Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread

[mnementh]

   

Moving Dwagons Update/Recap:

We had a good Turkey Day with dad; while we were catching our breath in a decent hotel in Queens, we did a bunch of online research into places to start over within a couple hours in case he needs us.

We liked some of the prices around Jersey City, and some of the schools around New Rochelle and Scarsdale but ultimately we settled on Hartford CT and surrounds as the schools are rated highly for students and teachers, they are paying well especially now, and have low student to teacher ratios with highly rated autism programs.

While crime rates are a bit high in certain areas, there are a lot of the surrounding areas that are safe and reasonable rents on a whole house, which is what we need to be looking at for our family needs and if dad has to join us anytime soon.

We literally just touched down in a Holiday Inn in Newington, CT (That's it in the background; these pix are from the parking lot of a Army/Navy store next door) and we've already looked at 3 awesome properties and Beth's phone has been ringing off the hook for job interviews on Zoom, several with multiple principals and admins at the same time. She has 5 interviews today alone!

It's all a bit of a whirlwind right now... Hopefully things will slow down soon enough for us to think about 🎄 Christmas.

Cheers,

mnem
*toddles off to make lunch for the kiddles*

[25 CPS]

I guess I spoke too soon. After being on for about an hour the trace got dimmer and finally disappeared. Uh oh, looks like the known HV transformer issue has reared it's ugly head. Powered off for a few minutes and then back up and trace is nice and bright again. But I suspect if I leave it running it will fail again. Not troubleshooting this now. I want to concentrate on getting all the plug-in's done first.

Uh-oh.  I really hope it's some other temperature dependent failure and not the transformer.  What are your thoughts on the subject if it does turn out to be the transformer?

I need to make the time to do some more test equipment and electronic stuff of my own but it's not likely I'll be able to do much until the new year either with my work schedule between now and the end of the holidays being what it is.  I know why all my retired relatives keep saying that they have no idea how they had the time to work with all the stuff they're busy with in retirement.

The 535 and 547 I got back in April are top of mind.  I need a functioning plugin test bed so I can test all the plugins that came in that box and the ones that are in scopes now, and the second 547 I got has known, demonstrated horizontal sweep and blanking issues so that one isn't going to do it.

[Robert763]

   

Moving Dwagons Update/Recap:

We had a good Turkey Day with dad; while we were catching our breath in a decent hotel in Queens, we did a bunch of online research into places to start over within a couple hours in case he needs us.

We liked some of the prices around Jersey City, and some of the schools around New Rochelle and Scarsdale but ultimately we settled on Hartford CT and surrounds as the schools are rated highly for students and teachers, they are paying well especially now, and have low student to teacher ratios with highly rated autism programs.

While crime rates are a bit high in certain areas, there are a lot of the surrounding areas that are safe and reasonable rents on a whole house, which is what we need to be looking at for our family needs and if dad has to join us anytime soon.

We literally just touched down in a Holiday Inn in Newington, CT (That's it in the background; these pix are from the parking lot of a Army/Navy store next door) and we've already looked at 3 awesome properties and Beth's phone has been ringing off the hook for job interviews on Zoom, several with multiple principals and admins at the same time. She has 5 interviews today alone!

It's all a bit of a whirlwind right now... Hopefully things will slow down soon enough for us to think about 🎄 Christmas.

Cheers,

mnem
*toddles off to make lunch for the kiddles*

That's a British Ferret scout car. And no, they did not have a missile on the back!

[med6753]

I guess I spoke too soon. After being on for about an hour the trace got dimmer and finally disappeared. Uh oh, looks like the known HV transformer issue has reared it's ugly head. Powered off for a few minutes and then back up and trace is nice and bright again. But I suspect if I leave it running it will fail again. Not troubleshooting this now. I want to concentrate on getting all the plug-in's done first.

Uh-oh.  I really hope it's some other temperature dependent failure and not the transformer.  What are your thoughts on the subject if it does turn out to be the transformer?

I need to make the time to do some more test equipment and electronic stuff of my own but it's not likely I'll be able to do much until the new year either with my work schedule between now and the end of the holidays being what it is.  I know why all my retired relatives keep saying that they have no idea how they had the time to work with all the stuff they're busy with in retirement.

