Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread

[mnementh]

Urrrrggghhh... what have I just volunteered for fresh hell is this...? 

If you watch.... mute it lest the elektronika/porn video background music damage some important synapses, turning you into Hannibal Lechter...

mnem
I think I may just put these in this little box over here, and forget aboot them for a while...

[mnementh]

Yesterday's Thrifting score: 2 Canon PowerShot G10 cameras. Not exactly earth-shattering deal, as both have lens errors, but I figured for $20 at least worth taking a punt at being able to fix one or both.

These are a "prosumer" product from like a decade ago (14.7MP, 5X Opt Zoom, OIS); pretty much one of the best you could get short of plonking down the bux on a DSLR. I'm hoping to get something I can use to replace my aging/falling apart Sony H2 for daily use on the bench and quick snappys.

One of them is pretty shopworn with some blems in the optical coating; the other one looks pretty decent but the internal objective assembly is loose inside.

Should either keep me out of trouble for a while, or generate lots of expletives for my wife to cluck disapprovingly aboot. 

mnem
*clikk!*

It's amazing how little effect front element scratches can have on image quality, at least for casual use.

https://www.lensrentals.com/blog/2008/10/front-element-scratches/

-Pat

I've experienced this myself as well; it generally is more annoyance than actual problem, especially if just the coating. Tho I must admit... the video I just posted above is somewhat daunting, even for a total tinkery-nerd like myself.

mnem
 

[mnementh]

https://www.manualslib.com/download/1315909/Canon-Powershot-G10.html

Oh fuck me. I'm doomed.

mnem
*already digging out my tools and magnifiying lamp*

[Kosmic]

https://www.manualslib.com/download/1315909/Canon-Powershot-G10.html

Oh fuck me. I'm doomed.

mnem
*already digging out my tools and magnifiying lamp*

hehe this is exactly why I sold my old Canon 5D when it stoped working. I just looked at the screws and said to myself "nope, it's going on the bay".

[shakalnokturn]

https://www.manualslib.com/download/1315909/Canon-Powershot-G10.html

Oh fuck me. I'm doomed.

mnem
*already digging out my tools and magnifiying lamp*

About 5 years back when I could still do most things without glasses, I remember saving a couple of digital cameras with optical zoom that had taken a walk on the beach.
Not exactly fun, not really worse than smartphones though. The tricky part was keeping optics clean and dust free during reassembly.
At least the G10 is big enough for the main parts to be easy enough to handle.

[bd139]

Oh remember to never let me do work drinks again 

03.00 and just got home. 99% fucked.  Ended up in Inferno . TE day tomorrow. 

[Zucca]

Oh remember to never let me do work drinks again 

I still remember that night when I was vomiting schotch whiskey. I was working/testing cars in Death Valley, CA.
The next morning I was 100% back online... no hang over..... 

Yes, working trips / evening are dangerous.

[Cerebus]

Oh remember to never let me do work drinks again 

03.00 and just got home. 99% fucked.  Ended up in Inferno . TE day tomorrow.

You must be getting old. I remember when I'd have called that an early finish, and I suspect you do too. 

The point at which one really can't hack it any more cuts in around 50, when the handovers start to hang around all day.

[med6753]

Toilet yodelling is always fun after having too much to drink. Haven't had the pleasure of doing that in perhaps 35 years. 

Edit....going back even earlier (19 or so) couldn't make it to the toilet so I puked in the cat's litter box. The cat was not happy. 

[mnementh]

And so... it begins...



Y'all knew there was no way in 'ell I was gonna put them away, even tho that would be the best for my sanity. Spent hours pulling my basic tools together; guess we're gonna see how well that pastry tray works.

And of course... the very first step...? The bayonet ring refuses to let go...
EDIT: Oh, sweet cheese & crackers... Got it off; looks like this cam was a cola victim...   

mnem
*toddles off to find his hot air gun*

[Saskia]

Good luck. I sold my broken ef lens (17-40 l) because I couldn't be arsed to take it apart. Canon quoted about 400 pesos for the repair. Got a brand new 16-35 F4 L. which is  far superior for 299 and sold the dead one for 99 ...
Good deal ...

[mnementh]

   

Thanks... this is as far as I got tonight. I didn't even get to the point of trying to dismantle the optical assy; as soon as I slid it out of the main chassis I found this FPC split right where it was folded over itself. Now I'm almost positive I didn't do this; the whole thing slid right out just as in the instructions, with no resistance and no hanging up.

