What's on your workbench???

1audio said:
I have long wondered where that stink came from in the Xcelite kits. Particularly the nutdriver kits, even 30 years later.

Still, I have not found a good alternative to the small green handled Xcelite screwdrivers for some adjustments. They have not changed in many years except to get expensive.
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I use these at work. Wiha 92190 Master Technicians Bench Top Set Made in Germany | Wiha Tools USA

They’re really, really good. A great range of flat, phillips, hex, nutdriver and torx screwdrivers in incredibly tiny sizes, and very good quality.
 
Alexandre said:
Hi

This is my Tek 454A. I bought it online, condition as is, from a girl. It belonged to her dad (and apparently to IBM before that). Received a working scope with front cover and three P6106 probes inside🙂

BTW, from Tek Wiki:
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For audio I use a dual channel PC USB oscilloscope.
Its only about 100KHz bandwidth but is OK for square and sine waves up to 100KHz.
It also has FFT function which is good for checking distortion.
I can print out waveforms and save them to a file for later use.
The software has measuring pointers so you can measure time and voltage between two points on the waveform.
100_0073 | KODAK Digital Still Camera | harrabylad | Flickr
 
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Hi Nigel,
If your bandwidth is 100KHz, then your square wave performance is limited to 20 KHz - 25 KHz max as that is 4:1. By 50 KHz your square waves will only have the second harmonic. It is going to look like a distorted sine wave, not a square wave.

Digital oscilloscopes are recommended to be 5 x faster than your highest frequency of interest. 4 x if you can accept some wave form distortion. It's not like an analogue scope anymore.

-Chris
 
anatech said:
Hi Nigel,
If your bandwidth is 100KHz, then your square wave performance is limited to 20 KHz - 25 KHz max as that is 4:1. By 50 KHz your square waves will only have the second harmonic. It is going to look like a distorted sine wave, not a square wave.

Digital oscilloscopes are recommended to be 5 x faster than your highest frequency of interest. 4 x if you can accept some wave form distortion. It's not like an analogue scope anymore.

-Chris
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The op amp bandwidth worst case is 187KHz but the sampling rate is 1,000,000 samples per second. Yes, there is some rounding of square waves depending on frequency. However, I usually check square wave response at 1KHz so its fine for that.
trace2 | harrabylad | Flickr
 
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My workbench is just the top of one of my rollaway tool boxes, the top drawer being the screwdriver drawer. With all the variations and sizes, I just keep fishing around and trying them out until I get one that won’t cam-out of/strip the fastener.

The last couple mini-projects have included the replacement of the feedback capacitors in my Nakamich pa300 car amp. The original silver mica parts made my tweeters sound fuzzy, and some similar sized wima film foil parts took care of it. Put some Russian polystyrene caps in the power supply soon after, replacing the Mylar originals.
Before that it was replacing the original coupling caps in my old SAE 2300. Used some box film for the input positions, and some Silmic ars for the feedback.
 
anatech said:
They really do stink, don't they! Mine still do (nut drivers). Someone in marketing failed on that one.

-Chris
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Apparently the transparent plastic they use, cellulose acetate butyrate, breaks down to butyric acid, the stomach acid that gives vomit it’s smell. If you keep them in a sealed case the stink builds up over time. It’s not something that ever goes away, at least until they run out of plastic to break down.

Today I learned butyric acid is what makes Parmesan cheese smelly (milk breaks down into butyric acid as it goes rancid), and also that American chocolate has butyric acid added for longer shelf life.
 
George -- my dermatologist only takes cash and you can always get an appointment -- always a bunch of old Irish guys (golfers I suppose) in the office getting various nasty bits removed.
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I spent the first 62 years of my life in the south Florida sun. About 15 of those I was at the beach or sailing up and down the coast on my Hobie Cat, usually mid day for several hours, wearing only a pair of shorts, several days a week. I'm going to develop minor skin cancers for the rest of my life even if I never see daylight again.

So far I have been able to control them with wire cutters and Imiquimod. There have been a few that defy my DIY approach, and require a trip to the dermatologist.

Still, I have not found a good alternative to the small green handled Xcelite screwdrivers for some adjustments.
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I still have 3 or 4 LGS's (Xcelite Little Green Screwdriver). Unfortunately they lose their tip after say 40 years.

They really do stink, don't they!
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After 30 years or so of being out of a toolbox, the stink diminishes. Some however turn a chalky white color which also reduces the stink. It seems that the red 1/4 inch and orange 5/16? stink more than the darker colors.
 
Hi Suzy,
Maybe the vomit smell was designed to reduce theft? 🙂

It is the main reason why I didn't buy any more Xcelite tools like that. The cutters and pliers have been fine. Still can't get over the stink. They are lying open in a drawer - so nowhere near as bad as they were in their case. I normally keep tool sets in the case they came in if possible.

Gee, I've had this set since I was a teenager (a young one). I can't believe they have retained their vomit odour! Your explanation brings understanding.

-Chris
 
images.jpeg
One of these.

Dan.
 
I got a well used mixing board a couple of years ago, cheap ($100) now that the current trend is digital. It seem to work OK but I have yet to use more than a few channels at a time. That will change as I build out my modular synth system.
 

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My workbench

Audio Precision System One modified for lower THD
Audio Precision System One x 4 pcs as spares - not modified yet
Audio Precision DCX 127 Multifunction Module
Six 25MHz Kenwood Oscilloscopes
Audio Precision AUX-0025 filter - built by me
Frequency Counter
B&K 3010 Function generator
Rane RE 27
Valhalla Scientific 2100 Digital Power Analyzer
Hewlett Packard HP3435 digital meter x 2 pcs
Hewlett Packard HP8447D 3GHz amplifiers x 2 pcs
Hewlett Packard HP8590 Spectrum Analyzer
Portable digital meters x 4 pcs
Kaise SK100 analog multimeter capable of lighting blue LED on Rx1

Zed Audio
 
MOER said:
Audio Precision System One modified for lower THD
Audio Precision System One x 4 pcs as spares - not modified yet
Audio Precision DCX 127 Multifunction Module
Six 25MHz Kenwood Oscilloscopes
Audio Precision AUX-0025 filter - built by me
Frequency Counter
B&K 3010 Function generator
Rane RE 27
Valhalla Scientific 2100 Digital Power Analyzer
Hewlett Packard HP3435 digital meter x 2 pcs
Hewlett Packard HP8447D 3GHz amplifiers x 2 pcs
Hewlett Packard HP8590 Spectrum Analyzer
Portable digital meters x 4 pcs
Kaise SK100 analog multimeter capable of lighting blue LED on Rx1

Zed Audio
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Good collection!

I'm intrigued by your AP S1 mods - did you publish those, are they available?

Jan
 
Hello,

The new bench is taking shape.

A new cart for storage and wheeling instruments to the bench for testing. The cart came from the the local teaching hospital surplus. Brand new for $0.08 on the dollar, someone ordered the wrong color for a crash cart.

Thanks DT
 

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