Viewer Requested Lab Tour

[@srtamplification]

Just subscribed. Only 13 more. Good luck.

[@Edisson.]

Hello, thank you very much for such a detailed tour, I was an idiot who even watched the video, now I'll have restless sleep and shout Tektronix at night 😂 You have it very beautifully done, but most importantly, unlike me, you have space. Nice day 🙂 Tom

[@MonkeyUnit]

41:21 Definitely not a 555. :-) Fantastic setup you have. Thanks for the excellent tour.

[@HipocratesAG]

What a cool lab!!

[@borispoltorak]

We love you Zen 😘

[@Sigmatechnica]

Always interesting to see other peoples working spaces and how they lay everything out. love that desk in particular, i went for 90cm deep when i built my current one and it's not enough

[@ThePapa41]

What about an Isolation Transformer? Very nice lab! Louis

[@ZenwizardStudios]

Thanks Louis, They are hiding under the bench. I might have missed them in filing due to not interacting with them much because of being permanently wired in. There are 2 units one for 120Vac devices and one set up for 240Vac devices. Location on the bench is lower left under the bench mounted to the left support leg. Both are 1000Va units and can handle 8ish amps of 120 and 4ish amps of 240. They are wired in to the 2 power strips on the front legs labled "isolated" as well as the center power strip on the back of the bench also labeled isolated. The labeling is so I remember. The main 3 power strips I use on the bench are in a U looking straight back. the 2 on the uprights are grounded full mains current. The center power strip is the, isolated dim-bulb and variac supply. This is further monitored by the Voltech PM100 in line with the DUT. ALL that being said I might have over built it a bit? If it is a topic of interest I could do a separate video on the setup.

[@Andrew-rc3vh]

You have enough there to start a small museum. Some of those units are beautifully manufactured but like steam engines not a lot of good because all electronics now is going digital. Even if the fault is in the RF it is just easier to change the module.

[@zaphodelektra960]

Great video and insight into your working space Zen. Unfortunately it also made me see how much I still have to go through...I am sure the 1K subs milestone is very near!!! Regards from Down Under.

[@MikeFikes]

Thanks for the tour. Nice combination of old and new gear; they complement each other in a very pragmatic way.

[@PapasDino]

Thanks for taking the time to put together the tour, very nice! Happy New Year!

[@ztechrepairs]

Its beautiful!

[@jenniferwhitewolf3784]

Nice!!! Great to see an overview of the lab. Looks very well set up.

[@srtamplification]

Put a stove steamer on your woodburning stove.

[@ZenwizardStudios]

Yea I need to get something for that. We have a 5gal wick based unit that should be good for 2400 Sqft and it struggles to keep up.

[@davesdigitaldomain]

keep the videos coming there very interesting and I would love to see videos on the 400 series, especially the Tektronix 475 a restoration and calibration videos

[@ZenwizardStudios]

I will have to get an example of a 475 to repair but I will add it to the list. There is more on the way.

[@jenniferwhitewolf3784]

Back in the later 80s I was looking for a higher frequency AC voltmeter, more or less in the concept of your Fluke, but when I bought my 2247A 100MHz portable scope with the full function digital co-processor, I was pleased to see it would readout P-P V of the displayed waveform, as well as manual placed cursers. A half a year after buying new, something went wrong, and I carried it in to Tek for warranty repair. The service engineer told me at that time that the co-processor was right out of a 500MHz machine and was not reduced BW when installed into the 100MHz scope. It also has a counter/timer that is compatible with external GPS drive time base, if one needs extreme time or frequency precision.

[@ZenwizardStudios]

RB is on the list because I have some high digit frequency counters that I would like to add to the lab. But I don’t want the RB tied to just the frequency counter. It is funny when I get it will be a small unassuming box with 6 LEDS on the front and that is about it. But it will be one of the most important boxes in the lab. This Is one of the few that I am debating on leaving on 24/7 I don’t even leave the voltage standards on like that. It will also have 5mhz and lots of 10 Mhz outputs from the counter so when I take the plunge everything that I can be on it. The spectrum analyzers the frequency sources even hopefully a scope or 2. A 10 Mhz ref in will be a requirement on the next modern scope I get for the lab however it is starting to look like I might need something in the 6Ghz range, that is getting up there in price makes the RB unit looks like peanuts and that is even not inexpensive.

[@AllanMeredith]

Hi Zen Great tour and some very nice equipment. I have a nice new DMM6500 and agree it is a brilliant DMM. Thanks also for the idea of the shroud for the scope screen. Printing one for my 2465B as I type :-) Thanks again. Merry Xmas.

[@ZenwizardStudios]

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays as well Allan. I am also curious as to what is going to happen in 2022. But I will have to see it unfold in time. It has been and continues to be a pleasure. There is more on the way.

