It needs at least a USB3 to get Dave interested. Love your "It's okay to break stuff" philosophy. How many childhoods would have been so much better if all parents understood this.
Yup, a particular pseudo scientific field of mathematics claims it might transform into a Scotsman cause the extra dimensions are "wrapped" up on themselves. Everybody knows a Scotsman have more than four observable dimensions after an unwrapping and uncorking.
It has been postulated that a Scotsman after a sufficient amount of scotch can be observed to be nearly in two places at once though there is some overlap.
I have an alternate postulate. Movement needs energy. A compressed spring has potential energy. Therefore it is possible that they use this potential energy to go at very high speed to wherever all the bic pens and teaspoons end up. It does seem to fit with the evidence because wherever the teaspoons and bic pens end up nobody knows.
Your reference to Dave Jones made me laugh after he plugged his Weller 120 volt soldering station into 220 volts. And then complain that there was no fuse on the input . Then complained Weller should have put a fuse on it. Because if Weller had put a fuse on it it might have saved his 120 volt soldering station. Weller offered him a brand new 220 volt version of the soldering station. Then there were a bunch of people who are on TH-cam saying don't buy Weller soldering stations because they don't have a fuse well from an American standpoint if Weller felt there soldering stations needed a fuse they would have put it on there. It's nice to talk with and work with people in the industry. Thank you Clive for all of your content. FYI it's Dave Jones fault his soldering station fried because it was never designed for 220 volts and I think it's actually very nice of Weller to provide him with a new 220 volt soldering station free of charge. Hey follow what the manufacturer tells you to do. the manufacturer Knows Best not you that's what I always say.
To be fair. Not having a fuse or thermal device on the primary of the transformer is pretty naughty. Transformers can go nuclear if primary winding insulation breaks down.
dave he should have known that.. what a dick, i seen his original video where he reviewed it and used a step down transformer to power it. i think he did on purpose to get some attention.. wrecked a good soldering iron and he put it in the bin.. yeah could of had an input fuse but the chances of the transformer burning out on normal voltage are slim to none. dave should of known what. he was being a complete idiot. i didn't like that video.
@@BigClive out of curiosity Clive do you think Transformers running higher voltages are more susceptible too insulation breakdown on the primary? And that's why most if not all electronic items are fused at 240 volts.
@@niceic.co.uk. The most important characteristic of a fuse is its current rating. A 250V fuse rated for 1A will also work at 5V. The 250V rating is just the highest design voltage. While the increased voltage between windings does put greater stress on the insulation, the traditional 240V transformers are pretty reliable. They do occasionally fail though.
I like to watch bigclive videos because he is honest and humble. If knobs get limb he doesn't scare to admit that and he shows us all how to fix it. What a nice guy!
The easiest way I have found for placing little ball bearings and springs like you show around 11:00 is to apply a bit of thick grease to the locations they're meant to be and then put the bearing/spring into the grease. That will hold it there long enough for you to get the cover back in to place without them rolling all over the place. Hope that helps someone! :) Thanks for another fine video! Take care.
I'm so glad I'm not the only one that finds Dave to be a complete knob. I just feel like it's less of the art of the craft to him and more about showing off his silver spoon collection. That's fine if you like those things, but it snobbery at best.
Dave also seems to know surprisingly little about the world at large - he unapologetically mispronounces place names, for example. In the age of Google and TH-cam, there’s little excuse not to at least attempt to sound like giving a fuck or two. Meh. The technical content is also spread fairly thin. I still watch it occasionally because I can suss out the little nuggets of worthwhile knowledge, but it is becoming more and more in poor taste. “Noblesse oblige” used to be a thing - the higher you get on the ladder, the more you can afford not being a prick…
Nice Clive. One tip that I learned over the years is when working with a spring and ball detent I dab a tiny bit of silicone grease with a toothpick to hold the ball on the end of the spring. It helps. And don't forget the magnet to help find springs that take flight.
That sounds gross for some reason. Now, they are talking about using silicone grease. I should get some of that. Not for my balls. What is silicone grease used for? I assume it's for plastic gears. I wouldn't know if that is for motors or the like.
I used a $25au meter for a long time. I got a 2nd one, exactly the same, because I wanted redundancy, and sometimes you want current and voltage. When one of those was stolen, I went and got exactly the same meter. I was given an $80 meter for my birthday later that year (from the same company, Jaycar's house brand), which didn't have autorange, and didn't have nanoamps scale, and didn't have the same higher range on the frquency counter. It was mostly just that I didn't get a more name brand one (but, at that time, 13 years ago, you couldn't get meters that were name brand and in my hobbyist budget in Australia). I'd've loved a really swish brand name multimeter, but for my basic home keyboards, synthesizers and guitar pedal tinkering, having 2 cheaper meters was better than one expensive one. I still have those 2 cheapy meters, though. They've lasted over a decade, so I'm happy with that.
It's all about getting the most bang for your buck. When your equipment earns an income, it's different from when it's nice to have. Cheap meters can be handy in any case, especially when there are several places you might need one. Heck, for a lot of purposes, a bulb, a wire and a battery would be perfectly sufficient.
The only real advantage to the 'big F' is that you can get a calibration house to calibrate them and give you a certificate that allows you to use them in AS/NZ9001 environments. In that case you can afford to wait a while for the reading to come up :) All 3 90's vintage F'87s I had anything to do with had display problems. We'd send them away and the service agents would replace the zebra strips ($arm+leg), they'd maybe last another year.
Feeding a little blue pill down the 10A hole didn't stiffen your knob? Oh, well. Best you do the vas. // I've torn bits of electromechanical stuff apart ever since I was 4, and I couldn't help but notice that we tinkerers have something in common: prehensile digits. We hold things in one hand with 3 fingers and use the other two to dab the solder in while the other hand brings in the iron. And the fingertips learn how to thread things right side up, upside down, backwards, and sideways while another holds down the washers. It's truly a blessing to be able to do this, and it amazes people who watch us. I get a knowing grin watching others do this. // Thanks for all the years of wisdom earned that you put into the videos as tips for us. We do appreciate it.
