Author Topic: Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread  (Read 14547383 times)

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Offline mnementh

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Re: Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread
« Reply #35175 on: July 19, 2019, 11:22:28 pm »
At that much boost, a rotary isn't even a positive displacement engine; it's just a freaking slow turbine. ;)

It's the same old argument... you can make your HP by generating epic levels of torque with a big-block, or by winding the piss out of a small-block. Or no-block. ;) The difference is that any speed mods you can do to to a small engine will typically yield similar results³ with a big-block. Mid-size V6es seem to be an exception to that rule; the physics involved seem to make them inherently more efficient when pressurized.  :-//

mnem
Now if you'll please stop nerd-sniping me... I REALLY need to finish these power supplies... |O


« Last Edit: July 19, 2019, 11:26:37 pm by mnementh »
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Offline Cubdriver

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Re: Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread
« Reply #35176 on: July 19, 2019, 11:31:49 pm »
A car needs to be able to do three things - accelerate, decelerate, and change direction.  Adding horsepower improves one.  Making the car lighter improves all three.


1975 lb (898 kg) curb weight.

-Pat
If it jams, force it.  If it breaks, you needed a new one anyway...
 
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Offline Mr. Scram

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Re: Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread
« Reply #35177 on: July 19, 2019, 11:37:32 pm »
A car needs to be able to do three things - accelerate, decelerate, and change direction.  Adding horsepower improves one.  Making the car lighter improves all three.

1975 lb (898 kg) curb weight.

-Pat
A roof? Doors? What ridiculous luxuries.

 
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Offline Specmaster

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Re: Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread
« Reply #35178 on: July 19, 2019, 11:44:14 pm »
GM does many things wrong. Except one. Corvette. The C-6 and C-7 were awesome. This C-8 is beyond awesome. European million dollar exotics, you are on notice. Starting price is only $60K USD and will leave your arse in the dust.  :-+

Me and the 'vette are the same age. 1953.   


Jeebus; STILL glomming their design from a 40-year-old Ferrari.  :palm: I realize Shinoda's been dead for 20 years, but still. There has to be SOMEBODY out there with an original idea SOMEWHERE.  |O

Corvette hasn't been a 'vette since I was in diapers. Effing pampered playboy wannabe sports car.  :palm: I've owned three, including a 1982 off the dealer lot in midnight blue metallic. THAT era was the beginning of the end; but T-38 inspired body lines still earned it a place in my heart. ;)

Still liked either of my older ones much more... who needs bling lighting and boom-box-car stereo when you've got the sweet, sweet music of a 396 through 2.75" pipes to feed your white-line fever?

mnem
*no replacement for displacement*
It's always been a source of wonder to  me, just how you Merkins manage to extract so little power and so few mpg from your great gas guzzlers.

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Offline med6753

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Re: Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread
« Reply #35179 on: July 19, 2019, 11:59:36 pm »
I also found that the one .05uf cap that I was short is leaky. So I have to order a .0.047uf/400V tubular.

How do you know exactly when those caps are leaking? Do you have one of those fancy high voltage tester ?

Nope, no fancy tester. It's a coupling cap which means it should only let AC through and block the DC voltage from the prior stage. Well it was letting a small, but measurable, amount of DC pass thru which means it's leaky and no good.

In addition.....

When it comes to vintage CONSUMER or HOBBYIST vacuum tube equipment (and early solid state equipment) the following is a given:
 
All tubular, wax, and electrolytic capacitors WILL be leaky. There is no value in testing them. Do a mass replace.

Disc ceramic and mica capacitors generally do NOT go leaky. Replace only if confirmed defective.

The reason I said consumer and hobbyist equipment is that many pieces of vintage pro equipment, like Tek and HP, you'll find that in many cases the capacitors, including the electrolytics, are fine because they used much higher quality parts.   
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Offline mnementh

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Re: Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread
« Reply #35180 on: July 20, 2019, 12:02:01 am »
A car needs to be able to do three things - accelerate, decelerate, and change direction.  Adding horsepower improves one.  Making the car lighter improves all three.

1975 lb (898 kg) curb weight.

-Pat
Yup... been dere, dunnat. 1980 Triumph Spitfire with 2.8L Ford Cologne V6 shoehorned in under the stock hood, along with the 5-speed that came on it. Had to make custom machined intake, starter, hydraulic clutch and tube headers, plumbed out the back with 1.75" pipes. Weighed 1635lbs; 200lbs less than stock when I was done.  ;D

Raced multiple times at Watkins Glen. I grew up there; they were literally in my back yard. ;)

mnem
*sick times* >:D

« Last Edit: July 20, 2019, 12:06:51 am by mnementh »
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Offline Cubdriver

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Re: Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread
« Reply #35181 on: July 20, 2019, 12:02:51 am »
A car needs to be able to do three things - accelerate, decelerate, and change direction.  Adding horsepower improves one.  Making the car lighter improves all three.

