Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread

[beanflying]

So much non PC wrongness

Model of the day time to build a PhotoBox so I can remove the glare and my fat thumb from the render face

[Brumby]

Eeewww not YEW ok price to go with your 'new' Avo @Brumby  eBay auction: #124937836970

look like a missing battery cover too.

Oooooff.     It might clean up ok ..... for somebody else.

[25 CPS]

You are a day late and a dollar short. 

My mantra.....ALWAYS read ahead before responding. 

I read your post about those components earlier and I wouldn't insult your intelligence by even recommending that ... 

I'm not insulted nor offended. I knew the Captain Obvious's would come out of the woodwork and I would have to explain my motivation.

To someone who had to repair a lot of stuff over the years, always with time pressure, your motivation seemed a bit esoteric.

My rule was that of the three things:- Form, fit, & function, the most important was function,
Thus, equipment often had components of higher voltage rating & even, sometimes, of different type fitted as replacements, especially where the original was "unobtainium", or of inferior quality.

One Electrohome Pix monitor used, for some reason, a high voltage rated bipolar electrolytic  capacitor as part of a DC supply off an overwind on the EHT transformer.

As these things do, it died, so I looked up the catalogue for one of our usual suppliers, & was delighted to find they stocked the same value at that voltage rating.

They were much smaller, too, So, marvelling at the advance in technology, I fitted one.

The monitor "rustled up", everything looked good for about 5 seconds, then with a hissing sound from the new cap, the original fault returned------Yep! the originals were low ESR, the new one, not!

More chasing through catalogues, phoning, etc, revealed that low ESR BP caps in those ratings were not available in Oz!
Maybe in the GWN, where the EHome hailed from?

Anyhow, it ended up with a "Christmas tree" of polyester "greencaps", was returned to service.
Definitely looked uglier inside, but EHomes we pretty ugly, anyway----hardly Canada's finest product!

My view is that, even with "collector" type stuff, work performed over the years (like, maybe the 50v cap in your case), is as much part of the devices history as the original configuration, so fitting a higher voltage rated cap now is just as legitimate.

Ugly is practically a trademark of Electrohome.  I'm not sure if this was in spite or because of having a division of the business that was a furniture and cabinetmaker (Deilcraft). 

[psykok]

Part 2 of the Apollo comms teardown from curious marc is out 

I like this Channel so much, definitely  one of the best in the EEV crazy  world.

[tggzzz]

My rule was that of the three things:- Form, fit, & function, the most important was function,
Thus, equipment often had components of higher voltage rating & even, sometimes, of different type fitted as replacements, especially where the original was "unobtainium", or of inferior quality.

My starting point is whether X is a working instrument or a museum piece.

If a museum piece, then preserve originality.

If a working instrument, then understand what makes it work/fail, and correct the failures. Don't waste time on something that only as interesting or profitable as crossword or soduku puzzles.

[xrunner]

LOL Windoze PC Health Check to see if my system can support Windoze 11 says no son, your Ryzen 7 1700 8 core 16 proc 3.2 GHz CPU is old junk can't support.

 

[med6753]

My rule was that of the three things:- Form, fit, & function, the most important was function,
Thus, equipment often had components of higher voltage rating & even, sometimes, of different type fitted as replacements, especially where the original was "unobtainium", or of inferior quality.

My starting point is whether X is a working instrument or a museum piece.

If a museum piece, then preserve originality.

If a working instrument, then understand what makes it work/fail, and correct the failures. Don't waste time on something that only as interesting or profitable as crossword or soduku puzzles.

Museum piece means you put it under glass and stare at it. Never to be touched or used. Working instrument means you use it as intended. All of my equipment falls in that category.

[dl6lr]

Just found on ebay 40 BF1005 for EUR 5.55 + EUR 1.60 for shipping.
Let's see, if I'll tinker with them one day.   

I am unsure but I think those were sold by Pollin some months ago for very small money.
Edit: It was BF1009 that was sold by Pollin, quite similar FET tetrode with slighly higher input capacitance.

[mnementh]

*currently gusseting a bedframe for my son*

Just put a bottle jack under it and be done ... that is what I did.

Although I do have my bedframe in the garage from a previous lifetime (before kid, before marriage), but her antiques count more ...

Naaah... It's nothing that fun. Cheap bedframe, has three 1in square legs going down the middle screwed together with a single 8mm bolt into sheet metal in the end.

Just plain shite design. My solution was to fix the stripped out bolt holes with nuts on the back, then add some steel 3in corner braces from Homeowner Hell.