[@alcid3]

Hi guys! Bought one as for my voltage reference in lab, with Zen's advices... No regrets, pure pleasure and great great improvement for the lab. Little by little, we are moving to your standard Zen ;). One time, we will represent you locally (France for me), hoping doing as well as you ;) Again, THANK YOU

[@conflictdon]

Hi, I know this video you did on your bench setup, by the way, it is amazing. Would you be willing to do a video on an HP Agilent 141T Spectrum Analyzer? I have one and needs some work but it does work. I would like to refurbish my 141T. Thanks for all your videos on your repairs of Tek equipment since I use the Tek 465 and the 475 scopes daily. Don

[@ZenwizardStudios]

Thanks! I will see if I can find one I will be doing repairs on some spec ans in the future but I do not have an 141T in the que. Before I do that though I will need to get a RF power meter of good enough accuracy to do an alignment on a spectrum analyzer. My current RF measurement capabilities are not good enough. I do have the frequency accuracy nailed down with the 53230A but amplitude is still a stretch.

[@conflictdon]

@@ZenwizardStudiosThank you so much for getting back to me regarding an HP 141T spectrum analyzer. That would be great. Also would be great to do a repair on a Tektronix 468 digital oscilloscope. Mine has a 5-volt power supply on the digital board side. Please keep that in mind if you come across one. Thanks Don

[@ruhnet]

Glad to see the details of your lab---it looks great! Very cool current limiting setup. :-) If you go with an interchangeable lens camera, your focusing will be much more critical and more difficult. But if you really want to go in that direction, then the best reasonable cost 4k camera for video is going to be a Panasonic Lumix series, specifically the GH4 or GH5[s] or similar. There is no competition to those as far as bang for the buck in video performance, and they would be a perfect fit for you. Canon interchangeable lens cameras, although you can get the job done with them, they would definitely _not_ be the best choice. For stills they are fine, but video is mostly an afterthought for them. (Same with Nikon.) The Lumix GH cameras are made with video in mind, so there are no recording time limits, no overheating, controls are a bit closer to what you find on "real" video cameras (broadcast video is a whole different ballgame), etc. You can also get EF mount adapters for the micro4/3 mount Lumix GH cameras, so that you can use your existing Canon glass on them. Recording in 60fps for this type of content is silly and irrelevant, and a waste of storage space, but you can do it if you like. The Panasonic Lumix cams are nearly always my first choice when I am not able to bring my big broadcast cameras to a shoot. Your audio is already fine so I wouldn't mess with it as long as you are comfortable with the mic style you are using. Feel free to reach out if you have questions or need help with this. You can message me on KZbin or just do a Google search for RuhNet and you'll find my site and contact info.

[@ZenwizardStudios]

Thanks Ruel Tmeizeh, I have run broadcast cameras before so I am not unfamiliar with the hardware. However for sure this hardware is not in the budget at the moment. When the time comes I will definitely reach out. My main needs short term would be 4k for more detail, and macro so get some more close ups of the boards and some more detail in the process. I do have an old XL-2 in the wings as well but I have not had it assembled recently. But now I am curious if I should dig out a spec sheet on it. But if I remember right the Xl-2 tops out at 960X480 so it would not be considered “HD” I will also take a look at the Panasonic offerings.

[@ruhnet]

@@ZenwizardStudios Yes, the XL2, while its lens is very good, and a great prosumer camera in its day (and still decent for SD stuff---I have one laying around also) is 720x480p (at least on the output; the CCDs may be a bit higher res on the horizontal). As for broadcast cameras you wouldn't want something like that in the lab anyway---too much extra support equipment/power usage/huge size lol. But the Lumix GHx cameras are a great fit for the type of recording you do. The m4/3 sensor size is such that it is large enough to use your existing still lenses, but not too large that your depth of field is so shallow you constantly have to adjust focus, which would be the case with APS-C or especially fullframe cameras from Canon/Nikon.

[@alcid3]

Hello. No presentation of Type 191 ? No interrest or forgotten ? Thank you !

[@ZenwizardStudios]

Total oversight on my part. The functionality of the 191 is super seeded by the SG503. So I find my self using the SG503 way more often than the 191. However the 106 and the 187 are still uses regularly in the lab.

[@alcid3]

@@ZenwizardStudios Thanks

[@mirkobruhn9841]

I left a long comment, but somehow disappeared… don’t know why. I really would love to see more on Tektronix 7k and 500/5000. There is not much content on this I think. Especially these clicking 7k switch mode power supplies. Maybe, if you have time, you could make a video on these?

[@ZenwizardStudios]

There will defiantly be more 7K and 4xx content for the channel I just need to get some examples of units to fix. I need to get an example of a 7K frame with a ticking power supply I know these are a sore spot for a lot of these units. I do not have a 7K frame with this fault so I will need to find an example.