Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread

[Cerebus]

Looks like you found Cerebus some of his cherished C&A knickers...

Alice Liddell in C&A? I doubt it, always had her down as a Harrods girl, or Rigby and Peller.

[Addicted2AnalogTek]

Acetone, Xylene, Citrus Goo remover and IPA - FAILED  Not fussed particularly but a pain if I decide to sell it on.

I've never had much luck with removing industrial permanent marker on soft plastics, especially when they've been there for quite some time.  The closest I've gotten was by soaking it with the method of alternating between soaking it in mineral spirits and then scrubbing it with a hard toothbrush and baking soda. This worked quite well on my Fluke 87III's rubber cover and one of my compound miter saws that I found in an abandoned storage locker.

[Cerebus]

Acetone, Xylene, Citrus Goo remover and IPA - FAILED  Not fussed particularly but a pain if I decide to sell it on.

Get yourself a Dry White Wall Marker and try that. Works OK for me but depending on the surface, if it is a bit dimply then you may have a some faint residue left but it should knock it back a lot and will be less noticeable.

I've not tried the dry wipe marker trick myself but I've heard good reports from other people. I'd suggest it as a first resort, as using some solvents (e.g. Acetone, Limonene ('orange oil), MEK) might have the effect of carrying the dyes further into plastics by temporarily increasing their permeability. MEK is used in the offset printing industry as 'blanket restorer' precisely because of its ability to make rubber swell slightly as the MEK pushes its way between the rubber molecules (carrying with it anything is has managed to dissolve).

[Mr. Scram]

I've not tried the dry wipe marker trick myself but I've heard good reports from other people. I'd suggest it as a first resort, as using some solvents (e.g. Acetone, Limonene ('orange oil), MEK) might have the effect of carrying the dyes further into plastics by temporarily increasing their permeability. MEK is used in the offset printing industry as 'blanket restorer' precisely because of its ability to make rubber swell slightly as the MEK pushes its way between the rubber molecules (carrying with it anything is has managed to dissolve).

I wish people were more nuanced when advising dry wipe markers. You have to try a small area first and don't colour outside the stain as sometimes the dry marker will just add to the mark and make things worse.

[Cerebus]

That is probably sage advice.

[worsthorse]

Acetone, Xylene, Citrus Goo remover and IPA - FAILED  Not fussed particularly but a pain if I decide to sell it on.

Get yourself a Dry White Wall Marker and try that. Works OK for me but depending on the surface, if it is a bit dimply then you may have a some faint residue left but it should knock it back a lot and will be less noticeable.

I've not tried the dry wipe marker trick myself but I've heard good reports from other people. I'd suggest it as a first resort, as using some solvents (e.g. Acetone, Limonene ('orange oil), MEK) might have the effect of carrying the dyes further into plastics by temporarily increasing their permeability. MEK is used in the offset printing industry as 'blanket restorer' precisely because of its ability to make rubber swell slightly as the MEK pushes its way between the rubber molecules (carrying with it anything is has managed to dissolve).

Here in the great northwest, writing your name on your stuff in five or six places with a big fat permanent marker is apparently a thing, so I have had plenty of samples on which to run experiments.  Some rules I have, based on those experiments...

Soft plastic surfaces rarely come clean, don't bother. Don't use the dry marker approach on porous surfaces, you will just make it worse. Don't color outside the lines with a dry marker, you will just make it worse. IPA seems to be the least damaging on the solvents list, at least for the paints and plastics used on equipment cases. Be very careful with MEK, acetone and similar products as the potential for damaging the substrate is high. Orange oil products seem to be better at removing stickers than ink.  Multiple rounds of gentle application work better than one bout of vigorous rubbing. 

[BU508A]

Yeah wondering if stuff is starting to get in short supply. It might also be I’m less inclined to hawk overpriced variable capacitors on eBay these days because I can’t be arsed. Home now. Some highlights:

1. Aforementioned shit covered tek 2235 with blown up power supply £15
2. Fluke 1900A untested £40
3. Farnell L30 hooky power supply with cracked meters £35
4. Various boxes of shite £way too much.
5. Old CBs all clearly fucked £way too much.
6. Some old Codar crap £150 lol no.
7. Lots of Yaesu FT450’s for north of £300
8. Hameg 20Mhz scope which looked like it lived in a paint shop £25
9. Lots of cranky old dangerous looking ex equipment linear supplies £20 ish a go
10. Wet coax lengths
11. Someone hawking PL259’s from China for £2.50 a go.
12. Nice selection of RCA AR88’s (interesting but I’m not buying one)
13. Someone trying a marketing drive for a ham radio podcast.
14. Lots of people who really need to cut down on the red meats and cream
15. Some dude on a biddy buggy mowing down people with walking sticks.
16. Jesus’ very own HT. Was made of wood.
17. A Citroen C4 cactus ironically with lots of 2m / 70cm spikes on it.
18. Lots of Sunday driving and shitty parking.