Ordinary boring household mender-y stuff. We won't talk about SWMBO's legacy furniture; it's all in the trailer o' doom.

mnem
*more honey-do list today*

[mnementh]

building new computer for daughter.

I don't have a fitting PSU yet.
But I found an i5-8400 and some RAM and I still got the not-so-expensive board from Reichelt.
And somewhere I still have a Streacom case floating around.

This may seem like overkill, but she's my daughter.

Note the jimmy-rigged PSU gizmo.

Ohhh... That's what it is. Here I figured what with the car battery and jumper cables, you were building a redneck laptop. 

mnem
...or planning to attach them to a nutsack for a little negotiation session...

[dl6lr]

My rule was that of the three things:- Form, fit, & function, the most important was function,
Thus, equipment often had components of higher voltage rating & even, sometimes, of different type fitted as replacements, especially where the original was "unobtainium", or of inferior quality.

My starting point is whether X is a working instrument or a museum piece.

If a museum piece, then preserve originality.

If a working instrument, then understand what makes it work/fail, and correct the failures. Don't waste time on something that only as interesting or profitable as crossword or soduku puzzles.

Most of my old equipment falls to the third category: Try to preserve as much originality as possible but must be fully functional. So when replacing caps, I usually put the new ones in the old shells.

[Saskia]

building new computer for daughter.

I don't have a fitting PSU yet.
But I found an i5-8400 and some RAM and I still got the not-so-expensive board from Reichelt.
And somewhere I still have a Streacom case floating around.

This may seem like overkill, but she's my daughter.

Note the jimmy-rigged PSU gizmo.

Ohhh... That's what it is. Here I figured what with the car battery and jumper cables, you were building a redneck laptop. 

mnem
...or planning to attach them to a nutsack for a little negotiation session...

Would never do that. not enough amps.

[edfarrington93]

That's an awesome channel, I can't believe YouTube never suggested it, bloody algorithms ! Thanks for suggesting  @psykok

[edfarrington93]

So much non PC wrongness

Model of the day time to build a PhotoBox so I can remove the glare and my fat thumb from the render face

Are you doing this in Solidworks? I use it for making models and machining drawings, but haven't spent the time to learn how to do renderings. It looks good, even with the thumbprint

[mendip_discovery]

Just bought Blackstar Apollo 100 from the bay of E. Not a bad little unit, got some weight to it and yet to crack it open.

Thankfully I have managed to find the (RS) manual for the meter and the service manual, which I have just FTPed up to Xdevs.

Sadly it seems the B channel isn't working but I only quickly connected it to my Frequency Generator. Looks like I will have to have a play with it plus some adjustment once I have given it some time to warm up.




According to gr33nonline

This is clearly a fairly common issue, as another chap was also looking for a solution and/or service manual, Black Star Apollo Frequency Counter, back in 2014.

This is probably due to the reduced input of channel B and blown input stage (front end)

[Specmaster]

*currently gusseting a bedframe for my son*

Just put a bottle jack under it and be done ... that is what I did.

Although I do have my bedframe in the garage from a previous lifetime (before kid, before marriage), but her antiques count more ...

Naaah... It's nothing that fun. Cheap bedframe, has three 1in square legs going down the middle screwed together with a single 8mm bolt into sheet metal in the end.

Just plain shite design. My solution was to fix the stripped out bolt holes with nuts on the back, then add some steel 3in corner braces from Homeowner Hell.

Ordinary boring household mender-y stuff. We won't talk about SWMBO's legacy furniture; it's all in the trailer o' doom.

mnem
*more honey-do list today*

Talking about trailer of doom, I hope you removed all the batteries from everything  otherwise when you get to empty it into your new home, you'll have some nasty mess to clear up. 

[med6753]

212 mini, round 6.

Got the main board stripped down without too much hassle. There's a lot packed onto this board. And of course I'm seeing some mismatches with the parts pictorial but I'll muddle my way through it.




 

[mnementh]

building new computer for daughter.

I don't have a fitting PSU yet.
But I found an i5-8400 and some RAM and I still got the not-so-expensive board from Reichelt.
And somewhere I still have a Streacom case floating around.

This may seem like overkill, but she's my daughter.

Note the jimmy-rigged PSU gizmo.

Ohhh... That's what it is. Here I figured what with the car battery and jumper cables, you were building a redneck laptop. 

mnem
...or planning to attach them to a nutsack for a little negotiation session...

Would never do that. not enough amps.

