Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread

[AVGresponding]

Do your stacks of test equipment slide about alarmingly on your bench when you plug in a cable or vigorously press a button? Try using some strategically placed Dycem non-slip material under the feet. They sell it in the form of moulded pads or flexible grip mats. The grip mats are thinner and easily be cut up using scissors, to suit the size you need. Works a treat! (Available via Amazon)

I don't like to stack my babies. They get their own shelves.

I just don't have the space to give everything its own shelf. I don't think a certain amount of stackage hurts, provided you're sensible and put the largest heaviest stuff at the bottom...  (yes that is a shelf between the 7075 and the EX354D, it's necessary to make a level surface of sufficient area and load capacity. The EX354D weighs less than a gnat's fart)

first offer for all local TEA folks:

I have a Shadow pinball (Bally), WPC S, that I would part with. The pinball is working fine, no errors, mini playfield working well. Hard to get spare parts included. This is one of the fastest playing pinballs that Bally ever created (along with Johnny Mnemonic) ... Playfield ok so far, some rework done on top of the Sanctum area. Spare playfield available if you want to restore a playfield yourself.
Local pickup only (near Mainz), 2nd level in a multi tenant building. Weight: about 168 kgs, backbox (ca 40 kgs) can be removed, playfield can be removed so that 2 persons can bring it down the stairs without too much pain. Help to reattach backbox and reseat playfield can be provided.

PM for details.

https://www.ipdb.org/machine.cgi?id=2528

Holy crap, was it made by HP..?   

[Specmaster]

Friday night about 21:45 our doorbell rang and when we opened the door, there was a parcel left on the doorstep and a Royal Mail van driving away  are they doing, delivering at that time of night when many elderly folk may well already be in bed asleep? There is a real risk in any parcels thus delivered to such people, not being there in the morning or if it is, being ravished by the weather if it rains overnight and there is porch to protect the parcel. What if the parcel contains TEA, as it was it didn't it was a porcelain figurine that SWMBO ordered, valued at over £160 

Has anybody else experienced similar? It's my guess that they are attempting to get rid of some backlog of parcels prior to normal working as of Monday?

[bd139]

Yeah RM are shit.  The situation again, which is why I prefer Amazon these days is:

RM -> drop at doorstep, does a runner, gets nicked by porch pirates, cause argument between seller and yourself over what "signed for means" after it gets nicked and who is responsible (seller says signed for and not me. You say I didn't sign for it). Either that or red slip, chase the fucker up the street and find he didn't even have the package with him.

Amazon -> drop at doorstep, does a runner, gets nicked by porch pirates, amazon refunds / redelivers no questions asked.

A couple of years ago we had a postman who was clearly a fucking idiot because he delivered stuff regularly to the correct house number but on the wrong street. The other address was pretty dishonest and just pocketed the stuff and denied it.

[tggzzz]

Weight: about 168 kgs,
https://www.ipdb.org/machine.cgi?id=2528

Holy crap, was it made by HP..?   

My guess would be that it is designed to withstand kicking, unauthorised movement across a floor by students/etc, and simply being easily nicked by one person.

[BU508A]

A good friend of mine died this week at the consequences of a cerebral haemorrhage.

My mom died suddenly and unexpectedly a few weeks ago (not Covid related) so I feel your pain.

This just after a good friend dying and my aunt having a stroke, all totally unexpected.  Oh, my....

Everything is a complete disaster here right now.  Keep strong, guys!!   

Thank you for your kind words and my condolences for your lost, drussel. I'm feeling with you, too.

2020 is complete shit show up to now and we even didn't have reached half year.     

[Saskia]

Weight: about 168 kgs,
https://www.ipdb.org/machine.cgi?id=2528

Holy crap, was it made by HP..?   

My guess would be that it is designed to withstand kicking, unauthorised movement across a floor by students/etc, and simply being easily nicked by one person.

Absolutely.

These suckers are heavy. The new Jersey Jack pinballs reach > 200 kg easily.
Which is why I am looking for a flat that has forklift access.

[BU508A]

I've bought a few minutes ago some TE which is not so heavy as the pinball machines from Saskia:
A Grundig universal counter with Nixie-tubes, the Grundig UZ 56. ETA: end of next week.
Cost including shipping: EUR 50.-

Here's a picture of it:

[xrunner]

More Kikusui scope progress. One graticule lamp was out (12V) so replaced both. Top cabinet had a dent so beat that out in the garage. All knobs going into the ultrasonic cleaner.