Added to skip list next year.

As for the hobos, they were trying to talk a gassy tube down to 5 pence.

Come next year to the HAM Radio in Friedrichshafen. :-) I'll be there.

https://www.hamradio-friedrichshafen.com/

[bd139]

I am tempted. But looking at the prices in (i think it was) your photos last year it'd be an expensive trip 

[BU508A]

The Västerbotten, OTOH, is clearly up there with the best of traditional craft cheese. Simply awesome.

Cheese in Norway is really strong. Can burn down a tunnel. Literally.
https://www.nytimes.com/2013/01/23/world/europe/norway-cheese-fire-shuts-tunnel.html

 

[madao]

You tell "hamradio" by "Bodensee".

I love it !
This year, i have picked  HP 6653A  for 40€ . After replaced of fuse runs it again :lol:
Last years: I buy a  unchecked Tektronix 222 for 25€  with orginal bag.  It runs fine, only  plumbum-accu is dead.

Important: I meet here few  TE-friends.
But i run  always with "Finger Welt" -Tshirt.  It is more visible than   T-Shirt  with call sign 

[BU508A]

I am tempted. But looking at the prices in (i think it was) your photos last year it'd be an expensive trip 

I'll add one of my self-baked very special apple pie, baked extra for you. 

[madao]

Acetone, Xylene, Citrus Goo remover and IPA - FAILED  Not fussed particularly but a pain if I decide to sell it on.

You can  paint  full him with marker 

[mnementh]

Why oh why do people write their name on their test gear in permanent marker? Why?   

To remove the permanent marker on your equipment, get a Dry White wall Marker and scribble over the permanent marker and you will see it begin to lift off. Wipe it off with a suitable dry cloth and repeat if necessary, this method works for me nicely. 

Dried Sharpie is 100% IPA soluble. However, some materials people write on have a chemical reaction with the carrier which makes the dye more or less permanent.

A lot of people don't know this; one assembly line gig I worked doing QC & rework, the soda machine was just plain horrible. It stole your money about every 3rd time; and of course it was the only source of non-water refreshment anywhere near the work floor. I noticed immediately (being still pretty much a Mountain Dew powered teenage punk even in my twenties at the time) and politely requested through the usual chain of command that they call their vendor & have it serviced. One day about 3 weeks later, when it stole my last pocketful of change, I got fed up and wrote across the textured metal above the coin slot with Sharpie "This machine steals your money. Please fix it."

Good lord, you'd have thought I kicked the owner in the balls... an hour later, they called me into the big boss's office, having a shit-fit about the "permanent marker" on the machine. The floor foreman said he tried everything to get it off; Zep, Windex, even Brillo pad.

"Good. Your vendor will know how to clean it. Hopefully nobody on the factory floor will be ripped off in the meantime. I've asked nicely 6 times that you call them out."

"We don't have a vendor; we own the machine and stock it."

"So... you've known about this machine stealing from your employees for how long? It was effed-up when I got here almost a month ago." *Long uncomfortable silence*

"I don't care about that; I care about the vandalism on my soda machine."

"You don't care...? Then you are a thief. I'll fix the vending machine; follow me."

I open the First-Aid cabinet right in the same room, take out one alcohol prep-pad, and wipe the offending warning from the front of the machine. I turn to the shop foreman: "You're an idiot." Then to both of them: "I don't work for idiots and thieves. Fuck both of you, and I will describe in great detail these events as well as the obscene hours with no breaks you expect of your workers in my closing paperwork with Hawkins Personnel. I doubt they will continue funneling hapless workers into your meat grinder for very much longer."

10 minutes later I was rolling my toolcart down the hall with the floor foreman as an escort. I'd like to be able to say assembly line 2 went down just then (as it did approximately every 36 hours due to the boss's refusal to replace the ASIC panel with something that could handle the abuse); but alas it waited until I was well off the property. I just let the phone ring and continued to fill out my paperwork.

   Acetone, Xylene, Citrus Goo remover and IPA - FAILED  Not fussed particularly but a pain if I decide to sell it on.

Case in point... (pun intended)  Actually, I think the material FLUKE used for their yellow holsters was deliberately chosen for this property as a selling point to institutional clients. The holster on my Ragu 17B (presumably manufactured in material chosen for cost above all other considerations) appears completely impervious to permanent marker.

mnem

[BU508A]

You tell "hamradio" by "Bodensee".

I love it !
This year, i have picked  HP 6653A  for 40€ . After replaced of fuse runs it again :lol:
Last years: I buy a  unchecked Tektronix 222 for 25€  with orginal bag.  It runs fine, only  plumbum-accu is dead.

Important: I meet here few  TE-friends.
But i run  always with "Finger Welt" -Tshirt.  It is more visible than   T-Shirt  with call sign 

Oh!
You're a member of this "Fingers Welt" community? Oh dear, run! Run for your lifes!   