The 535 and 547 I got back in April are top of mind.  I need a functioning plugin test bed so I can test all the plugins that came in that box and the ones that are in scopes now, and the second 547 I got has known, demonstrated horizontal sweep and blanking issues so that one isn't going to do it.

I'm going to reserve judgment until I get a chance to troubleshoot it. If it is an issue with the HV transformer one thing I could do is the SS HV rectifier mod. This takes a significant load off the oscillator. I have those rectifiers on hand and I was going to perform the mod on my Type 547 but it doesn't currently have any HV issues. We'll see how this shakes out. I have that other Type 547 too. It may turn out to be a pile of junk and become a parts mule but have a good HV transformer.   

[Specmaster]

   

Moving Dwagons Update/Recap:

We had a good Turkey Day with dad; while we were catching our breath in a decent hotel in Queens, we did a bunch of online research into places to start over within a couple hours in case he needs us.

We liked some of the prices around Jersey City, and some of the schools around New Rochelle and Scarsdale but ultimately we settled on Hartford CT and surrounds as the schools are rated highly for students and teachers, they are paying well especially now, and have low student to teacher ratios with highly rated autism programs.

While crime rates are a bit high in certain areas, there are a lot of the surrounding areas that are safe and reasonable rents on a whole house, which is what we need to be looking at for our family needs and if dad has to join us anytime soon.

We literally just touched down in a Holiday Inn in Newington, CT (That's it in the background; these pix are from the parking lot of a Army/Navy store next door) and we've already looked at 3 awesome properties and Beth's phone has been ringing off the hook for job interviews on Zoom, several with multiple principals and admins at the same time. She has 5 interviews today alone!

It's all a bit of a whirlwind right now... Hopefully things will slow down soon enough for us to think about 🎄 Christmas.

Cheers,

mnem
*toddles off to make lunch for the kiddles*

That sounds like an excellent new start, maybe your fortunes are about to change for the better, keeping my fingers crossed for you. 

[mnementh]

Reminds me of a joke read somewhere (probably Reader's Digest) as a kid; about a widow who inadvertently posted her ad in the personals:

"AVAILABLE IMMEDIATELY:
My husband died, so I'm selling his organ; £2000.
Call Aberdeen 43555 as soon as possible;
I can't wait to get this thing out."

mnem
Yeah, yeah... I know.      

What really worries me is the fact that lame-ass joke has been lying in wait written on some very random brain cell for 40-something years, yet still bubbled back to the surface...

I'm sure that there's a Herr Lipp quote about "Lotte's organ" in there somewhere too.

Probably nestled somewhere between the decades of Dave Allen and Benny Hill that I grew up on, yes... (Does a quick Google and sees a short yoobToob of him and a choir almost entirely composed of golden-haired orphan boys) Oh dear... that is considerably darker than I remember those two ever being. I think I recall  some scene about him and a grave with a snorkel sticking up out of the dirt?

mnem

[AVGresponding]

Think I'll resist the urge to bid on this one.  https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/373805105979





Some sellers are clearly clueless, it's listed in the "Used" category, with "for spares or repairs" in the description. No, I can't be arsed with the hassle of having them spanked by ebay, especially when the prospect of getting anything useful is so minimal.
This picture in particular has my TEA-senses tingling:





I'm guessing almost all the magic smoke has escaped from this one...

[mnementh]

   

That's a British Ferret scout car. And no, they did not have a missile on the back!

Yeah, this one doesn't either; it's an obvious prop as you can look up its butt and see the insides are all hollow.     

My guess would be a salvaged fuel tank somebody scabbed fins onto?

This Ferret works for a living; its job is to attract customers to the A/N Store behind it. The "missile" does considerably  increase its effectiveness as a "eyeball thief".   

I did go in; fondled some salvage ammo boxes and they have a nice selection of multi-pliers. Looking at the Leatherman OHT they had in stock made me a bit homesick for the Gerber Gator & MP600 that used to live on my belt back when I was still 10 feet tall & bulletproof.

