Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread

[Mr. Scram]

Taking stock of my newest acquisition, I couldn't resist ...

A picture for all you Tant lovers out there - fifteen hundred shorts waiting to happen!



To be fair, if they're not abused they are probably rather good.

And for those thinking that those drawers contained nothing but crap, one held these gems inside:



I even have an idea where to store the remaining 6 cabinets.

Buddy! Pal! You wouldn't forget your old friends in the TEA thread, now would you?

[Ero-Shan]

Taking stock of my newest acquisition, I couldn't resist ...

A picture for all you Tant lovers out there - fifteen hundred shorts waiting to happen!



To be fair, if they're not abused they are probably rather good.

And for those thinking that those drawers contained nothing but crap, one held these gems inside:



I even have an idea where to store the remaining 6 cabinets.

Buddy! Pal! You wouldn't forget your old friends in the TEA thread, now would you?

So you need some NOS Tants?

Nice try.

[Specmaster]

Today I did the hot air gun repair to the 4503 meter and I'm very pleased to report that it worked a treat, suspect joints that under a microscope appeared to be flawed on the component side of the board (2 layer board) where perfect on the solder side and after treating the top of those joints with rosin and gently warming with the hot air gun, the joints flowed nicely. However, there were 2 slight casualties, 2 polyester caps 22nF each used as HF filters had their outer cases slightly blistered, but still work OK. I'll get these replaced soon with new ones arrive.

The residual 9Meg that resistance ranges were seeing has now completely been cured and the meter calibrated and is in complete agreement my other meters, "winner winner chicken dinner" as Dave would say. The photos below show it in resistance range with open leads and also measuring 4 x 10M resistors soldered together quickly to test the meters capability.

You can use Kapton tape to shield surrounding components.

Yes I could, I have some but the caps were some of the suspected bad joints that I needed to reflow from the top side and no way of getting on iron tip in there without actually touching them and other items.

Alternately, you can use the silicone rubber mat they give you for changing the tips on your MetCal as a heat shield; I've done it many times. 

Yeah, you've learned here the hard lesson of hot-air rework: Attack one problem at a time. Trying to get two birds with one stone often leads to eating burned feathers instead. 

mnem
I can mix metaphors with the best worst of 'em...

Silicon mat??  The caps was one of the joints that I needed to fix.

[mnementh]

   You didn't get one of these with your MetCal...?

Yes, I know you said you needed to get after the soldering on those caps; hence the second part of my post:

Yeah, you've learned here the hard lesson of hot-air rework: Attack one problem at a time. Trying to get two birds with one stone often leads to eating burned feathers instead. 

mnem
 

[Specmaster]

   You didn't get one of these with your MetCal...?

Yes, I know you said you needed to get after the soldering on those caps; hence the second part of my post:

Yeah, you've learned here the hard lesson of hot-air rework: Attack one problem at a time. Trying to get two birds with one stone often leads to eating burned feathers instead. 

mnem
 

I was right the first time, you are feverish, I don't have a Metcal, I'm the T12 guy remember, it was you who converted me 

[Mr. Scram]

So you need some NOS Tants?

Nice try.

I just realized my latest addition to the lab is full of glorious discrete construction, but also contains a healthy serving of decoupling tants. So, maybe? I'm actually not sure whether tants primarily fail due to aging or wear.

[mnementh]

   You didn't get one of these with your MetCal...?

Yes, I know you said you needed to get after the soldering on those caps; hence the second part of my post:

Yeah, you've learned here the hard lesson of hot-air rework: Attack one problem at a time. Trying to get two birds with one stone often leads to eating burned feathers instead. 

mnem
 

I was right the first time, you are feverish, I don't have a Metcal, I'm the T12 guy remember, it was you who converted me 

Oh poop... 

Yeah, that mat would come with a Hakko T12-compatible station, but with the T12 clones you'd have to seek it out as a add-on. I suggest you do so; they're invaluable for lots of stuff other than changing hot tips, especially for "just a quick joint right here" where you'd almost be tempted to do it right on the bench.

mnem
[EDIT] I just realized how nasty that sounds. I'm NOT gonna change a word. 

[AVGresponding]

I just spotted what for all the world looks like a 87V while closing the hatch on the Dragon capsule. Looks like they they were using it in the ohms range or continuity mode. Maybe some kind of check to ensure the door's sealed and seated properly? Quite curious.

https://www.nasa.gov/nasalive

Obviously, they were making sure it was still connected to earth.

ba-dum-tsss

[bd139]

59 quid. Soooo tempting https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/373069331029

[mnementh]

Crew Dragon launch was successful; now just ~19 hours til they dock at the ISS. 

mnem
In case you were wondering what happened the last time...   

[med6753]

59 quid. Soooo tempting https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/373069331029

  How many times have you said "No more Tek's" ? 

And now you want three? 

[PA0PBZ]

59 quid. Soooo tempting https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/373069331029

454's, so probably burnt HV transformers 

[Specmaster]

   You didn't get one of these with your MetCal...?

Yes, I know you said you needed to get after the soldering on those caps; hence the second part of my post:

Yeah, you've learned here the hard lesson of hot-air rework: Attack one problem at a time. Trying to get two birds with one stone often leads to eating burned feathers instead. 

mnem
 

I was right the first time, you are feverish, I don't have a Metcal, I'm the T12 guy remember, it was you who converted me

59 quid. Soooo tempting https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/373069331029

  How many times have you said "No more Tek's" ? 

