What's on your test bench?
in [Design]
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From: John Larkin on 12 Nov 2009 10:02 On Wed, 11 Nov 2009 22:40:51 -0600, krw <krw(a)att.bizzzzzzzzzzz> wrote: >On Wed, 11 Nov 2009 12:13:49 -0000, "Phil O. Sopher" ><invalid(a)invalid.invalid> wrote: > >>Over a 40 year period of interest, I've gathered some >>test equipment, AF Genny, RF Genny, Freq Counter, High >>Impedance Voltmeter, Wheatstone Bridge, Oscilloscope. >> >>None of these is particularly small and all are at least a 6" cube. >> >>It seems to me that the same functionality could be achieved >>these days with perhaps just a few inches of bench space, but, >>would it be of any use? >> >>The eqpt I gathered together dates very much from the days of >>designing circuitry with individual componenents (R, L, C, BJT) >>and offers test and validation at that level, but nowadays we don't >>work at that level (even op amps have been around for that 40 year >>period). >> >>So, what do you have on your test bench these days, how big is it, >>did you design it yourself, and what would you recommend to the >>budding circuit designer of today who isn't in the industry and therefore >>does not have access to Spice or Matlab to validate their designs? > >At home? Nothing, if you don't count a couple of Fluke-77s and a >couple of HF DVMs (left visible, used as bait). I don't do >electronics at home. I get enough in the 55 hours/week or so at work. Agreed. I have an Extech DVM with thermocouple probe, handy for household work and cooking, and a bench power supply, for testing light bulbs and charging batteries. But no electronics! John
From: George Herold on 12 Nov 2009 10:34 On Nov 11, 11:40 pm, krw <k...(a)att.bizzzzzzzzzzz> wrote: > On Wed, 11 Nov 2009 12:13:49 -0000, "Phil O. Sopher" > > > > > > <inva...(a)invalid.invalid> wrote: > >Over a 40 year period of interest, I've gathered some > >test equipment, AF Genny, RF Genny, Freq Counter, High > >Impedance Voltmeter, Wheatstone Bridge, Oscilloscope. > > >None of these is particularly small and all are at least a 6" cube. > > >It seems to me that the same functionality could be achieved > >these days with perhaps just a few inches of bench space, but, > >would it be of any use? > > >The eqpt I gathered together dates very much from the days of > >designing circuitry with individual componenents (R, L, C, BJT) > >and offers test and validation at that level, but nowadays we don't > >work at that level (even op amps have been around for that 40 year > >period). > > >So, what do you have on your test bench these days, how big is it, > >did you design it yourself, and what would you recommend to the > >budding circuit designer of today who isn't in the industry and therefore > >does not have access to Spice or Matlab to validate their designs? > > At home? Nothing, if you don't count a couple of Fluke-77s and a > couple of HF DVMs (left visible, used as bait). I don't do > electronics at home. I get enough in the 55 hours/week or so at work.- Hide quoted text - > > - Show quoted text - The only times I do electronics at home is when I 'mistakenly' power up a new PCB on Friday afternoon. Of course something doesnt work, and I know Ill obsess about over the weekend. The easy solution is to pack up pcb, scope and what ever else Ill need and schlep it home. George H.
From: krw on 12 Nov 2009 19:52 On Thu, 12 Nov 2009 07:02:30 -0800, John Larkin <jjlarkin(a)highNOTlandTHIStechnologyPART.com> wrote: >On Wed, 11 Nov 2009 22:40:51 -0600, krw <krw(a)att.bizzzzzzzzzzz> wrote: > >>On Wed, 11 Nov 2009 12:13:49 -0000, "Phil O. Sopher" >><invalid(a)invalid.invalid> wrote: >> >>>Over a 40 year period of interest, I've gathered some >>>test equipment, AF Genny, RF Genny, Freq Counter, High >>>Impedance Voltmeter, Wheatstone Bridge, Oscilloscope. >>> >>>None of these is particularly small and all are at least a 6" cube. >>> >>>It seems to me that the same functionality could be achieved >>>these days with perhaps just a few inches of bench space, but, >>>would it be of any use? >>> >>>The eqpt I gathered together dates very much from the days of >>>designing circuitry with individual componenents (R, L, C, BJT) >>>and offers test and validation at that level, but nowadays we don't >>>work at that level (even op amps have been around for that 40 year >>>period). >>> >>>So, what do you have on your test bench these days, how big is it, >>>did you design it yourself, and what would you recommend to the >>>budding circuit designer of today who isn't in the industry and therefore >>>does not have access to Spice or Matlab to validate their designs? >> >>At home? Nothing, if you don't count a couple of Fluke-77s and a >>couple of HF DVMs (left visible, used as bait). I don't do >>electronics at home. I get enough in the 55 hours/week or so at work. > >Agreed. I have an Extech DVM with thermocouple probe, handy for >household work and cooking, and a bench power supply, for testing >light bulbs and charging batteries. But no electronics! Funny. I expected flak from you. ;-)