There were some supposedly surplus grenades and ammo belt links and tactical everything; though of course 95% of what they had was aftermarket survivalist crap more aimed at the Meal Team 6 crowd than anyone actually interested in military surplus.

mnem
*toddles off to find himself*

[mnementh]

I'm going to reserve judgment until I get a chance to troubleshoot it. If it is an issue with the HV transformer one thing I could do is the SS HV rectifier mod. This takes a significant load off the oscillator. I have those rectifiers on hand and I was going to perform the mod on my Type 547 but it doesn't currently have any HV issues. We'll see how this shakes out. I have that other Type 547 too. It may turn out to be a pile of junk and become a parts mule but have a good HV transformer.   

Awww, futch...   

I'm sorry, man... I didn't mean to jinx ya, I swear! 

mnem
 

[Specmaster]

Think I'll resist the urge to bid on this one.  https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/373805105979





Some sellers are clearly clueless, it's listed in the "Used" category, with "for spares or repairs" in the description. No, I can't be arsed with the hassle of having them spanked by ebay, especially when the prospect of getting anything useful is so minimal.
This picture in particular has my TEA-senses tingling:





I'm guessing almost all the magic smoke has escaped from this one...

I'm with you on this one, although the description does also say working as intended, but the power inlet has the nibbled appearance of someone trying to gain entery with a a pair of pliars or something.

[mansaxel]

I guess I deserve an easy one for a change.

That trace. Such sharp. 

[Cerebus]

   

That's a British Ferret scout car. And no, they did not have a missile on the back!

Perhaps it's a home made acceleration aid?

[Saskia]

not exactly TEA, but still great for moving. Actually brought back the Metabo and got a Festool T18 set
might seem a wee bit much, but ...
Also got my Wiha screwdriver set from Contorion.
https://www.contorion.de/p/wiha-schraubendreher-mit-wechselklingen-set-system-6-gemischt-11-tlg-in-tasche-210410758?aid=383268462470&targetid=pla-826940640625&gclid=Cj0KCQiA-qGNBhD3ARIsAO_o7ykAbG2nHvqb0aiSW1zolrHTQjM2rcL1h7RGmgCYJDMh9yTHNJj09aIaAvsLEALw_wcB

[mnementh]

...This picture in particular has my TEA-senses tingling:      I'm guessing almost all the magic smoke has escaped from this one...

I'm with you on this one, although the description does also say working as intended, but the power inlet has the nibbled appearance of someone trying to gain entery with a a pair of pliars or something.

Look closer, Spec... this IEC socket does not belong here; there are no screw holes for it. Somebody cobbled a salvaged one on there to get it on the 'bay.

Prolly the original Shaffner IEC went up in a cloud of smoke, prompting its demise to the e-cyclers. If you're really lucky, that's all that went wrong. But the g'rilla abuse sustained otherwise would suggest not likely the case...

mnem
 

[tautech]

...This picture in particular has my TEA-senses tingling:      I'm guessing almost all the magic smoke has escaped from this one...

I'm with you on this one, although the description does also say working as intended, but the power inlet has the nibbled appearance of someone trying to gain entery with a a pair of pliars or something.

Look closer, Spec... this IEC socket does not belong here; there are no screw holes for it. Somebody cobbled a salvaged one on there to get it on the 'bay.

Prolly the original Shaffner IEC went up in a cloud of smoke, prompting its demise to the e-cyclers. If you're really lucky, that's all that went wrong. But the g'rilla abuse sustained otherwise would suggest not likely the case...

mnem
 

Missing fixings for the DB9 socket and nut driver marks on the GPIB fixings.......monkey been in there warnings ! 

[mnementh]

Well, those standoff nuts often get jammed up on cheap Asian DB9/DB15 cables and unscrewed with them; it's a constant assache when you service fleet laptops of all makes. It is not in and of itself evidence of g'rilla abuse.

The real smoking gun (aside from the smell of all that Schaffner smoke  ) evidence of g'rilla-ery is, as you say, those witness marks made by using a cheap 1/4" drive socket instead of a proper nut driver with a stop shim or o-ring inside. Oh, and the witless marks made when hacking the old Schaffner filter out of the thing. Completely amateur hour shit right there. 

Added to the above, confidence is high said g'rilla may very well have overtightened said standoff nuts and they went "ka-toink!", never to tighten again. The remainder may still be trapped inside, waiting to shake loose in transit and make a nice conductive landing somewhere on the live bits once it is powered up... 

mnem
 

[Zucca]

got a Festool T18 set

Welcome to the Festool T18 club. Excellent device, is serving me well since a couple of years now.

