Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread

[xrunner]

Ugh so my middle one wants a gaming PC. She has a T495 Ryzen 5 3500U pro laptop which isn't cutting the mustard now. Plus the constant fan noise is pissing me off 

Anyone care to comment on the following idea:

- Ryzen 5600G
- 16Gb corsair LPX 3200 RAM (2x 8Gb)
- 500Gb Samsung 870 Evo Plus
- Be quiet 600W supply
- Lian Li Liancool 205M
- have monitor, keyboard, mouse, MSI B550 board, be quiet cooler floating around already which can go in it. Oh and a ripped off win 10 pro license 

Will upgrade the GPU next year...

The Ryzen 5 5600G is what I'm looking at buying in a few weeks. I just upgraded the MOBO in the PC I'm using right now this morning. One reason is so I can migrate the drive to a M.2 nvme which wasn't supported on the older MOBO, and for better processor support. The internal Radeon graphics in the CPU I'm using now (Ryzen 3 3200G) is plenty good enough for what I do, so I'm sticking with the internal graphics of the AMD chips. The price now is ~ $175 for the Ryzen 5 5600G.

[BU508A]

Discord is open now (at least, I'm there  ).

Invitation link (valid for seven days from now):
https://discord.gg/AG8B5w5S

[ch_scr]

Ugh so my middle one wants a gaming PC. She has a T495 Ryzen 5 3500U pro laptop which isn't cutting the mustard now. Plus the constant fan noise is pissing me off 

Anyone care to comment on the following idea:

- Ryzen 5600G
- 16Gb corsair LPX 3200 RAM (2x 8Gb)
- 500Gb Samsung 870 Evo Plus
- Be quiet 600W supply
- Lian Li Liancool 205M
- have monitor, keyboard, mouse, MSI B550 board, be quiet cooler floating around already which can go in it. Oh and a ripped off win 10 pro license 

Will upgrade the GPU next year...

Don't skimp on the ram, it's key for IGPU performance. Your box is big enough for desktop ram, so go for 3600 - 3800 ram speed and low CL. Not faster necessary, might not work with all cpu's optimal (synchronous mode) ram controller speed anyway. If you go 3200 low CL you will leave graphics perfomance on the table. Also, OC the IGPU clock speed. These bad boys take up to 88 MPH W, if you want it quiet get a big air cooler.

[Neomys Sapiens]

No dice. Gave it a careful clean to remove what I took to be near microscopic flux spatter from the manufacturing process. No effect.

I can't find any obviously buggered passives, time to move on to active components. This thing is full of analogue switches, my next move is to probulate those to see if any are failed short/open, since if that happened on the range division circuitry at some point it could have this effect I think.

I'm curious as to what the glass capsule parts are in the protection circuit; they are not GDTs, you can see a solid slug inside them, and they are marked "VRxx", and have a (in circuit) resistance of ~190MΩ. There are also some curious smd things labelled "BDxx" that look like slugs of carbon, and measure like a ZoL, but those are usually a ceramic substrate with a "0", right? These look like smd caps made of carbon   

Some macro photos of those mysterious objects would help to identify them, I think. 

You can see the glass capsule components easily enough in the pic I posted; they are just under the first and last PTCs. There's one of the mysterious "BDxx" carbon slugs on the bottom left of the pic, just under the shield contact spring.

Those glass capsules, could it be that they are some kind of spark gaps?

I assume, GDT means in some way "spark gap" 

1.) GDTs are NOT spark gaps.
2.) I would assume the glass envelope components to be Transzorbs
 

[mnementh]

@mnem be careful what you knock yerself out with. Quadral Montan Mallet 46 kg, Vulkan 70kg, Titan 140 kg, all for Mark 3, single unit.

Yeah, I knew that would give you a chuckle.  Sounds about like what I needed to knock my arse out.

Did some more stripping of the nasty paint on the Dynaco bookshelf speakers I mentioned in the 'what did you buy today' thread... 

      -Pat

Dammit, Pat! Between you and the Valkyrie up there, you actually making me think about going back for these I saw at the Thrift for $20 the other day...

   

You have any idea how long it's been since I actually replaced the surround in a driver...?   

mnem
Obviously, the Q-mallet wasn't enough to knock any sense into me... 

The thrift is calling.  You know you want them…. 

I have Tung oil coming to refinish the Dynacos based on previous posts here (and will be sure to treat the used rags appropriately)

-Pat

damn you. damn you to... New Jersey. 

mnem

[AVGresponding]

No dice. Gave it a careful clean to remove what I took to be near microscopic flux spatter from the manufacturing process. No effect.

