Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread

[Saskia]

crap day at work.
Wanted to bring my music streamer online.
It did not effing boot.
The bloody cmos battery was effing dead.
And to add insult to injury, this is one dangling off a molex connector. Nope, I do not stock spares.
Waiting for the effing thing to come in so that I can at least enjoy a wee bit of Ludwig von when drinking my Moloko Plus ...

[Neomys Sapiens]

Today arrival: lots of capacitors. Special capacitors from the early 70's, made by Siemens.

What's so special about them?

- they are Styroflex types
- they are precision ones (1% and 2% tolerance)
- they are shielded

Never saw before shielded Styroflex capacitors. Probably that's why I've bought them.   

Here are some pictures:


seven values, all 63V DC


detailed view of one with date code 11 71. They are all from that time (1971 - 1973)


Siemens label of one of them

If you are interested in getting one or two per value (from the 8870pF ones I have only nine) drop me a PM.

Oh just great, that was YOU! Hissss..

[bd139]

Those are rather interesting looking capacitors actually. Not sure I can think of a use for them though apart from perhaps precision oscillators and there's probably better digital ways to do the same thing now. But still very cool 

Also I'd probably get one confused with a TO18 when I'm soldering at 2AM and wonder why nothing is working 

[Zucca]

I just spend the last half an hour trying not to buy a DM41X so no relaxing going on 

The hardware is the same between DM41X  and DM42, only the printed stuff on the button/case is different.
If you have a DM42 you can flash a DM41X  image and viceversa.
According to Youtube the DM41X is slower than the DM42, but offer more program capabilities.

You will end up with the WP43S or C43 anyway take what you can find cheaper between DM42 and DM41X .

Nice shots, did you get stung by the DSLR bug?

[vk6zgo]

The rivets often end up spinning if you try drilling them out, the plastic inlet remains will probably help this happen, I usually resort to the Dremel & grind the tops off the rivets, then push them out.

David

I can confirm that the rivets are very likely to just spin as part of the steel mandrel is retained in the process of riveting. I had this issue when I replaced my car speaker recently and the only solution was to grind the head off and push them through.

If, if, you can get to the back of them you can sometimes stop them spinning by clamping the back of the rivet with Mole grips or something similar.

The ubiquitous Mole grip, in case it goes by another name in foreign parts:

"Mole grip"?   

did you make that up?

them there are properly called "vise grips".

and please don't start that vise vs vice bullshit again!

i hereby direct and decree that this be the last and final word on the subject. 



 

The name "Mole grip" is because that company was the main manufacturer of such devices in the UK, back in the day, so it has the same sort of origin as "hoovering" for using a vacuum cleaner.

A similar usage, but in Oz, is when we refer to a pipe wrench as a "Stilson wrench", an adjustable spanner as a "Crescent spanner", or one of those  knives with the retractable blade, as a "Stanley knife".
Some people call a centre punch a "centre pop".

By the way, some publications refer to the thing on your bench that you hold stuff with as a "Vyce"! (or has that already been mentioned?)

[mnementh]

crap day at work.
Wanted to bring my music streamer online.
It did not effing boot.
The bloody cmos battery was effing dead.
And to add insult to injury, this is one dangling off a molex connector. Nope, I do not stock spares.
Waiting for the effing thing to come in so that I can at least enjoy a wee bit of Ludwig von when drinking my Moloko Plus ...

So... no soldering the batt wires to a 2 AA battery holder and just getting on with your life...? 

In the garage while I'm working I have a 8-year-old Kindle Fire/Prime Music app & a 10-year-old iHome BT speaker... It just works. Put Kindle to sleep, speaker goes to sleep. Start playing music and the Kindle reconnects, speaker wakes up in less than a second. 

mnem
Of course, now I've praised the stoopit thing, it'll start to fuck up...

[mnementh]

...The ubiquitous Mole grip, in case it goes by another name in foreign parts:   

"Mole grip"?   did you make that up?   them there are properly called "vise grips".  and please don't start that vise vs vice bullshit again!

i hereby direct and decree that this be the last and final word on the subject. 

The name "Mole grip" is because that company was the main manufacturer of such devices in the UK, back in the day, so it has the same sort of origin as "hoovering" for using a vacuum cleaner...

I figured it was because you scone-eaters just really like to keep a good hold on your moles. I dunno... for Tax purposes? 

mnem
I wonder if those would hold a water-shrew... 

[GreyWoolfe]

Kind of late to the Panavise party but I would highly recommend.  The weighted base on the vise absolutely keeps it where you put it.  my favorite use for the vise is to dremel shorten bolts.    Vince, if there is a way to get one, do so.  You won't regret it.

