Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread

[Neomys Sapiens]

My parents had the ceiling of their dining room painted purple .... you know: 7 on the colour code chart.


The painter questioned them, but they were quite clear about it.  When he finished, he said it actually didn't look too bad.

YUCK! Just add some warts and mynocks!

[mnementh]

The short-circuit current obviously exceeded the breaking capacity of the fuse.

I'd say that as far as "breaking" goes, it did a fine job.   ...   I'll show myself out.

*halfheartedly lobs 1/2 a soggy ol' boot towards Belgium over his morning moose pee (only slightly burnt at this hotel) and baggied banana-nut muffin*

mnem
I dunno which is worse... this coffee, or the fact I might actually be starting to like it... 
  *twitch... twitch... twitcha-twitch...*

US coffee is always a disaster -- the fact that Starbucks is viewed as an improvement speaks volumes. I've already written about the three coffeemakers in Malvern PA (none as black as the 5000 holes in Blackburn Lancashire) so won't reiterate that, but just want to share the fact that people expect our corner of the world to bog down in snow completely tonight. And I'm going out for beers and lies with colleagues tonight...

Drive carefully, unless you can melt your way (flatulently)...

Thanks for the good wishes... we are still traveling through the Adirondacks, where the weather summary is: "Don't like the weather? Wait 5 minutes."

A'aight... SWMBO is cracking the whip to get out before checkout...

mnem
*scribbles imaginary exaggerated signature on imaginary stack of newscast talking points*

"I'm not Dennis Miller, and I am outta here!!!"

[Saskia]

bloody enablers ...
went to Reichelt ...
huuuuge mistake ...
more later ...

[Cerebus]

US coffee is always a disaster -- the fact that Starbucks is viewed as an improvement speaks volumes.

Not universally so. While I'd agree that even a cup of UK instant coffee [A decent instant coffee, obviously. Not Nescafé original.] would be preferable to what you're likely to get served in most places in the US, it is almost impossible to get a bad cup of coffee in Seattle. I don't know what it is about the place but every cup of coffee I had there was either good or great. And no, I didn't go into a Starbucks, which may be why I can give such a glowing report of the place.

[mansaxel]

US coffee is always a disaster -- the fact that Starbucks is viewed as an improvement speaks volumes.

Not universally so. While I'd agree that even a cup of UK instant coffee [A decent instant coffee, obviously. Not Nescafé original.] would be preferable to what you're likely to get served in most places in the US, it is almost impossible to get a bad cup of coffee in Seattle. I don't know what it is about the place but every cup of coffee I had there was either good or great. And no, I didn't go into a Starbucks, which may be why I can give such a glowing report of the place.

Probably. I've only ever changed planes in Seattle, and I do think I that as I had managed to upgrade with points to Business Class for the trip home I was busy drinking wine in the lounge, foregoing the coffee.

[m k]

Was somebody without a power source.
AllSurplus has some in Arizona.

https://www.allsurplus.com/asset/239/21865
https://www.allsurplus.com/asset/324/21865
https://www.allsurplus.com/asset/328/21865
https://www.allsurplus.com/asset/332/21865

[Cerebus]

Yesterday I spot-weldet a banana contact tab of my differential probe against a grounded PSU casing with 230V AC. 



The welding is excellent. 

This little bit of accidental dissimilar metal welding got me thinking.

In electronics equipment construction I occasionally come across things that could be best done with a little bit of resistance welding of dissimilar metals. Things that come to mind include:

• Welding a grounding strap (tinned copper type) to the inside of the lid of an aluminium case.
• (Extreme case) Welding the bottom of a stud/bit of all-thread to the inside of a case for a fixing/grounding point.
• Welding a spade lug to a case for a ground bonding point.
• Tacking metal mesh (SS?) to the inside of a cooling grille (Al, Fe?) - both for ground continuity and even possibly all the mechanical support required.

