Author Topic: Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread  (Read 14551772 times)

marcumr, ProtonFox, fcb, shakalnokturn and 33 Guests are viewing this topic.

Offline Specmaster

  • Super Contributor
  • ***
  • Posts: 14483
  • Country: gb
Re: Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread
« Reply #25800 on: February 20, 2019, 10:48:30 am »
The very cheapies seem to be more of a mixed bag over the LiPo/Acrylic KK Moon types. Mine turned up without any readings on the case and that seems to be far more common compared to when they first came out in that style like @Med got.

In most cases it saves me having to fire up any of the better Calibration gear and it just sits on the shelf for bench use which in truth is all I need in 95%+ of cases when teamed with the Agilent.

I agree, I've 4 x 5.5 digit bench meters, 2 x HP and 2 x Flukes, 1 x 5.5 digit handheld Brymen and 1 x 4.5 digit HP bench meter and oodles of 3.5 handhelds. The AD584-M sets up the 3.5 meters perfectly so all digits agree however when it comes to the others things are a little more interesting. I can get the 2 Flukes (8840A & 8842A to agree by leaving them for approx 30 minutes, the others I can get to within 1mV of each other which is still way within the design specification and calibration of 3 counts.
Who let Murphy in?

Brymen-Fluke-HP-Thurlby-Thander-Tek-Extech-Black Star-GW-Avo-Kyoritsu-Amprobe-ITT-Robin-TTi
 

Offline Specmaster

  • Super Contributor
  • ***
  • Posts: 14483
  • Country: gb
Re: Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread
« Reply #25801 on: February 20, 2019, 10:59:22 am »
Today looks alright as I take in some caffeine but yesterday was a real bitch.........our main water pump broke, really broke.  :palm:
Castings smashed and gunna be a quite involved welding job that I really don't need right now.  :rant:
Much smaller backup pump installed.
Damn Murphy !
A little bit that and a little bit "I know I need 12" but all I can get is 10" on the SATA cables. Went to plug it into the MB, the other end broke.  |O So now i have some 18" cables in there until my 12" ones arrive and I can sleeve 'em up.

I remember in my youth, we had a jet pump in the barn freeze up; cracked right up the threading for the inlet nipple. After working the casting shut using a rosebud and the bench vise, I welded it up using 6013 rod on DC reverse. Had to do it about 3/8" at a time; weld a little, heat everything around the weld to relieve the stress, let it cool to "tsssst" hot and then weld another 3/8" or so. Got right up to the edge of the threads with my weld, then stitched back over itself for 1"; again, 3/8" at a time... but when it was done, I assembled with silicone RTV and it held water and drew up against a 22 foot head. For another 15 years.  :-+

Amazing what you'll do on a Sunday afternoon when you're faced with schlepping water for a barnfull of animals via 5 gallon buckets.

mnem
"That's what SHE said..." *Ba-Dump-BUMMP-TSSHHT!!!*
Well the busted pump was a locally made one a MacEwans H3 doing 1500gph and exactly why I won't use 5 gallon buckets.
Twas a mess, the pump head (reciprocating type) had busted off the gearing and was flogging back and forth along the pump house floor until it busted the piping and dumped 3000 gals from the full tank 300yds away into the pump house.  :palm:
Good thing the 3 phase supply and control 'trics and 'tronics are designed and engineered to cope with such an event.  ;)

A pic showing the busted off flange pieces on the floor and the (now rusted) breaks from where they used to be.
Got the cast rods needed to fix it and the welding experience required but will probably need to make a small furnace to preheat it.
Backup pump flogging way faithfully in the foreground.


Really, you leave mains cables hanging out like that, no strain relief or grommets tsk tsk :palm:
Who let Murphy in?

Brymen-Fluke-HP-Thurlby-Thander-Tek-Extech-Black Star-GW-Avo-Kyoritsu-Amprobe-ITT-Robin-TTi
 
The following users thanked this post: tautech

Offline bd139

  • Super Contributor
  • ***
  • Posts: 23017
  • Country: gb
Re: Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread
« Reply #25802 on: February 20, 2019, 11:31:41 am »
Nice little ebay score this week.