I can't find any obviously buggered passives, time to move on to active components. This thing is full of analogue switches, my next move is to probulate those to see if any are failed short/open, since if that happened on the range division circuitry at some point it could have this effect I think.

I'm curious as to what the glass capsule parts are in the protection circuit; they are not GDTs, you can see a solid slug inside them, and they are marked "VRxx", and have a (in circuit) resistance of ~190MΩ. There are also some curious smd things labelled "BDxx" that look like slugs of carbon, and measure like a ZoL, but those are usually a ceramic substrate with a "0", right? These look like smd caps made of carbon   

Some macro photos of those mysterious objects would help to identify them, I think. 

You can see the glass capsule components easily enough in the pic I posted; they are just under the first and last PTCs. There's one of the mysterious "BDxx" carbon slugs on the bottom left of the pic, just under the shield contact spring.

If you are referring to what I think you are, the black bit slightly lower down than the shield contact spring, I see that as C7 capacitor 

If they are crapacitors, why are they marked "BDxx" when others in the meter are marked "Cxx"? And why are they all measuring 0Ω? There are nearly a dozen, and in different sections of the board; it's hugely improbable that they would all fail, and all in the same way, and with no visible signs of stress.

[m k]

If BD is BonD then VR could be VaristoR.

[Cubdriver]

@mnem be careful what you knock yerself out with. Quadral Montan Mallet 46 kg, Vulkan 70kg, Titan 140 kg, all for Mark 3, single unit.

Yeah, I knew that would give you a chuckle.  Sounds about like what I needed to knock my arse out.

Did some more stripping of the nasty paint on the Dynaco bookshelf speakers I mentioned in the 'what did you buy today' thread... 

      -Pat

Dammit, Pat! Between you and the Valkyrie up there, you actually making me think about going back for these I saw at the Thrift for $20 the other day...

   

You have any idea how long it's been since I actually replaced the surround in a driver...?   

mnem
Obviously, the Q-mallet wasn't enough to knock any sense into me... 

The thrift is calling.  You know you want them…. 

I have Tung oil coming to refinish the Dynacos based on previous posts here (and will be sure to treat the used rags appropriately)

-Pat

damn you. damn you to... New Jersey. 

mnem

You’re welcome.   

The last side of the second A10 is currently slathered in stripping goop.  Some time after midnight it should be ready for scraping.

-Pat

[Neper]

Do I spot some totally rotten foam surrounds on those woofers?

[Neper]

Fuck me ! 

Look at what just popped up here !  A Tek type 547 for only 20 Euros !!! 


OF COURSE it's local pick-up only and in Paris 500kms from me, as always !! 

https://www.leboncoin.fr/equipements_industriels/2168134078.htm

OK looks a bit rough on the outside but might be nice inside you just don't know. And at that price I couldn't care less, it's well worth the 20 Euros just as a parts mule !

Busy today but had to respond to this. I would not touch that with a 10 foot pole. It's very obvious it's been left out in the weather and I guarantee the internals are gonna be worthless shit.

It's not even worth scrap value. Stay away. (Maybe the vacuum tubes if it hasn't been raped)

I'd be too afraid I'd have to call in the vermin exterminator once that thing was inside my house...

[Vince]

No dice. Gave it a careful clean to remove what I took to be near microscopic flux spatter from the manufacturing process. No effect.

I can't find any obviously buggered passives, time to move on to active components. This thing is full of analogue switches, my next move is to probulate those to see if any are failed short/open, since if that happened on the range division circuitry at some point it could have this effect I think.

I'm curious as to what the glass capsule parts are in the protection circuit; they are not GDTs, you can see a solid slug inside them, and they are marked "VRxx", and have a (in circuit) resistance of ~190MΩ. There are also some curious smd things labelled "BDxx" that look like slugs of carbon, and measure like a ZoL, but those are usually a ceramic substrate with a "0", right? These look like smd caps made of carbon   

Some macro photos of those mysterious objects would help to identify them, I think. 

You can see the glass capsule components easily enough in the pic I posted; they are just under the first and last PTCs. There's one of the mysterious "BDxx" carbon slugs on the bottom left of the pic, just under the shield contact spring.

If you are referring to what I think you are, the black bit slightly lower down than the shield contact spring, I see that as C7 capacitor 

If they are crapacitors, why are they marked "BDxx" when others in the meter are marked "Cxx"? And why are they all measuring 0Ω? There are nearly a dozen, and in different sections of the board; it's hugely improbable that they would all fail, and all in the same way, and with no visible signs of stress.

