Here is my philosophy. Imagine you had to build this oscilloscope, (or anything else for thst matter) right from scratch…going out with a pick to start digging the minerals from the ground to purify to oxides, to reduce to metals, to fabricste parts to make your unit. Seen like this it was VAST and daunting! Now look at it like this…somebody has “gifted” you “99.99999%” of an oscilloscope for fifty bucks…all you need is that last 0.000001% to make it complete. Ever seen people surviving on a desert island, just a half decent dry bed is a “gift from the gods”. We have all become too “spoiled”…complex stuff is just “too easy” to procure…out very thinking processes have become glitched! So this is what I admire about you…just like myself, you see that you have pretty much a whole, complex unit snd it is just “a little” work to make it complete. There sre a great many who will come back and say…it’s just not worth it! They evoke MONEY into the situation, however this whole process is NOT about money…it is about knowledge and understanding extracted from the equipment and its manuals bit by precious bit. Much of this era of Tek and HP gear had manuals so good, so well documented..that it is possible for anyone who can read and has a bit of common sense to LEARN from this stuff..and that is what this is all about. I heve TONS of electronic stuff, four 20’ shipping containers full and more. People would quip, “what do you want all thst ‘junk’ for?” The fact thsy had to ask this question meant that their thinking had beenso conditioned by marketing and advertising that thay were effectively “blinded” to the true value of things, particularly manufactured and engineered things, around them! What is important here is Frankie’s perseverence to persevere, to go the hsrd yards and in doing so learn…learn that a simple change over switch could go fully open and get the program in the micro stuck in a sub-routine loop forever waiting for “message/interupt” from a closed set of contacts that would never come. And that the fault was “so obvious” once it was found in hindsight, but, actually no…many hours of exacting brain power were needed to gat there. So, yes, really looking forward to see this CRO “live” again. thid gesr and those who designed it represents some of the very best electronics ever made and as such deserves respect..and it is the respect shown here that is impressive. This gear was useful when it was first designed and it is still useful today. One could build an external trigger module that allows it to trigger on virious modern digital signals like CAN or USB so they can be viewed and captured more easily and such an external add-on would extend the capabilities if such an instrument. I must mention the internet community, various blogs, such as EEV and Wikis such as Tek Wiki…these make the endevours one sees here much more feasable in a mich shorter timespan…pity not all of the “i-Generation” realize this ability to teach one’s self using the internat as an instructor-helper. Really looking foward to the stage where you can run all the self-test routines. Those “click-on, click-off” switches…thry can be pulled apart to get at the sliding contacts…which are made from beryllium-copper 5%-95% alloy, but it is REALLY FIDDLY, just watch the “racetrack” spring,at the top of the plunger at the front, under ar little copper lesf. If you choose to dissasemble, do it in a clean, empty space, so if a tiny spring or circlip flies out, it will be easy to retrieve!
Wow thank you again Globe Collector for the kind words and detailed synoposis. I do feel I must be a lot like you (minus the brains and experience 😂) Can't help but contain my excitement when it comes to learning something new or solving a problem during a repair like this - it is truly a great feeling of accomplishment. That's why I love doing it. And to upload the videos on here and have people like yourself add much valued input is just an additional bonus! It's true the internet can be such a valuable tool for learning. In additional to hands-on approach - it is how I've taught myself electronics. I cannot wait for the attenuators to come in so I can continue the repair of the analog circuitry and get into some performance checks (and potentially calibration adjustments). I also ordered some replacement gang switches - unfortunately I will just have to replace all 5 of them (they are all tied together with a metal bracket that would be more trouble than it is worth to remove and separate them). On closer inspection, the #2 memory that caused the digital fault had a large crack underneath it. The previous owner must have been too rough with it or something. But its really unfortunate that companies have transformed the nature of our society regarding repair. We have been conditioned to just throw away and buy new. You have a new sense of how valuable something is to you when you repair it yourself. But unfortunately companies have systematically made it more difficult for the customer to repair things themselves. This needs to change ASAP. The implications are vast from environmental, financial, hindering small businesses, etc... the list goes on and on. Thanks again for taking the time to watch and comment!
Your perseverance has paid off Man! Have enjoyed watching...
Thanks I'm glad you enjoyed it! Still more to come to get this fully operational!
