Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread

[Robert763]

I seem to be having a bit of a TEA run. Late last night snagged another 'scope:
/www.ebay.co.uk/itm/324686058121
Yes anoter Pico technology unit. This is only 10MHz 2Ch and 8 bits but is for a specific task, a gamma spectrometer using software from Maximus Energy http://maximus.energy/
It should go well with one of the T10C windows tablets. I already have plenty of detectors and HT power supplies.

[sordid_resistor]

..snip..
Given the prominence of Casio in the music world and the electronic world, I was expecting greatness from the insides of this beast, but greatness I never met. All the various boards and there are few of them in total, I expected would be connected together via looms on plugs and sockets, but no, ribbon cables that were all soldered directly to the boards  ....

I'm a little off topic. For really juicy musical instruments to really get stuck into, go for the American made stuff in the 1980s. Look for Ensoniq and Emu. They use good quality PCBs, good components. The early Emu is mostly discrete digital, the later products all got swept up into big ASIC and custom chips. Alesis was also good quailty, known for their digital designs. For analogue, the early synth makers like Octave Plateau. I've done a few of this era and they are a bit rough in design and manufacture, mostly due to the way things were done at the time. The early Emus can really be a challenge. There's German stuff also from that time. PPG.
If you feel up to it, for British kit look at HH. They were innovative back in the day, 1973+ They had success with their quasi-complimentary 2N3055 100W power amp design. However I couldn't sort mine, no circuit was available and the thing just was too unreliable. I fixed an early BBD delay unit, lots of biassing. The manufactuing quality is questionable, again they were tryng to modernise and the manufacturing processes wasn't quite there. A good try though.

I have repaired a lot of synths over the years, the Japanese kit is typically consumer grade, the American kit is more industrial strength. I like the latter as there's evidence of some really clever thinking going on. In some case there's workshop test disks available. I really like that. Sometimes with the American kit it's possible to track down and "get close " to the engineering people who did the design, whereas with the Japanese that's simply NOT possible. I have some design notes from Ensoniq regarding their custom FX chip.
I did a Peavey synth, I discovered there was a factory diagnostic disk, got a copy and amazing, found the problem in a jiffy. Sometimes decent service manuals and circuits are available. What fun 

[BU508A]

What about Roland or Korg? I thought, their synthesizers aren't that bad, are they?

[Peter_O]

"Having a screw loose" to qualify as a regular here by definition can be easily understood in germany. The idiom is just the same over here:

"Ich habe eine Schraube locker" = "I have a screw loose" does mean exactly the same. And from that I might qualify. 

[tautech]

Having a screw loose qualifies each of us to be here and as menm would say, it's not a contest ! 

Screwed.

[xrunner]

Having a screw loose qualifies each of us to be here and as menm would say, it's not a contest ! 

Screwed.

[Saskia]

Can I have some batshit with that ?

In other news, fever is coming down.
Had a long discussion with a dietary consultant regarding hospital grub. They were trying to feed me 200 grams of carbs per day whereas my normal consumption was down to 25. Which lead to my not touching the grub provided. I explained my reasoning and now they put me on zero carbs. Pureed spinach without any seasoning is not among my favorites.

I'll probably shed another kilogram before they send me home.
Need to check my vitamins too ...

[AVGresponding]

What about Roland or Korg? I thought, their synthesizers aren't that bad, are they?

Let us also not forget ARP, EMS, Fairlight, Moog and Yamaha.

I think the issue with some Casio stuff is it's firmly at the consumer end of the market. Knowing which of their products are pro-sumer or actual professional gear requires a level of knowledge which is above mine tbh. I think the same applies to the other mass-market brands like Korg and Yamaha too to some extent.

[tautech]

Can I have some batshit with that ?

In other news, fever is coming down.
Had a long discussion with a dietary consultant regarding hospital grub. They were trying to feed me 200 grams of carbs per day whereas my normal consumption was down to 25. Which lead to my not touching the grub provided. I explained my reasoning and now they put me on zero carbs. Pureed spinach without any seasoning is not among my favorites.

