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Old 1st Jun 2018, 9:22 am   #1
Kentode
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Default Leak troughline ll, first successful restoration.

As promised, here is my first restoration from 2012. I didn't post it at the time as I didn't think that as a newbie there was anything I could add to the knowledge already on the forum.

Some of the photos are screen shots and others are photos of photos as I didn't have a smartphone at the time.

I won the leak on eBay for £36.00 advertised as not working. I did note that the facia was scratch and chip free although it wore those little diamond stickers issued for the frequency change.

The set was dusty but looked untouched, and the fault was a loose earth strap at the output.

Picture 1, is that blue cap. Original?
Picture 2, faulty earth strap to the right of the blue cap.
Picture 3, crowded area around V5, ECF 80.
Picture 4, T4 Foster - Seeley discriminator which will get 2 x 100K resistors.
Picture 5, cutout required for new dual cap.

More to follow.
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Old 1st Jun 2018, 9:32 am   #2
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Default Re: Leak troughline ll, first successful restoration.

Picture 6, top view of dual cap. And wirewound resistor. Note the space to the right of the cans. This is where the stereo decoder will go.
Picture 7, new cap. Fitting.
Picture 8, other capacitor and bypass caps. Fitted.

More to follow.
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Old 1st Jun 2018, 9:59 am   #3
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Default Re: Leak troughline ll, first successful restoration.

I made lots of notes and read everything on the Web.

I decided to purchase the upgrade kit available from Hifi Collective. This was expensive l now realise but as a one-shot option it made obtaining all the parts easier than shopping around. After six years of continuous daily use and despite my amateur soldering the leak has been completely dependable, with only a couple of resistors needing replacement.

As much as possible, l replaced components one at a time, as advised by the Neville Roberts article in Hifi World.

Where this was impossible due to crowded areas l made diagrams.

Picture 9, diagram of V5/T3/T4 and tagstrip wiring.
Picture 10, L4/V1/T1 and tagstrip wiring.
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Old 1st Jun 2018, 10:21 am   #4
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Default Re: Leak troughline ll, first successful restoration.

I removed the fascia, which was tricky and required blutack on the end of a cocktail stick to hold a nut steady!

Holding it up to the light l could see lots of pinpoints, which I blotted out with Humbrol gold or maroon paint. The result was very good and you have to look closely to see the touch-up.

Then I cleaned up the gold background with meths and cotton buds before masking and drilling the hole for the stereo beacon and grommet. Also you can see, in the third picture, the wirewound resistor fitted to the scale lamp to increase longevity.
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Old 1st Jun 2018, 10:43 am   #5
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Default Re: Leak troughline ll, first successful restoration.

Now it was time to fit the stereo decoder supplied by Onething Audio. Again this was expensive but guaranteed to work out of the box and has proved to be 100% reliable.

The first picture shows the pcb and the isolating strip l fitted to the chassis due to the proximity of the capacitor ends and the psu connection pins.

The next picture shows a first fix, and the need for that isolation strip, the wiring for the psu and decoder output.

On the third picture you should be able to see the signature of H. J. leak, or possibly his son!
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Old 1st Jun 2018, 11:22 am   #6
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Default Re: Leak troughline ll, first successful restoration.

Now for the case! £15.00 got me a second hand router from the local fleamarket and a trip to B&Q for pine board and a small set of router bits chosen to match the curved edge of the Leak's fascia.

From my local hardware store l bought lots of one-handed clamps, wood glue and clear varnish.

I designed paper templates which I used to fretsaw hardboard jigs which I then pinned to the 18 mm pine board.

Doing it this way meant that the sides and the top and bottom pieces were matching and made glueing up simple - butt the edges up and clamp, and everything is square.

Before assembly l added slots for the proud screws on the chassis and a recess for the metal frame that supports the fascia.

I clamped the case up dry to double check everything fitted - you can't get a big router inside a small case!

After glueing and clamping, I left it to dry for a week and then routed all the outside with a radius cutter (32mm).

Very light sanding and three coats of varnish later, the Leak Troughline ll was finished and presented to SHMBO for final inspection and approval.

It passed!

I hope that this encourages others to have a first go at a restoration. Personally, I haven't stopped since!
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Old 1st Jun 2018, 11:38 am   #7
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Default Re: Leak troughline ll, first successful restoration.

That's really rather nice! Good to hear that you're actually using it rather than treating it as some sort of religious artefact to be respectfully gazed-on from afar and never turned on!
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Old 1st Jun 2018, 12:47 pm   #8
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Default Re: Leak troughline ll, first successful restoration.

G6tanuki, thanks for your kind words. Hifi World always rates the Troughline ll as one of the classic valve radios worth listening to, and yes it does roll off at the top end but that's precisely why it's so nice to use for long periods!

Over the last six years I've listened to more and more classical music on radio three. For the 2017 proms l heard 53 of the 84 concerts broadcast, all the while balancing a sleeping cat and a bound 1963 Practical Wireless on my knees!
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Old 1st Jun 2018, 1:39 pm   #9
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Default Re: Leak troughline ll, first successful restoration.

A nice bit of classic kit sympathetically restored.

It doesn't get any better.

And if you ever decide to sell it, the named kit and decoder will help.

David
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Old 1st Jun 2018, 9:03 pm   #10
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Default Re: Leak troughline ll, first successful restoration.

Sell it!

Wash your mouth out with carbolic!
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Old 2nd Jun 2018, 5:48 am   #11
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Default Re: Leak troughline ll, first successful restoration.

I was trying to be more tactful than "When your heirs decide to sell it" but I could never do diplomacy or tact.

David
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Old 2nd Jun 2018, 9:39 am   #12
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Default Re: Leak troughline ll, first successful restoration.

Agreed David. My 45 years of LP's are apparently of no interest either, but that thread was discussed at length here recently.

At least I'm enjoying something l can repair and maintain, unlike modern equipment!
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Old 2nd Jun 2018, 9:49 am   #13
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Default Re: Leak troughline ll, first successful restoration.

I see you have got the bug now Ken , well done a superb restoration job, The swmbo test made me laugh Mick.
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Old 13th Jun 2018, 8:57 am   #14
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Default Re: Leak troughline ll, first successful restoration.

Hi,
I am just doing the same restoration on my TL 3 st, but its a long way....to the finish line.
(see also my https://www.vintage-radio.net/forum/...d.php?t=146429)
By the way there is anny advice regarding de aerial conection. Mine has no conection between the ground conector and the chassy. What or how shall I conect the coaxial 75ohms aerial?
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Old 26th Jun 2018, 11:24 pm   #15
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Default Re: Leak troughline ll, first successful restoration.

Lovely job! Well done.
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Old 28th Jun 2018, 10:22 pm   #16
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Default Re: Leak troughline ll, first successful restoration.

Quote:
Originally Posted by victor54 View Post
Hi,
I am just doing the same restoration on my TL 3 st, but its a long way....to the finish line.
(see also my https://www.vintage-radio.net/forum/...d.php?t=146429)
By the way there is anny advice regarding de aerial conection. Mine has no conection between the ground conector and the chassy. What or how shall I conect the coaxial 75ohms aerial?
There is an input centre tapped isolating transformer. The coax outer should be connected to the centre tap and the inner to one of the other connections.
It is not necessay to connect the coax to chassis, in fact it would be better to separate internal and external earth since they may well be at significantly different voltages.
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