Here is my philosophy.
Imagine you had to build this oscilloscope, (or anything else for thst matter) right from scratch…going out with a pick to start digging the minerals from the ground to purify to oxides, to reduce to metals, to fabricste parts to make your unit. Seen like this it was VAST and daunting!
Now look at it like this…somebody has “gifted” you “99.99999%” of an oscilloscope for fifty bucks…all you need is that last 0.000001% to make it complete. Ever seen people surviving on a desert island, just a half decent dry bed is a “gift from the gods”. We have all become too “spoiled”…complex stuff is just “too easy” to procure…out very thinking processes have become glitched!
So this is what I admire about you…just like myself, you see that you have pretty much a whole, complex unit snd it is just “a little” work to make it complete. There sre a great many who will come back and say…it’s just not worth it! They evoke MONEY into the situation, however this whole process is NOT about money…it is about knowledge and understanding extracted from the equipment and its manuals bit by precious bit.
Much of this era of Tek and HP gear had manuals so good, so well documented..that it is possible for anyone who can read and has a bit of common sense to LEARN from this stuff..and that is what this is all about.
I heve TONS of electronic stuff, four 20’ shipping containers full and more. People would quip, “what do you want all thst ‘junk’ for?” The fact thsy had to ask this question meant that their thinking had beenso conditioned by marketing and advertising that thay were effectively “blinded” to the true value of things, particularly manufactured and engineered things, around them!
What is important here is Frankie’s perseverence to persevere, to go the hsrd yards and in doing so learn…learn that a simple change over switch could go fully open and get the program in the micro stuck in a sub-routine loop forever waiting for “message/interupt” from a closed set of contacts that would never come. And that the fault was “so obvious” once it was found in hindsight, but, actually no…many hours of exacting brain power were needed to gat there.
So, yes, really looking forward to see this CRO “live” again. thid gesr and those who designed it represents some of the very best electronics ever made and as such deserves respect..and it is the respect shown here that is impressive. This gear was useful when it was first designed and it is still useful today. One could build an external trigger module that allows it to trigger on virious modern digital signals like CAN or USB so they can be viewed and captured more easily and such an external add-on would extend the capabilities if such an instrument.
I must mention the internet community, various blogs, such as EEV and Wikis such as Tek Wiki…these make the endevours one sees here much more feasable in a mich shorter timespan…pity not all of the “i-Generation” realize this ability to teach one’s self using the internat as an instructor-helper.
Really looking foward to the stage where you can run all the self-test routines. Those “click-on, click-off” switches…thry can be pulled apart to get at the sliding contacts…which are made from beryllium-copper 5%-95% alloy, but it is REALLY FIDDLY, just watch the “racetrack” spring,at the top of the plunger at the front, under ar little copper lesf. If you choose to dissasemble, do it in a clean, empty space, so if a tiny spring or circlip flies out, it will be easy to retrieve!
Wow thank you again Globe Collector for the kind words and detailed synoposis. I do feel I must be a lot like you (minus the brains and experience 😂) Can't help but contain my excitement when it comes to learning something new or solving a problem during a repair like this - it is truly a great feeling of accomplishment. That's why I love doing it. And to upload the videos on here and have people like yourself add much valued input is just an additional bonus! It's true the internet can be such a valuable tool for learning. In additional to hands-on approach - it is how I've taught myself electronics.
I cannot wait for the attenuators to come in so I can continue the repair of the analog circuitry and get into some performance checks (and potentially calibration adjustments). I also ordered some replacement gang switches - unfortunately I will just have to replace all 5 of them (they are all tied together with a metal bracket that would be more trouble than it is worth to remove and separate them). On closer inspection, the #2 memory that caused the digital fault had a large crack underneath it. The previous owner must have been too rough with it or something.
But its really unfortunate that companies have transformed the nature of our society regarding repair. We have been conditioned to just throw away and buy new. You have a new sense of how valuable something is to you when you repair it yourself. But unfortunately companies have systematically made it more difficult for the customer to repair things themselves. This needs to change ASAP. The implications are vast from environmental, financial, hindering small businesses, etc... the list goes on and on.
Thanks again for taking the time to watch and comment!
Great news ! big old bite out of that elephant....cheers!
Thanks! This win definitely felt good 😂