How to destroy an Avometer

[Sinewave]

Here's a quick guide on how to ruin a piece of vintage test equipment.

Model used for this example is an Avometer DA116.

Use one thin bubble bag and a jiffy bag, pop it in there and place this in the hands of the post.

Voila!

Sit back and rest assured that because you haven't packaged it properly, that you've done your bit to rid the world of a peice of vintage technology.

[The Philpott]

Ouch. Was this your mystery parcel?

[Sinewave]

Originally Posted by The Philpott

Ouch. Was this your mystery parcel?

No it wasn't (I see that thread got locked).

This was another thing someone sent me.

[Andrewausfa]

That's bad luck and commiserations. I've had a Murphy A122 shipped in a bin liner with a layer of bubble wrap underneath. I had a Vega Selena chucked over a 8 foot high fence onto my patio. I'm sure most of us have stories but that doesn't stop the frustrations of a vintage bit of gear being destroyed through thoughtlessness.

Andrew

[Herald1360]

Did it still work?

[Sinewave]

Originally Posted by Herald1360

Did it still work?

No idea. The battery case is so smashed up that I'm unable to test it at the moment.

[pmmunro]

Commiserations from me too. I can empathise with your distress and frustration. I hope you will be able to claim a refund on what you paid.

Since this meter was ex-NATO, it probably spent its working life on a Royal Navy submarine so it's all the sadder that it should have survived that to end like this.

The only good point is that DA116s are not too rare and do appear fairly frequently on eBay, sometime as "not working" and hence a source of parts - if properly packed.

PMM

[Lloyd 1985]

Ouch! I know the sinking feeling you get when the postman hands you a parcel that just immediately looks under packed

I had a little Alba C116LW radio that the delivery guy knew he’d broken, as he chucked it behind our bin on the porch, didn’t even knock at the door! I was sat there and suddenly saw someone walk away from the house, so went to look outside and there it was. It was just wrapped in plastic, no bubble wrap or anything else. Got a full refund on that one, and kept the radio!

The latest bad packing experience was a late 2006 15” Apple MacBook Pro, arrived in nothing more than a Jiffy bag!! Surprisingly it survived and still works.

Regards
Lloyd

Ps, a couple of photos of the Alba, as received, and after much work with superglue and patience!!

[MrBungle]

That’s quite frankly terrible. I recently bought an HP3478A DMM and it came wrapped in one layer of bubble wrap and a Tesco bag. Fortunately, it survived unharmed. Probably because it was Royal Mail. Cheap courier would have drop kicked it over the back fence.

Also had a Tektronix 475 delivered to me in a single layer cardboard box with no padding at all other than some cardboard wedged around the gaps. That survived too.

Think I’ve got a luck cloud.

[Heatercathodeshort]

I think there is a lesson to be learned here. If you can't actually arrange to have the item collected personally by yourself or a friend, maybe think about actually buying it.

There are often the chassis only of Bush TV22s offered for sale with smashed CRTs probably the remains of a failed delivery.
To expect a courier to deliver large delicate items unbroken is a hope too far.

Manufacturers went to a great deal of trouble to ensure there products were delivered to shops in tip top condition often by their own transport.

Saying that, many years ago I collected a television I had purchased to discover it on a pile of rubbish by the dustbin!

Very sorry to see the state of your meter. No excuse with that small item. A few layers of cardboard would have saved this needless damage to an item that had survived undamaged for a good number of years. John.

[stevehertz]

Whenever I buy something 'breakable' on Ebay I send a message to the seller imploring them to pack the item in an oversize box with at least four inches of firm packing all around it. Even then I would say that 20% of items I receive are poorly packed, and around 10% arrive damaged as a result of poor packing. If everyone who ever packed an item did it with the thought in their mind that it may be thrown to land and skid along the full length of a delivery wagon (or worse), then I'm sure they'd make a better job of it. Tip for obtaining big boxes: try your local supplier of outdoor furnishings, they have them by the lorry load.

[MrBungle]

Yes. To be fair, everything was in a box when it was new. This is mostly about the inability to repack stuff properly.

A couple of times I’ve had something with very minor damage and the result has been getting it for free so YMMV.

[CambridgeWorks]

That is the reason recent test gear items I offered here were collection only. It is OK people asking "put it in a cardboard box please" but proper packaging is needed.
Where I used to work, rack mounting TX and RX had custom packaging designed for each item. One box cost around £60 with a minimum order. But it was a NATO VHF/UHF transceiver weighing around 27kg.

Once we had about eight of these returned for repair. All "as is" wrapped together with clingfilm on a wooden pallet. First the transit damage needed repairing before the actual faults.
Hopefully there may be some parts or the main PCB you can salvage from your AVO.

Rob.