Good to see the AMECaL resurrected, watching your videos made me go out and buy the ST-9905 for myself as it seemed so robust and suitable for pretty much anything, best multimeter I've ever bought!
@Adam RDL Yup, me too. My wife and sister-in-law clubbed together and bought me an ST-9927T for my birthday. I asked for it specifically because Clive had shown them to be such good value for money.
Nice to see a manufacturer supplying spare parts... this should be the norm rather than a surprise. All the stuff that ends up in landfill due to a small but necessary part breaking is criminal. I always attempt to fix any broken, damaged or faulty stuff... and with a little ingenuity there's not much that can't be fixed :-)
It was Dave's attitude that was the main reason I unsubscribed from his channel. I believe it was the one where he was building his computer and kept ranting about not reading the comments because everyone's an armchair computer tech WHILE he was putting the CPU cooler on backwards (compromising airflow). He knows a lot about electronics, sure, but gosh does he think that makes him the duck's guts at everything. Rant aside, thanks for another wonderful video, Clive. I recently ordered a new soldering station based off your suggestions in another video.
I appreciate the way you lower the entry barrior for young people. EEVBlog is useless to that group. Snob is not the word. Arrogant, cynical and self-absorbed are better choices. Please keep it real for newbies and us old farts.
Certainly all of those things, but snob fits very well too - the value of anything is strictly proportional with its price and nothing else according to Dave, which I find laughable. Also, just listening to him makes my blood pressure rise whereas Big Clive voice is positively soothing...
Boonedock Journeyman I couldn't agree with you more- I finally stopped watching when he did the lame tear-down of a coffee maker and sneered and sniveled all the way through (at least to where I stopped- I couldn't finish watching). Clive is the best!
Then I don't feel bad for my $25usd meter I picked up at a cheap tool/hardware store that has the initials HF. Here in the US. I've been tempted to see if Clive would be willing to take one apart someday.
Good to see a meter that can be repaired with spare parts you can actually buy! I have a 25+ year old Fluke 87 that is still running strong. I don't mess with the current measurement capabilities, I use clampon CTs!
I did buy a cheap meter a few weeks ago. Our local Sears is closing and I picked up a Craftsman branded meter for $10. It is not autoranging and is not true RMS but it will do what I need. I actually used it a lot last weekend when I converted my ATV winch from remote control to use a handle bar mounted switch instead. The remote control was horrendous. Way too much lag.
Good timing on this. It got me thinking of my own multimeter that I've not used in a while and I just checked it out to find the 9V battery bulging and in the very first stage of leaking. I got it out of there before it burst and made a big old mess.
First meter I ever used was the meter we had in digital electronics class. Teacher straight up said he expected someone to be dumb enough to blow up the fuse so he swapped it out for a breaker switch. Being the little shit 17 year-old me was, I thought "challenge accepted" and before the trimester was over, I not only managed to burn the switch, but I also blew tracks right off the board and cracked the resin blob. I now have my own Klein meter (bought in preparation for HVAC classes before I knew they would supply tools for us) and a $20 centech one from Hazard Fraught tools (I don't think it is RMS, but its insides look very similar to my Klein RMS meter).
Great video - I was once distraught blowing up my first meter..... 1kV 1kJ capacitor bank, no series resistor, 1kV max range. The meter elevated 6" when the triggered spark gap fired the steam gun. The only thing left working was the PP9 battery, completely vaporised PCB traces. The steam gun used to do 1/2" of telephone directory on 177 pellets.
I have several of those VERY cheap Yello Peril meters for occasions when I don't know what I am doing (always). My 'soddering' (just for our friends across the pond) iron slipped off it's stand and melted right through to the works. There are no balls and springs now and it's very air cooled, no fuses but it says it has. Still works and readings close enough to a Fluke for most things.
Aaah, those springs are great big huge things, really. Easy to find. If you want a real challenge, go looking for a clickspring from a wristwatch, you'll learn secrets about your flooring material that you never expected (or wanted) to know, and a better understanding of how blind dogs navigate a room.
I bought one of the nicer low-end meters they offered at Radio Snack here in the states and used it for a while, but then I failed to notice that the clamp covered some digits in the voltage specification for a capacitor and attempted to meter it when it had maybe 2000 volts on it. Luckily, I was unharmed, but that meter was instantly destroyed. Luckily, I had (uncharacteristically for me) bought the extended warranty, so I took it back and they gave me a new one. I have better meters now, as well as an assortment of the cheap variety. Clive's right, they're useful when doing dodgy stuff (just make sure you don't depend on the meter to protect you), and also for those situations where you need to measure 5 different things at once.
ThankYou forMeter repair 101. When I have something that has a lot of small parts I like to work with the item in a short sided box that is white. Not much help when the spring decides it wants to go out on an adventure. But as we all know. Springs LOVE to go out on road trips and looking for adventure.
Ah yes Dave and his Flukes! He's using his own branded meter at the moment though, not seen him use a Fluke for quite a while. Great video Clive, floppy shafts etc always make me smile :)
I finally had to stop watching EEV (Dave Jones)- just too much whiney pretension to be entertaining. Clive is the exact opposite- charming, mellow, and funny.
I don't like him any more either. He went from actually doing electronics tech stuff, to just reviews and yes, whining and crap like that. (I'm okay with some whining, but he whines even more than your average woman! XD) BTW, he doesn't make as many videos, but "DiodeGoneWild" is great too!
I had a four pole rotary switch which for some reason was manufactured with one of the poles having the contact mechanism the wrong way around compared to the other three poles, and it happened to require me to take all of the other poles apart to get to it to fix it. Springs and small plastic parts went pinging off everywhere and I'm pretty certain that during the attempt to fix it I've raged harder than I've ever done and ever will do. Oh, and my first ever multimeter failure was accidentally shorting mains AC (left it on current mode trying to check the voltage, the meter was one that shared a probe connector for both Voltage and lower currents (200mA)). At least it was only the fuse inside the multimeter and weirdly also the higher rated fuse in the plug but I didn't have any spares at the time. Less of a failure on the meter's part, but more on mine. I've learned to double check now.