This is tangentially related to TEA because I'm missing things made out of wood. Lots of metal and plastic but there needs to be more wood. I am going to look out for some old panel meters, rip up the FET voltmeter I built a while ago and put it in a nicely varnished wooden box with black panel and chicken head knobs, just because!

Slightly inspired by this beauty https://aa7ee.wordpress.com/2015/09/14/the-sproutie-mk-ii-hf-regen-receiver/
 

Online tautech

  • Super Contributor
  • ***
  • Posts: 28136
  • Country: nz
  • Taupaki Technologies Ltd. Siglent Distributor NZ.
    • Taupaki Technologies Ltd.
Re: Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread
« Reply #25803 on: February 20, 2019, 11:34:05 am »
For those of you that might be interested in some new goodies, Defpom has got some reviews to do.  ;)

https://youtu.be/sakHJouftK0
Avid Rabid Hobbyist
Siglent Youtube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@SiglentVideo/videos
 

Online tggzzz

  • Super Contributor
  • ***
  • Posts: 19279
  • Country: gb
  • Numbers, not adjectives
    • Having fun doing more, with less
Re: Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread
« Reply #25804 on: February 20, 2019, 12:53:06 pm »
This is tangentially related to TEA because I'm missing things made out of wood. Lots of metal and plastic but there needs to be more wood. I am going to look out for some old panel meters, rip up the FET voltmeter I built a while ago and put it in a nicely varnished wooden box with black panel and chicken head knobs, just because!

Going for the steampunk look?

Old meters with lovely mahogany cases often appear in real auctions and hamfests, are bought cheaply, and appear on fleabay at entertaining prices.
There are lies, damned lies, statistics - and ADC/DAC specs.
Glider pilot's aphorism: "there is no substitute for span". Retort: "There is a substitute: skill+imagination. But you can buy span".
Having fun doing more, with less
 

Offline BillB

  • Supporter
  • ****
  • Posts: 615
  • Country: us
Re: Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread
« Reply #25805 on: February 20, 2019, 01:00:17 pm »
For those of you that might be interested in some new goodies, Defpom has got some reviews to do.  ;)

That's all well and good, but when is that SDL1000X gonna make it over here?  ;D
 

Offline med6753

  • Super Contributor
  • ***
  • Posts: 11313
  • Country: us
  • Tek nut
Re: Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread
« Reply #25806 on: February 20, 2019, 01:04:52 pm »
Nice little ebay score this week.



This is tangentially related to TEA because I'm missing things made out of wood. Lots of metal and plastic but there needs to be more wood. I am going to look out for some old panel meters, rip up the FET voltmeter I built a while ago and put it in a nicely varnished wooden box with black panel and chicken head knobs, just because!

Slightly inspired by this beauty https://aa7ee.wordpress.com/2015/09/14/the-sproutie-mk-ii-hf-regen-receiver/

Nice vintage key. I'm surrounded by finely finished wood. Bench 1. Bench 2. Scope cart.  :-+
An old gray beard with an attitude.
 

Offline bd139

  • Super Contributor
  • ***
  • Posts: 23017
  • Country: gb
Re: Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread
« Reply #25807 on: February 20, 2019, 01:14:19 pm »
This is tangentially related to TEA because I'm missing things made out of wood. Lots of metal and plastic but there needs to be more wood. I am going to look out for some old panel meters, rip up the FET voltmeter I built a while ago and put it in a nicely varnished wooden box with black panel and chicken head knobs, just because!

Going for the steampunk look?

Old meters with lovely mahogany cases often appear in real auctions and hamfests, are bought cheaply, and appear on fleabay at entertaining prices.

Not steampunk. More natural materials.

I can't stand steampunk. It's tolerable when they get it right. Refer to:

 

Offline xrunner

  • Super Contributor
  • ***
  • Posts: 7496
  • Country: us
  • hp>Agilent>Keysight>???
Re: Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread
« Reply #25808 on: February 20, 2019, 01:17:51 pm »
Arduino has a message for you -
I told my friends I could teach them to be funny, but they all just laughed at me.
 
