Mark J. Blair

@NF6X@oldbytes.space
74 Followers
29 Following
1.2K Posts
A feral engineer lurking near Riverside, CA, USA
Bloghttp://www.nf6x.net
HECnetDOGPAK::MBLAIR
Mark J. Blair6d ago
My #Radiascan701A #GeigerCounter died a while back. It acts normally, except it is insensitive to known-spicy objects. I finally got around to breaking the warranty sticker to peek inside. I measure around 230VDC across the GM tube, and it emitted a click when I touched the DMM leads to the contacts. Maybe the electronics are still working, but the tube lost vacuum?
Mark J. BlairJun 29
Current mood
Show threadMark J. BlairJun 21
That's fine for a lot of general purpose testing, but I really got it to do things like this.
Show threadMark J. BlairJun 21
I have nothing connected to the output yet, but it believes in itself.
Mark J. BlairJun 21
New tool day! First power-up of my newly acquired Chroma 61603 AC power supply. 0-300 VRMS, 1500 VA, 15-1000 Hz + DC. Wasn't cheap, but much cheaper than new. Took me over a week to unpack it, get it inside the house, make a space for it, and apply power. Didn't help that my right arm is a wreck right now with inflamed nerves and whatnot. This power supply is a heavy boy.
Mark J. BlairApr 5
Just got this vintage casino loyalty card from eBay (I previously posted the eBay listing photos). I haven’t seen a card like this before. My dad speculated that maybe the punched holes are just decoration to look all high tech (in the 1970s, that is). He might be right? I don’t see an obvious correlation between the holes and printed numbers. Any ideas, my nerdy friends?
Mark J. BlairApr 1
The top two videos in my YouTube subscriptions feed both focus on renewable energy.
Show threadMark J. BlairMar 17
Oh, yeah, I should should y’all the whole thing after reassembly. It’s a Bally model 1111-10 electromechanical #slotmachine from 1980, with belly glass from Edgewater Hotel and Casino in Laughlin, NV. Three reels, one line, 5 cent, 1-3 coins.
Show threadMark J. BlairMar 16
Ever seen the bottom of a slot machine before? Me, neither!
Show threadMark J. BlairMar 16
Unloading
×
Show threadMark J. BlairJun 21
That's fine for a lot of general purpose testing, but I really got it to do things like this.
Show threadMark J. BlairJun 21
I performed this quick smoke test with a NEMA 5-15 120VAC power cable included with the unit. I'll switch over to a 240V 20A circuit later to run it at full power, and make an output cable with remote voltage sensing at the outlet. The parts for all of that were an expensive box of mostly-copper from McMaster-Carr.
Show threadMark J. BlairJun 21
Unfortunately this one didn't come with the expensive USB + ethernet option card that's in the similar unit I procured at $DayJob, but at least it has RS-232 and GPIB interfaces. The 1000 VA unit at work cost around $10k IIRC (purchased brand new from Chroma), while this used one was about $1200 with tax and shipping.