Most ornamental equipment?

[ChrisGadg]

What equipment gets you tied between practical use and ornamental use?

I have a Telequipment Serviscope Minor which I have on display with a function generator I made, also very nice. The scope is very small and built for schools possibly.

I have several 1940's voltmeters and ammeters that I use one of also, for display. Also a Telequipment D43 that I don't have a place for but love.

When I get chance I will repair a JJ Instruments CR500 chart recorder, but that's a functional item and fascinating rather than ornamental.

The other antique display items I have are non-electronic but generally practical, and some work better than modern throw-away products.

[Doghouse Riley]

I've nothing myself other than this.

[img]********************Gps6qjC/P1050678.jpg[/img]


But I like this.

Sadly, I think it's just a film prop.


[img]********************X5rtF4J/Record-Man-Humphrey-Bogart-zps2403a27b.jpg[/img]

[G6Tanuki]

Personally, I don't really 'do' ornaments, preferring function over appearance - in my mind ergonomics beat looks!!

So to me there is beauty in the feel of a silky smooth vernier drive and accurately calibrated tuning scale with excellent resettability, linked to a stable drift free oscillator.

Give me something like an AR88, a good 1960s Eddystone HF receiver or a RA117 - they work well so in my mind that has all the appeal I need. To me such gear is far nicer than the unspectacular performance of Round Ekcos and brown woodies that some people get excited about.

[knobtwiddler]

I have a large B+K analyser that's been a workshop ornament for some years now. It'd be fun to use and I'd like to get it fixed, but even though long-discontinued by B+K (and no longer serviced in-house), they have no intention of giving anyone the SM. I posted a Q here about this and found others with B+K equipment that are in the same situation. I won't be buying anything else made by the firm!

[ScottBouch]

I use this on an almost daily basis. And I think its very pretty/ornamental to look at.

It wad a ball of red rust when I picked it up from the roadside where soneone had left scrap metal out for collection. Its now one if my most used tools!

[ppalped]

Originally Posted by knobtwiddler

I have a large B+K analyser that's been a workshop ornament for some years now. It'd be fun to use and I'd like to get it fixed, but even though long-discontinued by B+K (and no longer serviced in-house), they have no intention of giving anyone the SM. I posted a Q here about this and found others with B+K equipment that are in the same situation. I won't be buying anything else made by the firm!

What's the deal with manufacturers for doing this? One thing is they no longer have the manuals because they were dumped in a trash can ages ago when they started to use computers and no one there cared to scan stuff - but if the manual exists and the equipment is no longer supported, why not release it?

[Jez1234]

Originally Posted by Doghouse Riley

I've nothing myself other than this.

[img]********************Gps6qjC/P1050678.jpg[/img]


But I like this.

Sadly, I think it's just a film prop.


[img]********************X5rtF4J/Record-Man-Humphrey-Bogart-zps2403a27b.jpg[/img]

Ah yes the Leak 2000 series... not their finest hour IMHO. I have an identical receiver but it doesn't get any use.

[Jez1234]

Bruel & Kjaer are a law unto themselves and just as quirky as old Philips gear. Strange plugs and sockets used only by B&K and sometimes poor access for maintenance being just two of their quirks. It performs very well though and up there with Marconi Instruments, HP etc on that front. I have three items of B & K gear on my workbench and another three which are unlikely to ever function again or are too obscure in function to bother with. One is a psophometer, obviously an item we all turn to first when fault finding just about anything (not!). This is probably easily fixable and apparently was in abeyance due to one range being noisy according to a sticker on it.
Another is a 1/3d octave filter set, potentially useful but I got it as a box of bits and it uses many B & K made thick film modules... it would take days to work out how it all goes back together and then I could find the true fault was in an unobtainium module so that's not going to live again...
The last of the poorly ones is an early to mid 70's TOTR measuring amplifier which is all discrete, mind bogglingly complex and has maybe 20 plug in boards non of which can be accessed for fault finding when in situ. no doubt B & K had a jig of extenders etc to repair these... but I don't.

[DrStrangelove]

There's a B&K swept oscillator, a B&K transducer** amplifier and the Ling transducer*** driver down the shed.

It looks very impressive.