And now you want three? 

Shows that you can take the boy away from Teks, but you can't take the Teks away from the boy 

[bd139]

59 quid. Soooo tempting https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/373069331029

  How many times have you said "No more Tek's" ? 

And now you want three? 

No more 465’s and 475’s is current status. 

[bd139]

Crew Dragon launch was successful; now just ~19 hours til they dock at the ISS. 

mnem
In case you were wondering what happened the last time...   

That was a good one wasn’t it. Totally uneventful. I bet Russia are looking pissed now 

Also you should be in /r/dragonsfuckingrockets 

[robca]

Hence windows 10 is the new roll up. Path of least resistance. QED. Yadda yadda etc 

Not necessarily https://forums.mydigitallife.net/threads/bypass-windows-7-extended-security-updates-eligibility.80606/

For at least 2 years Windows 7 should still be pretty usable (I have one machine on W7 because I need older drivers, one on W10, both fully updated to May security update)

Granted, upgrading to W10 is probably "least resistance", but I dislike the nanny approach of W10 (on the other hand, if you know what you are doing, W10 can be tamed quite a bit).

And for now Windows 7 is still an option

[bitseeker]

A good friend of mine died this week at the consequences of a cerebral haemorrhage.
He was an EEVBlog forum member here as well and was around 40 years old.

Oh, no! Sorry to hear that, BU. Wow, only 40.

[med6753]

59 quid. Soooo tempting https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/373069331029

  How many times have you said "No more Tek's" ? 

And now you want three? 

No more 465’s and 475’s is current status. 

What a crock! 

[BU508A]

Thank you all for your kind words. Much appreciated.

I'll not make it to the discord session. Next week, then.

[Mr. Scram]

Trump was allowed to say a few words after the SpaceX launch and he goes off on a tangent about the Minnesota unrest and social issues for the better part of 15 minutes. I know he was criticized for not saying anything about it yesterday but this hardly seems an appropriate repair attempt. Talk about being a buzzkill.

[drussell]

Modifications in version 12.0

- Support removed for Windows 7 and Server 2008(R2) since Microsoft discontinued support for it on January 14th, 2020
- Support removed for Microsoft Security Essentials, Windows 7 Defender, Service Packs, Remote Desktop Client and Silverlight (download switches /includemsse and /excludesp, update switches /instmsse, /instmssl and /updatetsc)
- Support removed for Windows 10 version 1703 since Microsoft discontinued support for it on October 8th, 2019

You just need to use an older version.  You can still update XP with WSUS offline if you have the files with you.

If I'm going to be doing service, I generally carry a USB stick with pretty much all the updates for everything on it, especially when working on re-doing some old industrial machine or POS system or something.

[mnementh]

Jeebus... the Sociopath-in-Chief has hijacked the NASA feed; bloviating about everything BUT this historic space flight for the last 20 minutes... and he's STILL at it.

mnem
 

[Mr. Scram]

Jeebus... the Sociopath-in-Chief has hijacked the NASA feed; bloviating about everything BUT this historic space flight for the last 20 minutes... and he's STILL at it.

mnem
 

I don't like the endless and mindless ragging on Trump but this is unusually painful to watch. The President of the US comes to address an elated crowd who've just seen their years of hard work crowned and instead of whipping people into a star spangled frenzy the atmosphere has gone eerily flat. This isn't just bad speech writing or room reading, this is a drunk best man Bobby giving an inappropriate speech at the wedding level of uncomfortable.

[Neomys Sapiens]

Incoming, hopefully arriving soon is another AVO model 8, Mk5, complete with all leads, manual and also a clamp on amp probe, a bit grubby but it will clean up nicely. Seller is a retired electrical engineer having a clear out to save his son from having it to do when the time comes, in other words a pre SK sale. This will bring my tally of Avo model 8's upto 3. It wont get used all that much, but at the price it would be rude not to and I'm sure that one day these fine lovable meters will escalate in value.

The attached photo is not actual meter, but it is however the same.

I'm still looking for the right one - which I saw offered once but misssed the auction. It is an ex-military Mk8, not the common model. (have ID now, it is a Test Set No. 1 based on the Model8 MkV.)
Had it marked, but got lost over something else. It was in very good condition.

[Neomys Sapiens]

Incoming, hopefully arriving soon is another AVO model 8, Mk5, complete with all leads, manual and also a clamp on amp probe, a bit grubby but it will clean up nicely. Seller is a retired electrical engineer having a clear out to save his son from having it to do when the time comes, in other words a pre SK sale. This will bring my tally of Avo model 8's upto 3. It wont get used all that much, but at the price it would be rude not to and I'm sure that one day these fine lovable meters will escalate in value.

The attached photo is not actual meter, but it is however the same.

Yeah, one has to have an Avo.

I'm going for sortakinda per-country coverage, at least when it comes to electromechanical meters. One German, (H&B Elavi 3) one UK, Avo 8 MOD style (AVO Test Set Multirange No. 1 (High Sensitivity) ), and looking for a Simpson 260 and some Metrix to get USA and  France into it too. I know where a unloved 260 just stands waiting; next to an Oltronix, a 465 and an Avo 7, so am biding my time.

Are those only your purely electromechanical ones? So, no Unigor 6 or Siemens Multizet A1000 or Philips 2502, or did you not count those here?
And you are leaving out Italy - you must aquire an ICE or Carlo Gavazzi meter then.