Test Equipment Anonymous

It was actually a well thought out con. Freezer level temperature does affect the crystaline structure of some alloys. For example in aviation after annealling rivets they work harden at room temperature. This can be slowed by keeping them in a freezer. The treated fuse that blew quickly was obviou...

I've seen very high value (100A plus) fuses filled with sand (or something). I assumed it was there for quenching. When it blows you want it to stop conducting, not to continue as an arc. Well, these cigars are 30A, but also "Eaton Bussmann Series Class RK5 fuse, FRS-R, time-delay, dual-elemen...

The eevblog video posted yesterday ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6TYtdpbFWuA ) about fuse characteristics being permanently changed by exposure to low temperature was interesting. He was showing fuses in the context of current shunt overcurrent protection in multimeters. Dave didn't mention any ...

I spotted another zombie brand that's been brought back from the dead at Canadian Tire this evening: https://imagizer.imageshack.com/v2/800x600q70/923/8k4kV8.jpg Larger version to make the fine print readable: https://imagizer.imageshack.com/v2/1600x1200q70/923/8k4kV8.jpg The cringe inducing irony o...

The Strand is in the West End; that would have been deserted since most things would have been shut by law on a Sunday, except newspaper shops and corner shops. In some ways I miss Sunday being special, but not in others. There are some counties in New Jersey that still have Sunday "Blue Laws&...

Here, most appliances introduced the last 25 or so years have been made efficient enough to work from single phase 230V mains, which means they can be and are fed from a single Schuko (CEE 7/3 outlet, for a 7/4 or 7/7 plug) outlet. Hard-wiring appliances was common up to the 1970s, whereas it now i...

Putting the dead oven element on the insulation tester did not give the results I was expecting. I figured it would be shorted or resistive to the outer casing but that checked out fine from both ends. What I did see was: https://imagizer.imageshack.com/v2/800x600q70/924/sqIgju.jpg https://imagizer...

tggzzz wrote: ↑Sat Mar 22, 2025 12:05 am
Piccadilly by Night London 1960 by Elmar Ludwig

Piccadilly by Night? According to Guinness Time there, the picture was taken at 5:18 PM! Night? Just how early was bedtime back then?

When it rains, it pours. It was Wednesday evening. I had a duck cooking on the rotisserie on the barbecue and two trays of vegetables roasting in the oven in the kitchen until I smelled this awful acrid metallic smell. I opened the oven door and took a look inside and saw the bake element was in the...

As for the larger issue surrounding the whole shitty mess... yeah, it's a shitty mess. As has been mentioned; "volunteer" shitty mess. :roll: It sucks, but I think this is a "pick your battles" scenario. You're probably best off treating it as a life lesson about working with du...

In this case it'll be a bit drawn-out, I'd wager. My experience with 3DP suggests this process: 1: Get parts to a nerd-friend who 3DPs. Bring lots of favorite food/alcohol. 2: Brainstorm a design in Frustion3D; print it. 3: Get close; redesign, print again. 4: repeat step 3 n times, where n = point...

I guess this is a final update on the clamp meter. A bit of back and forth with Keysight. In the first email they said the back cover's available but couldn't find the jaw. I replied with the jaw and part number from the parts list on their website and they emailed back saying it's unavailable and c...

Some miscellaneous bench puttering around the last few days. I also had a nasty surprise at home when I got back from that trip. There was a small water leak from shutoff valve for the toilet when it's closed and it dribbled down to the basement and got some stuff wet. Nothing got damaged though. Th...

If the result would be safe to use, consider using some of the plastic solvents to repair the crack. The cracked back panel's the lesser of the broken parts - the big problem is the broken jaw. Unfortunately, when it broke, it didn't break cleanly, enough material was lost when the plastic crumbled...

"Broken" and "Expensive". Everything was going fine until someone asked to borrow my clamp meter and then destroyed it. I won't be lending my tools out anymore after this. Everything started out fine: https://imagizer.imageshack.com/v2/800x600q70/923/k82Xrc.jpg The power feed to ...

Chinesium TE has its place on a working workbench or on a tinkerer's sidebench. No judgement from this tinkerdwagon. :D mnem whatever it takes. https://imagizer.imageshack.com/v2/800x600q70/922/n4zBgd.jpg The Fnirsi order came in the day before I was due to travel on vacation and I was tied up with...

Chinesium TE has its place on a working workbench or on a tinkerer's sidebench. No judgement from this tinkerdwagon. :D mnem whatever it takes. https://imagizer.imageshack.com/v2/800x600q70/922/n4zBgd.jpg The Fnirsi order came in the day before I was due to travel on vacation and I was tied up with...

By useful coincidence: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CXSojAGOlDY&list=WL&index=94 Typical yootoob:takes forever to say something. How long did he spend twittering about capacitor leakage measurements? Nonetheless: he indicated the big resistors were heaters for when it was cold. Possible,...

Next project. hp 211A Square Wave Generator. From Facebook Marketplace. Extremely dirty on the outside and the cabinet will need re-painting. Papa Smurf's paint shop will be opened and will spray it gray. https://imagizer.imageshack.com/v2/xq70/923/ise1vQ.jpg https://imagizer.imageshack.com/v2/xq70...

Apparently reel to reel has had a comeback in recent years, especially with some prominent artistes and a section of audiophiles. Are they still made? No, but tape is being made again, I believe. There was a crisis when BASF and Ampex both had quit, IIRC, but there was a resurgence and manufacturin...

Any idea what tape machine that is? An obsolete one! My guess would be upper consumer level deck from Technics or perhaps Akai. If I never have to work with tape again, I am a happy person. OTOH, my record player: https://vvv.besserwisser.org/Public/Bilder/tea/very-satisfying.mov The Mono/Stereo bu...

An FYI for anyone interested: Fnirsi has a 10% off Valentine's sale on this weekend. I've been a bit back and forth on ordering an SG-004A signal generator/calibrator for a while now, had looked at an SG-003A that was listed locally and messaged the seller but he never replied, and was talking about...

Thanks for the 8120A upload to BAMA, though interestingly enough, the 8100A is closer... The inverter and display driver in the 8125A are closer to the 8100A, on the board , though interestingly the schematic for the 8120A is closer, but the parts list shows lots of the components that are in the 8...

Nice! I can't wait for you to post a few pictures of it lit up in action!

https://imagizer.imageshack.com/v2/800x600q70/924/Xm3JiM.jpg I picked up this Minicircuits 20 dB attenuator off eBay a little bit ago and have been struggling to find time to check it out on the bench. Sleep proved to be elusive before work tonight so I ended up going downstairs, putting some music...