1975 lb (898 kg) curb weight.

-Pat
A roof? Doors? What ridiculous luxuries.



I think if I were going to forgo the doors and roof, I'd go a bit more old-schoolish



Not in the same league performance-wise, but it looks like great fun.

-Pat
If it jams, force it.  If it breaks, you needed a new one anyway...
 

Offline mnementh

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Re: Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread
« Reply #35182 on: July 20, 2019, 12:12:07 am »
Been dere, dunnat too.  :-DD Built a FWD trike from a wrecked 1598cc CVCC Honda Civic and single-trailing arm rear wheel from the same car.

mnem
PLEASE... I'M BEGGING YOU... HAVE MERCY!!!
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Offline med6753

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Re: Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread
« Reply #35183 on: July 20, 2019, 12:15:58 am »

It's always been a source of wonder to  me, just how you Merkins manage to extract so little power and so few mpg from your great gas guzzlers.

Sent from my POT-LX1 using Tapatalk

No hard to figure out. Have you REALLY looked at the size of the land yachts that American car makers used to produce? Tons of wasted metal hanging on limp (soft) suspensions so your fat belly wouldn't giggle when you hit a bump. You needed a large displacement/high torque gas guzzler engine just to get the thing moving. And then the slippage of early automatic transmissions because fat belly was too lazy to shift it himself.

   
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Offline med6753

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Re: Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread
« Reply #35184 on: July 20, 2019, 12:21:07 am »
Been dere, dunnat too.  :-DD Built a FWD trike from a wrecked 1598cc CVCC Honda Civic and single-trailing arm rear wheel from the same car.

mnem
PLEASE... I'M BEGGING YOU... HAVE MERCY!!!

Oh brother.  ::) If you can't stand the heat....log off.  >:D :-DD :-DD
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Offline bitseekerTopic starter

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Re: Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread
« Reply #35185 on: July 20, 2019, 12:25:03 am »
Yeah, I don't display status permanently. Normally, the displays are off during logging, but I can hit a key to see status info.

Some instruments, like the HP DMMs, can turn their displays off. The funny thing is that the 34401A turns everything off whereas the 34410A keeps the "Remote" annunciator lit.
Doesn't it make more sense to display the data on the computer you're logging with? Or did you write a complete CLI with the DMMs being the display?  ;D

It's a CLI with more detailed output to stdout as well as CSV to a file. But, for glancing at the current status, the VFD is nicer than on-screen text.

More importantly, it was fun to do. ;D
« Last Edit: July 20, 2019, 12:27:19 am by bitseeker »
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Offline bitseekerTopic starter

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Re: Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread
« Reply #35186 on: July 20, 2019, 12:32:57 am »
In the meantime....how about some Tek 485 porn?

Added to POI. Seems we haven't had a 485 in there before. Not sure how that happened (or didn't).

More porn. Finally got the Fluke 7260A apart. I was on the right track before. I just needed to pry harder.  ;D

So, Pat's signature was right! :-DD

Added to POI.
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Offline med6753

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Re: Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread
« Reply #35187 on: July 20, 2019, 12:37:09 am »
In the meantime....how about some Tek 485 porn?

Added to POI. Seems we haven't had a 485 in there before. Not sure how that happened (or didn't).

More porn. Finally got the Fluke 7260A apart. I was on the right track before. I just needed to pry harder.  ;D

So, Pat's signature was right! :-DD

Added to POI.

Yep, it was.  :-DD
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Offline bitseekerTopic starter

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Re: Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread
« Reply #35188 on: July 20, 2019, 12:38:19 am »
More.  :-DD The Type 191 is all cleaned up and spray painted the cabinet. This project is done. The calibration is reasonably close so I'm going to leave it alone. Going to let it cook for a few hours to make sure all is OK.  :-+



Looks great, med! What are the pros/cons of this sig gen? I see them from time to time as parts units.
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Offline Cubdriver

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Re: Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread
« Reply #35189 on: July 20, 2019, 12:41:26 am »
More.  :-DD The Type 191 is all cleaned up and spray painted the cabinet. This project is done. The calibration is reasonably close so I'm going to leave it alone. Going to let it cook for a few hours to make sure all is OK.  :-+



Looks great, med! What are the pros/cons of this sig gen? I see them from time to time as parts units.

One is that it has toobz. A pro in winter, and a con in summer.