Of course, almost positive means there is a non-zero chance I did in fact do this damage; so tomorrow when I dismantle the other atomic bomb G10, I'll pay special attention to this step and make sure. 

Evidently this is a pretty common failure (or e-heh-heh-heh-ever-y-body damages this FPC), as fully populated replacements are available for 20 bux delivered.

We'll see tomorrow if there's any point in ordering one. 

mnem

[mansaxel]

I heard there are vegetarian and even vegan human beings ! It's just a rumor though, never seen one in real life so far.
So, why couldn't there be vegan Dwagons as well ?! It ought to be possible, at least in theory. 

Do note that the French definition of "Vegetarian" is someone who'd happily eat chicken and fish. Happened to friends who are North European vegetarians..

I eat everything. And I probably should, but a little less.  Breakfast sandwich:

• 2 slices sourdough bread, toasted (they're a few days old, and while this bread keeps wonderfully, it was time to start toasting
• Butter
• Thin slice of smoked ham
• Dijon mustard (Bornier, the best!)
• Lidl sauerkraut

[Specmaster]

@Mnementh, that why I will never go near a flip phone or indeed any device that folds in half as the ribbon invariably gives out at some point. However, in your case I suspect that this cable failed for another reason, namely a gorilla has been in there before you?

[Saskia]

Status today just to give mnem a licking:

26.5 kgs, 6.5 within the last 2 weeks.
Low carb/ keto with 2 weeks of interruption.
16 km of fat burning walking yesterday, daily calorie burn about 3500 ...

[Peter_O]

Urrrrggghhh... what have I just volunteered for fresh hell is this...? 

If you watch.... mute it lest the elektronika/porn video background music damage some important synapses, turning you into Hannibal Lechter...

mnem
I think I may just put these in this little box over here, and forget aboot them for a while...

I dropped my Sony RX 100 III camera, 2nd hand market price at that time 500 €, and the front lens part was pushed back into the zoom mechanics, heavily tilted.
As a first reflex I bought a complete zoom objective lens module for 60 € from China.

THEN I watched the yt videos on changing the objective. 

Long story short: A local camera service company was able to repair the original objective for 120 € including sensor and camera cleaning etc., I sold my spare part for 50 Euro, and now I have a fully working camera with 1 year repair warranty.

With a market price of 20 $ it would have been a nice adventure.
Good luck!   

[med6753]

Status today just to give mnem a licking:

26.5 kgs, 6.5 within the last 2 weeks.
Low carb/ keto with 2 weeks of interruption.
16 km of fat burning walking yesterday, daily calorie burn about 3500 ...

Your weight loss is absolutely stunning. Bravo.  I am 9 pounds from my goal of 175 pounds and they are the toughest to take off. 

[med6753]

Oh remember to never let me do work drinks again 

03.00 and just got home. 99% fucked.  Ended up in Inferno . TE day tomorrow.

I wonder what time party boy will roll his hungover arse out of bed. 

[bd139]

09:45  . Too old for this shit 

The worst bit is being 20 years older than everyone else 

[bd139]

Status today just to give mnem a licking:

26.5 kgs, 6.5 within the last 2 weeks.
Low carb/ keto with 2 weeks of interruption.
16 km of fat burning walking yesterday, daily calorie burn about 3500 ...

Impressive 

[bd139]

Oh remember to never let me do work drinks again 

03.00 and just got home. 99% fucked.  Ended up in Inferno . TE day tomorrow.

You must be getting old. I remember when I'd have called that an early finish, and I suspect you do too. 

The point at which one really can't hack it any more cuts in around 50, when the handovers start to hang around all day.

Yes I remember leaving clubs for the first train. Definitely getting old now 

As for the hangover it’s absolutely horrific and I’m not quite 50 yet

[tggzzz]

...While at the scrappy I spotted the back of a blur box with a black bezel and "Time" on the back. They were happy to sell it to me for £3. I'm now the proud owner of a Time Electronics 1010 Voltage calibrator. It's a late model, came from RS. One of the terminals is broken but at £3 for a £1300 bit of TE I'm not complaining. Who the hell throws that in the skip 

A quick check shows all digits and ranges work OK 400uV offset compared to my Fluke 8060 so all looks good. 

Hmmm... maybe a cal seal vs chain of custody vs depreciated value thing?

