Maintenance & Repair of shop tools & bench instruments

[nevetslab]

Every so often I find spare time to get to those pesky chores involving a bench instrument or soldering station that has stopped working, and the procedure can get as involved as any of the normal troubleshooting tasks that we read about and add our collective knowledge to the thread to aid in seeing the task to a solution.

Over the years, I've posted some of my shop equipment maintenance / repair posts in this Maintenance, Troubleshooting & Repair Forum category. I wonder if a dedicated Category would be useful. I presently have one on-going restoration project of a Weller EC2002A Soldering Station Digital Readout Base Unit that stopped working, as well as its' Readout had also stopped. Now, it's at the state where the Temp reading is not tracking the Set Temp. There is, at least, a Calibration Check and Re-Calibration Routine to deal with that in the service manual I tracked down. I haven't stopped to post a Thread about that sequence or repairs, but, thought as this sort of thing is common to what we all face over time, I thought I'd toss out that idea. For lack of any other Category, I'd continue using this Category I posted the thread on.

[Reader]

I think it would be really great to have a forum category for "test equiment and shop tools." The discussions could include buying, maintaining, using and building custom tools and equipment.

[drewl]

Oh yeah, I've had to repair my home Weller soldering stations several times let alone keeping the ones at work going sometimes having to fabricate replacement parts that are no longer available.

[Jazz P Bass]

Hah!

Couldn't figure out why my Fluke meter did not read zero ohms when the leads where touching each other.

Yup. Bad cable.

[DrGonz78]

I bought my fluke 189 meter used at a great price on ebay. Started noticing right away that the display screen was not showing some of characters. So I opened it up unseated the display screen. There was some sort of gunk on certain contacts so I got to cleaning it up. Got the meter all put back together and luckily it did the trick. There was this sense of dread that I got a bum meter while trying to fix it. So relieved when it turned out to such an easy fix.

[Reader]

- - - I wonder if a dedicated Category would be useful. - - -

It seems that there would be lots to discuss on the subject of maintaining shop equipment (Both mechanical and Electrical test items) How about it Moderators? A dedicated forum would be better, IMO, than individual threads that run on and on with a variety of test equipment.
Thanks,
Bill

[nevetslab]

I bought my fluke 189 meter used at a great price on ebay. Started noticing right away that the display screen was not showing some of characters. So I opened it up unseated the display screen. There was some sort of gunk on certain contacts so I got to cleaning it up. Got the meter all put back together and luckily it did the trick. There was this sense of dread that I got a bum meter while trying to fix it. So relieved when it turned out to such an easy fix.

For that matter, my two Fluke 8060A's have started locking up at times, particularly when measuring above 400VDC; one doesn't always wake up, one or both will chirp when high voltage is present (hadn't noticed that in the past). So, both of these are on the project list for maintenance. I do at least have the service manual, though a small size paper-back book that would be a PITA to run copies off of.

[DrGonz78]

For that matter, my two Fluke 8060A's have started locking up at times, particularly when measuring above 400VDC; one doesn't always wake up, one or both will chirp when high voltage is present (hadn't noticed that in the past). So, both of these are on the project list for maintenance. I do at least have the service manual, though a small size paper-back book that would be a PITA to run copies off of.

I have a cheaper Extech meter that when you switched it from Voltage over to Resistance mode it flipped back to displaying voltages. Took it apart and cleaned up the rotary switch a bit, voila!! I guess that is better than switching from resistance mode to voltage and it stays in resistance mode. Why is this damn thing beeping at me!!

[Jazz P Bass]

Always a sound practice to ohm out your test cables.

I have gotten bit in the butt more than once with a test jumper that was intermittent.

[Resonator Guy]

I sold almost all my bench equipment when I was ill a year or two ago. Now I am starting to do a few things and would enjoy such a forum.

[Enzo]

My vote is a resounding NO. Why do we need a special place for one specific little part of th electronics discussion? We have the repair part, and we have the Music Electronics part, either is fine. Look at all the special sections we start and then never use. It is just clutter. ANyone interested will see it, and threads go on and on forever on their own, not based on which section they are in. Guys who enter via the activity stream often don't know what section a thread is in anyway.

We started circuit bending 7 months ago and there are TWO threads in it of substance. Even the Harp amp thread had activity in only three threads last year, and of those, only one thread was started in 2018.

[g1]

Well how about a sticky then?

[Randall]

This thread reminded me my homebrew 32VDC power supply has been dead for a while, and I forget about it until I need to use it, but don't want to stop what I am doing to fix it. So today I had down time, and found a wire had broken off at the fuse holder. Simple and quick fix, but how does a wire break off in a box that sits quiet and motionless?

[SoulFetish]

I think it would be really great to have a forum category for "test equiment and shop tools." The discussions could include buying, maintaining, using and building custom tools and equipment.

I've been barking up this tree for a while.

[SoulFetish]

My vote is a resounding NO. Why do we need a special place for one specific little part of th electronics discussion? We have the repair part, and we have the Music Electronics part, either is fine. Look at all the special sections we start and then never use. It is just clutter. ANyone interested will see it, and threads go on and on forever on their own, not based on which section they are in. Guys who enter via the activity stream often don't know what section a thread is in anyway.

We started circuit bending 7 months ago and there are TWO threads in it of substance. Even the Harp amp thread had activity in only three threads last year, and of those, only one thread was started in 2018.

Here's my argument for such a designated area:
Everybody here who does any troubleshooting, repair, design, and construction is completely dependent on tooling and equipment is some form. I don't think it's one little part of the electronics discussion. I think it is one of the core threads which allows us to participate in the discussion altogether and take what we learn from the conversation and "do things" (for lack of a better phrase). Humans are tool users, dude.
Plus, think of all the fun we could have talking shop.

edit: The pickup makers get it.