Test Equipment Anonymous

Agreed, cats love heat which would drive any human into heat stroke.

tggzzz wrote: ↑Sat Jun 28, 2025 7:02 pm And today's xkcd involves cats: https://xkcd.com/3108

Harley indeed goes nuts over laser pointers.

Damn cat. :roll: So today I'm putting up a curtain rod. Blondie comes into the lab holding one of the wall anchors I need. Found on the kitchen floor. I keep forgetting that I can't leave small parts on the lab benches unattended. :shock: Yesterday Blondie makes the mistake of leaving a cake with cr...

"This is my box and you can't have it"

it has been 29C here, 33C near London, looks like bits of France hit 38C. Definitely pants[1] and beer weather. RH is 50-60% so relatively tolerable. No aircon, unless you count an electric fan. [1] UK meaning, of course. What is the UK meaning of "pants"? Pants as in a wearable item or p...

Batten down the hatches, turn on the A/C, and stay the hell inside.

The last time there was any sort of fight in our Congress/Senate was 1902 when one senator punched another. Given the ranker and bad blood with our current elected officials I think they are well overdue for a full on donnybrook. :lol: Hasn't it already started, in the same way WW3 has started? Yes...

The last time there was any sort of fight in our Congress/Senate was 1902 when one senator punched another. Given the ranker and bad blood with our current elected officials I think they are well overdue for a full on donnybrook.

I've never seen Farnell equipment on this side of the pond but it turns out they do own Newark Electronics.

I hate it when I'm sick during vacation time. I did recently discover that under UK law, you can claim back the holiday days, and book them as sick days instead. Obviously this is only viable if you get full sick pay (I do), with no waiting period I'm not sure if it's Canadian law or company policy...

If you're gonna work on old Tek iron you need your extenders. The solid one is for 560 series scopes. The smaller one in the center is a home made 500 series extender. And then we have a modified JAMMA cable for 5000 series and TM500 series. https://imagizer.imageshack.com/v2/xq70/924/CyRHo2.jpg

Calibration of the 5B13N Time Base. As mentioned before the trigger works fine in both Normal and Auto mode but there is no baseline free run trace in the absence of a trigger in Auto mode. The manual states there should be. There isn't. All the trigger functions are contained in one IC. Here is the...

This CRT is not as bright as I think it should be and it exhibits double peaking which indicates lots of hours. I see. Mine is possibly a bit better. And has readouts. Probably peak analog audio scope in some ways that. Low bandwidth, large CRT, lots of inputs (I've 4 on mine, 2 per module) and ver...

mansaxel wrote: ↑Tue May 27, 2025 7:29 pm

MED6753 wrote: ↑Tue May 27, 2025 7:28 pm Calibrations. First up, the 5A15N Vertical Amplifier.

That series of CRT are gorgeous to look at! I really like mine too.

This CRT is not as bright as I think it should be and it exhibits double peaking which indicates lots of hours.

Calibrations. First up, the 5A15N Vertical Amplifier. https://imagizer.imageshack.com/v2/xq70/923/Wln2rj.jpg Not much to calibrate in this plug-in. Just needed a slight gain adjustment. https://imagizer.imageshack.com/v2/xq70/922/PB4S1w.jpg Next, the 5A20N Differential Amplifier. This one was a bit ...

The male end of the cable was notched to clear the keys. A dremel with a rasp bit made quick work of the process. I marked both ends of the cable "TOP" to insure correct orientation end to end. And I did not install keys in the female connector. Not necessary as long as correct orientation...

You guys are forgetting that up until very recently it was common practice on nearly all equipment to have mains exposed internally and it was up to you to be aware and be safe. And if you weren't then you shouldn't be in there.

The 8800A has piano key switches and the mains switch is at the rear and in a compartment. It's operated by a rod, which is moved by a lever arrangement from the piano key. The lever can come loose and is a bit fiddly to reinstall, but generally causes no problems. I have had that whole assembly ja...

Here's some internal views of my 8600A. Those Philips crapacitors in the PSU had to go. I went exclusively radial caps since axials are getting rare and expensive. Replaced some of the tants too. I haven't had any issues with the regulators. I also have a parts unit just in case some unobtainium par...

To us techs on the production area these 8000A's were "the Bomb". The "bees knees". Greatest thing since sliced bread. We had never seen or used a small and compact DMM with LED's. So all these many years later I wanted one and then found out what a piece of crap it was. This was...

Bulgin plugs. Memories of Quad ESL 57 speakers there. Anyways, the Fluke 8000A multimeter is a disappointment. This is not the sort of product you'd expect to see the Fluke name on. Micronta or some other Radio Shack branding, sure, but not fluke. I guess every company releases a basketcase of junk...

Zenith wrote: ↑Mon May 19, 2025 10:40 pm They have a savage grandeur which many find fascinating. Valve scopes are probably now a bit too savage for most.

Give me savage or give me death.

Based on this thread, shouldn't we declare Fluke products as a crap shoot..... Gimme a mo to grab my hat and coat.... I have several Flukes here. 8600A, 8010A, 8050A, 8800A and they all perform well. In addition to hand helded 8021B, 8060A, and 87. The 8000A is the only dud . Yup, all brands have t...

tautech wrote: ↑Mon May 19, 2025 10:02 pm Based on this thread, shouldn't we declare Fluke products as a crap shoot.....
Gimme a mo to grab my hat and coat....

I have several Flukes here. 8600A, 8010A, 8050A, 8800A and they all perform well. In addition to hand helded 8021B, 8060A, and 87. The 8000A is the only dud.

Look more closely, especially at the other side of the connector (with Fluke blue shroud reinstalled) and see there is a shroud made of - wait for it - perforated card?! Involuntary shudder, as I remember Bulgin connectors. Bulgin plugs. Memories of Quad ESL 57 speakers there. Anyways, the Fluke 80...