I'll probably shed another kilogram before they send me home.
Need to check my vitamins too ...

Visited reloading shop today and stocked up on some nice shiny projectiles that don’t need polishing at all only naming !
Powder and primers too so just say the word when it all gets to much .........

[FransW]

Can I have some batshit with that ?

In other news, fever is coming down.
Had a long discussion with a dietary consultant regarding hospital grub. They were trying to feed me 200 grams of carbs per day whereas my normal consumption was down to 25. Which lead to my not touching the grub provided. I explained my reasoning and now they put me on zero carbs. Pureed spinach without any seasoning is not among my favorites.

I'll probably shed another kilogram before they send me home.
Need to check my vitamins too ...

Take care of preventing soliciting for infections.
Drastic actions will be the follow-up.

Frans

[mnementh]

Did you clean the drain in the pan under the defroster unit? And the drain hose to outside...? And the secondary drain, etc if so equipped?

mnem
*lessons learnt the hard way*

I've looked at a few of the "HVACR Videos" on the toobe. He seems to spend his days cleaning. Message gotten through. 

Yeah, HVAC seems to be more like wastewater plumbing than the high-tech cooling/refrigeration work you see in the adverts for those tech schools; most of the time you feel like you should be wearing hazmat gear. But of course, the places you have to climb/wriggle/crawl into to do the work make that nigh impossible.

Having done the work myself in two different regions as a punk kid... I do not resent the prices AC techs charge a bit. 

mnem
I just wish I could have my nice, clean punk kid lungs back again...

[Specmaster]

..snip..
Given the prominence of Casio in the music world and the electronic world, I was expecting greatness from the insides of this beast, but greatness I never met. All the various boards and there are few of them in total, I expected would be connected together via looms on plugs and sockets, but no, ribbon cables that were all soldered directly to the boards  ....

I'm a little off topic. For really juicy musical instruments to really get stuck into, go for the American made stuff in the 1980s. Look for Ensoniq and Emu. They use good quality PCBs, good components. The early Emu is mostly discrete digital, the later products all got swept up into big ASIC and custom chips. Alesis was also good quailty, known for their digital designs. For analogue, the early synth makers like Octave Plateau. I've done a few of this era and they are a bit rough in design and manufacture, mostly due to the way things were done at the time. The early Emus can really be a challenge. There's German stuff also from that time. PPG.
If you feel up to it, for British kit look at HH. They were innovative back in the day, 1973+ They had success with their quasi-complimentary 2N3055 100W power amp design. However I couldn't sort mine, no circuit was available and the thing just was too unreliable. I fixed an early BBD delay unit, lots of biassing. The manufactuing quality is questionable, again they were tryng to modernise and the manufacturing processes wasn't quite there. A good try though.

I have repaired a lot of synths over the years, the Japanese kit is typically consumer grade, the American kit is more industrial strength. I like the latter as there's evidence of some really clever thinking going on. In some case there's workshop test disks available. I really like that. Sometimes with the American kit it's possible to track down and "get close " to the engineering people who did the design, whereas with the Japanese that's simply NOT possible. I have some design notes from Ensoniq regarding their custom FX chip.
I did a Peavey synth, I discovered there was a factory diagnostic disk, got a copy and amazing, found the problem in a jiffy. Sometimes decent service manuals and circuits are available. What fun 

Interesting stuff, I can confirm you are right as Wurlitzers are also American, however as I'm not a musician, that rally bother that much as I only acquired this Casio keyboard as a means to an end. It was free and going to be landfill otherwise, but I rescued it, knowing that it had this dickie power switch, that I thought, if I fixed, I could flip it later and use the cash raised to help fund the next TEA purchase. You'd be amazed at what some people are prepared to throw away.

[Saskia]

I know and I explained my reasoning to the doctor and the dietary consultant. The dietary consultant could follow my reasoning and supports it. Jumping from 25 grams of carbs to 200 would have shot my pancreas to hell and I definitely want to avoid that. The dietary consultant agreed and discussed that with the MD.