The following users thanked this post: bitseeker, bd139

Offline med6753

  • Super Contributor
  • ***
  • Posts: 11313
  • Country: us
  • Tek nut
Re: Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread
« Reply #25809 on: February 20, 2019, 01:26:42 pm »
This is tangentially related to TEA because I'm missing things made out of wood. Lots of metal and plastic but there needs to be more wood. I am going to look out for some old panel meters, rip up the FET voltmeter I built a while ago and put it in a nicely varnished wooden box with black panel and chicken head knobs, just because!

Going for the steampunk look?

Old meters with lovely mahogany cases often appear in real auctions and hamfests, are bought cheaply, and appear on fleabay at entertaining prices.

Not steampunk. More natural materials.

I can't stand steampunk. It's tolerable when they get it right. Refer to:



I must live a sheltered life. Never heard of steampunk. Or is that an English thing?
An old gray beard with an attitude.
 

Offline bd139

  • Super Contributor
  • ***
  • Posts: 23017
  • Country: gb
Re: Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread
« Reply #25810 on: February 20, 2019, 01:31:27 pm »
World wide. Slowly going out of fashion now.
 

Offline med6753

  • Super Contributor
  • ***
  • Posts: 11313
  • Country: us
  • Tek nut
Re: Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread
« Reply #25811 on: February 20, 2019, 01:33:04 pm »
World wide. Slowly going out of fashion now.

I guess I missed the memo.  :-// :-DD
An old gray beard with an attitude.
 

Offline HalFET

  • Frequent Contributor
  • **
  • Posts: 512
  • Country: 00
Re: Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread
« Reply #25812 on: February 20, 2019, 01:34:22 pm »
It's interesting. I think the "engineers mindset" is the same for most of us. Everything is a problem to solve and that's cool  :-+
If it ain't broken, solve the fact that it ain't broken? :P
 

Offline Specmaster

  • Super Contributor
  • ***
  • Posts: 14483
  • Country: gb
Re: Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread
« Reply #25813 on: February 20, 2019, 01:36:45 pm »
This is tangentially related to TEA because I'm missing things made out of wood. Lots of metal and plastic but there needs to be more wood. I am going to look out for some old panel meters, rip up the FET voltmeter I built a while ago and put it in a nicely varnished wooden box with black panel and chicken head knobs, just because!

Going for the steampunk look?

Old meters with lovely mahogany cases often appear in real auctions and hamfests, are bought cheaply, and appear on fleabay at entertaining prices.

Not steampunk. More natural materials.

I can't stand steampunk. It's tolerable when they get it right. Refer to:

Yeah, its like Hi-Fi gear, looks much better in a nice wooden case rather than a painted metal or plastic one.
Who let Murphy in?

Brymen-Fluke-HP-Thurlby-Thander-Tek-Extech-Black Star-GW-Avo-Kyoritsu-Amprobe-ITT-Robin-TTi
 

Offline med6753

  • Super Contributor
  • ***
  • Posts: 11313
  • Country: us
  • Tek nut
Re: Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread
« Reply #25814 on: February 20, 2019, 01:37:54 pm »
It's interesting. I think the "engineers mindset" is the same for most of us. Everything is a problem to solve and that's cool  :-+
If it ain't broken, solve the fact that it ain't broken? :P

And then throw it over the wall for the technician to fix it. Damn engineers!  |O
An old gray beard with an attitude.
 

Offline Specmaster

  • Super Contributor
  • ***
  • Posts: 14483
  • Country: gb
Re: Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread
« Reply #25815 on: February 20, 2019, 01:42:52 pm »
I love how this thread has a new topic surprise every day  :-DD
We won't bore you with the tractor gearbox or engine recon done over the last few years or the emergency welding job done last night after fitting the standby pump..........never a dull moment around here......then another email from Bean arrives.  :scared:
Yep, its all part of the rich tapestry of life. It enriches one's knowledge and is someone has a problem, then sharing it might also bring forth the solution , let's keep the it coming folks.
Who let Murphy in?

Brymen-Fluke-HP-Thurlby-Thander-Tek-Extech-Black Star-GW-Avo-Kyoritsu-Amprobe-ITT-Robin-TTi
 

Offline bd139

  • Super Contributor
  • ***
  • Posts: 23017
  • Country: gb
Re: Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread
« Reply #25816 on: February 20, 2019, 01:58:23 pm »
Random rant here.

