Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread

[Cerebus]

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.

Quite. Trimpots are the work of the devil. I go out of my way when designing things to design out the need for them. Electronic, closed case, calibration/alignment is the only way to go to keep your sanity. I've worked on too many things where tweaking pot A alters the thing you have to trim with pot B, and tweaking pot B alters the thing you have to trim with pot A. That kind of iterative insanity is what computers where made for.

I have a 3-tube video projector in need for alignment against a sloped screen. You on?

(just kidding, I've way too many experiences with them to ever consider that particular kind of horrible..)

Are you asking me as a man who has twiddled a few presets in his time, or as a man who used to hold an explosives licence?

[mnementh]

Bring both toolkits. 

mnem

[Neomys Sapiens]

If you've ever tried adjusting convergence on an old school CRT colour TV, you will know the definition of "iterative insanity"! 

I have. That is exactly the kind of experience I'm talking about. You over-tweak one just too far and you're back at the beginning.

   BWAHAHAHAHAHA!!!

You simply have not lived until you've done survived the unholy convergence rituals necessary on a old Pioneer or Hitachi CRT projection set with analog panel. 

mnem
*speaks soothingly to the PTSD dwagon juddering in the deepest recesses of the tinkerdwagon's memories*
"there, there.... it's okay.... we'll never, ever have to do that again... we promise..."

At least those are all low power. In a typical british valve colour TV the perset carried signficant power. Smoe were wirewound. Most ran hot. Often th platis would break as soon as you touched it and a cooked preset would jump al over the place...

^{Oh, these were just a different kind of evil.}

This one, the high-energy was all in STK amplifier packs under that huge heat-sink... and they were a really bastard kind of evil where they would go leaky, or the deflection coils would develop a few turns short and make the STK go leaky or... short intermittently... or sunspots... or whatever...

Anyways... the only way you could figure this out on some models was to spend the time doing the convergence 2 or 3 times and still not be able to get it in spec. The deflection coils were so loosely wound they were ringy AF even on a good one, so that wasn't a tell... and you can't inject a signal into one STK and observe the output with it hooked up due to physical constraints and how the loading of one STK affects the others in the chain.

This was the beginning of "board-level repair only" factory service procedures on these things, and for good reason. You could spend days locating a single faulty STK, and replace it for a successful repair, only to have its neighbor fail in exactly the same way hours or days later due to now getting full current/voltage that previous failed STK protected it from.

Eventually the service suppliers would develop "repair packs" to replace all the STKs and most common fault/burned out capacitors/resistors shotgun-style... but those were very often clone "STKs" with high mortality rates as OEM ones cost 1/3 the price of a complete board each.

Then you had problems with bacterial infection in the coolant... reflector mirrors that were cigarette smoke magnets, only you couldn't clean them safely because the mirroring is on the outside... plastic lens assemblies that would craze or go cloudy because of all the IR and UV radiation from overdriven CRTs that eventually developed burn-in no matter how careful you were with source material and...

Honestly... CRT projection sets were just a shitshow; even the "good" ones. One of the first "eWaste the day it was made" technologies; seriously.

mnem
and of course, all so you could rot your brain more efficiently...

In one place where I used to work they had a large one mounted at the ceiling of a conference room. Every time I looked at those three coloured 'eyes' I felt reminded of 'War of the Worlds'.

[Cerebus]

Going back to my point about cheapness. The market is full of people who buy something shit because it’s cheap, then have to replace it fairly quickly with the thing they should have bought to start with. Sinclair had the unique position on this.

Anyway got to be honest here. The company I currently work for may not have existed without Sinclair. But that’s a very long causality chain 

As in what... they evolved out of a need to actually provide something Sir Clive promised but didn't deliver...? 

Seems there's a lot of opportunities for that, considering how many half-baked pies he had his dick in... 

mnem
..."I got yer horse right here, his name is Paul Revere... the jockey sez 'Can do! Can do...!' "

Probably started out as the company that raised the £12 million to finance Sinclair Vehicles in March 1983, that went into receivership in October 1985, 8 months after launching the C5 and selling about 12,000 of them at £399 a pop. 

