This Device Tickles My Fancy

RE: This Device Tickles My Fancy

jw0752 — Fri, 15 May 2020 02:30:49 GMT

Hi Doug,

I have several of these devices branded as M-Testers. I have purchased raw units for a few bucks from Banggood and put them in my own boxes. These were designed to run on a 9 volt battery but I wanted a longer use so for the two that I built my own cases I put AA batteries into the system. I have well over a year of use in both of the units and they still show 8.9V or more of battery voltage. On one unit I added wires and alligator clips as they are useful sometimes. I also moved the test socket off the board and onto the panel as I found that it was difficult to get the lock bard to work through the panel if it was mounted on the original board. The smaller one came with its own laser cut Plexiglas case and I had to stay with the original 9 volt battery. I have always found them accurate enough for my purposes and handy to help ID transistor leads and transistor types. The only problem I have had is that some of them were assembled with the socket lock bar closed. This causes the fingers to be held in a bad position by the solder. To fix this problem I had to open the lock bar and liquefy the solder long enough for the fingers to resume their proper position.

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Thanks for your interesting post and modifications. It seems that I am not the only one who likes to modify commercial products to better suit ones preferences.

John

RE: This Device Tickles My Fancy

fmilburn — Tue, 14 Apr 2020 02:42:17 GMT

Hi Doug,

I really like your switch mounting design and friction pins to hold the board in place. Great way to minimize fasteners and make assembly quicker. I also learned something when you pointed out that the back plate could be printed vertically with the switch holder stabilizing it upright - something I probably would have missed.

RE: This Device Tickles My Fancy

genebren — Sun, 12 Apr 2020 17:04:39 GMT

Very nice improvement to your meter. I have been intrigued with devices and now that I can see how they be improved, I might take the leap and get one. I assume that you are not able to charge the battery without turning on the device, but that is not an end of the world type problem. Well done.

Doug is go to see you up and around! I hope that you are feeling better or at least improving. Take care.