I've got a good tractor analogy here which is describes the last three months of my life. Company has a perfectly good tractor that does tractor things fine. Unfortunately the tractor mechanic left and a new tractor mechanic was hired. This tractor mechanic went to the local tractor trade fair and got loads of cool ideas about how a tractor should be. Thus the first thing he did was take the working tractor and stick things to it which are trendy. Then he repainted it. Suddenly it's useless as a tractor and looks like a donk car. Management are not happy about this and hire a massive tractor consultancy in to unfuck the whole mess. This company comes in and suggests the company just buy a new tractor, sensibly. Unfortuntely after much consultancy, a list of requirements are drawn up which are unrelated to the real world and the only possible way to solve these requirements is that they buy a lot of raw materials in and hire lots of their engineers to form these materials into a perfect tractor. After a year of meetings, the design for the wheels is complete and there is a mock up for the body and over £2m has been spent and there are lots of engineers sitting around playing Solitaire because HR were competent for once. At a financial review it turns out the company isn't doing well because they haven't done any tractoring for about 2 years and all their competitors are tractoring hard because they hire their tractors hourly from Amazon. So round three they hired Amazon in, but unfortunately due to the amount of accumulated shit, unlike their competitors, that they should have tractored off over the previous two years, Amazon's monthly bill is rather ridiculously expensive, moreso over a year than building the tractor from scratch.

Where do I sit in this nightmare? Well I've been carefully repainting the original tractor in its native yellow, removing the donk car features, fixing all the rust and holes and paying two people to shovel as much shit as possible.

I'm sure cthulhu was at that trade conference warping minds.

Edit: apologies for rant again.
« Last Edit: February 20, 2019, 02:00:35 pm by bd139 »
 

Offline HalFET

  • Frequent Contributor
  • **
  • Posts: 512
  • Country: 00
Re: Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread
« Reply #25817 on: February 20, 2019, 02:31:09 pm »
It's interesting. I think the "engineers mindset" is the same for most of us. Everything is a problem to solve and that's cool  :-+
If it ain't broken, solve the fact that it ain't broken? :P

And then throw it over the wall for the technician to fix it. Damn engineers!  |O

Dunno, I tend to fix my own fixes  ;D
 

Online Zucca

  • Supporter
  • ****
  • Posts: 4298
  • Country: it
  • EE meid in Itali
Re: Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread
« Reply #25818 on: February 20, 2019, 02:35:29 pm »
Tractors are more reliable than servers.

When you are done with the yellow, buy a red spray can and write "Kiss my ass Management" on both sides.
Can't know what you don't love. St. Augustine
Can't love what you don't know. Zucca
 

Offline Brumby

  • Supporter
  • ****
  • Posts: 12288
  • Country: au
Re: Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread
« Reply #25819 on: February 20, 2019, 02:39:25 pm »
Spending some spare moments checking out my 8656B.  Watched a video by our friend The Radio Shop and then popped the covers to enjoy my first personal encounter with some serious HP construction.

It's not something you can fully appreciate from videos and photographs.  Having something open in front of you makes all the difference.  Truly impressive.
 

Offline mnementh

  • Super Contributor
  • ***
  • Posts: 17541
  • Country: us
  • *Hiding in the Dwagon-Cave*
Re: Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread
« Reply #25820 on: February 20, 2019, 04:42:30 pm »
I love how this thread has a new topic surprise every day  :-DD
We won't bore you with the tractor gearbox or engine recon done over the last few years or the emergency welding job done last night after fitting the standby pump..........never a dull moment around here......then another email from Bean arrives.  :scared:

https://youtu.be/jMyD3TSXyUc
(Sorry for the poor qwality video; it was the best I could find)

Yeah, but that's the part that's FUN! The rest of it is like watching lil' egghead junior figure out where Foggy is hiding; oodles of boring-ass trig then a dash of magic and POOFIES!!! there he is!!!

mnem
"Naaahhh... I'd better not look. Ahhh might just be in there."
alt-codes work here:  alt-0128 = €  alt-156 = £  alt-0216 = Ø  alt-225 = ß  alt-230 = µ  alt-234 = Ω  alt-236 = ∞  alt-248 = °
 

Offline GregDunn

  • Frequent Contributor
  • **
  • Posts: 725
  • Country: us
Re: Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread
« Reply #25821 on: February 20, 2019, 04:49:10 pm »
Nice little ebay score this week.