[Cerebus]

Nah, they got that wrong. You're vegetarian as long as you eat only predominantly plant-eating animals, as opposed to mainly meat-eating animals. So no stoats, eagles, cats, wolverines, buzzards...

Anyone can weasily see that eating stoats is stotaly wrong.

[mnementh]

*groaaaannnnnnnnnnnnnn...*

mnem
can't... reach... soggy ol' boot dispenser... *whummmmp*

Saskia, avenge us. I know you have his coordinates saved in the Suborbital Crowbar Launcher...

[bd139]

Some cheap TM500 goodness for our American friends:

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Tektronix-TM-504-With-SG502-PS503A-And-DM502A-Plug-Ins-manuals-2ea-/224614640139?mkcid=16&mkevt=1&_trksid=p2349624.m46890.l6249&mkrid=711-127632-2357-0

[Saskia]

@mnem, sorry I can't. Just had a PSU explode ...

[Neper]

Oooooops. Bought a Nakamichi 680 by mistake ...

That's an expensive "mistake". I just looked a typical prices. 

I was once told that Nakamichi is Japanese for "give me all your money".

[Cerebus]

In one place where I used to work they had a large one mounted at the ceiling of a conference room. Every time I looked at those three coloured 'eyes' I felt reminded of 'War of the Worlds'.

After three hours of powerpoints you wished they had been, and that you'd be vapourised with a heat ray about 2 hours 59 minutes ago. 

[Cerebus]

*groaaaannnnnnnnnnnnnn...*

mnem
can't... reach... soggy ol' boot dispenser... *whummmmp*

Saskia, avenge us. I know you have his coordinates saved in the Suborbital Crowbar Launcher...

Everybody should have noticed that every time mustelids are mentioned I stoataly can't resist making puns. I'll do it even if you badger me. By now it should be the OP you blame for giving me an opening.

[mnementh]

@mnem, sorry I can't. Just had a PSU explode ...

Was it one of these...? 

mnem
" ¹/_{2 *} : Made of fire; burned my house down. Would not recommend."

[bd139]

Urf. This is why I buy the Be Quiet ones usually. They are completely over engineered and tend not to explode.

[mnementh]

*groaaaannnnnnnnnnnnnn...*

mnem
can't... reach... soggy ol' boot dispenser... *whummmmp*

Saskia, avenge us. I know you have his coordinates saved in the Suborbital Crowbar Launcher...

Everybody should have noticed that every time mustelids are mentioned I stoataly can't resist making puns. I'll do it even if you badger me. By now it should be the OP you blame for giving me an opening.

Okaaaayyyy.... you asked for it...   

mnem

[Specmaster]

OMFG... speaking as a seasoned go-kart/dune-buggy/scooter aficionado... the design of that thing is pure shite. I mean, I figured it wouldn't be great, given the limitations of the body design... but fucking wow...!!!

That thing is a deathtrap all by itself going down a empty street, much less sharing the roads with actual roadworthy vehicles. Fuck, it wouldn't even make a good speed-bump; might slow down a Fiat 500.

This is Power Wheels level of shite-ness.

Truly beyond horrible. Motherfucker should've been prosecuted for marketing that as a road vehicle. Wait... was he...?

mnem
 

The marketing view, according to Sinclair:



The reality:



Note smug dick and the tail-back he's caused in the first photo. Please also note the look of abject fear in the second photo.

A cutaway:


The "chassis":


Sir Clive Sinclair "genius" and Mensa enthusiast. Yeah, right!

I have never implied that I thought they were either a good thing or safe etc, but at the time of their introduction, the UK government deemed them to legal to use on the roads. IIRC at the time of their introduction as well, there was a lot of talk about restricting the number of car journeys being undertaken in city centres and this part of his thinking about how to reduce these journeys.

Who can say that maybe without his C5 providing the seed of a germ to others that we might have had the mobility scooters that so many older people rely on now.

