Star Tech Journal

0
Enzo's
March 1997
Tech
Tips
"Hey Enzo, I can't find the self-test button on this Captain Fantastic!,,
Douglas 'Enzo' Mccallum • Shiawassee Technical Services• Lansing, Ml
SETTING UP A Co1N-OP SERVICE BENCH (PART
4)
Unless you haul all your service needs to someone else, you must have a shop for
maintenance and repair of equipment. Depending upon your needs, the size of your;
and the thickness of your wallet, your shop could be anything from the garage to the
I house on up to a huge professional facility. Whatever league you are in, the work bench is
an important part of the shop. Here are some considerations for setting up a service bench.
EQUIPPING THE BENCH: SELEGrING A
VOM, VTVM, DVM, DPM,
DMM etc. Whatever the alpha-
bet soup, it's your meter. If you
have only one piece of electronic
test equipment, it's the one you
have. There is no shortage of
makes and models when it comes
to a Digital Multi Meter, so let's
consider some of the factors in-
volved in the decision of which
meter to buy. These days you can
get a good meter with a lot of fea-
tures and you won't have to drop
a month's pay to get it.
Is it a good brand? Well, if it is a
Fluke, HP, Tektronix, Wavetek,
B&K, or other major name
brand, you can buy with the con-
fidence those brands inspire. My
HP bench meter has been there
over twenty years without a prob-
lem. My Fluke 75 has been bang-
ing around in my tool box for
about a decade without a failure
and I don't even have the rub-
ber thing around it. The brands
you have never heard of may still
be a good buy. I have a little no-
name (Protek) handheld probe
style, (size and shape of a logic
probe) and I have used it until
the writing has worn off the con-
trols. It still works OK, but it is
getting pretty loose. The battery
contacts are worn and get inter-
mittent, the case doesn't like to
stay snapped shut. But I more
than got my money's worth.
If you are unsure of a brand, con-
sider who it is that is selling it.
Do you trust them? If you are
considering a purchase, ask the
seller if you can buy on approval,
or can you return it if you don't
like it. You have to return such
goods looking unused and in the
DMM
original package. A good com-
pany stands behind what it sells.
Jensen and Techni-Tool have
thirty day satisfaction or return
policies. If you think a company
is reliable, then check out what
they sell.
In addition to Jensen and Techni-
Tool, whose catalogs you should
get, look at your local electron-
ics suppliers, your distributor,
your parts houses, both coin-op
parts and general electronics
parts, and certainly Radio Shack.
Don't laugh. The fact that you
can buy a cheap crummy tele-
phone there or a cheap stereo, or
even a crummy voltmeter there
doesn't mean that everything
they sell is junk. Some of their
stuff is quite good, and I have to
say their parts have bailed me out
of countless service situations.