That covers a range of oomph from "Probably needs some real welly and a proper discharge welder" for a stud you actually needed to have some mechanical strength to jobs you might even consider doing with a 'toy' like the capacitor discharge welders used to stick nickel strips on batteries (tacking mesh around a grille opening).

Obviously using fully fledged professional pulse resistance welders designed for the job is cheating (and expensive) but improvising with cheap automotive spot welders and battery tab welders might be an interesting area to explore.

Has anybody done any improvisations in this area? Any battle stories, bodges that turned out actually good,  experiments that failed disastrously?

[Cue stories from SeanB of exploits,  in typical South Eifrican style, with an infeasibly large stick welding supply and some innocent victim piece of equipment. ]

[Zucca]

Was somebody without a power source.
AllSurplus has some in Arizona.

https://www.allsurplus.com/asset/239/21865
https://www.allsurplus.com/asset/324/21865
https://www.allsurplus.com/asset/328/21865
https://www.allsurplus.com/asset/332/21865

nooooooooooo

[THDplusN_bad]

bloody enablers ...
went to Reichelt ...
huuuuge mistake ...
more later ...

I share your pain. I only source material from them when I cannot find any better alternative... 

[Ice-Tea]

Was somebody without a power source.
AllSurplus has some in Arizona.

https://www.allsurplus.com/asset/239/21865
https://www.allsurplus.com/asset/324/21865
https://www.allsurplus.com/asset/328/21865
https://www.allsurplus.com/asset/332/21865

I have 2 or three pallets of gear inbound.  Maybe I should sit this one out...

[Saskia]

bloody enablers ...
went to Reichelt ...
huuuuge mistake ...
more later ...

I share your pain. I only source material from them when I cannot find any better alternative... 

Actually I source stuff from them all the time. There is absolutely no place where I can get better pricing.
I planned to pick up some ESD protection stuff (which I did) and came home with a R&S RTC1002 with MSO option which is said to have the 300 MHz update installed ...

[Saskia]

ok, just checked.
Options installed:
I2C / SPI - permanent
UART/RS232 - permanent
CAN/LIN - permanent
Mixed Signal - Permanent
Function Generator - Permanent
300 MHz Option - Permanent

Price: yes ...

[THDplusN_bad]

Oops - hopefully, no hard feelings! 

[Zucca]

R&S RTC1002 with MSO option which is said to have the 300 MHz update installed ...

Is that your first scope? 

[Neomys Sapiens]

R&S RTC1002 with MSO option which is said to have the 300 MHz update installed ...

Is that your first scope? 

Now it is her FIRST scope! (in the sense of ranking)

[Neomys Sapiens]

bloody enablers ...
went to Reichelt ...
huuuuge mistake ...
more later ...

I share your pain. I only source material from them when I cannot find any better alternative... 

Actually I source stuff from them all the time. There is absolutely no place where I can get better pricing.
I planned to pick up some ESD protection stuff (which I did) and came home with a R&S RTC1002 with MSO option which is said to have the 300 MHz update installed ...

Did you get probes with it? For the MSO option? And some active probes for the regular channels seem also to be a good idea! As well as a 100:1 or two.

[Saskia]

the 2 normal probes are missing, the MSO pod is included. Also missing is the calibration certificate.

I am currently using the testec probes that I got with my portable Tektronix 720 ...

Now don't hit me, but I like the Keysight UI better. Can't say anything about the actual accuracy ... Boot up speed is so far ahead of Keysight that it makes you weep.

[Saskia]

Oops - hopefully, no hard feelings! 

Nah, why should I ?

my problem is that the Reichelt staff knows me toooooo well. They greet me with my first name and try to enable my TEA.

I am spending way too much there ...

[ch_scr]

Oops - hopefully, no hard feelings! 

Nah, why should I ?

my problem is that the Reichelt staff knows me toooooo well. They greet me with my first name and try to enable my TEA.

