Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread

[bd139]

Yeah exactly that. This is a fine example of that shit show: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Broadmarsh

The Bluewater shopping centre is actually only a few miles from the earlier Lakeside one and had the same idea to try and take the other one out. There's a toll bridge/tunnel in-between the two of them though which stopped that being an issue though 

[tggzzz]

And that was a really terrible thing. The majority of small businesses are run like personality cults for the business owners and the employees are usually paid absolute rock bottom minimum wage while being repetitively screwed. I know - I worked for a couple of them, so did my mother. In fact my mother worked for the stereotypical small business here for many years which was a radio repair shop. Getting paid reliably and actually surviving is surprisingly difficult.

Not wishing to belittle your mother's experiences, but are you sure that Amazon is better?

I presume she never had to, as multiple stories indicate, have to piss in a bottle while working.

[beanflying]

And Back on topic nicely made one off TEA dual power supply eBay auction: #184761588137 I could but I won't 

[med6753]

And Back on topic nicely made one off TEA dual power supply eBay auction: #184761588137 I could but I won't 

You really do need that. Look at the beautiful construction. 

[beanflying]

You really do need that. Look at the beautiful construction. 

Next Power Supply I really need is more like 100-120VDC and 3-5A. So this one nice as it might be is already covered by one working and another in need of some loving in the CAP area both having more Volts and Amps  @Brumby all yours 

[1Ghz]

1 Don't really need it.
2 Don't have one.
3 Seems kind of sort of affordable.
4 Is Test Equipment.

Only one conclusion to be reached...

Buy them all!
Now I think I have too many...

[bd139]

And that was a really terrible thing. The majority of small businesses are run like personality cults for the business owners and the employees are usually paid absolute rock bottom minimum wage while being repetitively screwed. I know - I worked for a couple of them, so did my mother. In fact my mother worked for the stereotypical small business here for many years which was a radio repair shop. Getting paid reliably and actually surviving is surprisingly difficult.

Not wishing to belittle your mother's experiences, but are you sure that Amazon is better?

I presume she never had to, as multiple stories indicate, have to piss in a bottle while working.

Better than small businesses yes. As good as it needs to be no. I don’t talk absolutes.

I think people need to stop singling out Amazon. It’s pointing at one tree in the woods and blaming that for everything being woody. People need to actually go work in retail distribution for a bit. I did some time at Sainsbury’s between jobs. Amazon get a lot of bad press but spend some time in a typical supermarket hub. If you want to see why they’re not complained about follow the money to the national press (check M&S and Sainsbury’s board).

As for pissing in a bottle, I’ve known several people who have had to piss in a bottle for their profession, the latest being my nephew, a UPS driver. That’s a useless point really. Pissing has always been a nightmare.

[beanflying]

And that was a really terrible thing. The majority of small businesses are run like personality cults for the business owners and the employees are usually paid absolute rock bottom minimum wage while being repetitively screwed. I know - I worked for a couple of them, so did my mother. In fact my mother worked for the stereotypical small business here for many years which was a radio repair shop. Getting paid reliably and actually surviving is surprisingly difficult.

Not wishing to belittle your mother's experiences, but are you sure that Amazon is better?

I presume she never had to, as multiple stories indicate, have to piss in a bottle while working.

Better than small businesses yes. As good as it needs to be no. I don’t talk absolutes.

I think people need to stop singling out Amazon. It’s pointing at one tree in the woods and blaming that for everything being woody. People need to actually go work in retail distribution for a bit. I did some time at Sainsbury’s between jobs. Amazon get a lot of bad press but spend some time in a typical supermarket hub. If you want to see why they’re not complained about follow the money to the national press…

As for pissing in a bottle, I’ve known several people who have had to piss in a bottle for their profession, the latest being my nephew, a UPS driver. That’s a useless point really. Pissing has always been a nightmare.

Seriously 'stop singling out Amazon' They are the Elephant in the room and you keep promoting them as better than X is NO excuse for how they behave toward their workers. The are not a good citizen they are a corporation intent on dominating retail purchases.

How many pennies on the pound did Amazon pay on their profits in the UK last year more than one or less than one?

[med6753]

As for pissing in a bottle, I’ve known several people who have had to piss in a bottle for their profession, the latest being my nephew, a UPS driver. That’s a useless point really. Pissing has always been a nightmare.

Pissing in a bottle is nothing new. Way back in 1973 when I joined IBM pissing in the bottle was required. When I became an IBM contractor in 2009 pissing in the bottle was required. Personally I don't see it as a big deal. If you're clean you have nothing to worry about.

