and confirm. No overhead noise...D'OH!

edit** even turning these lights out was noticable...damnit Chris, get it together ...lol

What i'd do if i were you, dig a big hole and build an underground lab with a faraday cage in the walls. 

[med6753]

More bitching here. Just sent an order off to JLCPCB and realised I fucked up two TQFP pins. This is only a prototype run so not end of world but do I bodge it with kynar when it turns up or order another batch?

Only you can make that choice. Bodges drive our leader Dave crazy but they don't bother me all that much. I've been known to bodge things here and there. 

[LapTop006]

More bitching here. Just sent an order off to JLCPCB and realised I fucked up two TQFP pins. This is only a prototype run so not end of world but do I bodge it with kynar when it turns up or order another batch?

Can you actually solder that bodge? A similar error on adjacent pins of a TI QFN48 (7x7mm) had me respin a board costing over AU$1000 for a personal project, at a time when I didn't really have that to spare. My bodge abilities are barely enough to get a bodge wire onto a pin that small to be able to probe it, and that takes me a few minutes for the many attempts.

[bd139]

Yeah its a pin swap and theres enough track to solder fortunately. This is only the digital front end prototype for something and is being used while I dev the analogue side of it. It was 1/3 of the price spinning some boards and buying SMD parts than buying the parts as TH (2019 is already weird)

[mnementh]

This was the Muppets protecting their bottom line backed by our idiots in charge

https://www.smh.com.au/business/companies/internet-providers-ordered-to-block-15-torrent-streaming-sites-by-federal-court-20180618-p4zm6b.html

https://torrentfreak.com/australian-court-orders-isps-to-block-181-pirate-domains-including-subtitle-sites-181220/

Jeezus H. Christ A-hoppin' on a pogo stick... where the fuck did they get that "calculated at $50/domain" BS? I hope the ISPs document every fucking minute spent sysadmin-ing those blocks for 3 years and bill the judges PERSONALLY.

Fucking ignorant assholes making law about shit they know NOTHING about. 

mnem
"I don't know nothing. I know just enough to have an inkling how much nothing I actually know."

Geez......3 posts in a row of bitching and moaning.    Go have more coffee then come back. 

And knock it off or I'll have Batman bitch slip you. 

You, Batman, Robin, AND your Brave Little Toaster are all oh, so very cordially invited to kiss my scaly dragon ass. };=)~~~~<

I mean yeah; I was bitching pretty loudly about that ignorant court decision... but otherwise I thought I was keeping it pretty cheerful. 

mnem
And now, for something completely awesome:

[mnementh]

More bitching here. Just sent an order off to JLCPCB and realised I fucked up two TQFP pins. This is only a prototype run so not end of world but do I bodge it with kynar when it turns up or order another batch?

Only you can make that choice. Bodges drive our leader Dave crazy but they don't bother me all that much. I've been known to bodge things here and there. 

Lets ask the electrons... Nope, they don't ugly from pretty, they only know they're lazy and will go where you put the path of least resistance. As long as you aren't part of that path, I see no problem with a bodge wire here and there. 

mnem
DFWMC!

[med6753]

mnem
And now, for something completely awesome:

You can kiss my panda too.   

[med6753]

All the trend charts and histograms posted recently by Invert have inspired me to finally take a look at the EasyDMM software that came with the Siglent SDM3055. First result, just playing around. The voltage source is a AD584-M with a fully charged battery and on backup power. Left to warm up for 1 hour before starting measurements. The SDM3055 was also left to warm up for 1 hour before measuring.

I just let it run and the trend appears to be upward slightly. The software seems to be quite detailed and extensive and I haven't even scratched the surface. But in reality I wouldn't know what to do with it anyway. 

[tautech]

Med, have a play with Histogram and Trend too, they can both be displayed on the LCD.
IIRC they're in the Display menu.

[bitseeker]

In Other News... The ToolDwagon needs TOOL ADVICE!



Okay... this is an area where I have no experience. I have lots of experience with traditional body work, and I have an idea about how these should work... but zero practical knowledge. Does anybody here know anything about paintless dent repair tools? Do these little lever and hot-glue gadgets actually work? What first-time pitfalls top avoid?

I've done some paintless dent repair (PDR), but haven't used those glue-on pullers. My dents were fortunately reachable from behind. I've seen some have issues with adhesion and will need to glue the head on multiple times. Of course, the marketing material is showing a theoretical result. You'll still have to work on the metal around the dent to (1) get any ripples out, especially around the perimeter of the dent, and (2) prevent gas canning.