I'll look out for that T-Shirt! Be assured! 

[Cerebus]

Given that I can make the obvious translation "Fingers World", and further given I have the kind of filthy depraved imagination can come up with all sorts of things that could stand for, I fear to ask; but: "Fingers Welt"?

[mnementh]

https://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=de&u=https://www.fingers-welt.de/&prev=search

Acetone, Xylene, Citrus Goo remover and IPA - FAILED  Not fussed particularly but a pain if I decide to sell it on.

Get yourself a Dry White Wall Marker and try that. Works OK for me but depending on the surface, if it is a bit dimply then you may have a some faint residue left but it should knock it back a lot and will be less noticeable.

I've not tried the dry wipe marker trick myself but I've heard good reports from other people. I'd suggest it as a first resort, as using some solvents (e.g. Acetone, Limonene ('orange oil), MEK) might have the effect of carrying the dyes further into plastics by temporarily increasing their permeability. MEK is used in the offset printing industry as 'blanket restorer' precisely because of its ability to make rubber swell slightly as the MEK pushes its way between the rubber molecules (carrying with it anything is has managed to dissolve).

Here in the great northwest, writing your name on your stuff in five or six places with a big fat permanent marker is apparently a thing, so I have had plenty of samples on which to run experiments.  Some rules I have, based on those experiments...

Soft plastic surfaces rarely come clean, don't bother. Don't use the dry marker approach on porous surfaces, you will just make it worse. Don't color outside the lines with a dry marker, you will just make it worse. IPA seems to be the least damaging on the solvents list, at least for the paints and plastics used on equipment cases. Be very careful with MEK, acetone and similar products as the potential for damaging the substrate is high. Orange oil products seem to be better at removing stickers than ink.  Multiple rounds of gentle application work better than one bout of vigorous rubbing.

All of the above.

Alcohol soak in a closed Tupperware will make the skin off a Fluke 117 bloat up like a toad, but it did make the Sharpie almost disappear. It returned to normal dimensions after drying in the sun on the dash of my parked car for a few days.

mnem
*bloaty*

[Cerebus]

Oh, that's dull.  I think I preferred where my imagination was going... 

[BU508A]

Given that I can make the obvious translation "Fingers World", and further given I have the kind of filthy depraved imagination can come up with all sorts of things that could stand for, I fear to ask; but: "Fingers Welt"?

It is this:
https://www.fingers-welt.de/

It's a website / forum about all sorts of tinkering. Some are nice, some are funny, some are dangerous and some are crazy insane. All imho.
It is fun to read and those members meet once per year somewhere in the northern part of Germany.
I think, Finger itself is a member of the eevblog forum.

This is their last meeting (2019):
https://www.fingers-welt.de/gallerie/eigen/sozial/treffen2019/treffen2019.htm

[Specmaster]

I've not tried the dry wipe marker trick myself but I've heard good reports from other people. I'd suggest it as a first resort, as using some solvents (e.g. Acetone, Limonene ('orange oil), MEK) might have the effect of carrying the dyes further into plastics by temporarily increasing their permeability. MEK is used in the offset printing industry as 'blanket restorer' precisely because of its ability to make rubber swell slightly as the MEK pushes its way between the rubber molecules (carrying with it anything is has managed to dissolve).

I wish people were more nuanced when advising dry wipe markers. You have to try a small area first and don't colour outside the stain as sometimes the dry marker will just add to the mark and make things worse.

Well, I've used that method now on many oscilloscopes and my Fluke 8842A and 8840A as well as my HP3466A and HP3468A and my Solartron 7150  Plus meters, and the HP's and Solartrons have plastic cases.

[bd139]

I told someone once that rubbing garlic on their laptop worked for that. And he did it 

[Alfons]

Old Texas Instruments Pulse Generator. Works perfectly. Unfortunately, I have no pictures of the internal structure. Beautifully built.

[tggzzz]

I told someone once that rubbing garlic on their laptop worked for that. And he did it 

Next time suggest ... durian 

[xrunner]

Old Texas Instruments Pulse Generator. Works perfectly. Unfortunately, I have no pictures of the internal structure. Beautifully built.

"Item Invisibly Marked"

Interesting. They mean except for that sticker of course. 

[Alfons]

Old Texas Instruments Pulse Generator. Works perfectly. Unfortunately, I have no pictures of the internal structure. Beautifully built.

"Item Invisibly Marked"

Interesting. They mean except for that sticker of course. 

No idea what they meant by that. Invisible ink somewhere? Any magic? It's old, the device and you never know ...

[bd139]

I told someone once that rubbing garlic on their laptop worked for that. And he did it 

Next time suggest ... durian 

Ugh no. Someone bought me one of those awful things a while back as a joke. Local Chinese supermarket sells them now. God that smelled worse than the previous worst smell experience of freshly dredged drowned cow carcass. Straight in the bin!