Category Archives: Teardown

Teardown and guided tour of equipment internals

Tektronix DMM912 Teardown

Posted on May 16, 2013 by modemhead

Tektronix may be known best for their industry-leading oscilloscopes, but they also sell other test equipment, including a line of handheld multimeters in the 1990s. The model documented here is a DMM912, part of a series of multimeters that included … Continue reading →

Posted in Teardown | Tagged , | 6 Comments

Beckman Industrial HD140 Multimeter

Posted on March 16, 2013 by modemhead

The HD140 digital multimeter from Beckman Industrial is another in the “heavy-duty” series, very similar to the HD110 in a previous article.  Unlike the HD110 however, this is a 20,000-count 4½ digit model with RMS-responding AC capability. Unfortunately I can … Continue reading →

Posted in Repair, Teardown | Tagged , | 11 Comments

HP 3468A Bench Multimeter Repair

Posted on February 23, 2013 by modemhead

Hewlett-Packard has built a reputation for quality bench multimeters every bit as impressive as Fluke has for the handheld variety. Nowadays they’re called Agilent, but this unit has the HP nameplate on it, and date codes on the parts inside … Continue reading →

Posted in Repair, Teardown | Tagged , | 22 Comments

Nixie Glow

Posted on January 30, 2013 by modemhead

My first ever digital multimeter was a Heathkit IM-1212.  I built it from a kit when I was a teenager (thanks, Dad.)  A whopping 2½-digit, 200-count unit with 1% ± 1 digit basic DC accuracy.  Barely a step up from … Continue reading →

Posted in Teardown | Tagged , | 8 Comments

Beckman Industrial HD110 Multimeter

Posted on December 16, 2012 by modemhead

This 3½-digit 2000 count manual-ranging heavy-duty multimeter is an interesting example of mid-80s technology.  With an impressive safety-yellow thick sturdy o-ring and gasket-sealed case, it looks like it could survive a drop test with the only damages being to the … Continue reading →

Posted in Repair, Teardown | Tagged , | 74 Comments

Fluke 8020B Teardown

Posted on November 30, 2012 by modemhead

This Fluke 8020B DMM dates from somewhere in the early to mid-80s and is an updated version of the 8020A, Fluke’s first handheld DMM. The eBay seller’s description said this one “would not power up”. However, when I installed a … Continue reading →

Posted in Teardown | Tagged , , | 5 Comments