In an earlier post you also rubbished the Sinclair pocket calculator, it managed to produce exactly the same results to equations entered as the HP but at a fraction the HP calculators price and even compared it to being like a Lada and Rolls-Royce, which is IMHO utter rubbish. Not everyone can afford a Rolls Royce, so your response is then that if you can't afford a Rolls-Royce (for example) that you have to stick to walking, a push-bike or buses 

The fact the C5 was deemed safe and legal to drive on normal roads is not of Sinclairs making but the government of the day, it also was only intended to be a solution to inner cities with its limited range of just 20 miles and top speed of 15mph, which surprisingly enough is almost the same as these E scooters I posted about earlier, not sure of their range but top speed is also 15mph. The C5 was never sold or intended to be a car, it was classified only as an electrically assisted bike.

https://www.sandstoneproductions.co.uk/blogtothefuture/2021/1/9/sinclair-c5-

[Saskia]

Oooooops. Bought a Nakamichi 680 by mistake ...

That's an expensive "mistake". I just looked a typical prices. 

I was once told that Nakamichi is Japanese for "give me all your money".

Threshold, Audiophase, Krell, McIntosh were much worse. And don't ask me about Esoteric Audio Research ...

[Saskia]

*groaaaannnnnnnnnnnnnn...*

mnem
can't... reach... soggy ol' boot dispenser... *whummmmp*

Saskia, avenge us. I know you have his coordinates saved in the Suborbital Crowbar Launcher...

Everybody should have noticed that every time mustelids are mentioned I stoataly can't resist making puns. I'll do it even if you badger me. By now it should be the OP you blame for giving me an opening.

Had to look up mustelids. Now I somehow miss Catweasel, Catweazle, or was it Catstoat ...
don't remember ...
Argh. Flat joke we would call it here ...

[Saskia]

The PSU that exploded was an external 12V PSU for my network streamer. Now it is rattling inside. Might be a mosfet, or a cap. Did not pry it open, don't know if it's worth repairing.

I do have a Streacom 150W PSU which is working ok, so my totally underpowered Stereo set is back in operation. Bloody tennis club is making a party. So loud that we have to yell inside. Need to call the Fuzz ...

Or open the window and play something nasty. Narn operas come to mind. Or Vogon poetry. Or Big Black
https://youtu.be/sos61_rGMyk

Anyway. Was able to test out the Nakamichi SR3E receiver I bought for my daughter for 120 Pesos. It's working nicely. Normally those are a bit more expensive ...

[Specmaster]

*groaaaannnnnnnnnnnnnn...*

mnem
can't... reach... soggy ol' boot dispenser... *whummmmp*

Saskia, avenge us. I know you have his coordinates saved in the Suborbital Crowbar Launcher...

Everybody should have noticed that every time mustelids are mentioned I stoataly can't resist making puns. I'll do it even if you badger me. By now it should be the OP you blame for giving me an opening.

Had to look up mustelids. Now I somehow miss Catweasel, Catweazle, or was it Catstoat ...
don't remember ...
Argh. Flat joke we would call it here ...

I remember that we had a wrestler called Catweazle in the 80's, he was always playing the fool just to get a laugh from the audience.

[Cerebus]

In an earlier post you also rubbished the Sinclair pocket calculator, it managed to produce exactly the same results to equations entered as the HP but at a fraction the HP calculators price and even compared it to being like a Lada and Rolls-Royce, which is IMHO utter rubbish. Not everyone can afford a Rolls Royce, so your response is then that if you can't afford a Rolls-Royce (for example) that you have to stick to walking, a push-bike or buses 

No, you inferred that;  I did not say, nor imply it. It was a response to you lauding the Sinclair calculators by claiming that they were 20% of the price of HP calculators - a deliberate chalk and cheese, bottom and top of the market comparison picked to make the Sinclair look good. A comparison to the Sharps and Casios of the day, Ford Sierra and Vauxhall Cavalier if you will, would have been much more realistic. I was pointing out how flawed that comparison was up by drawing a parallel with motor vehicles. The deliberately over-the-top rhetoric of condemning the impoverished lower classes to their proper station on their bicycles is all yours.