On Fluke meters, these rotary contacts are notorious for becoming intermittent, and result in the wrong mode (AC V instead of DC V), the display going blank (power off), or reading of 0.000 no matter what is connected to the input terminals. It might be CAT IV / 1000 VAC, but still not a fail-safe design to read 0.000 when connected to mains voltage!!
Thanks for this Clive. I've got one of these and an autoranging one as well. (And a varying number of cheapo ones depending on whether I can remember where I had them last). It's good to know you can get parts from Amecal. You can't have too many meters.
Putting those balls in a small dab of grease on the spring and the ball holds them in place till you get the rotor into position. As a bonus the extra lubrication helps with life. Use a thick grease like wheel bearing or lithium grease, not silicone grease or Vaseline. Clean the contacts and the board with alcohol, and do not put any lubrication on them. For similar failures i have also used a steel wire wrapped around the shaft, and twisted together, as a reinforcement, and then a bit of 2 part epoxy to hold the bits together. Wire because i used a lot of locking wire, and know how to do it, after a lot of practice in doing so, even without the convenience of the correct wire locking pliers, which make it a lot faster and consistent.
I used to be amazed that certain video players (youtube included) could keep the same pitch when speeding up the video playback. I wish on Dave's that I could speed it up to 1.25 but pitch it down to 0.5 or so!
Oh well.. That's what happens when you get neutered to early in life :D I don't dislike Dave, his voice is just not very headphone friendly. On the electronics part, he's quite good.. Snobbish, but good.
For things with springs and balls, Vaseline works wonders to keep things in place. Thats whats used when working on valve bodies for automatic transmissions and such with all those annoying check balls.
Yep Clive! The Video just went nuts over the limp knobs..... Lol You know that would happen... Lol As far as EEVBlog, let him buy the $1000 dollar stuff my $20 dollar meters does the same stuff... Yep I have the cheaper chinese ones and the free ones from Harbor Freight.... They all have there uses.... >:-) Great Video!!!!!!!!
My Digitech auto ranging meter allows me to take it out of auto and stick it into manual mode using the "Range" button which lets me cycle thru ranges, handy for dealing with unstable measurements, without having to forefeit auto range for everything else. Manually set ranges will stick until you cycle back to auto or change function.
I've had a Tandy/Radio Shack analogue meter that still works right as rain since 1981 or maybe 1982 (bar a bit of drift accuracy wise). I definitely used it in my A levels as on the most sensitive setting it was more sensitive at FSD than the school's light spot galvanometer. It was very expensive back then (£83 in todays money and it was half price). I have though had meters fail like this after 6 months of hard use. Nice to find out you can get replacement rotary switches though I doubt there are any around for my first meter.
A Fluke 77 knob does not rotate 360 deg until the stop pin breaks. Then all the contacts can get bent and the meter display is messed up. Drilled a hole in the knob and inserted a wood peg with epoxy to repair. Then rebent all the contacts back hoping none would break. Maybe fluke sells repair parts but it works still for now.
There's nothing wrong with a cheap multimeter. I have several of those "free with any purchase with a coupon" multimeters from Harbor Freight and they actually work very well. The voltage and resistance is spot on with other meters, and over the years I've had only one malfunction to the point I had to scrap it. The achilles heel with them is the cheap probes. The plastic insulation cracks easily, requiring some glue or solder surgery to fix. All in all, I've never had to actually pay for any multimeter I own.
b&q sell 2 meters a basic one and comprehensive one, its just like that but with orange rubbers, it needs proper fuses putting in but otherwise its great, and amazingly accurate i bought it as it had capacitance, inductance, and all the usual features, ind and cap are a necessity for building metal detector coils but it also needs to be accurate too.
When I was young we occasionally took my dad's good meter apart to replace the vacuum tube. There was much less plastic and much more metal involved, so we never the kind of selector drive failure that you did.
They weren't willing to sell me a spare and insisted I send it to them and cover all costs which after VAT and return postage made it too expensive to be worth while so I bought a Vici instead. I could have had two Vici metres for the same as the cost of repair amecal quoted me. Ever since it's sat in a box in bits.
@Daniel Glover I asked for a spare and they said no, you'll have to send it back at my expense. It was out of warranty so I couldn't see the problem but as mentioned it wasn't worth it financially. If I'd have paid the repair costs including the cost of it new I've pretty much bought a fluke 113 and some how I doubt this would have been an issue.
I got the Vici VC99 and been quite happy with it, perfectly fine for my hobby needs. The temp probe was handy for testing the arduino clock/temp/humidity project I've nearly finished building (nearly being got it mostly working over a year ago and really must finish it one day)
I have a meter identical to this one by Triplett. Actually I got it specifically because I wanted one just like this from your videos, with a nice large backlit display and cap test ranges. (I since got a Fluke but I hate it and only use for HV or high current stuff.)
Clive I'm not certain but I do believe that a proper sized Thomson retaining ring would be just what the doctor ordered to hold the split in place in order to properly egoopulate resin upon? That's what they're called here stateside I'm certain that across the pond you have a much more charming nomenclature for such a mundane device. Cheers!
A tad bit of petroleum jel will hold spring ball pieces during reassembly while doubling as track lube. How about a breakdown and rev engineer of a quality home xenon strobe lamp..how the charging and trigger circuits work??
hahaha ...I absolutely love your videos mate..I'm never gonna own a meter worth repairing but I've had my monday evening enhanced by a big Scotsman on an island in the Irish Sea mending his one...someone will put your narrative to music one day!!
I know these mechanisms very well. Yes; quite fiddly and it takes patience and dexterity to accomplish. A small dab of grease is great for holding ball bearings in place. Ah, Yes. The spring. Dexterity comes into play.
