HP 7090A - Measurement Plotting System - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / testgear

author: sean0118
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: July 23, 2014, 10:37:26 pm
content: Hi everyone,My uni happens to be throwing out an oldHP 7090A. I'm just wandering whether it's worth trying to save? Do they still have any practical uses? I wouldn't mind getting it for the novelty factor and to tear down, but it's fairly large and I'm short on space... but at the same time it's a great machine.

author: Dr. Frank
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: July 24, 2014, 08:04:35 am
content: I ordered and used this plotter around 1987, brand new then, also @ university, for my experiments on High Tc superconductivity.. the physics Nobel prize was just granted to Bednorz and Mueller.Did cost a fortune, at that time! I think, it was around 10k Deutsche Mark...I chose this machine (over ordinary DMMs) to please my professor, who was stuck on 'plotters' which had to be used in each physical experiments, but instead I intended to use the 3 12bit A/D acquisiton channels via GPIB, just to automate my measurements, and to plot linearized plots out of the PC again.It's a clumsy machine, that's true, but the plotter function is great, if you still get the pens.Perhaps the carousel still contains old ones, which may be dried out.The 3 chan. data acquisition (contains some memory also) is also fine, if you don't have other means of interfacing to your PC, but you also need GPIB.But it also had a big adavantage, that you could do long term measurements, over many hours, and plot the resultant graph later in a few minutes.Doing that live with ordinary plotters always tore the plotting paper in pieces, and created a fat inkblot...Just for the impressing size and action of the plotter, I'd keep it.Personally, I'd also like to see a teardown, surely brings tears to my eyes...Frank

author: sean0118
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: July 24, 2014, 11:01:51 pm
content: Thanks for the reply it definitely does sound like an impressive machine.Unfortunately someone else must have had an eye on it because it mysteriously disappeared quite quickly. It's a shame because one of my friends was very interested but we were too late.There is still a much smaller HP ColorPro available, but that is more of a basic plotter and surely a teardown of that would not be the same?

author: TerraHertz
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: July 25, 2014, 07:20:22 am
content: Quote from: sean0118 on July 24, 2014, 11:01:51 pmHa ha... someone who had the sense to just grab it immediately, *then* agonize later over whether it was a good idea or not. While looking at it on their bench. Take that as a lesson.I don't know why you were worried about the size; it's not particularly big. Compared to say a HP 7046A, which is sitting on a shelf here till one day I get time to fix it.Besides, you could have ebay'd it if you'd later decided you didn't need it. Maybe that's what the non-hesitating person mysteriously thought.

author: Tony_G
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: July 10, 2017, 01:09:58 am
content: Wanted to resurrect this thread because I just managed to score a 7090A in an auction (I really wanted one of these). I haven't done a tear down and probably won't have time till I get back from the trip to Australia but I did do a quick look at the unit in this video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ok2Vzjdvass&feature=youtu.be&t=19m38sTonyG

author: manganin
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: March 17, 2023, 02:35:17 pm
content: Sad, but I have to sell my 7090A. Serious storage space problem.Some photos here:https://www.eevblog.com/forum/buysellwanted/fs-(eu)-hp-7090a-data-acquisition-recorder-gpib-plotter/