The fact the C5 was deemed safe and legal to drive on normal roads is not of Sinclairs making but the government of the day, it also was only intended to be a solution to inner cities with its limited range of just 20 miles and top speed of 15mph, which surprisingly enough is almost the same as these E scooters I posted about earlier, not sure of their range but top speed is also 15mph. The C5 was never sold or intended to be a car, it was classified only as an electrically assisted bike.

You can say what you like about whether it was official deemed to be safe. In fact it was not, it was a deathtrap. Similarly, it doesn't matter what it was "intended to be" - what it actually tuned out to be is the measure of the endeavour. That is, an engineering and a financial failure.

[Specmaster]

@mnem, sorry I can't. Just had a PSU explode ...

Was it one of these...? 

mnem
" ¹/_{2 *} : Made of fire; burned my house down. Would not recommend."

I saw that video a few weeks ago. I have never liked Gigabyte MB's either.

[Cerebus]

I haven't thought of Catweasel in ages.



The titular character is a bit reminiscent of a photo Mike posted of himself some long time back. 

[mnementh]

Just a quick note before I disappear into Discord -

Cerebus - This silicone pastry sheet is effing awesome; it makes a great workspace. I can rest my arms on the edges comfortably, and it has already caught like 3 tiny screws that tried to go pinging off.
Definitely claws up from this tinkerdwagon.

mnem
 

[AVGresponding]

In an earlier post you also rubbished the Sinclair pocket calculator, it managed to produce exactly the same results to equations entered as the HP but at a fraction the HP calculators price and even compared it to being like a Lada and Rolls-Royce, which is IMHO utter rubbish. Not everyone can afford a Rolls Royce, so your response is then that if you can't afford a Rolls-Royce (for example) that you have to stick to walking, a push-bike or buses 

No, you inferred that;  I did not say, nor imply it. It was a response to you lauding the Sinclair calculators by claiming that they were 20% of the price of HP calculators - a deliberate chalk and cheese, bottom and top of the market comparison picked to make the Sinclair look good. A comparison to the Sharps and Casios of the day, Ford Sierra and Vauxhall Cavalier if you will, would have been much more realistic. I was pointing out how flawed that comparison was up by drawing a parallel with motor vehicles. The deliberately over-the-top rhetoric of condemning the impoverished lower classes to their proper station on their bicycles is all yours.

The fact the C5 was deemed safe and legal to drive on normal roads is not of Sinclairs making but the government of the day, it also was only intended to be a solution to inner cities with its limited range of just 20 miles and top speed of 15mph, which surprisingly enough is almost the same as these E scooters I posted about earlier, not sure of their range but top speed is also 15mph. The C5 was never sold or intended to be a car, it was classified only as an electrically assisted bike.

You can say what you like about whether it was official deemed to be safe. In fact it was not, it was a deathtrap. Similarly, it doesn't matter what it was "intended to be" - what it actually tuned out to be is the measure of the endeavour. That is, an engineering and a financial failure.

All this talk of "deathtraps" etc etc. Please find me a case of someone dying in an accident while driving a C5. I'm calling   

[Specmaster]

You can say what you like about whether it was official deemed to be safe. In fact it was not, it was a deathtrap. Similarly, it doesn't matter what it was "intended to be" - what it actually tuned out to be is the measure of the endeavour. That is, an engineering and a financial failure.

Dude, I have never denied this, can you show me where I have? But I'm sick and fed up with the constant rubbishing of a clever man that Sir Clive Sinclair was. He is no different to any other person, he had some good ideas and some that with the benefit of hindsight seem to be not so good. But is just too simple to dismiss him or the C5 as a total failure. Yes it was a commercial failure, so were the first electric assisted pedal bikes and yet today these are being reborn and are currently expensive to boot, but just how much were these modern versions inspired by the C5, do you know for certain that the inventors of those did not draw any ideas from Sinclair's work? I prefer to keep on open mind and one thing I do know for sure is that he has achieved far more in his life than either of us and will be remembered in history as a great innovator.