Technical references - 0:04 Clive's knob suddenly went limp - 0:22 Weakness in the shaft - 0:57 Turning the knob to the extreme left - 6:22 As soon as the knob goes soft, just stop, right there and then ! - 15:46 Thick Lip around it
I blew up my first meter, sort of. It had an unfused 10A current setting, and I may have blown the trace off the board. The trace was a fuse, in essence. But I just soldered a wire in and it still works fine, though I also have a better meter now.
I have had a similar failure in a couple of different devices (one was a laser printer cartridge!) and I fixed them with a metal ring and epoxy, for one I accidentally had a ring with just the right inner diameter but for the other I made the ring from aluminium plate.
Great vid again Clive thanks. I'm in the market for a new meter of reasonable quality (if I could afford an expensive one that would be a total Fluke). I've been looking at this model and like the fact that floppyknob syndrome can be treated rather than just binning the whole thing. Quick question though. When replacing the selector module would you suggest cleaning the tracks and wiping contacts (on the new module) with a little iso on a cotton bud - or just dropping the new part straight in?
I would of kept repaired one in, it may last longer than new one. Thick grease will hold ball bearing in place when assembling. Also, thick grease on limp knob helps.
@@BigClive This got me thinking, which is a dangerous thing. I wonder if it would be possible to build a cheat-proof Advent calendar with a locking mechanism that prevents one from opening a door before its day. Maybe something based on a pink USB device that electrocutes you if you try to open a door early. "Hah! You're dead! That'll teach you."
Is this a coordinated effort with Canada? AvE also posted a video today about his Fluke flicker feeling floppy. He seemed to have had bits fall out while some other fellow was fondling his Fluke.
Finally got my Fluke T90 voltage tester delivered after sending back a Fluke SM200 in November to them, after you mentioning in one of your vids that they were being recalled. Took several emails to get them to send 1 the returns label for the SM200 and emails asking where is the T90. Any chance of you doing a video on using such probes. The ones on YT aren't in english. Thank you ! Also have a Fluke 23 meter which I am still 'borrowing' for the last 20 + years and it's never let me down.
I remember blowing up my first meter when I was 10. Now I have a ex United Nations Fluke 25 which is old and slow as old boots. It is still within calibration. It has proper ceramic fuses in it.
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It needs at least a USB3 to get Dave interested.
Love your "It's okay to break stuff" philosophy. How many childhoods would have been so much better if all parents understood this.
It isn't so much that we were breaking stuff, it's what we were breaking.
My kids know it well: you break it, you fix it, or at least actively participate in the fixing. It worked thus far as a strategy :)
Mine had to i was breaking so called unbreakable toys at 6 tonka. I was hard work.
7 seconds into watching this video, I've got coffee coming out my nose. Thanks Clive 👍
I did have to pause to let a giggling fit pass.
You come to expect a few quips like that but that one caught me by total surprise.
So you're saying weakness in your shaft made your knob go limp. It happens to us all eventually, Clive.
Beat me to it. I was going to say almost the same thing.
My knob fell off when it fell face down on a concrete floor. lol
@@alanhunter2051 What was you doing in the garage with a full m~watt?
Springs are quantum objects, if they gain some velocity it's impossible to know where they are.
Yup, a particular pseudo scientific field of mathematics claims it might transform into a Scotsman cause the extra dimensions are "wrapped" up on themselves. Everybody knows a Scotsman have more than four observable dimensions after an unwrapping and uncorking.
Managed to find one about the same size that took off when i took apart a complicated pen once. That was the highlight of my day.
Elderly physics professors are also quantum objects. They know where they are or what they are doing but never both at the same time.
It has been postulated that a Scotsman after a sufficient amount of scotch can be observed to be nearly in two places at once though there is some overlap.
I have an alternate postulate. Movement needs energy. A compressed spring has potential energy. Therefore it is possible that they use this potential energy to go at very high speed to wherever all the bic pens and teaspoons end up. It does seem to fit with the evidence because wherever the teaspoons and bic pens end up nobody knows.
Your reference to Dave Jones made me laugh after he plugged his Weller 120 volt soldering station into 220 volts. And then complain that there was no fuse on the input . Then complained Weller should have put a fuse on it. Because if Weller had put a fuse on it it might have saved his 120 volt soldering station. Weller offered him a brand new 220 volt version of the soldering station. Then there were a bunch of people who are on TH-cam saying don't buy Weller soldering stations because they don't have a fuse well from an American standpoint if Weller felt there soldering stations needed a fuse they would have put it on there. It's nice to talk with and work with people in the industry. Thank you Clive for all of your content. FYI it's Dave Jones fault his soldering station fried because it was never designed for 220 volts and I think it's actually very nice of Weller to provide him with a new 220 volt soldering station free of charge. Hey follow what the manufacturer tells you to do. the manufacturer Knows Best not you that's what I always say.
To be fair. Not having a fuse or thermal device on the primary of the transformer is pretty naughty. Transformers can go nuclear if primary winding insulation breaks down.
Australia used 240V. But Dave's still a goose.
dave he should have known that.. what a dick, i seen his original video where he reviewed it and used a step down transformer to power it. i think he did on purpose to get some attention.. wrecked a good soldering iron and he put it in the bin.. yeah could of had an input fuse but the chances of the transformer burning out on normal voltage are slim to none. dave should of known what. he was being a complete idiot. i didn't like that video.
@@BigClive out of curiosity Clive do you think Transformers running higher voltages are more susceptible too insulation breakdown on the primary? And that's why most if not all electronic items are fused at 240 volts.
@@niceic.co.uk. The most important characteristic of a fuse is its current rating. A 250V fuse rated for 1A will also work at 5V. The 250V rating is just the highest design voltage.
While the increased voltage between windings does put greater stress on the insulation, the traditional 240V transformers are pretty reliable. They do occasionally fail though.
I like to watch bigclive videos because he is honest and humble. If knobs get limb he doesn't scare to admit that and he shows us all how to fix it. What a nice guy!
Stop when the knob goes soft. Always good advice
"I was playing with my meter when suddenly my knob went limp"
Perfect. Opening. Ever.