Well at least one simple thing you could do to rule out that it's any kind of passive components, is simply to remove one from the board and give it to your favorite LCR meter see what it says.
If it's real confused then... probably not R L nor C !

[Neper]

If they are crapacitors, why are they marked "BDxx" when others in the meter are marked "Cxx"? And why are they all measuring 0Ω?

SMD 0 Ohm resistors used as wire bridges?

[Vince]

Fuck me ! 

Look at what just popped up here !  A Tek type 547 for only 20 Euros !!! 


OF COURSE it's local pick-up only and in Paris 500kms from me, as always !! 

https://www.leboncoin.fr/equipements_industriels/2168134078.htm

OK looks a bit rough on the outside but might be nice inside you just don't know. And at that price I couldn't care less, it's well worth the 20 Euros just as a parts mule !

Busy today but had to respond to this. I would not touch that with a 10 foot pole. It's very obvious it's been left out in the weather and I guarantee the internals are gonna be worthless shit.

It's not even worth scrap value. Stay away. (Maybe the vacuum tubes if it hasn't been raped)

Back to regular programming.

Thanks Med, you just confirmed what I said before, maybe Vince won't be so confused this time around, as you spelled it out for him 

Well thanks but it looks like it's YOU not understanding the situation here !

There is no need to dissuade me from buying it, because again as I said... I am NOT going to buy it simply because it's local pick-up only and 500kms away from me !
Given it's condition I obviously can not justify any travel expense to go pick it up, that goes without saying.

However were it down the street hence zero cost to go get it, yes sorry chaps but for 20 Euros I would take 5 minutes of my time to go down the street open it up to see what it's like inside. Yes, with gloves and breathing apparatus and also a flame thrower in case some nasty snake jumps at me when I crack the cabinet open. You never know these days...

I don't know what you get in New York or the UK for 20 bucks but here, you get not more than the middle finger.

A complete 547 for 20 Euros regardless of condition, if it's in my village sorry boys I would at least have a look at it see what's it's like inside, and then offer 10 Euros.

The binding posts alone on the front panel are worth at least that, then add all the knobs, plastic so can't rust can it. Then the face plate in good nick, CRT bezel and its thumb screws (Papa Smurf could do with these eh !  ), etc etc...
So regardless of what's it's like inside, it's still worth 20 Euros to me IF it was very local to me. Hell even if it were 50kms I might still go get it, provided I can see good pictures of the insides of course, and ask a few questions.

You are too choosy chaps. These things don't grow on trees here. I already have one 547 worth restoring, another one for parts. A third one for 20 Euros no matter what can be saved from it, sorry but I am all for it !

But again, discussion is pointless since I am of course not going to drive 500kms (1000kms total then, 150 Euros in fuel and tolls at least) to get a 20 Euros garden ornament.

[Vince]

Fuck me ! 

Look at what just popped up here !  A Tek type 547 for only 20 Euros !!! 


OF COURSE it's local pick-up only and in Paris 500kms from me, as always !! 

https://www.leboncoin.fr/equipements_industriels/2168134078.htm

OK looks a bit rough on the outside but might be nice inside you just don't know. And at that price I couldn't care less, it's well worth the 20 Euros just as a parts mule !

Busy today but had to respond to this. I would not touch that with a 10 foot pole. It's very obvious it's been left out in the weather and I guarantee the internals are gonna be worthless shit.

It's not even worth scrap value. Stay away. (Maybe the vacuum tubes if it hasn't been raped)

I'd be too afraid I'd have to call in the vermin exterminator once that thing was inside my house...

Geez, just stick it in a plastic bag and fill it with smoke for a day or two until all living things in it die, problem solved !

[Vince]

Doesn't those zebra stripes indicate the end of the roll?

Geez you are right ! I just cracked the cassette open and empty it was indeed !!! 
I used only 3 meters worth of tape and it's supposed to be, I checked, EIGHT meters long ! 8 not 3 !!!!!! 

I don't understand....

OK so I just had a quick Google for third party cassettes. OEM cost me, (8 meters long, 9mm wide) 14 Euros. Same ones third party... 10% cheaper and I get THREE cassettes not just one !

OK, ordering....

Yes, I checked the ink roll inside, unrolled it, and you can indeed clearly see each and every label that I printed... I will burn it just in case the Russian are spying for the latest missile guidance system I am working on to help the Ukranian ! 

Talking of spying, I will spy on Discord 5 minutes to see what's going on...

[xrunner]

I'd be too afraid I'd have to call in the vermin exterminator once that thing was inside my house...