-Pat
If it jams, force it.  If it breaks, you needed a new one anyway...
 
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Offline bitseekerTopic starter

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Re: Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread
« Reply #35190 on: July 20, 2019, 12:46:16 am »
Got another 53310A today:



Sneak peek of the new workspace too.  :-+

Ah, so you got that one. I recognized those BNC covers. ;D
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Offline bitseekerTopic starter

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Re: Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread
« Reply #35191 on: July 20, 2019, 12:52:58 am »
No discussion of the SR-71 is complete without the ground speed check story from Los Angeles ARTCC ("Center"):

https://theaviationgeekclub.com/sr-71-blackbird-pilot-tells-story-behind-famed-ground-speed-check/

Quote
"I heard a Cessna ask for a readout of its ground speed.
’90 knots’ Center replied.

Moments later,a Twin Beech required the same.
‘120 knots,’ Center answered.

We weren’t the only ones proud of our ground speed that day…as almost instantly an F-18 smugly transmitted, ‘Ah, Center, Dusty 52 requests ground speed readout.’
There was a slight pause, then the response, ‘620 knots on the ground, Dusty.’

Another silent pause.

As I was thinking to myself how ripe a situation this was, I heard a familiar click of a radio transmission coming from my back-seater. It was at that precise moment I realized Walt and I had become a real crew, for we were both thinking in unison.
‘Center, Aspen 20, you got a ground speed readout for us?’
There was a longer than normal pause … ‘Aspen, I show 1,942 knots.’

No further inquiries were heard on that frequency."

Awesome! :-DD
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Offline 0culus

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Re: Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread
« Reply #35192 on: July 20, 2019, 01:15:59 am »
Got another 53310A today:



Sneak peek of the new workspace too.  :-+

Ah, so you got that one. I recognized those BNC covers. ;D

Guilty as charged!  :-DD

No discussion of the SR-71 is complete without the ground speed check story from Los Angeles ARTCC ("Center"):

https://theaviationgeekclub.com/sr-71-blackbird-pilot-tells-story-behind-famed-ground-speed-check/

Quote
"I heard a Cessna ask for a readout of its ground speed.
’90 knots’ Center replied.

Moments later,a Twin Beech required the same.
‘120 knots,’ Center answered.

We weren’t the only ones proud of our ground speed that day…as almost instantly an F-18 smugly transmitted, ‘Ah, Center, Dusty 52 requests ground speed readout.’
There was a slight pause, then the response, ‘620 knots on the ground, Dusty.’

Another silent pause.

As I was thinking to myself how ripe a situation this was, I heard a familiar click of a radio transmission coming from my back-seater. It was at that precise moment I realized Walt and I had become a real crew, for we were both thinking in unison.
‘Center, Aspen 20, you got a ground speed readout for us?’
There was a longer than normal pause … ‘Aspen, I show 1,942 knots.’

No further inquiries were heard on that frequency."

Awesome! :-DD

This story is basically a meme on reddit now. Anytime the SR-71 is mentioned in passing it gets copypasta'd. Still funny though.  :-+
 

Offline bitseekerTopic starter

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Re: Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread
« Reply #35193 on: July 20, 2019, 01:40:17 am »
GM does many things wrong. Except one. Corvette. The C-6 and C-7 were awesome. This C-8 is beyond awesome. European million dollar exotics, you are on notice. Starting price is only $60K USD and will leave your arse in the dust.  :-+

Me and the 'vette are the same age. 1953.   



I never thought I'd ever see a mid-engine Corvette.
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Offline med6753

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Re: Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread
« Reply #35194 on: July 20, 2019, 01:46:35 am »
More.  :-DD The Type 191 is all cleaned up and spray painted the cabinet. This project is done. The calibration is reasonably close so I'm going to leave it alone. Going to let it cook for a few hours to make sure all is OK.  :-+



Looks great, med! What are the pros/cons of this sig gen? I see them from time to time as parts units.

One is that it has toobz. A pro in winter, and a con in summer.

-Pat

Yes, it is tubes but there's only 2 of them. The case barely gets warm. To me it's big and it's heavy. But to you HP guys used to the monsters you have this one is a midget.  :-DD

It's Sine only. The Tek 106 is the square wave partner. The dial accuracy is just about dead nuts and I'm sure I could improve it if I spent hours twiddling the numerous internal adjustments...which I'm not. Internal construction is second to none. Pure craftsmanship....although chances are it was built by the Tek craftsWOmen. It goes all the way to 100MHz and I checked that it does indeed....with a clean sine wave.  :-+   
« Last Edit: July 20, 2019, 02:02:43 am by med6753 »
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Offline med6753

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Re: Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread
« Reply #35195 on: July 20, 2019, 01:49:26 am »
GM does many things wrong. Except one. Corvette. The C-6 and C-7 were awesome. This C-8 is beyond awesome. European million dollar exotics, you are on notice. Starting price is only $60K USD and will leave your arse in the dust.  :-+

Me and the 'vette are the same age. 1953.   