"... when my knob suddenly went limp."
I think you should see a doctor for that.
No need if you are like bigclive and you can fix it yourself...
Just jam some PCB around your shaft and between your balls, slather it with epoxy and you're back in business!
Hahahaha!!!:)
The easiest way I have found for placing little ball bearings and springs like you show around 11:00 is to apply a bit of thick grease to the locations they're meant to be and then put the bearing/spring into the grease. That will hold it there long enough for you to get the cover back in to place without them rolling all over the place. Hope that helps someone! :) Thanks for another fine video! Take care.
I'm so glad I'm not the only one that finds Dave to be a complete knob. I just feel like it's less of the art of the craft to him and more about showing off his silver spoon collection. That's fine if you like those things, but it snobbery at best.
Dave also seems to know surprisingly little about the world at large - he unapologetically mispronounces place names, for example. In the age of Google and TH-cam, there’s little excuse not to at least attempt to sound like giving a fuck or two. Meh. The technical content is also spread fairly thin. I still watch it occasionally because I can suss out the little nuggets of worthwhile knowledge, but it is becoming more and more in poor taste. “Noblesse oblige” used to be a thing - the higher you get on the ladder, the more you can afford not being a prick…
Nice Clive. One tip that I learned over the years is when working with a spring and ball detent I dab a tiny bit of silicone grease with a toothpick to hold the ball on the end of the spring. It helps. And don't forget the magnet to help find springs that take flight.
How many double ended entendre’s can fit in a short video? 🤔😂
Or, go for gold and throw in a couple of triple entendres....
HA-HA! Multiple entendre! [/PhilKenSebben]
Some vaseline usually helps to hold the balls in place until you can get the top put back on.
So you’re putting Vaseline on your balls so as to insert your knob.
@@JasperJanssen lol
I wouldn't put Vaseline on plastic as it can cause degradation due to the petroleum content. Better off using some silicone grease.
Ha Ha, some folks thought you were talking about the meter!
That sounds gross for some reason. Now, they are talking about using silicone grease. I should get some of that. Not for my balls. What is silicone grease used for? I assume it's for plastic gears. I wouldn't know if that is for motors or the like.
I used a $25au meter for a long time. I got a 2nd one, exactly the same, because I wanted redundancy, and sometimes you want current and voltage. When one of those was stolen, I went and got exactly the same meter. I was given an $80 meter for my birthday later that year (from the same company, Jaycar's house brand), which didn't have autorange, and didn't have nanoamps scale, and didn't have the same higher range on the frquency counter. It was mostly just that I didn't get a more name brand one (but, at that time, 13 years ago, you couldn't get meters that were name brand and in my hobbyist budget in Australia).
I'd've loved a really swish brand name multimeter, but for my basic home keyboards, synthesizers and guitar pedal tinkering, having 2 cheaper meters was better than one expensive one. I still have those 2 cheapy meters, though. They've lasted over a decade, so I'm happy with that.
It's all about getting the most bang for your buck. When your equipment earns an income, it's different from when it's nice to have. Cheap meters can be handy in any case, especially when there are several places you might need one. Heck, for a lot of purposes, a bulb, a wire and a battery would be perfectly sufficient.
The only real advantage to the 'big F' is that you can get a calibration house to calibrate them and give you a certificate that allows you to use them in AS/NZ9001 environments. In that case you can afford to wait a while for the reading to come up :) All 3 90's vintage F'87s I had anything to do with had display problems. We'd send them away and the service agents would replace the zebra strips ($arm+leg), they'd maybe last another year.
Feeding a little blue pill down the 10A hole didn't stiffen your knob? Oh, well. Best you do the vas. // I've torn bits of electromechanical stuff apart ever since I was 4, and I couldn't help but notice that we tinkerers have something in common: prehensile digits. We hold things in one hand with 3 fingers and use the other two to dab the solder in while the other hand brings in the iron. And the fingertips learn how to thread things right side up, upside down, backwards, and sideways while another holds down the washers. It's truly a blessing to be able to do this, and it amazes people who watch us. I get a knowing grin watching others do this. // Thanks for all the years of wisdom earned that you put into the videos as tips for us. We do appreciate it.
Good to see the AMECaL resurrected, watching your videos made me go out and buy the ST-9905 for myself as it seemed so robust and suitable for pretty much anything, best multimeter I've ever bought!
Same here. I love the Amecal (and the fact that it turns off automatically).
@Adam RDL Yup, me too. My wife and sister-in-law clubbed together and bought me an ST-9927T for my birthday. I asked for it specifically because Clive had shown them to be such good value for money.
@@wjb2 Touch wood... oh, my!
Nice to see a manufacturer supplying spare parts... this should be the norm rather than a surprise.
All the stuff that ends up in landfill due to a small but necessary part breaking is criminal.
I always attempt to fix any broken, damaged or faulty stuff... and with a little ingenuity there's not much that can't be fixed :-)
Exactly! I do the same. You can even make spare parts yourself if you have to with a 3D printer.
I *did* enjoy seeing that little spring vanish-- such a warm and familiar feeling! That's why I always pick up springs with tweezers.
It was Dave's attitude that was the main reason I unsubscribed from his channel. I believe it was the one where he was building his computer and kept ranting about not reading the comments because everyone's an armchair computer tech WHILE he was putting the CPU cooler on backwards (compromising airflow). He knows a lot about electronics, sure, but gosh does he think that makes him the duck's guts at everything.
Rant aside, thanks for another wonderful video, Clive. I recently ordered a new soldering station based off your suggestions in another video.
Darthane ducks gut is now my favorite phrase
So thank you
I appreciate the way you lower the entry barrior for young people. EEVBlog is useless to that group. Snob is not the word. Arrogant, cynical and self-absorbed are better choices. Please keep it real for newbies and us old farts.
That sums up this channel. Cheap affordable stuff to play with. And if we break it we can either fix it or scavenge it for bits.