From: krw on 12 Nov 2009 19:53 On Thu, 12 Nov 2009 07:34:49 -0800 (PST), George Herold <ggherold(a)gmail.com> wrote: >On Nov 11, 11:40�pm, krw <k...(a)att.bizzzzzzzzzzz> wrote: >> On Wed, 11 Nov 2009 12:13:49 -0000, "Phil O. Sopher" >> >> >> >> >> >> <inva...(a)invalid.invalid> wrote: >> >Over a 40 year period of interest, I've gathered some >> >test equipment, AF Genny, RF Genny, Freq Counter, High >> >Impedance Voltmeter, Wheatstone Bridge, Oscilloscope. >> >> >None of these is particularly small and all are at least a 6" cube. >> >> >It seems to me that the same functionality could be achieved >> >these days with perhaps just a few inches of bench space, but, >> >would it be of any use? >> >> >The eqpt I gathered together dates very much from the days of >> >designing circuitry with individual componenents (R, L, C, BJT) >> >and offers test and validation at that level, but nowadays we don't >> >work at that level (even op amps have been around for that 40 year >> >period). >> >> >So, what do you have on your test bench these days, how big is it, >> >did you design it yourself, and what would you recommend to the >> >budding circuit designer of today who isn't in the industry and therefore >> >does not have access to Spice or Matlab to validate their designs? >> >> At home? �Nothing, if you don't count a couple of Fluke-77s and a >> couple of HF DVMs (left visible, used as bait). �I don't do >> electronics at home. �I get enough in the 55 hours/week or so at work.- Hide quoted text - >> >> - Show quoted text - > >The only times I do electronics at home is when I 'mistakenly' power >up a new PCB on Friday afternoon. Of course something doesn�t work, >and I know I�ll obsess about over the weekend. The easy solution is >to pack up pcb, scope and what ever else I�ll need and schlep it >home. If necessary I just go into work over the weekend. If there is something that really needs to be done it's no big deal.
From: John Larkin on 12 Nov 2009 20:15
On Thu, 12 Nov 2009 18:52:25 -0600, krw <krw(a)att.bizzzzzzzzzzz> wrote: >On Thu, 12 Nov 2009 07:02:30 -0800, John Larkin ><jjlarkin(a)highNOTlandTHIStechnologyPART.com> wrote: > >>On Wed, 11 Nov 2009 22:40:51 -0600, krw <krw(a)att.bizzzzzzzzzzz> wrote: >> >>>On Wed, 11 Nov 2009 12:13:49 -0000, "Phil O. Sopher" >>><invalid(a)invalid.invalid> wrote: >>> >>>>Over a 40 year period of interest, I've gathered some >>>>test equipment, AF Genny, RF Genny, Freq Counter, High >>>>Impedance Voltmeter, Wheatstone Bridge, Oscilloscope. >>>> >>>>None of these is particularly small and all are at least a 6" cube. >>>> >>>>It seems to me that the same functionality could be achieved >>>>these days with perhaps just a few inches of bench space, but, >>>>would it be of any use? >>>> >>>>The eqpt I gathered together dates very much from the days of >>>>designing circuitry with individual componenents (R, L, C, BJT) >>>>and offers test and validation at that level, but nowadays we don't >>>>work at that level (even op amps have been around for that 40 year >>>>period). >>>> >>>>So, what do you have on your test bench these days, how big is it, >>>>did you design it yourself, and what would you recommend to the >>>>budding circuit designer of today who isn't in the industry and therefore >>>>does not have access to Spice or Matlab to validate their designs? >>> >>>At home? Nothing, if you don't count a couple of Fluke-77s and a >>>couple of HF DVMs (left visible, used as bait). I don't do >>>electronics at home. I get enough in the 55 hours/week or so at work. >> >>Agreed. I have an Extech DVM with thermocouple probe, handy for >>household work and cooking, and a bench power supply, for testing >>light bulbs and charging batteries. But no electronics! > >Funny. I expected flak from you. ;-) There's always LT Spice if I need an electronics fix on weekends. And I'm only about 12 minutes from work. I plan to build a barn behind the cabin in Truckee, and I'll probably have a lab there, so I can play with circuits on days when skiing conditions aren't good. John |