Most of it worked at some time, but being nicked out of another shed and left out in the rain did none of it much good.

There's some Mullard valves in the B&K stuff.

It was used, back in the day, to shake the crap out of Siliconix Hirel fets and the like, back when those were a thing rather than almost total unobtainium*.


*Not quite total since someone bought the die they had in stock so, in theory, such stuff could be remanufactured until the die run out.

**accellerometer

***voice coil forced air cooled speaker thing, the one bit I haven't got.

[Radio Wrangler]

The most decorative bits of HP gear to my mind are the HP microwave cavity wavemeters with their helical multi-turn tuning scales.

David

[Doghouse Riley]

Originally Posted by Jez1234

Ah yes the Leak 2000 series... not their finest hour IMHO. I have an identical receiver but it doesn't get any use.

Well there you go. I've two and they both work fine.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NJaV58i-X40

[TonyDuell]

I feel that 'beauty' doesn't just mean what it looks like, it can involve the entire design, including things that are only apparent after a long look at the circuit diagram. And there are thus many things here that just look like a cardcage of circuit boards but which I find some aspect of the design to be beautful. The PDP11/45 with its associated floating point processor is one such.

However I think for things that look nice, work well and have interesting design, I'd nominate some desktop calculators. Top of the list is the HP9100, that is the most elegant bit of electronics that I have ever worked on. Then the HP9800 series, open one up and it says 'well made'.

Going back a bit I love the old hand-cranked mechanical calculators (Brusviga, etc). I have a few, some of which I've restored, others are waiting for me to have the time to strip them down.

Some years back I bought an old recording voltmeter. Wooden case, clockwork chart feed mechanism, moving iron meter movement. It would make a nice steampunk lamp I guess But of course I intend to restore it to a working instrument.

[Jez1234]

Originally Posted by Doghouse Riley

Well there you go. I've two and they both work fine.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NJaV58i-X40

Mine basically works although it is a bit of a servisol-aholic! I just don't like the sound of the 2000 series amplifiers. Even the contemporary reviews mentioned that they sound rather "transistory". The tuners section is really good though! I also have a Delta 75 which is the receiver that the 2000 replaced and it sounds rather warmer.

[Jez1234]

Strangely enough I was just thinking about the possibilities of "losing" some boatanchors amongst/as part of the "decor" as steam-punk objet d'art. Now if only there wasn't so many speakers, prototype amplifiers, oscilloscopes, boxes of valves in my "living room" getting in the way... ah I think I see the problem here

[Beobloke]

I own a lot of Bang & Olufsen equipment.

I’m not sure I need to say any more…!

[jamesperrett]

I have an old PA microphone on a brown resin desk stand that just sits there as an ornament. The original diaphragm had disintegrated so I stuck an old Sennheiser headphone earpiece in there and hooked it up to the output terminals so that it could record some kind of noise if anyone wanted to try it.

[ChrisGadg]

Very interesting to read these replies, very lively thoughts.

I nearly threw up when someone mentioned Steampunk, I was reminded of an art display that mimicked the technical world. In public also. Very stereotypical and unreal.

A purely mechanical antique I have is a Wilcox and Gibbs Chainstitch sewing machine from a mill. Not a bit decorative, but in whole it is gorgeous. Gibbs invented this mechanism by guessing at what a sewing machine did behind the panels.... he couldn't afford to buy one to copy it.

[Jez1234]

Originally Posted by Beobloke

I own a lot of Bang & Olufsen equipment.

I’m not sure I need to say any more…!

And there was me thinking you were just right into those new newfangled healthy yogurts

Just a Beomaster 1001 here. It's proper slide-rules on top slim and cute 70's B&O

[Radio Wrangler]

I suppose my Beogram 4000 is decidedly ornamental. It's greatest attribute is to irritate the worshippers of certain other record rotators. Maybe I need a TD125/SME to complete the set?

David

[stevehertz]

I love the look of my AVO 8 MK3 and it generally is my 'go to' meter over my digital ones. You can't beat the swing of a needle even if the final resting point is a few 'points' out. Bouncing digital readouts annoy me. But yes there's room for both definitely, digital when wanting highly accurate static currents and voltages, and analogue when the swing of needle can be meaningful.