Still working on cleaning the connectors to fix intermittent noisy issues.

[Cubdriver]

Do your stacks of test equipment slide about alarmingly on your bench when you plug in a cable or vigorously press a button? Try using some strategically placed Dycem non-slip material under the feet. They sell it in the form of moulded pads or flexible grip mats. The grip mats are thinner and easily be cut up using scissors, to suit the size you need. Works a treat! (Available via Amazon)

I don't like to stack my babies. They get their own shelves.

I worry more about mine sinking into and leaving dents in the benchtop...

-Pat

[Cubdriver]

More Kikusui scope progress. One graticule lamp was out (12V) so replaced both. Top cabinet had a dent so beat that out in the garage. All knobs going into the ultrasonic cleaner.

Still working on cleaning the connectors to fix intermittent noisy issues.

Nice hammer  and dolly work on that enclosure lid - that came out nicely!

-Pat

[med6753]

Do your stacks of test equipment slide about alarmingly on your bench when you plug in a cable or vigorously press a button? Try using some strategically placed Dycem non-slip material under the feet. They sell it in the form of moulded pads or flexible grip mats. The grip mats are thinner and easily be cut up using scissors, to suit the size you need. Works a treat! (Available via Amazon)

I don't like to stack my babies. They get their own shelves.

I worry more about mine sinking into and leaving dents in the benchtop...

-Pat

Back when I was doing all this jackassing with the 535A it dented and scratched bench 2.   

[mnementh]

Just don't overheat your MetCal on those chunky solder points!

mnem
 

LMAO, new caps ordered, just to maintain the cosmetic appearance on the internals 

Ya know... between you and me and the lamp-post... rather than change a known-good cap in the signal path with known-correct parameters, I'd tend to lean in towards the "I SEE NUSSINK!" solution... or if it MUST be prettified, to commit a little heat-shrink abuse and be done with it. 

Even if you can buy known-correct replacements by the part number, there's no saying that the ESR/Delta Tan won't be different due to changes in manufacturing process over the years.

Knowing that... I dunno. Seems like ASKING Murphy to bop you onna haid... 

mnem
"Discretion is the better part of Valory. And the rest of 'er aint too bad, neither..."

[mnementh]

A good friend of mine died this week at the consequences of a cerebral haemorrhage.

My mom died suddenly and unexpectedly a few weeks ago (not Covid related) so I feel your pain.

This just after a good friend dying and my aunt having a stroke, all totally unexpected.  Oh, my....

Everything is a complete disaster here right now.  Keep strong, guys!!   

Strength to you as well, brother. Hopefully the old saw about "coming in threes" is so for you, and the hand of Fate refrains for a good long while.

mnem
*namaste'* Peace be with you, my friend.

[AVGresponding]

Yeah RM are shit.  The situation again, which is why I prefer Amazon these days is:

RM -> drop at doorstep, does a runner, gets nicked by porch pirates, cause argument between seller and yourself over what "signed for means" after it gets nicked and who is responsible (seller says signed for and not me. You say I didn't sign for it). Either that or red slip, chase the fucker up the street and find he didn't even have the package with him.

Amazon -> drop at doorstep, does a runner, gets nicked by porch pirates, amazon refunds / redelivers no questions asked.

A couple of years ago we had a postman who was clearly a fucking idiot because he delivered stuff regularly to the correct house number but on the wrong street. The other address was pretty dishonest and just pocketed the stuff and denied it.

Seems Hermes driver that does round here had the same idea yesterday. Just checked my doorstep and there was my TG2001 baking in the sun...
Thought I heard someone at the door but didn't see anyone, forgot to check the step...   

Oh well, at least the box was well irradiated with UVC   

May be some issues with it, above 2MHz the square and triangle are horrible, but could just be my lack of suitable leads.
The power supply seems to run rather warm, hope it's not about to let the smoke out.

Biggest problem is where to put it; it's a stupid size, approximately 2U high by 3/4U wide   

[mnementh]

https://youtu.be/P8BEDv_p8TQ

I like this one; it's "Classic Linus" style. 

