Time to tidy up for a new project!

[Geoff Quickfall]

The office after two projects were done. Hurricane Geoff went through.

Now to tidy up and then work on a Panamatik HP 01 module.

What does your office look like?



After picture in an hour :-)

[AnnoyedOne]

I once worked at a company where a manager would occasionally ask the engineers to "clean up the lab". Oh the horror! We did actual work in there

Anyway after a few half-hearted efforts the manager got smart. "We'll cash in any scrap metal and buy pizza with it". After that we'd have a clean lab for a few days at least We couldn't find anything but the lab was "clean".

A1

[Geoff Quickfall]

Tidied up!

And I can still find stuff!

“AnnoyedOne” yes, last thing I want is my wife to tidy it up!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[AnnoyedOne]

(08-31-2024 06:05 PM)Geoff Quickfall Wrote:  ....last thing I want is my wife to tidy it up!

Well all that "junk" would be gone and you could see the walls.

BTW is that a HP-20S I spy in the 1st row (3rd pic down) of the calculator display case?

And a mini lathe. Nice!

A1

[Maximilian Hohmann]

Hello Geoff,

is the Apollo DSKY a "working" replica or one of these cardboard glue-yourself-together desktop ornaments?
And you have something that looks like a Vectrex! Unfortunately I was too late when I started looking for one as their prices have skyrocketed.

Regards
Max

[Geoff Quickfall]

Yes, that is a fully functional Vetrex which I recapped and modified the audio circuit to remove the static hum that was found on all the modules.

I have some original functioning cartridges but also a CART module that is new and contains all the games!




Yes, a fully functional DSKY in as much as it is a working simulator with:




- GPS
- RTC clock
- Arduino
- audio synced to display for a launch sequence and Apollo landing sequence plus much more.
- three axis accelerometers

Here is a video I did of the Apollo 11 1202 and 1201 errors during descent synched to the display.

DSKY apollo 11 1202 1201 synched to audio

Cheers

[Geoff Quickfall]

That’s an HP 42S with an expanded to 32K of memoy.

[cdmackay]

An Aladdin's cave of wonders

[ctrclckws]

My wife is also on my case to clean up the house and throw out all my junk.

Of course, it's not junk to me.

Sadly, I don't even have a man cave of my own to keep my useful stuff in. Even if I don't need it often.

[BruceH]

I can't quite get my head around a lathe that's not sitting in a pool of oil. It must be photoshopped... ;-)

[BobVA]

Sony Air-8? We can be friends. :-)

A truly "unique" U/I!

[Ren]

(08-31-2024 07:37 PM)Maximilian Hohmann Wrote:  is the Apollo DSKY a "working" replica or one of these cardboard glue-yourself-together desktop ornaments?

Where? I missed that!

[edit] Oh! I see it in the later replies!

[Geoff Quickfall]

4 air 8s and a Pro with new caps and audio squelch controls which ALWAYS fail. Those damned smd caps Sony used in the 90’s!

If you want to see the DSKY running the Apollo 11 landing simulation, audio is synched with the digital display:

Check my dropbox link here:

Apollo 11 last 5 minutes to touch down with the 1201 and 1202 error messages

Cheers

[BobVA]

(09-03-2024 01:55 AM)Geoff Quickfall Wrote:  4 air 8s and a Pro with new caps and audio squelch controls which ALWAYS fail. Those damned smd caps Sony used in the 90’s!

Pro 80! All the fun of the Air-8, plus an extra box to fiddle with. I loved that thing! :-)

I've really perfected my SMD electrolytic removal technique on a seemingly endless stream of friends SW-1's. But, much like the Pro-80, the industrial design is just too cool to not fix them. Peak Bauhaus/Braun era for Sony.

But Geoff, you need to look into Minidisc. A whole new world of little friends to rescue :-)

[Geoff Quickfall]

Oooohhhhhhh noooooooooooooooo,

Minidisc!!!!

[Jase]

Thank you for the pictures. I love to see how others organize their valuables.
It looks like your daily driver is a hp 41. I still have yet to get my hands on one, but hopefully it won't be long.

[AnnoyedOne]

(09-03-2024 02:21 AM)BobVA Wrote:  I've really perfected my SMD electrolytic removal technique...

Decades ago while assembling prototype hardware, I accidentally soldered a SMD tantalum capacitor in backwards. When I applied power to run some tests things were fine for about 30 seconds. Then said capacitor took off from the board, like a rocket, flew across the room in flames, and landed on some carpet burning a hole in it. The moral of the story: treat tantalum capacitors well or they'll react violently.

I can also relate the story of a large electrolytic capacitor (power supply) depositing its contents on the ceiling after being wired backwards. I didn't do that.

Many EE's theorise that electronic components are made with a smoke pocket built-in. Abuse them and "the smoke gets out" I've seen my fair share of said smoke.

A1

[Geoff Quickfall]

Many EE's theorise that electronic components are made with a smoke pocket built-in. Abuse them and "the smoke gets out" Smile I've seen my fair share of said smoke




AHHHHH

The infamous smoke test! Plug it in, if it smokes, unplug it, if it doesn't; use it!

[Maximilian Hohmann]

Hello!

(09-03-2024 11:48 PM)Geoff Quickfall Wrote:  The infamous smoke test! Plug it in, if it smokes, unplug it, if it doesn't; use it!

Recently I acquired the innards of a home-made Nixie clock. With 8 tubes because it also displays tens and hundreds of seconds, whatever that may be good for. Attached a cable, plugged it in, all tubes light up - so far so good. But no way to set the time, it obvioulsy only works with a time-radio receiver (DCF 77) attached. Found one in one of my many boxes, connected it, there were only three contacts "+5V", "Gnd" and "signal". Plugged it in, as before, all tubes light up but no time display even after waiting for an hour for the receiver to get it's signal. So disconnected the receiver again and plugged it in once again to see those beautiful tubes glow in the dark: Bang! go the diodes and capacitor of the power supply. No idea why, all I did was disconnect the radio receiver.... Luckily the tubes survived and I have a chinese kit for a Nixie clock somewhere for which I can use them.

Regarding those beautiful Sony Air 7/8 radios: Use them as long as there is still something to listen to! Here in Europe, AM radio has been discontinued many years ago in many countries, Germany will start taking analog FM radios off the air one after the other beginning next year and Air Band has been switched from 25kHz to 8.33kHz channel spacing. I recently retired my 30 year old Icom tranceiver that I used to carry with me as an emergency radio when instructing because it has become totally unusable.

Regard
Max

[AnnoyedOne]

(09-04-2024 02:49 PM)Maximilian Hohmann Wrote:  Bang! go the diodes and capacitor of the power supply. No idea why, all I did was disconnect the radio receiver...

Possibly a bad capacitor (low impedance) in the DCF 77 receiver overloading the clocks power supply. They can do that with age.