Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) : Discussion and Group Therapy Thread

[nixiefreqq]

is 1640 a typo?

or do i have to go looking for one?

Okay, okay, typo HP 1740

well ya' never know. if you had said there really were such an animal, it would have sent me on a frantic search to get one ahead of cub. (and it would also have turned out that he already had two)

thanks!

[tautech]

I recognize that RF generator - have both an A and a B waiting to be fixed - the range mechanism gets gummy and seizes up.
40ACCEAE-3021-46B4-A34E-69E4CA607BE0.jpeg

Not exactly looking forward to it as they’re rather nightmarish to access. They’ve been in the queue for a while now…
8F1BAA2C-820D-4A88-9EA7-C03354471BA1.jpeg

E8B2B361-A9B0-4BDA-8538-8B4DC797D5FA.jpeg

141B61F6-5F9C-45B8-A7C2-18B5AF754F39.jpeg

-Pat

Yep 8654B and looking inside mine to see the twine string range adjust and the so little room to work on it I buttoned it up almost straight away as was not in the mood for a full teardown.
However while it was open I took some pics and posted them here as there wasn't a thread on these when I searched.
https://www.eevblog.com/forum/testgear/ ... -teardown/

I used it a bit and the sticky adjustment was intermittent until you needed to make a larger adjustment then it gave no end of trouble.
Actually it's now surplus to requirements and tried to give it to buddy Defpom but he already had 5 RF gens.
Buddy hendorog didn't have room for it either and after arriving back home with it today realized I didn't offer it to Dubbie whose company was doing the film shoot as we got too busy talking about what we each had been up to.

It checked a few scopes BW when it was the only RF gen I had but now with a hacked SSG3021X to 3.2 GHz I be set for a while.

[tautech]

is 1640 a typo?

or do i have to go looking for one?

Okay, okay, typo HP 1740

well ya' never know. if you had said there really were such an animal, it would have sent me on a frantic search to get one ahead of cub. (and it would also have turned out that he already had two)

thanks!

1740 was the CRO nixie, a quite reasonable 100 MHz one too. I had another some years back with a donor for spares too, both now long gone.
They had delicate cord wrap feet and it was rare to get one with them all intact so that Aussie chap beanflying offered to 3dp some for me. We came up with a model/design very similar to OEM but of much tougher material that he needed to beat with a hammer when held in his vise to break. IIRC that foot design was in his 3dp thread and may also have been uploaded to Thingiverse.

Don't miss them days fucking with old gear one bit !

[Zenith]

The original Battlestar Galactica from the late 70s used a lot of Tek gear, and some assorted HP kit, too.

I'm pretty sure that Lorne Greene wore an HP-01 in that. It was a huge, extremely expensive and very heavy LED watch and calculator.

https://www.hpmuseum.org/hp01.htm

Not one of HP's more successful products.

[bd139]

Sorry to stick a chugging post in here. I'm doing a charity ride for https://www.cpu-london.com/ on 10th September. This is from London to Brighton - 55 miles / 89km. CPU is a therapy service which the NHS withdrew funding for in 2010 (grr) and is running mostly off charity now. They provide low cost/free services to low income people. Any donations appreciated.

If you want to pretend it's paying me to suffer that's equally good as far as I'm concerned

Fundraising page: https://www.justgiving.com/page/christo ... th-ltb2023

Edit: no obligation to donate!

[mnementh]

Just a note, before it's used up: page 69...

mnem
"he sed 69... heh-heh... heh-heh... heh-heh..."

[nixiefreqq]

the freqq stopped wearing rings about 25 years ago. my habit was to take them off before working on anything electrical (or lifting in the weight room). as a result they kept getting lost. was afraid swmbo was gonna' smother me in my sleep after losing my wedding band. rather than risk losing another, the replacement went in her jewelry box and stayed there.

thought that i had found a solution when multiple web

ring1.jpg

sites kept telling me that tungsten carbide rings are non conductive and safe for electrical work.

found one on ebay.

it is heavy as hell. (that matches tungsten).

it is etched with "tungsten carbide". (why would they lie?)

tried to scratch it with a dental probe and could not leave a mark (it sure is hard.... like tungsten carbide)

but the fluke says it is conductive. really conductive.

maybe one of you brainiacs can unconfuddle me.

[tautech]

If it's metallic it's conductive !

Get a plastic band and paint it with non conductive paint.

[Cubdriver]

My old one certainly is!

EDE40EA2-1B7B-4BD6-87BD-83ECC15B5A83.jpeg

(Took a bit to find it - it’s been 10 years since I’ve had it on.)

-Pat

[BU508A]

the freqq stopped wearing rings about 25 years ago. my habit was to take them off before working on anything electrical (or lifting in the weight room). as a result they kept getting lost. was afraid swmbo was gonna' smother me in my sleep after losing my wedding band. rather than risk losing another, the replacement went in her jewelry box and stayed there.

thought that i had found a solution when multiple webring1.jpg sites kept telling me that tungsten carbide rings are non conductive and safe for electrical work.

found one on ebay.

it is heavy as hell. (that matches tungsten).

it is etched with "tungsten carbide". (why would they lie?)

tried to scratch it with a dental probe and could not leave a mark (it sure is hard.... like tungsten carbide)

but the fluke says it is conductive. really conductive.

maybe one of you brainiacs can unconfuddle me.