Note that Linus is using the same case I chose for my Ryzen 7 Build; mostly for the PSU Channel/cavity design with glass side and dual 120/140mm top rad and dual/triple 120/240mm front rad for $37 on the ShellShocker. This configuration, IMO, is a MINIMUM requirement for any modern build.  The fact mine came with RGB lighting was a "Meh..." point for me; it meant I could color-coordinate with my LED thermometer, but once the LED color was set to blue, I disabled the color management and forgot about it.

Good building!

Thanks for that video link.  That gives me a good baseline to compare against.  Definitely my budget is aligned with what is in Linus' video.  I get the impression from the video that he is Canadian from a couple of his comments, but I am not sure that $800 price is Canadian.  With a few changes (double the memory, different case, different SSD), I was almost $1300 looking at CanadaComputers.com, NewEgg.ca and Amazon.ca.  Have I missed a source, did prices jump that much in 2 months, or is his baseline $USD?

I have picked up a few details on modern hardware.  However, I expect I have not got all the knowledge needed, so I will likely check back later.  I will also keep an eye out for deals as I do have a bit of time.

Thanks mnem!

You're welcome!

There's a wealth of information in Linus' videos... particularly the rando informal ones like this where it's just him, a pile of PC bits and the camera. Linus lets his hair down and blathers, but it's all useful blather about the state of the industry at the time from someone who mostly knows his arse from his elbow.

These are all VERY good questions... to which I have NO answer. The PC parts market is very volatile right now due to logistical constipation, so it is very possible prices have changed that much in just the couple months since that vid aired.

There are several parts search sites out there; Google is a good start, but I generally prefer PC Parts Picker for their overall accuracy in reporting trends and pricing history: https://pcpartpicker.com/trends/

Remember too that Linus has his pick of the litter when putting together such a build; he gets parts when they're on promotion over the course of months, then it's a little simple spreadsheet time over a cuppa coffee to pull together a build at pretty much ANY price range.

mnem

[bd139]

Regular user of PC Parts Picker here. Excellent tool.

[mnementh]

first offer for all local TEA folks:

I have a Shadow pinball (Bally), WPC S, that I would part with. The pinball is working fine, no errors, mini playfield working well. Hard to get spare parts included. This is one of the fastest playing pinballs that Bally ever created (along with Johnny Mnemonic) ... Playfield ok so far, some rework done on top of the Sanctum area. Spare playfield available if you want to restore a playfield yourself.
Local pickup only (near Mainz), 2nd level in a multi tenant building. Weight: about 168 kgs, backbox (ca 40 kgs) can be removed, playfield can be removed so that 2 persons can bring it down the stairs without too much pain. Help to reattach backbox and reseat playfield can be provided.

PM for details.

https://www.ipdb.org/machine.cgi?id=2528

Mmmhmmm.... that's tasty. Fortunately for me and my bankbook, there's no way in Hell I could get it here without mortgaging the children. Tho if it were a Black Knight or a Mata Hari... *shuddder*

mnem
"Who knows what evil lurks in the hearts of men...?"
"Their wives."

[mnementh]

More Kikusui scope progress. One graticule lamp was out (12V) so replaced both. Top cabinet had a dent so beat that out in the garage. All knobs going into the ultrasonic cleaner.

Still working on cleaning the connectors to fix intermittent noisy issues.

Nice hammer  and dolly work on that enclosure lid - that came out nicely!

-Pat

Ditto! That turned out silky smooth... in a way it's a shame; really, since you won't get to enjoy the fruits of that labor yourself. Whenever I try to do that kind of work, it's only that kind of successful when it's for someone else who really doesn't grok how hard it is to fix a panel the right way. 

Whenever I'm doing it for myself, I almost always do make it better, but never nearly perfect like that.

mnem
 

[Saskia]

if anyone is in dire need of PC stuff, drop me a line. I have a couple of spare 2070s 5700 XTs, assorted mainboards, RAM, and full blown PCs ...

[0culus]

Do your stacks of test equipment slide about alarmingly on your bench when you plug in a cable or vigorously press a button? Try using some strategically placed Dycem non-slip material under the feet. They sell it in the form of moulded pads or flexible grip mats. The grip mats are thinner and easily be cut up using scissors, to suit the size you need. Works a treat! (Available via Amazon)

I don't like to stack my babies. They get their own shelves.

I worry more about mine sinking into and leaving dents in the benchtop...

