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Getting my oscilloscope off the bench

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Joules:
Been putting this job off for a while, partly as the scope was still under warranty, however as it was bought from Germany before brexit, any remaining warranty is likely to cost more in carriage than the scope if I needed to return it for service.

Anyhow, the office workbench for electronics has got more than a bit out of hand and the scope is kicking about on the top taking up space, especially when I am swinging a soldering iron and tossing molten metal about !!!

The monitor stand I fitted a while back is a dual support, so has a spare VESA mount on the second arm.  The scope however doesn't have any VESA fixings, my attempt at using 3M tape didn't go as planned during testing, so I need a mechanical solution.  Drill holes in the scope case...   Rigol are pretty good, they leave next to no space between the internal shield and case rear.  However the back of the shield has the M3 mounting studs welded into the shield and they are only half filled by the PSU bolts.

Take a deep breath and some careful-ish measurements and drill holes in the case (removed from the scope at the time) Got the first and second hole on the left, the two on the right turned out to not be symmetrical to the others, by about 1mm.  Little bit of needle file action and no one will be any the wiser.  Next make the plate out of aluminium sheet and fit M4 countersunk screws  ???  (Two Hours Later) Where the ef.. are my M4 countersunks ?  Now fitted with M5's and more drilling.

Those eagle-eyed amongst you may be suffering double vision with those bottom holes.  Thats what happens when you forget to subtract the screw diameter off one axis, ho-hum a 3mm end mill rescued that one.

VESA assembly attached to back of scope and all secured nicely, don't crank down on the screws as the scope has a little space between the shield and case.  The VESA mount needed to be offset to remain central on the rear of the scope.

The scope now lives on the second arm for supporting the monitor, meaning I have fresh space for more desktop clutter.   Shame RIGOL don't allow for VESA mounting from the start.

Joules:
 :lol: Having just watched EEVBLOG on the new RIGOL 12bit entry scope, it has a VESA mount on the back

AdeV:
Hmm. neat idea! I bought a "Hanmatek" (well known Chinese brand :scratch:) of similar form factor, as the budget didn't stretch to a Rigol - and all of my old 'scopes (an HP, a Golding, and one that I can't remember that isn't even digital) are all faulty in some way or another. Which reminds me, I need to dig out the HP & get an ebay search going for the replacement card it needs...

Muzzerboy:
Nice idea. I have a Siglent (like Rigol etc) and although these are much smaller than traditional CRO machines, they still get in the way on the bench top so a VESA mount on an arm is a neat touch.

I also have one of those MiniDSO pocket scopes https://www.aliexpress.com/item/32295903192.html?pdp_npi=2%40dis%21GBP%21%EF%BF%A1126.33%21%EF%BF%A163.17%21%21%21%21%21%402103254116941745936618623e31f3%2112000020630761033%21btf&_t=pvid:5e3eb464-aef7-40ce-af04-6b4aafcb573e&spm=a2g0o.ppclist.product.mainProduct and there are various DVMs now with half usable scope functions built in. Not quite in the same league as the bench scopes but much more portable and less unwieldy for some situations.

Joules:
Hi Muzzerboy, I started out with digital scopes around 15yrs back with a Uni-T 81b handheld, supposedly 8-10Mhz range. That soon got replaced by a Picoscope unit, and had good experience with that.  The Rigol came next to really replace the 81b and support SCPI with other test gear.  Then to add insult to injury, another Picoscope this time 4 channel as I needed to monitor current in different areas as it progresses through a solar installation.

I ended up with way too many scopes  :)  I have an old (reference to you  AdeV) Hameg analogue CRT scope on a wardrobe that gets pulled out if working on mains as it will tolerate the high voltages.  Pico's max out at 20V and die above 100V.   Differential scope probe on the wish list, got a cheap dodgy (x100) 2KV probe, but as yet unused as I don't want to risk the digital scope front ends.

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