From Wikipedia:
"Tungsten carbide's low electrical resistivity of about 0.2 µΩ·m is comparable with that of some metals (e.g. vanadium 0.2 µΩ·m).[11][20]"

Source:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tungsten_carbide

[nixiefreqq]

ok....are they trying to kill people?

from a jewelry web site:

"Tungsten carbide makes a good electrician ring. It's strong, wears well, and is resistant to corrosion. But you're probably wondering how an electrician could use this - isn't tungsten a metal? It's true that tungsten conducts electricity, but things are different in ring form when combined with other alloys to form Tungsten-Carbide.. It becomes non-conductive cemented carbide when it becomes a ring."

another:

"But do tungsten carbide rings conduct electricity?

Because of this, there is no reason to be concerned when wearing a tungsten ring. It is even safer than traditional rings made of precious metals because it has lower conductivity."

and this one:

"What type of ring does not conduct electricity?
For entirely non-conductive rings (at least theoretically), you may want to try out rings made of silicone, tungsten carbide, seranite, cobalt, ceramic, wood, bone, antler, or glass fiber."


my favorite:

"When it comes to electrical conductivity, the metal tungsten carbide belongs to the steel family. So, what’s the deal with it being on my to-wear list? It all comes down to how the material is treated into jewelry. The metal is powdered and molded into a cemented carbide shape to create a ring.

After the procedure, you’ll get a ceramic rather than metallic tungsten carbide. Such metals are unable to conduct current, resulting in tungsten wedding rings that are non-conductive. Isn’t that cool?

As a result, electricians can wear tungsten wedding rings as jewelry without fear of negative consequences."



so is there really such a thing as ceramic tungsten carbide vs metallic tungsten carbide? how do you tell the difference in a ring? or is this just made up marketing wank?

[BU508A]

Perhaps you have to look for a real ceramic ring.
Based on what I've read about Tungsten carbide I'd say it is almost always conducting. No idea, why those people write such crap.

Example for a ceramic ring:
https://www.ebay.com/itm/272762275942

[Specmaster]

Perhaps you have to look for a real ceramic ring.
Based on what I've read about Tungsten carbide I'd say it is almost always conducting. No idea, why those people write such crap.

Example for a ceramic ring:
https://www.ebay.com/itm/272762275942

Thats easy to explain, its just plain old marketing departments doing what they do best, sprout a load of BS.

[mnementh]

My guess would be some marketeering wanker conflated tungsten carbide with silicon carbide (there are some jewelry companies flogging the stuff as a gemstone) when researching to write their ad copy, and that product then became the template almost everyone stole from due to its success.

Or possibly the fact that Ridge, one of the biggest names in Tungsten jewelry, offers all their rings with a matching silicone insert for comfort, and some moron assumed that made them electrically safe.

mnem

[mansaxel]

I only wear my titan wedding band on a finger to formal occasions when I've also donned shirt and (bow)tie. Other than that, I've got a strong loop of "micro-paracord" round my neck, on which the ring sits using a Cow Hitch which makes the arrangement reversible yet possible to trust.

The electrickal compatibility of this arrangement is just a bonus -- the real reason is that I never got used to wearing rings, and we married late, me nearing 40.

[mnementh]

Ehhh... mine now sports the "embedded" look. I can still get it off without too much misery... but you can def still tell where it was.

mnem
marked for life, yo.

[bd139]

My slavery scar wore off years ago

[mnementh]

Fuck off & die, Chris!

mnem
...am I sure I want to wish him a real happy ending...?

[tggzzz]

Anybody want a project? Before gurgling, I'd have guessed "Nagard" was French, but apparently it is Brixton of all places.

Surprisingly pleasant colour scheme
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/305038282139

s-l1600.jpg

[Specmaster]

Anybody want a project? Before gurgling, I'd have guessed "Nagard" was French, but apparently it is Brixton of all places.

Surprisingly pleasant colour scheme
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/305038282139

s-l1600.jpg

Strange, I'd never heard of them before either but a bit of Googling tracked them down a place called Belmont and the road where the factory once stood, is now part of a housing estate.

https://storycase.co.uk/radio/wp-conten ... ochure.pdf

[mnementh]

Thing looks like a Rick & Morty reject...

mnem
ehhh... so do I, some mornings...

[MED6753]

Anybody want a project? Before gurgling, I'd have guessed "Nagard" was French, but apparently it is Brixton of all places.

Surprisingly pleasant colour scheme
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/305038282139

s-l1600.jpg

Can you say "fucking ugly"? I can. Holy shit that thing is fucking ugly.

[mnementh]

Anybody want a project? Before gurgling, I'd have guessed "Nagard" was French, but apparently it is Brixton of all places.

Surprisingly pleasant colour scheme

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/305038282139

Can you say "fucking ugly"? I can. Holy shit that thing is fucking ugly.

Hush... before Anders brings his new favorite "fugly Chinesium DMM" over here to infect us all...

mnem
"Not even with rented lips." ~me

[Robert]

Judging from the single multi-pin connector on the back it's missing a separate power supply unit.

[bd139]

This came into my head when I saw that

790-LEXX.jpg