[bd139]

Seriously 'stop singling out Amazon' They are the Elephant in the room and you keep promoting them as better than X is NO excuse for how they behave toward their workers. The are not a good citizen they are a corporation intent on dominating retail purchases.

How many pennies on the pound did Amazon pay on their profits in the UK last year more than one or less than one?

You're falling for the press here.

The elephant in the room here in the UK are basically the supermarkets. They are massively larger than Amazon. They have similar tax structure, which is efficient by design, by government mandate because technically the government at the moment will profit from them directly. In the case of Tesco it's slightly worse as most of their tax is written off as contributions to land and housing (which is then solve off to the highest bidder). They abuse labour law here which is set up to fail intentionally the company boards are populated with Conservative party politicians and cronies. On top of that they get preferential land and construction deals. Most of the staffing are now on zero hours contracts which means they can keep twice as many people on the books for part time work yet no one receives a living salary. Only enough so that they don't starve for the next day.

What's even scarier is that the press here is heavily politically controlled which means there are constant pro-supermarket stories about their heroic "1% tax on online stores to fund people moving away from retail" whereas retail has the biggest environmental and social cost by far.

The point is the whole fucking thing is corrupt to the core and everyone is pointing at the new guy. Sure he's a bit shit but you need to look at the bigger picture rather than looking for one demon.

The key issues are:

1. political involvement
2. established businesses trying to shutter out competition
3. poor labour laws pushed in by (1) and (2).
4. poor tax laws pushed in by (1) and (2).

Ergo fix the law and see who's left complaining and that means changing political whim which is where I'd rather focus my efforts on.

Anything else is self-sacrificing pissing in the wind for some moral superiority.

"I'm not going to buy anything from Amazon because they're evil but everything in my house is made by Chinese slaves" is not a moral stance. It's a lie to yourself.

[bd139]

As for pissing in a bottle, I’ve known several people who have had to piss in a bottle for their profession, the latest being my nephew, a UPS driver. That’s a useless point really. Pissing has always been a nightmare.

Pissing in a bottle is nothing new. Way back in 1973 when I joined IBM pissing in the bottle was required. When I became an IBM contractor in 2009 pissing in the bottle was required. Personally I don't see it as a big deal. If you're clean you have nothing to worry about.

It's not even that pissing in a bottle. It's for the sake of needing a piss but having nowhere to do it.

I pissed in an empty beer can once at Sainsburys and left in the warehouse because they locked the toilets. At least they give you bottles at Amazon  - far less dangerous

[tggzzz]

As for pissing in a bottle, I’ve known several people who have had to piss in a bottle for their profession, the latest being my nephew, a UPS driver. That’s a useless point really. Pissing has always been a nightmare.

Pissing in a bottle is nothing new. Way back in 1973 when I joined IBM pissing in the bottle was required. When I became an IBM contractor in 2009 pissing in the bottle was required. Personally I don't see it as a big deal. If you're clean you have nothing to worry about.

You had to do that while doing your normal everyday activities in IBM? Wow!

[med6753]

I think I might have found the smoking gun with this Type 547 PSU thanks to the Type 535A. In looking over the PSU schematics for both it turns out they have more in common with the -150V and +100V supplies than are different. So I wanted to find out how the PSU cycles up before the thermal delay kicks in. So I used the Type 535A as a test. As I suspected the -150V needs the at least some +100V to come up. Upon initial power on the +100V cycles up to approx +70V and sits there. The -150V reads approx +6V. When the time delay kicks in the +100V comes up and the -150V reference also comes up.

So...what about the 547? I put the duff 6080 back in and performed the same test. The +100V came up to about +2V and sat there. When the time delay kicked in it dropped to about +1.2V and the -150V came up to -115V. Next I installed a good 6080. I pulled the time delay tube so it would not kick in and that's when the +100V would start smoking. Upon initial power up the +100V read about +2V. There's the smoking gun. And it stayed there.

Before going any further I want to swap out that 6BY8 tube. But of course USPS failed to deliver. But at least I know now how this damn PSU  boots up and I have something to go on.



Type 547 +100V and -150V PSU



Type 535A +100V and -150V PSU

[med6753]

As for pissing in a bottle, I’ve known several people who have had to piss in a bottle for their profession, the latest being my nephew, a UPS driver. That’s a useless point really. Pissing has always been a nightmare.

Pissing in a bottle is nothing new. Way back in 1973 when I joined IBM pissing in the bottle was required. When I became an IBM contractor in 2009 pissing in the bottle was required. Personally I don't see it as a big deal. If you're clean you have nothing to worry about.