Geez, just stick it in a plastic bag and fill it with smoke for a day or two until all living things in it die, problem solved !

Bug bomb it like I did to a ham rig a guy wanted me to fix that was filled with - shall we say - creepy crawlies ... 

[AVGresponding]

If they are crapacitors, why are they marked "BDxx" when others in the meter are marked "Cxx"? And why are they all measuring 0Ω?

SMD 0 Ohm resistors used as wire bridges?

That's my belief, but I've never seen zero-ohms-links like these before. They are normally ceramic chips with carbon/metal film, these are like chunks of carbon in the shape of smd caps, hence the confusion.

[factory]

Fuck me ! 

Look at what just popped up here !  A Tek type 547 for only 20 Euros !!! 


OF COURSE it's local pick-up only and in Paris 500kms from me, as always !! 

https://www.leboncoin.fr/equipements_industriels/2168134078.htm

OK looks a bit rough on the outside but might be nice inside you just don't know. And at that price I couldn't care less, it's well worth the 20 Euros just as a parts mule !

Busy today but had to respond to this. I would not touch that with a 10 foot pole. It's very obvious it's been left out in the weather and I guarantee the internals are gonna be worthless shit.

It's not even worth scrap value. Stay away. (Maybe the vacuum tubes if it hasn't been raped)

Back to regular programming.

Thanks Med, you just confirmed what I said before, maybe Vince won't be so confused this time around, as you spelled it out for him 

Well thanks but it looks like it's YOU not understanding the situation here !

There is no need to dissuade me from buying it, because again as I said... I am NOT going to buy it simply because it's local pick-up only and 500kms away from me !
Given it's condition I obviously can not justify any travel expense to go pick it up, that goes without saying.

However were it down the street hence zero cost to go get it, yes sorry chaps but for 20 Euros I would take 5 minutes of my time to go down the street open it up to see what it's like inside. Yes, with gloves and breathing apparatus and also a flame thrower in case some nasty snake jumps at me when I crack the cabinet open. You never know these days...

I don't know what you get in New York or the UK for 20 bucks but here, you get not more than the middle finger.

A complete 547 for 20 Euros regardless of condition, if it's in my village sorry boys I would at least have a look at it see what's it's like inside, and then offer 10 Euros.

The binding posts alone on the front panel are worth at least that, then add all the knobs, plastic so can't rust can it. Then the face plate in good nick, CRT bezel and its thumb screws (Papa Smurf could do with these eh !  ), etc etc...
So regardless of what's it's like inside, it's still worth 20 Euros to me IF it was very local to me. Hell even if it were 50kms I might still go get it, provided I can see good pictures of the insides of course, and ask a few questions.

You are too choosy chaps. These things don't grow on trees here. I already have one 547 worth restoring, another one for parts. A third one for 20 Euros no matter what can be saved from it, sorry but I am all for it !

But again, discussion is pointless since I am of course not going to drive 500kms (1000kms total then, 150 Euros in fuel and tolls at least) to get a 20 Euros garden ornament.

Looks too far gone, some of the knobs have disintegrated, probably from corrosion of the metal insert, getting the remaining intact ones off would be difficult due to steel to aluminium corrosion, I bet most of the vacuum bulbs have gone white too, i.e. no vacuum left, garden ornament is probably all it's any use for.

David

[factory]

Doesn't those zebra stripes indicate the end of the roll?

Geez you are right ! I just cracked the cassette open and empty it was indeed !!! 
I used only 3 meters worth of tape and it's supposed to be, I checked, EIGHT meters long ! 8 not 3 !!!!!! 

I don't understand....

OK so I just had a quick Google for third party cassettes. OEM cost me, (8 meters long, 9mm wide) 14 Euros. Same ones third party... 10% cheaper and I get THREE cassettes not just one !

OK, ordering....

Yes, I checked the ink roll inside, unrolled it, and you can indeed clearly see each and every label that I printed... I will burn it just in case the Russian are spying for the latest missile guidance system I am working on to help the Ukranian ! 

Talking of spying, I will spy on Discord 5 minutes to see what's going on...

Odd the tapes don't mention the length on them anywhere, looked up the broken TZe-631* on the computer bench (librated from being binned) and that is supposed to be 8m, most of that is probably wasted, unless you type in multiple labels with minimal spacing, for printing all at once.

*need to try & rebuild it, so the used ink roll stays inside. 

David

[porter]

I bought a heavy duty Sears Mitre Box. Not a member of TEA (so far).

