Hell of a deal on variacs....

laatsch55

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For bringing up amps and other gear from 0 volts to ac mains level. They will limit voltage but not amps. When used in conjunction with a dim bulb tester a great way to avoid damage to an amp after working on it.
 
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laatsch55 said:
For bringing up amps and other gear from 0 volts to ac mains level. They will limit voltage but not amps. When used in conjunction with a dim bulb tester a great way to avoid damage to an amp after working on it.
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Actually they can limit the current if ya think about it - go real slow and watch that ammeter on the front. Real example - when I was initially bringing up David's 700B, I noticed the current meter was rising right along with the voltage setting (NOT normal - normally as you increase it you might see a lil "bump" in current, but then it goes right back down to "idle"). So rather than going "Hmmmm, interesting" and turning it up all the way to see the resulting light show and blowing stuff up, I left it way WAY down (5 vac max) and troubleshot.

Had a cat whisker in a very hard to see spot, shorting the negative side outputs C to E. Fixed that, then repeated the slow SLOW turnup on the variac. Lil bumps in the meter as I moved the voltage closer to 120... ahhh... much better!

Edited to add - Oh but these don't have meters! Well yeah a dim bulb is a good addition to it, definitely..
 
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Seems like a good deal. I was thinking about getting one awhile back when I was fixing up my oscilloscope. But then the scope cost like $10 and a good variac was like $$$.

Apparently, you can "bring back" old caps with a variac by slowly bringing up the voltage over time. Being that the 1200-1600v caps looked like a pair of crusty candles, I just replaced them and the rest.
 
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OHHHHHHHHHHHHHH NNOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO - Did you guys read the text? Here's a quote from the FleaBay add - there are so many ways to take this! First off is the what they call the variac:

"Staco 3PN1010 033-35 Variable Autotransformer 120V 10amp hydrogen cell vibratory"

The next quote that I copied and pasted below is - well I'm not sure what the hell it is - but it is kinda funny:

"We offer many vibratory Feeder Services, Service on Feeding Equipment, Refurbishing, Replacement or Re-tooling, Retrofitting and new turnkey systems. We have the largest inventory of used Vibratory Feeders you will ever find. If you have any questions regarding the above units please contact us at Feeding Concepts Inc."

You know if I offered a vibratory feeder service it sure as hell wouldn't be a variac! Sorry - this is too much fun and I can't help myself. The wife is gone so no one is here to keep me in line but the dogs and cat - they're no help either so...

Ok - so what the f#@k is a vibratory feeder - will this chip teeth? :compress: :confused4: :idea1:
 
orange

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It SHOULD keep your avatars happy, no matter.
 
orange

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Whatever the hell that was about, I've wanted a variac a long time...

PS Bossman, you got that Hickok checked out for me?
 
NavLinear

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Sorry - these do seem to be a good value but I couldn't help myself with the second language stuff. I do this at work with some of my cow orkers - or is that co-worker? It's not politically correct but...

If you series a DMM with a fused ammeter this would give one another method of seeing the current draw.
 
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NavLinear said:
OHHHHHHHHHHHHHH NNOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO - Did you guys read the text? Here's a quote from the FleaBay add - there are so many ways to take this! First off is the what they call the variac:

"Staco 3PN1010 033-35 Variable Autotransformer 120V 10amp hydrogen cell vibratory"

The next quote that I copied and pasted below is - well I'm not sure what the hell it is - but it is kinda funny:

"We offer many vibratory Feeder Services, Service on Feeding Equipment, Refurbishing, Replacement or Re-tooling, Retrofitting and new turnkey systems. We have the largest inventory of used Vibratory Feeders you will ever find. If you have any questions regarding the above units please contact us at Feeding Concepts Inc."

You know if I offered a vibratory feeder service it sure as hell wouldn't be a variac! Sorry - this is too much fun and I can't help myself. The wife is gone so no one is here to keep me in line but the dogs and cat - they're no help either so...

Ok - so what the f#@k is a vibratory feeder - will this chip teeth? :compress: :confused4: :idea1:
Click to expand...
Nav, A vibratory feeder shakes the shit out of parts that need to be transported. They are used to align parts for inserting into something or counting or weighing bins to be packaged. They are also used to convey horseshit from the barn to the manure pile. I thought you knew that.
 
orange

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Skratch said:
Nav, A vibratory feeder shakes the shit out of parts that need to be transported. They are used to align parts for inserting into something or counting or weighing bins to be packaged. They are also used to convey horseshit from the barn to the manure pile. I thought you knew that.
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That's a really hard way to get B.A. Baracas on the damn plane...
 
laatsch55

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If you series a DMM with a fused ammeter this would give one another method of seeing the current draw.




Say what?????????
 
NavLinear

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Skratch said:
Nav, A vibratory feeder shakes the shit out of parts that need to be transported. They are used to align parts for inserting into something or counting or weighing bins to be packaged. They are also used to convey horseshit from the barn to the manure pile. I thought you knew that.
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I know - it's just the context. We have several systems that use vibration to align components for installation in printed circuit boards but the way it was worded cracked me up. Yeah - the horseshit thing just might work also.
 
NavLinear

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laatsch55 said:
If you series a DMM with a fused ammeter this would give one another method of seeing the current draw.




Say what?????????
Click to expand...
It's the same thing if your powering up a DC circuit - put an ammeter in series with the hot leg and bring up the power while monitoring the meter for current draw. The same is true for AC. I have a test box that that I built for monitoring AC current. Hope this makes sense. All of the Fluke handheld DMM meters I use have a fused ammeter that would work in this configuration.
 
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