As opening it to repair the connector would break the seal, and then they'd have to have it reCal'd, etc for a new cert/seal?

Good score. Been a long while since I found anything I liked like that at the tip.

mnem
*toddles off to enjoy that illusion known as lunchtime*

I think the gamage was done by the scrappy. Last time I bought from a Scrappy must be at least 15 years ago. Health and Safety and insurance means they don't like you poking around these days.  was very lucky to spot this. The front wasn't visible and I could only see it through the fence.

In other news I just scored a Prema 6030 DMM cheap. Collection on Monday.  Always wanted a Prema.

Good catch, I've been looking for one of those for a while now.

I don't know what the modern ones are like, but the old one I picked up (and flipped) had far too many skeleton pots for my comfort.

[tggzzz]

Congrats on the weight loss. I'm still trying to find a balance between enough carbs that I get enough fiber to prevent a bowel obstruction and the low carbs I need to have to stay on the right side of that line.

Fibrogel? It helped my mother, and I was given it after operations in case opiods paralysed my gut. Fortunately I needed neither.

I use fiber products as needed, but I'm trying to find the balance in my diet that works.
...
The calories involved in stuff that makes the greens palatable quickly add up. 

Fibre is diet

As a confimed omnivore who thinks everybody should pluck and draw a pheasant at least once, there is one largely vegetarian cuisine I like: South Indian, i.e. Kerala and Tamil Nadu. (Somewhere there's even a video of Gordon Ramsey sheepishly admitting it is delicious!).

This is quick and easy and delicious and has minimal fat - especially if you omit the sprinkling of coconut. You don't have to worry about having all the spices, and the chilli flavour is minimal.
https://www.vegrecipesofindia.com/cabbage-thoran/

This grilled hispi cabbage is also nice, but I use far less oil https://www.theguardian.com/food/2021/sep/04/grilled-hispi-turkish-cauliflower-coconut-kale-yotam-ottolenghis-brassica-recipes

[tggzzz]

Biggest problem is that being of dwagonish bent I prefer to eat the cow, not what the cow eats. The calories involved in stuff that makes the greens palatable quickly add up. 

I heard there are vegetarian and even vegan human beings ! It's just a rumor though, never seen one in real life so far.

They exist. They have two sources of B12: supplements and shit.

Calcium is also problematic, since they can never work out how much of a "high Ca" foodstuff they would need to eat to get their RDA. Since B12 deficiency manifests itself (after many years) as brain/nerve damage, perhaps that isn't surprising.

[Robert763]

...While at the scrappy I spotted the back of a blur box with a black bezel and "Time" on the back. They were happy to sell it to me for £3. I'm now the proud owner of a Time Electronics 1010 Voltage calibrator. It's a late model, came from RS. One of the terminals is broken but at £3 for a £1300 bit of TE I'm not complaining. Who the hell throws that in the skip 

A quick check shows all digits and ranges work OK 400uV offset compared to my Fluke 8060 so all looks good. 

Hmmm... maybe a cal seal vs chain of custody vs depreciated value thing?

As opening it to repair the connector would break the seal, and then they'd have to have it reCal'd, etc for a new cert/seal?

Good score. Been a long while since I found anything I liked like that at the tip.

mnem
*toddles off to enjoy that illusion known as lunchtime*

I think the gamage was done by the scrappy. Last time I bought from a Scrappy must be at least 15 years ago. Health and Safety and insurance means they don't like you poking around these days.  was very lucky to spot this. The front wasn't visible and I could only see it through the fence.

In other news I just scored a Prema 6030 DMM cheap. Collection on Monday.  Always wanted a Prema.

Good catch, I've been looking for one of those for a while now.

I don't know what the modern ones are like, but the old one I picked up (and flipped) had far too many skeleton pots for my comfort.

Indeed. That's why I've not bought one of the older models. The 1010 has 5 adjustments all multi turn trimmers. From the manual
" Zero 6) Adjust the zero trimming pot on the module for less than +/- 10uV reading on the meter.
The zero trimmer is marked on the module label.
4.2. Full Scale
Fine adjustment of the 1010 output voltage is provided by 4 trimmers. One is located on the
module is marked ‘CAL’ and provides equal adjustment of the output voltage for ranges.
The other 3 trimmers are locates on the front panel p.c.b. and provide individual adjustment
for the 10V, 100mV and 10mV ranges.
"
I'll do a light teardown later.