I need to tweak my diet a bit but not too much to cater for keto plus diverticulitis. It can be done, and currently  it is important to get the inflammation under control and not bust the pancreas. I have no intention of letting this get any worse, and shedding weight should help with the diverticulitis as well. 12.5 kg down, 27.5 to go.

[McBryce]

Have we been skipping pages again??

https://www.eevblog.com/forum/testgear/test-equipment-anonymous-(tea)-group-therapy-thread/msg3584109/?topicseen#msg3584109

McBryce.

[sordid_resistor]

What about Roland or Korg? I thought, their synthesizers aren't that bad, are they?

Let us also not forget ARP, EMS, Fairlight, Moog and Yamaha.
I think the issue with some Casio stuff is it's firmly at the consumer end of the market. Knowing which of their products are pro-sumer or actual professional gear requires a level of knowledge which is above mine tbh. I think the same applies to the other mass-market brands like Korg and Yamaha too to some extent.

...more snips and shuffling....

From what I've seen, the Japanese brands are more or less the same build quaility, open up your home Jap Hi-Fi, it's that. Casio maybe a little lower cost than Yamaha. I've worked on all the Jap brands and really, all the same kind of build. Roland, Korg, Kawai, Yam, Honda, Suzuki (who like to label themselves as Hammond). Don't misunderstand me, they are all good to acceptable build quailty, I own lots of this stuff, no complaints.
It will change with the pro stuff like Sony Pro. I have pro-Tascam kit and that's probably the best of the pro-sumer stuff. The equivalent American stuff is still more robust.

Synths from the 70s and early 80's like ARP and EMS are of the "getting there" category (from a manufacturing viewpoint). Try work on one and you'll see. I was going to mention Fairlight and Moog. The former is good if you can get the gig, you'll need to be tooled up. The latter varies, the famous MiniMoog is almost like working on a 1960s germanium radio. I didn't mention these two as they are choice collector's items are still today, so they still command very high prices. If you really want to go mad, try a NED Synclavier.
The Fairlight and NED Synclavier have their own special usergroups and networks where working and non working parts are exchanged. Same too for the German PPG.

[BU508A]

Have we been skipping pages again??

https://www.eevblog.com/forum/testgear/test-equipment-anonymous-(tea)-group-therapy-thread/msg3584109/?topicseen#msg3584109

McBryce.

You are right, haven't seen this. Message removed.

[Cerebus]

Did you clean the drain in the pan under the defroster unit? And the drain hose to outside...? And the secondary drain, etc if so equipped?

mnem
*lessons learnt the hard way*

I've looked at a few of the "HVACR Videos" on the toobe. He seems to spend his days cleaning. Message gotten through. 

Another tip, hard won from industrial experience (others, not mine): always make drain tubes of lightproof tubing so that there isn't light inside them to encourage algae to grow.

[dl6lr]

1. An RF Power Meter, probably an HP E4418B

That's a mostly useless instrument unless you have at least one sensor head. You will find out very soon you are in need of at least one other sensor.   

Don't ask how I know...

[mnementh]

On The Bench Today:  ANOTHER FUCKING KEYBOARD...? 

   

Yup.    Now that is finished printing, I have room to put this up and work on it. I picked it up as part of that LMFM Sale thrifting run a few days ago; had other priorities (like the drones and some bicycle work) before I could get into this.

This is a Yamaha YPR-8 5-octave keyboard; manual still talks aboot their FM synthesized voices as if it were a new thing, so that dates this somewhere in the mid-80s. IIRC, you'll see this model slung from a guitar strap in some music vids of the time, too.

It has the usual battery compartment evils, plus the AC power connector broken off inside; I figured for CAD$40 CAD$32 sale price, it would make a good spare for my wife, who is using a mid-90s vintage Yamaha PSR-220 (also 5 octave, but quite a bit bulkier) for her online lessons right now.