I never thought I'd ever see a mid-engine Corvette.

Me neither. And I don't know why mnem is so down on it. I think it's tits.  :-+
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Offline bitseekerTopic starter

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Re: Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread
« Reply #35196 on: July 20, 2019, 02:01:57 am »
As I watched the video, there's so much hype about everything being new and cutting edge and so improved, yada, yada, which may be true for Chevy, but not for the rest of the sports/exotic/super/hyper car industry. Granted, they are trying to be affordable, but you're also not going to get all of the greatest stuff they'll offer at the low starting price.

The one feature in the new Corvette that I haven't seen before and I wish I had on my mid-engine sports car is the automatic GPS-based nose lifter. That's pretty cool. :-+ But I'd be happy with even a manual lifter for some of the pesky driveways with ridiculous approach angles.
« Last Edit: July 21, 2019, 12:38:02 am by bitseeker »
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Offline mnementh

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Re: Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread
« Reply #35197 on: July 20, 2019, 05:42:18 am »

It's always been a source of wonder to  me, just how you Merkins manage to extract so little power and so few mpg from your great gas guzzlers.

Sent from my POT-LX1 using Tapatalk
No hard to figure out. Have you REALLY looked at the size of the land yachts that American car makers used to produce? Tons of wasted metal hanging on limp (soft) suspensions so your fat belly wouldn't giggle when you hit a bump. You needed a large displacement/high torque gas guzzler engine just to get the thing moving. And then the slippage of early automatic transmissions because fat belly was too lazy to shift it himself.

 :wtf: does any of this have to do with whether a Corvette is still a 'vette? Having driven all but the latest generation, and having owned an example of each of the generations that literally gave the vehicle its pedigree, I feel that the last 40 years have been spent getting further and further away from the original musclecar formula of light car/big motor/great honking gobs of torque, and trying to be a fucking EuroSedan on the inside & a sloppy third-hand copy of a Ferrari on the outside. Nothing in the new models has done anything to change that feeling, ESPECIALLY the styling, which is STILL like some disjointed fractal XEROX of a Testarossa.  :palm:

If I wanted either of those things THAT IS WHAT I'D BUY.

I get the difference; I've owned Porsches and Beemers & Mercs and even had a dalliance with a Diablo for a while. I ENJOY driving a 30 MPH curve at 50... or more... But I still love the feel of huge displacement under my right foot. It just feels RIGHT.

Yes, I know the history... Duntov designed the car as a european-style sports car, and the first models had a straight 6. But that is NOT the Corvette that stalks the American cultural subconscious like some hungry predator; and neither is this latest generation. The fact that people will STILL walk away from a Corvette to look at a Viper is proof of that, even though in many cases, the Corvette can in fact outperform that V-10 beast.

And you know what...? That is how it SHOULD be. The Viper is more 'vette than a Corvette is anymore, and it has been pretty much since its inception.

mnem
*toddling off to ded*
« Last Edit: July 20, 2019, 06:14:51 am by mnementh »
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Offline mnementh

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Re: Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread
« Reply #35198 on: July 20, 2019, 05:58:22 am »
Been dere, dunnat too.  :-DD Built a FWD trike from a wrecked 1598cc CVCC Honda Civic and single-trailing arm rear wheel from the same car.

mnem
PLEASE... I'M BEGGING YOU... HAVE MERCY!!!

Oh brother.  ::) If you can't stand the heat....log off.  >:D :-DD :-DD

Had NOTHING to do with that. I wasn't a fatass when I raced; I was a 250lbs bench/2000lbs leg press weightlifter. You can't hurt me any more than fate and my own hubris already have. ;)

I was talking about you mrrr-frrrs keeping on nerd-sniping me with motor vehicles so I couldn't pull myself away to do the work I needed to get done!    :palm:

Speaking of which... lots of ON-TOPIC on the bench today; hopefully pics tomorrow.  >:D

GOOD-NIGHT ALL YOU FREAKS!!!  :-DD

mnem
 :=\
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Offline Specmaster

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Re: Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread
« Reply #35199 on: July 20, 2019, 06:17:37 am »
You know what, I'd rather have a Jag XK8 and show you how a real car performs [emoji1787][emoji1787]

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