Certainly all of those things, but snob fits very well too - the value of anything is strictly proportional with its price and nothing else according to Dave, which I find laughable. Also, just listening to him makes my blood pressure rise whereas Big Clive voice is positively soothing...
Boonedock Journeyman I couldn't agree with you more- I finally stopped watching when he did the lame tear-down of a coffee maker and sneered and sniveled all the way through (at least to where I stopped- I couldn't finish watching). Clive is the best!
@Scott Lichtsinn So South Korea is the same as China? Clearly Geography is only one of your failings.
Then I don't feel bad for my $25usd meter I picked up at a cheap tool/hardware store that has the initials HF. Here in the US. I've been tempted to see if Clive would be willing to take one apart someday.
Good to see a meter that can be repaired with spare parts you can actually buy! I have a 25+ year old Fluke 87 that is still running strong. I don't mess with the current measurement capabilities, I use clampon CTs!
I did buy a cheap meter a few weeks ago. Our local Sears is closing and I picked up a Craftsman branded meter for $10. It is not autoranging and is not true RMS but it will do what I need. I actually used it a lot last weekend when I converted my ATV winch from remote control to use a handle bar mounted switch instead. The remote control was horrendous. Way too much lag.
Good timing on this. It got me thinking of my own multimeter that I've not used in a while and I just checked it out to find the 9V battery bulging and in the very first stage of leaking. I got it out of there before it burst and made a big old mess.
Spare parts for a product in 2019? Surprising right? It Sure surprised me.
You try getting one. They wouldn't sell me one.
Dave may be a Fluke fanboy but he's a professional engineer and he makes his living with them. Great video Clive, lots of useful information as usual.
First meter I ever used was the meter we had in digital electronics class. Teacher straight up said he expected someone to be dumb enough to blow up the fuse so he swapped it out for a breaker switch. Being the little shit 17 year-old me was, I thought "challenge accepted" and before the trimester was over, I not only managed to burn the switch, but I also blew tracks right off the board and cracked the resin blob. I now have my own Klein meter (bought in preparation for HVAC classes before I knew they would supply tools for us) and a $20 centech one from Hazard Fraught tools (I don't think it is RMS, but its insides look very similar to my Klein RMS meter).
Great opening line Clive, glad you got your knob sorted....
In Clive's video we have: a shaft, some nuts, and a tight screw.
Educational on all levels.
Great video - I was once distraught blowing up my first meter..... 1kV 1kJ capacitor bank, no series resistor, 1kV max range. The meter elevated 6" when the triggered spark gap fired the steam gun. The only thing left working was the PP9 battery, completely vaporised PCB traces. The steam gun used to do 1/2" of telephone directory on 177 pellets.
I love that you found the design weakness and fixed it.
I also love that you and AvE managed to come across similar issues on the same day. :)
I broke a Fluke once. Dropped an electrical panel on it edgewise. Sliced right though the case. I was just glad it was the meter and not my toe.
I have several of those VERY cheap Yello Peril meters for occasions when I don't know what I am doing (always). My 'soddering' (just for our friends across the pond) iron slipped off it's stand and melted right through to the works. There are no balls and springs now and it's very air cooled, no fuses but it says it has. Still works and readings close enough to a Fluke for most things.
Both Clive and AvE have broken knobs? What are the chances
Greater than you think, sadly.
That was expert shaft handling.
Aaah, those springs are great big huge things, really. Easy to find. If you want a real challenge, go looking for a clickspring from a wristwatch, you'll learn secrets about your flooring material that you never expected (or wanted) to know, and a better understanding of how blind dogs navigate a room.
Randy Novick My late father used to repair wristwatches. We spent many hours on the floor looking for springs!
If you really want to know about tiny springs, get into lock sport.
I bought one of the nicer low-end meters they offered at Radio Snack here in the states and used it for a while, but then I failed to notice that the clamp covered some digits in the voltage specification for a capacitor and attempted to meter it when it had maybe 2000 volts on it. Luckily, I was unharmed, but that meter was instantly destroyed. Luckily, I had (uncharacteristically for me) bought the extended warranty, so I took it back and they gave me a new one. I have better meters now, as well as an assortment of the cheap variety. Clive's right, they're useful when doing dodgy stuff (just make sure you don't depend on the meter to protect you), and also for those situations where you need to measure 5 different things at once.
ThankYou forMeter repair 101.
When I have something that has a lot of small parts I like to work with the item in a short sided box that is white. Not much help when the spring decides it wants to go out on an adventure. But as we all know. Springs LOVE to go out on road trips and looking for adventure.
Ah yes Dave and his Flukes! He's using his own branded meter at the moment though, not seen him use a Fluke for quite a while. Great video Clive, floppy shafts etc always make me smile :)
I finally had to stop watching EEV (Dave Jones)- just too much whiney pretension to be entertaining. Clive is the exact opposite- charming, mellow, and funny.
ABSOLUTELY
Clive's voice sounds better too.
EEV blog is fine if you mute the sound. You can still pick up the gist of the video
I don't like him any more either. He went from actually doing electronics tech stuff, to just reviews and yes, whining and crap like that. (I'm okay with some whining, but he whines even more than your average woman! XD)
BTW, he doesn't make as many videos, but "DiodeGoneWild" is great too!
@@BenjaminEsposti DiodeGoneWild. I will have to check that out. Thanks, Ben!
So glad to see that your nob is working properly again, it's amazing what so much screwing can do...
I had a four pole rotary switch which for some reason was manufactured with one of the poles having the contact mechanism the wrong way around compared to the other three poles, and it happened to require me to take all of the other poles apart to get to it to fix it. Springs and small plastic parts went pinging off everywhere and I'm pretty certain that during the attempt to fix it I've raged harder than I've ever done and ever will do.
Oh, and my first ever multimeter failure was accidentally shorting mains AC (left it on current mode trying to check the voltage, the meter was one that shared a probe connector for both Voltage and lower currents (200mA)). At least it was only the fuse inside the multimeter and weirdly also the higher rated fuse in the plug but I didn't have any spares at the time. Less of a failure on the meter's part, but more on mine. I've learned to double check now.
