[Retired]

Hi,

What a day I’ve had. A gorgeous day weather wise; a lovely three mile walk in warm sunshine and now success with “first light” days seldom come better than this.

Yes Dom & Keith; next job is to connect the Aurora and get the test card on the screen; I can’t wait and already I’ve had the Aurora fired up and flashing powered by a 9V battery but drat it; I thought I had some coaxial cable and spent an hour searching for it without success; I don’t like doing bodge jobs so will get hold of some if Mike hasn’t any to bring along when he visits tomorrow.

Thanks Trevor and John; during my lifetime I’ve had many steep learning curves but this one was akin to jumping off a cliff and learning to fly; not so much a curve more a vertical line and ballistic at that. Huskies were not needed after all John but it was definitely cold in the workshop very early this morning; I almost dashed out to fit the winter tyres!!

Thank you so much Tony I am deeply moved by your most kind sentiments and continued encouragement both on forum and as a friend via email; such compliments from a renowned expert is praise indeed; thank you.

John you really are a scream at times but I’ve cried enough for one day; I’ve never found my way around a chassis as quickly as I’ve done with this one and for other novices I think the areas to be wary of regarding EHT are the upper LOPT area including the two valve top caps; keep away especially with a meter and also the CRT coating which remains live even with power turned off; I did as Dom suggested and installed a good thick lead giving a direct short between the metal band around the screen and chassis; the metal band on this CRT has a set of metal fingers pressing against the coating. Not EHT but I took a lot of care to ensure mains neutral was by-passed through the on/off switch by adding a short between both tags connected directly to chassis as Joe kindly advised. I’m certainly not over confident John but the rubber glove isn’t needed or at least I hope it isn’t. I also enjoyed following your advice on how to draw lightning from the U25 John and was most impressed by this; it even looks better done in very poor light.

No harm done whatsoever Victor and thanks for posting.

Thanks Jeffrey; I think I was more amazed than anyone when I saw first light after spending so much time; as I’ve stated many times I’m colour blind and Trevor states that there might have only been a slight change in the display so I was worried about totally missing it; this drove me mad as the screen kept changing with the outside conditions throwing me way off scent; as it turned out though when first light did appear I needed sunglasses. We can all take a deep breath now.

Thanks Geoff; I’m pleased this story has been so well received; what a great bunch of guys you all are; all through this chassis restoration all I’ve ever received is help and understanding; it would have been easy for me to feel well out of it but everything has been explained in a straightforward simple manner that even I could understand; at no point have I been put down or felt intimidated; yes I’ve caused the odd laugh but even this was kind hearted and I could join in; if I can get such a wreck working in such short time due to your expert help and guidance then any novice has nothing to fear from doing similar restorations; it’s been a wonderful experience for me and to be honest I feel rather sad that I got first light so quickly as it was very interesting for me and I love a challenge.

No problem Dave and thanks for posting as the advice is worth repeating.

I was just about to post this when I saw your message Jay; many thanks; yes it was a delightful experience in seeing my very first light and good luck with your basket case; these to me are the best to play with.

Had it not been for a buried mains cap which took a great deal of finding and my mistake in removing the EHT lead again wasting a lot of time this chassis would have seen first light much sooner; I’m amazed I’ve seen first light at all.

Thank you all once again for your patience and for reading my rambles.

Kind regards, Col.