You had to do that while doing your normal everyday activities in IBM? Wow!

No, it was just once upon initial hire.

[mnementh]

Completely off topic but for Saskia I offer a WiFi enabled alternate to C4 put a couple on the roof and ......

https://youtu.be/sEmm-T72ECw and https://youtu.be/e474W5k4HOQ?t=138

looking at their website and buyitnow options ...

And to think, I just wasted all that money buying a pole saw.   

-Pat

I did not watch the video until I saw Pat's comment.   Is it less expensive than a chain saw?     I just got through the ordeal of sharpening the chain saw and am going to have to do it again soon.   It can only do about five cuts or so of hard Ash wood before it needs sharpening again and again and again ....

LOL - much more expensive, but it appears to have better range.  My chainsaw-on-a-stick only extends to 12 feet.  I need to get the four foot extension for it, and it will still take some stretching to do what I need to with it.

      

As for chain sharpening, as tautech said, it's easy with the proper file, and an angle guide helps too.  I find it to be pretty quick and easy to do, especially if there's a bench vise handy to secure the bar.  Three or four strokes per tooth on one side till you make it all the way around, then flip it 180 and repeat for the opposite teeth.  You need to hit the depth gauges every few sharpenings, too, as the teeth are filed back and the cutting edge drops.

Stihl makes a nice jig that gets both the cutting edges and the depth gauges in one fell swoop; I bought one last year /after/ I'd finished with the saw and so haven't yet really used it, but it seems to be well regarded.

If you're using the correct diameter file, is it possible that the chain overheated at some point and the teeth lost their temper?  While I haven't done any ash (have mostly maple here), I find that a sharpening will last a loooong time.  Or until the saw touches the dirt.  That will dull it almost faster than you can react to lift it back up, and off to the vise I go, swearing the whole way...

-Pat

Uggghhh. This is an art I learned from the age of 12... and have done at least two lifetimes worth. If I never touch a chainsaw again (unless maybe to whittle a bit... maybe then...  ) it'll be too fucking soon.

This is definitely a task for which the credit card and phone are the best tools.

mnem
Fuck. That. Noize.

[mnementh]

   

Fits & works great; and only looks slightly ridiculous stuck on there.

mnem
 

There wasn't enough space inside that oversized case to put the batteries inside? McBryce.

Electronics are in a separate sealed chamber. Mucho assache, then mucho more assache if the battery doesn't hold up under load and needs to be replaced with a lower IR/higher C rating battery. This project is mostly aboot finding an easy way to repurpose some iffy reclaimed laptop 18650 cells.  This took ~30 min to design, then let the printer do all the work while I did other things.

mnem

[Cerebus]

Local Businesses and in particular Small Business were among the largest employers. I think the decline and direction is likely irreversible at least in Country Oz and at minimum I need to have freighted in from Melbourne raw materials due to this dumbing down of retail to Big Box style stores not carrying what is needed.

And that was a really terrible thing. The majority of small businesses are run like personality cults for the business owners and the employees are usually paid absolute rock bottom minimum wage while being repetitively screwed. I know - I worked for a couple of them, so did my mother. In fact my mother worked for the stereotypical small business here for many years which was a radio repair shop. Getting paid reliably and actually surviving is surprisingly difficult.

The statistics are against you here. I haven't had cause to look for a few years, but when I kept an eye on these things, since the late 70s, at the national statistical level across all industries, small and medium sized businesses have always paid their staff better.  I suspect the reasons aren't to hard to fathom, I'd posit that small and medium sized employers see their staff as people, with names, and large businesses with centralised remunerations decisions see their staff as fungible labour units. In large businesses the senior management tend to have higher salaries than in SMEs and there's a higher disparity between the highest paid and lowest paid - again, one could posit that the senior management are visible as people rather than fungible decision making units to the people setting their salaries..

[dl6lr]

Plenty of traps out there and marketing LIES from most sellers Chinese or Western so buyer beware. Have a bit of a trawl around at Russ's channel https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCqCyShJXqnElPTUnxX0mD5A for some good info or drop me a message if your serious 

Lots of information at Russ's channel  I am not that serious to buy a laser cutter at the moment due to space constraints, but AFAIR this thread is not about getting jobs done, but getting equipment that possibly generate more jobs that one wants to handle:

Bernd

[Specmaster]

Look what the wife gave me ))))

Love the LaMetric...

its a bluetooth speaker and display weather and stuff..
nice app the add also custom things... cool 

Nice, very nice, and by the way, Happy Birthday to you 

[mnementh]

And by slavishly using Amazon for more and more you (I include us all here) are slowly seeing the end of any chance of small local retails survival and even mid to large wholesale/retail suppliers. This shitstorm started a long while ago with Costoco etal and Amazon is the evolution of the model of decimate and dominate as a corporate plan. 