That's why all those movie interrogation scenes show a guy shorting the jumper cables... It's the arcing that brings the car battery voltage up high enough to get your attention. Remember, these sort tend not to be smart enough to add a little LC to the circuit. 

Or were you saying not enough AH to run a redneck laptop...?

mnem
*tzzzzzzzzzt*

[mnementh]

*currently gusseting a bedframe for my son*

Just put a bottle jack under it and be done ... that is what I did.

Although I do have my bedframe in the garage from a previous lifetime (before kid, before marriage), but her antiques count more ...

Naaah... It's nothing that fun. Cheap bedframe, has three 1in square legs going down the middle screwed together with a single 8mm bolt into sheet metal in the end.

Just plain shite design. My solution was to fix the stripped out bolt holes with nuts on the back, then add some steel 3in corner braces from Homeowner Hell.

Ordinary boring household mender-y stuff. We won't talk about SWMBO's legacy furniture; it's all in the trailer o' doom.

mnem
*more honey-do list today*

Talking about trailer of doom, I hope you removed all the batteries from everything  otherwise when you get to empty it into your new home, you'll have some nasty mess to clear up. 

I actually did my best to remove all batteries and freezables, as I knew it was going to be in storage over at least part of a upstate NY winter. Wasn't planning on it being 3 of them tho. 

Of course, there was doubtless SOMETHING got overlooked... Then there's the inexorable pull of gravity for the last 2 years. 

mnem
gravity always wins.

[mnementh]

So much non PC wrongness

Model of the day time to build a PhotoBox so I can remove the glare and my fat thumb from the render face

Are you doing this in Solidworks? I use it for making models and machining drawings, but haven't spent the time to learn how to do renderings. It looks good, even with the thumbprint

bean is our resident frustion360 advocate. I'd guess he's using the "import image as texture" feature, which is how/why the thumbprint.

mnem
 

[Cerebus]

*currently gusseting a bedframe for my son*

Just put a bottle jack under it and be done ... that is what I did.

Although I do have my bedframe in the garage from a previous lifetime (before kid, before marriage), but her antiques count more ...

Those that haven't shagged a bed to tatters haven't truly lived?

I've broken three beds in my life so far: once before I was ten by enthusiastically using it as a trampolene and once each in my twenties and in my sixties from *ahem* enthusiastic aerobic activity. No doubt by the next time I break one in my seventies or later it will probably be from being too fat for the bed to withstand. 

[Neomys Sapiens]

building new computer for daughter.

I don't have a fitting PSU yet.
But I found an i5-8400 and some RAM and I still got the not-so-expensive board from Reichelt.
And somewhere I still have a Streacom case floating around.

This may seem like overkill, but she's my daughter.

Note the jimmy-rigged PSU gizmo.

Ohhh... That's what it is. Here I figured what with the car battery and jumper cables, you were building a redneck laptop. 

mnem
...or planning to attach them to a nutsack for a little negotiation session...

Would never do that. not enough amps.

That's why all those movie interrogation scenes show a guy shorting the jumper cables... It's the arcing that brings the car battery voltage up high enough to get your attention. Remember, these sort tend not to be smart enough to add a little LC to the circuit. 

Or were you saying not enough AH to run a redneck laptop...?

mnem
*tzzzzzzzzzt*

[beanflying]

So much non PC wrongness

Model of the day time to build a PhotoBox so I can remove the glare and my fat thumb from the render face

Are you doing this in Solidworks? I use it for making models and machining drawings, but haven't spent the time to learn how to do renderings. It looks good, even with the thumbprint

Cant afford Solidworks in my Budget already sold or mortgaged my body parts for TEA or Tools so Fusion 360 it is Still on the freebie startup license for the last few years but I will stump up the few $/day when it runs out.

Speaking of 4th mortgages on kidney's completed and sent off the 8mm stainless steel jig parts to the waterjet cutter for this welding/fixture table and ordered the casters for this yesterday

https://a360.co/3A2FjsU viewable onlinre render of the model below

[xrunner]

Museum piece means you put it under glass and stare at it. Never to be touched or used. Working instrument means you use it as intended. All of my equipment falls in that category.

Right, so the exact same MoBo with the exact same cpu sitting to my right, crunching Einstein@home science on all 16 processors + a browser + other system activities. Runs 24/7/365 with no issues. How can it be

But Microsoft sez oh yea but it's still way too sucky for Win 11 you don't have a clue. We want grandmother to have a nice experience with whatever she wants to do so you will have to spend money boy, or you ain't getting the upgrade.

 

[Neomys Sapiens]

INCOMING![/font]

R&S NGRU100