-Pat

I solve this problem with weight. A strong bench. Then 8672A with the 8566B on top does NOT move! 

[Specmaster]

Do your stacks of test equipment slide about alarmingly on your bench when you plug in a cable or vigorously press a button? Try using some strategically placed Dycem non-slip material under the feet. They sell it in the form of moulded pads or flexible grip mats. The grip mats are thinner and easily be cut up using scissors, to suit the size you need. Works a treat! (Available via Amazon)

I don't like to stack my babies. They get their own shelves.

I worry more about mine sinking into and leaving dents in the benchtop...

-Pat

Back when I was doing all this jackassing with the 535A it dented and scratched bench 2.   

If you all keep getting these boat anchors, I'm not at all surprised, they come with the territory 

[Specmaster]

Yeah RM are shit.  The situation again, which is why I prefer Amazon these days is:

RM -> drop at doorstep, does a runner, gets nicked by porch pirates, cause argument between seller and yourself over what "signed for means" after it gets nicked and who is responsible (seller says signed for and not me. You say I didn't sign for it). Either that or red slip, chase the fucker up the street and find he didn't even have the package with him.

Amazon -> drop at doorstep, does a runner, gets nicked by porch pirates, amazon refunds / redelivers no questions asked.

A couple of years ago we had a postman who was clearly a fucking idiot because he delivered stuff regularly to the correct house number but on the wrong street. The other address was pretty dishonest and just pocketed the stuff and denied it.

Seems Hermes driver that does round here had the same idea yesterday. Just checked my doorstep and there was my TG2001 baking in the sun...
Thought I heard someone at the door but didn't see anyone, forgot to check the step...   

Oh well, at least the box was well irradiated with UVC   

May be some issues with it, above 2MHz the square and triangle are horrible, but could just be my lack of suitable leads.
The power supply seems to run rather warm, hope it's not about to let the smoke out.

Biggest problem is where to put it; it's a stupid size, approximately 2U high by 3/4U wide   

Arh, so it was you who won that, I saw it but discounted it because of its size and also I already have its newer brother the TG120 by TTi which has a symmetry control to try to correct any distortion. Got a manual for it yet?

[Specmaster]

Just don't overheat your MetCal on those chunky solder points!

mnem
 

LMAO, new caps ordered, just to maintain the cosmetic appearance on the internals 

Ya know... between you and me and the lamp-post... rather than change a known-good cap in the signal path with known-correct parameters, I'd tend to lean in towards the "I SEE NUSSINK!" solution... or if it MUST be prettified, to commit a little heat-shrink abuse and be done with it. 

Even if you can buy known-correct replacements by the part number, there's no saying that the ESR/Delta Tan won't be different due to changes in manufacturing process over the years.

Knowing that... I dunno. Seems like ASKING Murphy to bop you onna haid... 

mnem
"Discretion is the better part of Valory. And the rest of 'er aint too bad, neither..."

I'm working on the principle that if the cap is disfigured, then its parameters may well have changed anyway and also the fact the heat may have destroyed some of its dielectric material putting the cap right on the point that a failure could happen at any moment and would like to head that one off now rather than later. 

[mnementh]

Just don't overheat your MetCal on those chunky solder points!

mnem
 

LMAO, new caps ordered, just to maintain the cosmetic appearance on the internals 

Ya know... between you and me and the lamp-post... rather than change a known-good cap in the signal path with known-correct parameters, I'd tend to lean in towards the "I SEE NUSSINK!" solution... or if it MUST be prettified, to commit a little heat-shrink abuse and be done with it. 

Even if you can buy known-correct replacements by the part number, there's no saying that the ESR/Delta Tan won't be different due to changes in manufacturing process over the years.

Knowing that... I dunno. Seems like ASKING Murphy to bop you onna haid... 

mnem
"Discretion is the better part of Valory. And the rest of 'er aint too bad, neither..."

I'm working on the principle that if the cap is disfigured, then its parameters may well have changed anyway and also the fact the heat may have destroyed some of its dielectric material putting the cap right on the point that a failure could happen at any moment and would like to head that one off now rather than later. 

Oh, now you have to try and bring LOGIC into the conversation... 

mnem
smeesh...

[BU508A]

Not really TEA related but very fascinating. I have no idea, how he'd managed to put one toroid into the other.