[factory]

A TEA support package from Japan arrived on Friday, thanks to Jared. 
These are the Feed-Forward test card and the A33 oven option power supply card, for the hp 5340A counter, I should have the parts to build the oven PSU board, except a transformer. But seeing that compact Triad transformer, that was added to the hp 208A oscillator, I should be able to find a suitable one from the same range (available at Mouser).


David

[kleiner Rainer]

If they are crapacitors, why are they marked "BDxx" when others in the meter are marked "Cxx"? And why are they all measuring 0Ω?

SMD 0 Ohm resistors used as wire bridges?

That's my belief, but I've never seen zero-ohms-links like these before. They are normally ceramic chips with carbon/metal film, these are like chunks of carbon in the shape of smd caps, hence the confusion.

Those look like the ferrite beads I design into my projects for EMC compliance. BD = BeaD ?

Greetings,

Rainer

[srb1954]

No dice. Gave it a careful clean to remove what I took to be near microscopic flux spatter from the manufacturing process. No effect.

I can't find any obviously buggered passives, time to move on to active components. This thing is full of analogue switches, my next move is to probulate those to see if any are failed short/open, since if that happened on the range division circuitry at some point it could have this effect I think.

I'm curious as to what the glass capsule parts are in the protection circuit; they are not GDTs, you can see a solid slug inside them, and they are marked "VRxx", and have a (in circuit) resistance of ~190MΩ. There are also some curious smd things labelled "BDxx" that look like slugs of carbon, and measure like a ZoL, but those are usually a ceramic substrate with a "0", right? These look like smd caps made of carbon   

Some macro photos of those mysterious objects would help to identify them, I think. 

You can see the glass capsule components easily enough in the pic I posted; they are just under the first and last PTCs. There's one of the mysterious "BDxx" carbon slugs on the bottom left of the pic, just under the shield contact spring.

If you are referring to what I think you are, the black bit slightly lower down than the shield contact spring, I see that as C7 capacitor 

If they are crapacitors, why are they marked "BDxx" when others in the meter are marked "Cxx"? And why are they all measuring 0Ω? There are nearly a dozen, and in different sections of the board; it's hugely improbable that they would all fail, and all in the same way, and with no visible signs of stress.

Perhaps the BDxx designation stands for "bead".

They could be ferrite beads and will measure close to 0 resistance and maybe a few hundred nH of inductance.

[Vince]

Doesn't those zebra stripes indicate the end of the roll?

Geez you are right ! I just cracked the cassette open and empty it was indeed !!! 
I used only 3 meters worth of tape and it's supposed to be, I checked, EIGHT meters long ! 8 not 3 !!!!!! 

I don't understand....

OK so I just had a quick Google for third party cassettes. OEM cost me, (8 meters long, 9mm wide) 14 Euros. Same ones third party... 10% cheaper and I get THREE cassettes not just one !

OK, ordering....

Yes, I checked the ink roll inside, unrolled it, and you can indeed clearly see each and every label that I printed... I will burn it just in case the Russian are spying for the latest missile guidance system I am working on to help the Ukranian ! 

Talking of spying, I will spy on Discord 5 minutes to see what's going on...

Odd the tapes don't mention the length on them anywhere, looked up the broken TZe-631* on the computer bench (librated from being binned) and that is supposed to be 8m, most of that is probably wasted, unless you type in multiple labels with minimal spacing, for printing all at once.

*need to try & rebuild it, so the used ink roll stays inside. 

David

The small label on the cassette tells you everything you need to know, but the length.
Length is mentioned only on the throw away sealed wrapping the cassette comes in.

I am a bad mouth it seems : I just unrolled the black/ink bobbin to measure it. I get 7.4 meters ! So wow... I used a lot more of the stuff than I thought !
Still, 7.4m is not 8m, so ripoff ! But I can see how they could get away with this in case of a law suit : the BLACK roll is 7.4m.. however, the WHITE part of the label... the part that got mangled and printed with zebra strips..... hence unusable, looks like it is, eyeballing it, like 60cm long ! So 7.4 + 0.6 of unusable crap = 8m ! Sir see, it's 8 meters long, as advertised !! 

[AVGresponding]

If they are crapacitors, why are they marked "BDxx" when others in the meter are marked "Cxx"? And why are they all measuring 0Ω?

SMD 0 Ohm resistors used as wire bridges?

That's my belief, but I've never seen zero-ohms-links like these before. They are normally ceramic chips with carbon/metal film, these are like chunks of carbon in the shape of smd caps, hence the confusion.

Those look like the ferrite beads I design into my projects for EMC compliance. BD = BeaD ?

Greetings,

Rainer

That makes a great deal of sense, I think we have a winner!