Working from behind the dent, I use whatever is an appropriate size/shape object for each stage of repair (though you can get all sorts of "proper" PDR tools for pushing out dents) and then stabilize and refine the area with a tap down tool. PDR truly is an art and I don't have the level of experience required to quickly get good results. It's quite time consuming. Overworking the metal can be an issue too, though I haven't risked damaging the paint by heating the area to relieve the stress. I just get it "good enough" and am happy that I saved a bundle over full replacement and repaint.

[med6753]

Med, have a play with Histogram and Trend too, they can both be displayed on the LCD.
IIRC they're in the Display menu.

Yep, got it.

[Specmaster]

More bitching here. Just sent an order off to JLCPCB and realised I fucked up two TQFP pins. This is only a prototype run so not end of world but do I bodge it with kynar when it turns up or order another batch?

Botch it first to prove the concept works as planned.

[mnementh]

mnem
And now, for something completely awesome:

You can kiss my panda too.   

I knew you'd get it! 

mnem
*Off to bug my neighbor*

[mnementh]

In Other News... The ToolDwagon needs TOOL ADVICE!

   Okay... this is an area where I have no experience. I have lots of experience with traditional body work, and I have an idea about how these should work... but zero practical knowledge. Does anybody here know anything about paintless dent repair tools? Do these little lever and hot-glue gadgets actually work? What first-time pitfalls top avoid?

I've done some paintless dent repair (PDR), but haven't used those glue-on pullers. My dents were fortunately reachable from behind. I've seen some have issues with adhesion and will need to glue the head on multiple times. Of course, the marketing material is showing a theoretical result. You'll still have to work on the metal around the dent to (1) get any ripples out, especially around the perimeter of the dent, and (2) prevent gas canning.

Working from behind the dent, I use whatever is an appropriate size/shape object for each stage of repair (though you can get all sorts of "proper" PDR tools for pushing out dents) and then stabilize and refine the area with a tap down tool. PDR truly is an art and I don't have the level of experience required to quickly get good results. It's quite time consuming. Overworking the metal can be an issue too, though I haven't risked damaging the paint by heating the area to relieve the stress. I just get it "good enough" and am happy that I saved a bundle over full replacement and repaint.

Yup... that kind of work I'm very familiar with. I've "popped" and "rubbed out" more dents than I can count, often without repainting. It's this crop of "Glue-on" doodads I'm interested in though; got a small kink in SWMBOs liftgate from accidentally trying to close it on too many suitcases during our holiday trip to Ohio. Where it's at appears to be a "closed cell" area of the panel; no way to get behind it without cutting metal.

MMokay... I'll do some more research. I know what I'm asking is definitely cross-disciplinary knowledge in here.

mnem
"Awwwww, dendrites!" ~ Favorite clean cussword.

[Specmaster]

Yup... that kind of work I'm very familiar with. I've "popped" and "rubbed out" more dents than I can count, often without repainting. It's this crop of "Glue-on" doodads I'm interested in though; got a small kink in SWMBOs liftgate from accidentally trying to close it on too many suitcases during our holiday trip to Ohio. Where it's at appears to be a "closed cell" area of the panel; no way to get behind it without cutting metal.

MMokay... I'll do some more research. I know what I'm asking is definitely cross-disciplinary knowledge in here.

mnem
"Awwwww, dendrites!" ~ Favorite clean cussword.

WHAT...the act of closing the tailgate on suitcases has caused a dimple on the outer skin of the car and this has gone through the inner panel and then pushed the out layer as well?, so what  is this car made from, old cokes cans? I think if someone did that with mine, the tailgate would crush the suitcase before yielding to it, its built a brick dunny.

[Mr. Scram]

I've received an item from Ebay today and it seems there's a sticker on it which wasn't in the pictures. It's probably not the item photographed, even though it's in good shape otherwise. It's one of those stickers which leaves the text "VOID" on the case when removed. This is unfortunately partially covering silk screened text, which I definitely don't want to rub off. What's a good way of removing the sticker residue without removing the silk screen? Normal sticker remover is way too aggressive to be trusted with this.

[SilverSolder]

I've found that carefully heating labels with a heat gun on low, is enough to soften the glue so they can be peeled off with no damage to the underlying surface.  *)

*) in most cases!  :-)

[Specmaster]

I also find that WD40 (not the switch cleaner) is pretty good and is gentle on other serfaces surfaces, at least it has been for me. Spray it on and leave it for a few minutes and it will normally lift with ease.