[mansaxel]

In the garage while I'm working I have a 8-year-old Kindle Fire/Prime Music app & a 10-year-old iHome BT speaker... It just works. Put Kindle to sleep, speaker goes to sleep. Start playing music and the Kindle reconnects, speaker wakes up in less than a second. 

Too simple. I've got a central matrix with balanced outputs to all rooms, and a collection of sound sources, among those a bluetooth receiver.  The matrix, being old, is controlled via MIL-STD-1782, which is used by a Perl-CGI script (running on the media web server VM) that makes a routing panel webpage available. In each room, there are active loudspeakers or passive ones with a power amp. There also is a simple voltage divider potentiometer volume control.

[factory]

Is there room for small end cutters?

I think there might be, especially fruitfully so if I can get rid of the old plastic frame first.

RIP snips, if the rivets turn out to be plated brass.

David

[bd139]

I just spend the last half an hour trying not to buy a DM41X so no relaxing going on 

The hardware is the same between DM41X  and DM42, only the printed stuff on the button/case is different.
If you have a DM42 you can flash a DM41X  image and viceversa.
According to Youtube the DM41X is slower than the DM42, but offer more program capabilities.

You will end up with the WP43S or C43 anyway take what you can find cheaper between DM42 and DM41X .

Nice shots, did you get stung by the DSLR bug?

I’m researching that now. I nearly did the original WP34S stuff a couple of years back. Here we go…

Yes DSLR. Well mirrorless. Nikon Z50 kit plus a couple of extra lenses. Getting expensive 

[BU508A]

Today arrival: lots of capacitors. Special capacitors from the early 70's, made by Siemens.

What's so special about them?

- they are Styroflex types
- they are precision ones (1% and 2% tolerance)
- they are shielded

Never saw before shielded Styroflex capacitors. Probably that's why I've bought them.   

Here are some pictures:


seven values, all 63V DC


detailed view of one with date code 11 71. They are all from that time (1971 - 1973)


Siemens label of one of them

If you are interested in getting one or two per value (from the 8870pF ones I have only nine) drop me a PM.

Oh just great, that was YOU! Hissss..

Upsi ...    Sorry.
Wasn't aware (for obvious reasons) that the other bidder was you. 
I'd be happy to share them with you, just drop me a PM. 

[Peter_O]

...
Wanted to bring my music streamer online.
...

... In the garage while I'm working I have a 8-year-old Kindle Fire/Prime Music app & a 10-year-old iHome BT speaker...

Advantage studio apartement: The main hifi of the living room is available in the workshop too. 

[tggzzz]

Well, there's a day's time and worry wasted.

Got out my Agilent 53310A MDA to play around looking at the frequency instability of an off-air frequency standard. The inputs shjowed flashing lights but not signal was found. It could self-cal the input offsets, but the input gains failed.

I'd recently recapped the PSU and it worked, but I was left worrying whether I'd screwed something subtly.

Had it apart, voltages were spot on. Was wondering whether I would have to pull it apart and change SMD components on a (double-sided?) PCB. Found a fleabay seller of the input board; noticed that the LEDs and components weren't where I expected them to be.

Eventually I went back and shone a torch on the four inputs that are partially hidden under an overhang typical of the instruments of the time. Found the inputs were not A-B-C-ext as I expected, but were ext-A-B-C.

Made the right connections, and all works perfectly. Grrr. Phew.

Put a small label in a visible place, so I don't make that mistake again.

In my defence, this is what isn't visible...

[Vince]

Today arrival: lots of capacitors. Special capacitors from the early 70's, made by Siemens.

What's so special about them?

- they are Styroflex types
- they are precision ones (1% and 2% tolerance)
- they are shielded

Never saw before shielded Styroflex capacitors. Probably that's why I've bought them.   

Here are some pictures:


seven values, all 63V DC


detailed view of one with date code 11 71. They are all from that time (1971 - 1973)


Siemens label of one of them

If you are interested in getting one or two per value (from the 8870pF ones I have only nine) drop me a PM.

Wow, caps that look liek trannystors ! You leanr something everyday, thanks for that....

100 Stück ?  You will never use anywhere near that much... give Neomys some of them ! 

[Vince]

Just got an e-mail from Farnell. They want me to spend a few minutes to fill in an on-line survey, they care about their customers... you know.

They so much want people to take that survey, that they say that for every person completing the survey, they will donate 10 Euros to some charity !
Geez what have surveys come to.... 

So, I am taking that survey, let's go !!!

First question :

1) " Before you move on with the survey, we need to know a bit more about who you are ".

Well OK...

2) " Do you buy component professionnaly, or personnaly".