Ye gotta hate when your knob goes limp.
On Fluke meters, these rotary contacts are notorious for becoming intermittent, and result in the wrong mode (AC V instead of DC V), the display going blank (power off), or reading of 0.000 no matter what is connected to the input terminals. It might be CAT IV / 1000 VAC, but still not a fail-safe design to read 0.000 when connected to mains voltage!!
Friend of mine from college fried his Fluke 77 of about the same age as yours by trying to measure a Discwasher static gun. Amazing how that works.
Thanks for this Clive. I've got one of these and an autoranging one as well. (And a varying number of cheapo ones depending on whether I can remember where I had them last).
It's good to know you can get parts from Amecal. You can't have too many meters.
Putting those balls in a small dab of grease on the spring and the ball holds them in place till you get the rotor into position. As a bonus the extra lubrication helps with life. Use a thick grease like wheel bearing or lithium grease, not silicone grease or Vaseline. Clean the contacts and the board with alcohol, and do not put any lubrication on them.
For similar failures i have also used a steel wire wrapped around the shaft, and twisted together, as a reinforcement, and then a bit of 2 part epoxy to hold the bits together. Wire because i used a lot of locking wire, and know how to do it, after a lot of practice in doing so, even without the convenience of the correct wire locking pliers, which make it a lot faster and consistent.
Pay no attention to Dave. I'd probably watch him if only he could come down a few octaves.
I used to be amazed that certain video players (youtube included) could keep the same pitch when speeding up the video playback. I wish on Dave's that I could speed it up to 1.25 but pitch it down to 0.5 or so!
@@Fuogor EXACTLY
I once tried lowering the pitch using audacity, but it was still as annoying....
Oh well.. That's what happens when you get neutered to early in life :D
I don't dislike Dave, his voice is just not very headphone friendly.
On the electronics part, he's quite good.. Snobbish, but good.
For things with springs and balls, Vaseline works wonders to keep things in place. Thats whats used when working on valve bodies for automatic transmissions and such with all those annoying check balls.
Yep Clive! The Video just went nuts over the limp knobs..... Lol You know that would happen... Lol
As far as EEVBlog, let him buy the $1000 dollar stuff my $20 dollar meters does the same stuff... Yep I have the cheaper chinese ones and the free ones from Harbor Freight.... They all have there uses.... >:-)
Great Video!!!!!!!!
I haven't had any of my knobs go limp, but if they do, hopefully I can do a similar repair to get them nice and stiff again.
It usually happens when you're right in the middle of something. It will scare the shit outta you.
There's a joke here about clicking plastic sounds when turning the knob, but I haven't the heart to make it.
My Digitech auto ranging meter allows me to take it out of auto and stick it into manual mode using the "Range" button which lets me cycle thru ranges, handy for dealing with unstable measurements, without having to forefeit auto range for everything else. Manually set ranges will stick until you cycle back to auto or change function.
I've had a Tandy/Radio Shack analogue meter that still works right as rain since 1981 or maybe 1982 (bar a bit of drift accuracy wise). I definitely used it in my A levels as on the most sensitive setting it was more sensitive at FSD than the school's light spot galvanometer. It was very expensive back then (£83 in todays money and it was half price). I have though had meters fail like this after 6 months of hard use. Nice to find out you can get replacement rotary switches though I doubt there are any around for my first meter.
A Fluke 77 knob does not rotate 360 deg until the stop pin breaks. Then all the contacts can get bent and the meter display is messed up. Drilled a hole in the knob and inserted a wood peg with epoxy to repair. Then rebent all the contacts back hoping none would break. Maybe fluke sells repair parts but it works still for now.
It's the BigClive Jagermeister show! More please!
There's nothing wrong with a cheap multimeter. I have several of those "free with any purchase with a coupon" multimeters from Harbor Freight and they actually work very well. The voltage and resistance is spot on with other meters, and over the years I've had only one malfunction to the point I had to scrap it. The achilles heel with them is the cheap probes. The plastic insulation cracks easily, requiring some glue or solder surgery to fix. All in all, I've never had to actually pay for any multimeter I own.
b&q sell 2 meters a basic one and comprehensive one, its just like that but with orange rubbers, it needs proper fuses putting in but otherwise its great, and amazingly accurate i bought it as it had capacitance, inductance, and all the usual features, ind and cap are a necessity for building metal detector coils but it also needs to be accurate too.
When I was young we occasionally took my dad's good meter apart to replace the vacuum tube. There was much less plastic and much more metal involved, so we never the kind of selector drive failure that you did.
Mm, sloppy shafting action
And limp knobs. A couple of times i had to look up. Like whst did he say.
They weren't willing to sell me a spare and insisted I send it to them and cover all costs which after VAT and return postage made it too expensive to be worth while so I bought a Vici instead. I could have had two Vici metres for the same as the cost of repair amecal quoted me. Ever since it's sat in a box in bits.
That's a bit disappointing.
@Daniel Glover I asked for a spare and they said no, you'll have to send it back at my expense. It was out of warranty so I couldn't see the problem but as mentioned it wasn't worth it financially. If I'd have paid the repair costs including the cost of it new I've pretty much bought a fluke 113 and some how I doubt this would have been an issue.
I got a vici as a second meeter but it soon became my favourite. For a hobbyist it's hard to beat.
I got the Vici VC99 and been quite happy with it, perfectly fine for my hobby needs.
The temp probe was handy for testing the arduino clock/temp/humidity project I've nearly finished building (nearly being got it mostly working over a year ago and really must finish it one day)
LOL. "Now I am older and wiser"?
Older? Doubtlessly! Wiser?...
Never lose your childish curiosity, Clive!
@BigClivedotcom I believe these meters are manufactured by a company called CEM. They sell them in blue instead of the usual yellow.