   

It of course has proper plugins with individual stranded wires and felt-damped pseudo-weighted keys; the multi-stage leaf switches allow it to sense how hard the keys are struck but can be a bit sensitive to cruft, so it definitely will need some dirt-sucker abuse. And hairpin/paper-clip excision. 

A quick once-over shows no major surprises; I see a few ring cracks on the KB PCB (yup, single-sided Paxolin  ) that will need the solder touched up, and I suppose I might go over the main PCB with my MS8911 and make sure there are no egregiously compromised electrolytic caps. If the thing acts in any way odd, I'll probably shotgun them all.

I'll stop back with more pics once it's all done... unless the current topic has shifted to something else much more interesting. 

mnem
 

[mnementh]

What about Roland or Korg? I thought, their synthesizers aren't that bad, are they?

Wifey's studio piano is a Roland RP701 she swears feels just like a Yamaha baby grand. I figure that's good enough, tho my touch surely isn't refined enough to feel the diff between that and these Yamaha student keyboards I've been working on, however I can definitely hear the difference in the more modern voice engine. 

mnem
 

[med6753]

Progress on the Type 547 at last!  There have been no more instances of the +100V overloading nor any arcs and I exercised power on/off (Just the +100V) almost 2 dozen times in the past 12 hours. So it was time to see if the scope would power up and I could adjust the -150V reference. I am going to use the external power supply for this initial test just in case.

Results. We have good power. I powered up the scope first and let the time delay kick in. Then I slowly brought up the power supply to +100V while keeping an eye on the current. No smoke....but there are problems. I was able to adjust the -150V reference as shown. The +100V settled at 317ma. The +225V measures +226V and the +350V measures +347V. All good.
 
I'm going to continue to use the external supply for now so as to not risk the internal +100V in case things go south. I am going to install a 500ma fuse in line to protect that supply and I should have the fuses tomorrow. Then I'll convert back over to the internal +100V supply.




So what have we got on the CRT? A blob. Looks like the trace is being driven off screen. But I was able to confirm two functions. First, looks like the trigger works. I can blank the blob with the trigger controls and then restore it. And the sweep works. If I slow the sweep down to a slow speed the trace modulates as it should. So it looks like the trouble is in the vertical. The controls on the Type 1A1 plug-in have no effect. But at least I now have a definitive path for troubleshooting.



I'm going to let this cranky bastard cook for a while just to make sure nothing else pops up.

And I think this is appropriate. 




   

[AVGresponding]

Was it @factory that was looking for a handheld/battery powered scope?

This may or may not go for sensible money:
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/FLUKE-99B-SCOPEMETER-SERIES-II-new-genuine-Fluke-power-supply-probes-case-/184885393767

[Cerebus]

Was it @factory that was looking for a handheld/battery powered scope?

This may or may not go for sensible money:
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/FLUKE-99B-SCOPEMETER-SERIES-II-new-genuine-Fluke-power-supply-probes-case-/184885393767

There's also one in the current Ramco auction.

[Specmaster]

Was it @factory that was looking for a handheld/battery powered scope?

This may or may not go for sensible money:
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/FLUKE-99B-SCOPEMETER-SERIES-II-new-genuine-Fluke-power-supply-probes-case-/184885393767

There's also one in the current Ramco auction.

That one though is a colour screen, it is also intriguing because it says "As spares and repairs" and it also shows a manual with TTi cover??

[Saskia]

Can I have some batshit with that ?

In other news, fever is coming down.
Had a long discussion with a dietary consultant regarding hospital grub. They were trying to feed me 200 grams of carbs per day whereas my normal consumption was down to 25. Which lead to my not touching the grub provided. I explained my reasoning and now they put me on zero carbs. Pureed spinach without any seasoning is not among my favorites.

I'll probably shed another kilogram before they send me home.
Need to check my vitamins too ...

Visited reloading shop today and stocked up on some nice shiny projectiles that don’t need polishing at all only naming !
Powder and primers too so just say the word when it all gets to much .........

you obviously want a reason for that engraver. You need it to put names onto projectiles ...