BUUUUT I am now thinking about the Festool PDC... just because TEA

[factory]

Outbid on both WaveTeks...   Just as well...

Ditto Tinsley standard resistors - by a factor of 3-4!

I only bid a small amount on those, think I saw over £600 earlier.

Have won a hernia producer I've been looking for some time, the 745A AC calibrator, also got one of the hp 5340A counters, a Sullivan megohmmeter, the lot of hp 855x SA plug-ins and a few others.

David

What did the Sulivan Megohmmeers go for? I own two already so could spare one if anyone missed in the auction.

£40-50, plus uplift. I got the other one.

Got mine home. Wasn't looking forward to seeing the state of the 9V battery - but the 2007 vintage EverReady Silver hadn't leaked.

I can now confirm that putting two 1Tohm resistors in series does result in a 2Tohm resistor, at least with 100V, 250V or 500V across them. The 1kV is a little noisy.

I've been out to collect my auction lots today, left at 7.30am & got back around 1.15pm, traffic was OK once I had escaped Stoke, the B roads were all clear after the A50, only stop was at Melton Mowbray to not buy anything from Tesco, I can't remember who said "all petrol pumps use LCD's now" as the BP near Tesco still had the pumps with electromechanical flap displays. Glad I went early too, as the A500 going South was partially blocked with a Mazda on it's side in the fast lane (in a 50MPH section) on the way home. 

Here is the Sullivan T2900 I got, not been used since 1993 guessing from the last cal date, luckily the Ever-Deady Red battery hadn't leaked, unfortunately my only PP9 is also past it's best (down to 6V), need to re-stuff it with AA cells.
It was enough to bring on the overload lamp, but couldn't get any reading on the meter, the case shows signs off tampering underneath. Also found another lot number 87 under the current one 34, guess it didn't sell in the June auction, or sold & never got paid for?



These were made after HW Sullivan had been taken over by the AVO/Megger group at Dover.
https://www.gracesguide.co.uk/H._W._Sullivan

David

[mnementh]

   ...Also got my Wiha screwdriver set from Contorion.

mnem

[Saskia]

got a Festool T18 set

Welcome to the Festool T18 club. Excellent device, is serving me well since a couple of years now.

BUUUUT I am now thinking about the Festool PDC... just because TEA

and added a CXS set. Just to be safe. I have 2 new pinball playfields that I have to work on. they want gentle treatment (a new playfield is about 1k unpopulated ...) Also I want decent tools anyway.

[Saskia]

   ...Also got my Wiha screwdriver set from Contorion.

mnem

what's wrong with Wiha ?
Should I have gone for Wera ? or just an el cheapo thingie ?

[Saskia]

just returned from a 1k drive to offload my Starship Troopers pinball and some other assorted stuff.
Even managed to reassemble most of it. FFS, these things are heavy. Legs are reattached, as is the backbox. Missing: backbox cabling. Also, the transistor for powering the magnet is toast. Will take out the power board and fix it before rewiring the whole thing.

Ordered new leg brackets for the Roadshow pinball. Saw gorilla traces which need to be undone.
Also the cabinet smells like teen spirit, I guess there were some tobacco junkies involved.
Now I despise nicotene/tar odor, and I did get a sander (Festool ETS EC 150) plus the accompanying dust sucker. So this will be in for a complete overhall. Can anybody tell my why the eff I got myself into this again ...

Why can't I just do some lady thingies ? like paint my nails, go to Zumba classes, etc ...

[tautech]

Menm's just missing his tools and bench.

[Zucca]

and added a CXS set. Just to be safe

In my past use: 80% CXS, 20% T18.

What I do not like is that CXS is not a BL motor, and in 2021 I find it a little perverse. Bosch Blue has a little drill which has better spec, don't remember the model.

But CXS is super balanced, the quick release and so on are saving sooo soo much time at the end of the day.
Again it's Festool, a pure joy to use.

Well done Saskia, you are a good girl. 

[Saskia]

Thanks Rob, I see. He has my sympathies and my thumbs pressed for his successful relocation to Ct.