Well I buy for myself of course...

3) " Oh I see, well we are sorry then, but we are not insterested in your opinion, end of survey, have a good day " .


 

Well you already knew who I was, you knew well I was a hobbyist, so why did you even bother wasting my time ?! 

[mnementh]

You just need to think a little more creatively, V.

You are not a hobbyist... you work in the R&D Dept of a small startup revolving around current and future applications of established industry-standard laboratory measurement & recording instrumentation. See? Much better now.

mnem
Whaaat? At one time, almost all the TE we collect was the standard of some industry... 

[Specmaster]

...
Wanted to bring my music streamer online.
...

... In the garage while I'm working I have a 8-year-old Kindle Fire/Prime Music app & a 10-year-old iHome BT speaker...

Advantage studio apartement: The main hifi of the living room is available in the workshop too. 

I have loads of music on a NAS that can be accessed via any PC in the house or a audio streamer in the lounge and played via the surround system. I also have my own music on my PC, plus of course I have 2 Alexa speakers that connect to almost any radio station in the UK and Amazon Prime music library and also 2 very lovely high quality BT stereo speaker systems that any BT device can be linked to, these are portable as long as I have mains power to drive them.

[med6753]

Today is the day. It's been an unusually cool and wet Spring but the weather has finally turned. Looks like the heat is on. So today is air conditioner install day. I'll do the prep work this morning and later this afternoon my son will come over and we'll slide the unit in place.

Damn the electric bill. 

[xrunner]

...
2) " Do you buy component professionnaly, or personnaly".

Well I buy for myself of course...

3) " Oh I see, well we are sorry then, but we are not insterested in your opinion, end of survey, have a good day " .


 

Well you already knew who I was, you knew well I was a hobbyist, so why did you even bother wasting my time ?! 

They got infected by Keysight's business model virus. 

[Peter_O]

... Got out my Agilent 53310A MDA to play around

... Found the inputs were not A-B-C-ext as I expected, but were ext-A-B-C.

In my defence, this is what isn't visible...

Funny enough, on my HP54504A with the same UI, it's the way you'd expect.

[Peter_O]

...
Wanted to bring my music streamer online.
...

... In the garage while I'm working I have a 8-year-old Kindle Fire/Prime Music app & a 10-year-old iHome BT speaker...

Advantage studio apartement: The main hifi of the living room is available in the workshop too. 

I have loads of music on a NAS that can be accessed via any PC in the house or a audio streamer in the lounge and played via the surround system. I also have my own music on my PC, plus of course I have 2 Alexa speakers that connect to almost any radio station in the UK and Amazon Prime music library and also 2 very lovely high quality BT stereo speaker systems that any BT device can be linked to, these are portable as long as I have mains power to drive them.

Yea. But when sound quality matters beside music availability, it would be - eh ... expensive -  to generate the sound quality of my main room a second time somewhere else.   

[Specmaster]

...
Wanted to bring my music streamer online.
...

... In the garage while I'm working I have a 8-year-old Kindle Fire/Prime Music app & a 10-year-old iHome BT speaker...

Advantage studio apartement: The main hifi of the living room is available in the workshop too. 

I have loads of music on a NAS that can be accessed via any PC in the house or a audio streamer in the lounge and played via the surround system. I also have my own music on my PC, plus of course I have 2 Alexa speakers that connect to almost any radio station in the UK and Amazon Prime music library and also 2 very lovely high quality BT stereo speaker systems that any BT device can be linked to, these are portable as long as I have mains power to drive them.

Yea. But when sound quality matters beside music availability, it would be - eh ... expensive -  to generate the sound quality of my main room a second time somewhere else.   

My sound system in my workshop is THX certified 5.1 speakers and sounds great. I used to have a proper Hi-Fi system in the lounge but SWMBO hated it, to big etc, she was perfectly happy listening to music via Youtube on her iPads built-in crappy speakers

So as I spend most of my time in the workshop (box room really), I decided to appease here and got rid of the Hi-Fi and make do with the other sound systems I have in the name of harmony and peace to all.

[med6753]

My sound system in my workshop is THX certified 5.1 speakers and sounds great. I used to have a proper Hi-Fi system in the lounge but SWMBO hated it, to big etc, she was perfectly happy listening to music via Youtube on her iPads built-in crappy speakers

So as I spend most of my time in the workshop (box room really), I decided to appease here and got rid of the Hi-Fi and make do with the other sound systems I have in the name of harmony and peace to all.

Reason #25678 why I live alone. Screw that. Turn it up! 

[Peter_O]

Reason #25678 why I live alone. Screw that. Turn it up! 

Yep. Nerd paradise.