This is tangentially related to TEA because I'm missing things made out of wood. Lots of metal and plastic but there needs to be more wood. I am going to look out for some old panel meters, rip up the FET voltmeter I built a while ago and put it in a nicely varnished wooden box with black panel and chicken head knobs, just because!

Slightly inspired by this beauty https://aa7ee.wordpress.com/2015/09/14/the-sproutie-mk-ii-hf-regen-receiver/

Found this item on the bay of evil a few weeks ago - it was caked with about 100 years of gunk (not an exaggeration) but cleaned up pretty well.  I used to work for the company which made it, so it is a nice souvenir of a time when test gear could look like furniture and yet not be ugly.
 

Offline mnementh

  • Super Contributor
  • ***
  • Posts: 17541
  • Country: us
  • *Hiding in the Dwagon-Cave*
Re: Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread
« Reply #25822 on: February 20, 2019, 04:53:45 pm »
We are a diverse (to us) or perverse (to others) mob ;)

Hey!!! I resemble that remark!!!

mnem
"If the women don't find you handsome, they should at least find you handy." ~ Red Greene
alt-codes work here:  alt-0128 = €  alt-156 = £  alt-0216 = Ø  alt-225 = ß  alt-230 = µ  alt-234 = Ω  alt-236 = ∞  alt-248 = °
 

Offline mnementh

  • Super Contributor
  • ***
  • Posts: 17541
  • Country: us
  • *Hiding in the Dwagon-Cave*
Re: Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread
« Reply #25823 on: February 20, 2019, 05:02:43 pm »
It's interesting. I think the "engineers mindset" is the same for most of us. Everything is a problem to solve and that's cool  :-+

Up to and including the point of actually having to do maths, yes. I, like many of us, will do "trial and error based on a educated guess" three times before I actually sit down and do the math. Twice. Or three times.  :-DD

mnem
"So how many volts will that silicone RTV actually withst..."

*ZZZZZZZZAAAAAAPPP!!!*

*Sucks zorched fingertips and stares intently while absently reaching out with other hand...*


*ZZZZZZZZAAAAAAPPP!!!*

"Okaaaay... maybe I need to let that cure a little longer..."

« Last Edit: February 20, 2019, 06:53:10 pm by mnementh »
alt-codes work here:  alt-0128 = €  alt-156 = £  alt-0216 = Ø  alt-225 = ß  alt-230 = µ  alt-234 = Ω  alt-236 = ∞  alt-248 = °
 

Offline Specmaster

  • Super Contributor
  • ***
  • Posts: 14483
  • Country: gb
Re: Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread
« Reply #25824 on: February 20, 2019, 05:08:17 pm »
Well that was almost a close call, I'm planning on going to RAF Marham tomorrow bright and early to grab a few photos of the special commemorative colour schemes they have painted on 3 Tornadoes before they are officially retired at the end of the month and one of those out today just called with an emergency call while over the north sea. One of the engines has failed and on the tracking site ADFB his info suddenly went bright red which is the international sign of a mayday and then it suddenly disappeared from the screen while still showing a height of 6314ft. Thoughts turned to a possible crash, which would have immediately grounded the entire fleet which would killed my visit there tomorrow. Fighter Control group have reported that the plane is safely down on the ground  :phew:

So I'll still be going tomorrow, thats the good news and hopefully I'll get some good photos to share with you, the bad news is that the new camera I ordered won't be here till tomorrow, not that it would have that much difference to the photos, but the video I had planned to take will now have to be in 720p instead of 1080p as I had hoped  :palm:
Who let Murphy in?

Brymen-Fluke-HP-Thurlby-Thander-Tek-Extech-Black Star-GW-Avo-Kyoritsu-Amprobe-ITT-Robin-TTi
 


Share me

Digg  Facebook  SlashDot  Delicious  Technorati  Twitter  Google  Yahoo
Smf