I am spending way too much there ...

We're all very glad (and proud) of you, single-handedly preventing Reichelt from going under

[factory]

Got a bit distracted yesterday & never got round to testing the 5340A with the replacement PROMs. 

Went to a HAM radio sale and came back with a 18GHz Systron Donner counter model 6016, a hp 333A distortion anaylzer (for less than the PPauction prices), some random parts, vacuum bulbs, some lamps and two bags of mixed ICs.




Spent a few hours in the afternoon sorting through the 74 series ICs and putting them in one of the spare drawer units. A mere 320 odd of them so far, including many I hadn't got in the surplus parts I bought from work, plus one type I'd never heard of before, a combined counter,latch,driver IC for number readout bulbs (74142).
Still got the other bag of analog ICs, audio, radio & TV ICs, voltage regulators, some processors & EPROMs, etc. to sort through, the seller reckoned there is about 700 in total.
Also bought some old stock neon bulbs from the same seller with 2" long leads, now I've got no excuse not to replace those dead decimal point lamps, in some of the 524xL series hp counters. 


The Systron Donner counts in self test, but has an issue with the last number readout, it's stuck with two & the decimal point lit.


There was also a hp 141T spectrum analyzer for sale, with the 8555A plug-in, I didn't buy it as I already have two of those (currently broken), plus my back said no to carrying it back to the van, it did sell but was still there when I went back after lunch (2pm ish) to buy the rest of the ICs & neon lamps.


P.S. Three other bidders wanted the hp TDR on ePay more than me, it made £63 + £35 shipping.

David

[Cubdriver]

Nice haul, David!   

-Pat

[Cubdriver]

I recently got a bunch of old (like late 70s-mid 80s) computer grade electrolytic caps, and have been re-forming them on the bench over the past week or so.  On a whim, I decided to bring up an old Honeywell DVM purchased a few years back out in CA and use it to monitor the voltage across the cap being re-formed.  It's an interesting old beast, looks to be from about 1967 based on the newest component date code I spotted at a glance, and doesn't seem to be able to store the reading - instead it counts up from zero every time it updates.  It may be supposed to store the reading (HP counters from several years earlier than 1967 could), but since I've yet to locate a manual for it I don't know for certain if that's normal or if something inside is amiss.



It's cool in that it has a VERY large display, but a bit distracting in the way it blanks for each update (blanking is an option controlled by a switch on the back, and is less distracting IMO than having the blur of the rapidly counting display with every new reading).  Following is a quickie video of the meter in operation, and a link to the gallery with further pictures of it.  I'd forgotten when making the video that I had in fact posted the pics of the insides that I took when I first got it - thought they were probably buried somewhere in a memory card, so ignore the comment about needing to take pictures of the innards.



Gallery link: https://pmanning.smugmug.com/Electronics/Honeywell-620B-DVM

-Pat

[med6753]

Just returned from a round trip taking the Lady Copper home and this package was waiting for me. Whatever is in there was packed very well.



It's the Tek Type 105 Square Wave Generator. Appears to be in very good condition. It's missing the fuse and cap in the back. And the range control is partially jammed. Tear down will have to wait. Either later tonight or tomorrow.

[Neomys Sapiens]

To conclude the admission testing of the FG501, indeed everything is in working order at this newest addition to the TM500 zoo.
- swept by the FG503
- gated by a PG502
- and the sync output is also accounted for
And in contrast to the big boi (FG504) it does not seem to need switch maintenance.
 

[Neomys Sapiens]

Just returned from a round trip taking the Lady Copper home and this package was waiting for me. Whatever is in there was packed very well.

It's the Tek Type 105 Square Wave Generator. Appears to be in very good condition. It's missing the fuse and cap in the back. And the range control is partially jammed. Tear down will have to wait. Either later tonight or tomorrow.

This picture says 'decision time'. Left - to the lab, Right - into the soup!