What do you want me to do about it.

Like all of us we should consider what it is doing to our communities that is all. Anything specialty retail is going or has gone the way of the Dodo and mid level is heading that way.

It doesn't mean don't use them just think if what you are ordering. Cutting out local whenever you can is ultimately cutting your own throat.

Yeah, the problem there is the idiocy of the supply chain. All the brick & mortars in sane driving distance of anywhere get all their stuff from the same 2 or three suppliers; so what you get is an afternoon wasted driving to half a dozen stores, all with the same exact stock of exactly not what you need and all within a buck of each other.

Now multiply that by a typical shopping list of a dozen parts or tools for even the simplest project... 

My time is worth something. I'm going to go where I can get what I'm looking for, and right now, especially with 60% of the brick & mortars shut down, that is Amazon.

The time for "Buy American" (or insert your country or locality here) was 40 years ago; your grandparents were right. It's too late now; every retailer everywhere is just an outlet for the same dozen or so megacorporations and their two or three lines of garbage anyways.

mnem
The Three Real Laws of Thermodynamics:
1. You can't win.
2. You can't break even.
3. You can't even get out of the game.

[mnementh]

Look what the wife gave me ))))   Love the LaMetric...   its a bluetooth speaker and display weather and stuff..   nice app the add also custom things... cool 

LOL!!! Happy Birthday Tony... before long, you'll be kicking sand in Linus' face.

mnem
 

[bitseeker]

Look what the wife gave me ))))

Love the LaMetric...

its a bluetooth speaker and display weather and stuff..
nice app the add also custom things... cool 

For a second there, I thought your cake had bluetooth and an app.

Happy birthday, Tony!

[Cerebus]

Look what the wife gave me ))))

Love the LaMetric...

its a bluetooth speaker and display weather and stuff..
nice app the add also custom things... cool 

[mnementh]

1 Don't really need it.
2 Don't have one.
3 Seems kind of sort of affordable.
4 Is Test Equipment.

Only one conclusion to be reached...

Buy them all!
Now I think I have too many...

BLASPHEMER!!! Get thee off to the Bay of EEEVIL and atone for thy sins posthaste!

Two Lord Tektronix' Prayers and 3 Hail Hewlett Packards should suffice to scrub thy soul clean.

mnem
That was a close one...

[mnementh]

Local Businesses and in particular Small Business were among the largest employers. I think the decline and direction is likely irreversible at least in Country Oz and at minimum I need to have freighted in from Melbourne raw materials due to this dumbing down of retail to Big Box style stores not carrying what is needed.

And that was a really terrible thing. The majority of small businesses are run like personality cults for the business owners and the employees are usually paid absolute rock bottom minimum wage while being repetitively screwed. I know - I worked for a couple of them, so did my mother. In fact my mother worked for the stereotypical small business here for many years which was a radio repair shop. Getting paid reliably and actually surviving is surprisingly difficult.

The statistics are against you here. I haven't had cause to look for a few years, but when I kept an eye on these things, since the late 70s, at the national statistical level across all industries, small and medium sized businesses have always paid their staff better.  I suspect the reasons aren't to hard to fathom, I'd posit that small and medium sized employers see their staff as people, with names, and large businesses with centralised remunerations decisions see their staff as fungible labour units. In large businesses the senior management tend to have higher salaries than in SMEs and there's a higher disparity between the highest paid and lowest paid - again, one could posit that the senior management are visible as people rather than fungible decision making units to the people setting their salaries..

What small and medium sized businesses...? Where? They've all been squeezed out of existence by the megas; gone the way of full-service anything and the middle class. All that's left is a few short-lived opportunistic attempts at gathering the crumbs left behind by those megas; but now they've developed megas whose sole purpose is to identify those crumbs and develop bots to go collect them as well, all while making sure not to pay any human being a penny they don't absolutely have to.

The Go-Go 80s saw the bastards move every bit of productivity overseas to slave labor nations; they took everything that wasn't nailed down with them. Now the same bastards are coming back with claw hammers and crowbars for the rest.

mnem
COVID is still not the most dangerous virus humanity must conquer in order to survive. Not by a fraction.