I just wanted to say that I thoroughly enjoy your videos and a lot of times they inspire me to go and tinker with electronics on my own :)
I have a meter identical to this one by Triplett. Actually I got it specifically because I wanted one just like this from your videos, with a nice large backlit display and cap test ranges. (I since got a Fluke but I hate it and only use for HV or high current stuff.)
Best - cold open - ever.
A bit of grease can be used to hold the balls. This method is used when assembling ball bearings that don't have a ball cage.
Clive I'm not certain but I do believe that a proper sized Thomson retaining ring would be just what the doctor ordered to hold the split in place in order to properly egoopulate resin upon? That's what they're called here stateside I'm certain that across the pond you have a much more charming nomenclature for such a mundane device. Cheers!
I thought I was the only one that enjoyed sipping Jagermeister. Glad to know I'm not alone.
A tad bit of petroleum jel will hold spring ball pieces during reassembly while doubling as track lube.
How about a breakdown and rev engineer of a quality home xenon strobe lamp..how the charging and trigger circuits work??
My OCD was screaming at 12:19 for Clive to clean the huge chunk of dust off the display module before screwing it back in!
hahaha ...I absolutely love your videos mate..I'm never gonna own a meter worth repairing but I've had my monday evening enhanced by a big Scotsman on an island in the Irish Sea mending his one...someone will put your narrative to music one day!!
Very interesting ! I still have my first meter. It's the size of a small microwave, and has valves. Still powers up though.
“Carry on electronics” today with professor probe and nurse shaft. Ooooooo matron
professor shaft and nurse probe
I know these mechanisms very well. Yes; quite fiddly and it takes patience and dexterity to accomplish. A small dab of grease is great for holding ball bearings in place. Ah, Yes. The spring. Dexterity comes into play.
Technical references - 0:04 Clive's knob suddenly went limp - 0:22 Weakness in the shaft - 0:57 Turning the knob to the extreme left - 6:22 As soon as the knob goes soft, just stop, right there and then ! - 15:46 Thick Lip around it
I blew up my first meter, sort of. It had an unfused 10A current setting, and I may have blown the trace off the board. The trace was a fuse, in essence. But I just soldered a wire in and it still works fine, though I also have a better meter now.
Damn, that spring hit me in the eye!
I have had a similar failure in a couple of different devices (one was a laser printer cartridge!) and I fixed them with a metal ring and epoxy, for one I accidentally had a ring with just the right inner diameter but for the other I made the ring from aluminium plate.
I'm envious of you since you received the Wera 2017 Advent Calendar - it's a handy set...I wish I had not missed it.
I love your spot on pronunciation of Jägermeister ;)
Would it be worth reinforcing it while new rather than waiting for it to start failing? Especially if you have it all apart anyway. Oop. 8:52
@Против Глобал Yes, a zip tie, or wrap with wire and some epoxy drizzled.
I had to replay the first 6 seconds of this video a few times! haha this really caught me off guard!
especially on high voltage settings always check any meter on a known live circuit before using to check a unknown circuit.
Great vid again Clive thanks. I'm in the market for a new meter of reasonable quality (if I could afford an expensive one that would be a total Fluke). I've been looking at this model and like the fact that floppyknob syndrome can be treated rather than just binning the whole thing. Quick question though. When replacing the selector module would you suggest cleaning the tracks and wiping contacts (on the new module) with a little iso on a cotton bud - or just dropping the new part straight in?
I'd leave the original coating on or clean them if they were uncoated. There are a lot of meter options these days.
15:48 holy SHIT, Clive is throwing SHADE!
"My knob went limp. The shaft is broken." -- Big Clive, 2019.
I would of kept repaired one in, it may last longer than new one. Thick grease will hold ball bearing in place when assembling. Also, thick grease on limp knob helps.
I was wondering what had caused the presence of the Fluke recently. Nice video!
I like the idea of an Advent screwdriver. I can picture a box with little doors and every day you open a door and get the next piece of the set.
It's actually quite frustrating, because the bit you need is behind a random door you can't open yet.
we had an advent calender with bathroom products like soap, shampoo etc.
@@BigClive This got me thinking, which is a dangerous thing.
I wonder if it would be possible to build a cheat-proof Advent calendar with a locking mechanism that prevents one from opening a door before its day. Maybe something based on a pink USB device that electrocutes you if you try to open a door early. "Hah! You're dead! That'll teach you."
I’ve noticed that Clive’s screw removal speed, is proportional to Jaegermeister blood titration quantity.
Hasn't Dave got his own range? Pun intended.
Is this a coordinated effort with Canada? AvE also posted a video today about his Fluke flicker feeling floppy. He seemed to have had bits fall out while some other fellow was fondling his Fluke.
I'm kinda surprised you had not fix the potential "fault" by applying a metal ring or even vinyl tubing with epoxy around that collar.
Finally got my Fluke T90 voltage tester delivered after sending back a Fluke SM200 in November to them, after you mentioning in one of your vids that they were being recalled. Took several emails to get them to send 1 the returns label for the SM200 and emails asking where is the T90. Any chance of you doing a video on using such probes. The ones on YT aren't in english. Thank you ! Also have a Fluke 23 meter which I am still 'borrowing' for the last 20 + years and it's never let me down.
In the US this meter is sold as a Triplett 9007A
I had a little bet with myself, that we would see a video of Clive replacing the rotary switch... Here it is... :)
Dave Lennon-Copeland No no...
His knob! 😁
Bo Holbo Rasmussen - Haha... I nearly typed that... :)
Jupp.. The spring was gone.. Its winter in norway.. I Like the quote:i rather love the meters thats down to earth...
I am not a big fan of jagermeister, but I do LOVE Absinthe. Worth a go.
I remember blowing up my first meter when I was 10. Now I have a ex United Nations Fluke 25 which is old and slow as old boots. It is still within calibration. It has proper ceramic fuses in it.
Ahhh, the sign of a true engineer - only tightening the screws after all the screws holding something together have been screwed in loosely.
I might try wrapping some epoxy resin soaked thread around that collar to reinforce it. Although the circuit board fix looks pretty solid.