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Old 17th Jul 2018, 1:13 pm   #1
David G4EBT
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Default Taylor 45D Valve Base Adaptors (update)

Back in 2014, I decided to make several adaptors to extend the range of valves that can be tested on the Taylor 45D Valve Tester. The tester is equipped with ten valve-holders, and originally, 14 adaptors plus a CRT adaptor could be obtained as desired to extend the range. All of the roller switch settings for the extended range are in the Taylor 45D Data Book. The adaptors plugged into a special 'B14E'socket. Of course there's no prospect of ever finding original adaptors, and if they ever did turn up, they'd be at silly prices.

None of the valves that I wished to test have more than eight pins, so initially, I made four adaptors, for B4, B5, B7 and M.O using I.O valve bases as plugs. With the benefit of hindsight, I needn't to have made a B4 adaptor as the B5 one would have sufficed for both B4 & B5 valves. I detailed my efforts in this (now closed) thread:

https://www.vintage-radio.net/forum/...+Base+Adaptors

At the outset I'd intended to make adaptors for UX5, UX6 and Side-Contact valves. A further two years elapsed before I got round to making the UX5/UX6 adaptors in October 2016, and I was horrified to note recently that a side-contact adaptor was still on my 'to do' list from May 2014. As I've been semi-grounded due to a recent knee replacement operation (making good progress), I've been trying to tick off little tasks that don't involve long periods standing at a workbench. (Work a bit - sit in the sun a bit!). Hence, it was well past the time to tick this one off the 'to do' list and to complete my 'ensemble' of adaptors.

I've now finished the Side-Contact adaptor and have also made and applied waterslide transfers to identify what each adaptors is for.

As before, I used sleeving of various colours to identify which pin in which (using the resistor colour code - pin 1 Brown, Pin 2 red etc), and to insulate the wires where thy may cross over each other inside the adaptor. The more pins there are, the more that care is needed in the routing of the wires and in this regard, with 8 pins, the side-contact holder needed some thought. The M.O. also has eight pins, but is much more straightforward as it's a mirror image of the International Octal base.

The easiest way to do the wiring up is to poke a 5" length of tinned copper wire through each pin of the Octal 'plug, bend it over the bottom end, and slip a length of sleeving over the wire inside the plug and up through the adaptor. Each wire in turn can then be soldered to the appropriate tag of the valve-holder. When all pins have been soldered, the Octal plug and the valve-holder can be gently push home, taking care not to kink the wires inside the adaptor. The valve-holder can be screwed to the top of the adaptor body, (I drilled and tapped the holes 4BA), but the holes to secure the Octal 'plug' (scavenged valve-bases) were left until I checked how best the 'plug' is orientated so as not to twist the wires inside the adaptor body.

After a final check to make sure that the pins are correctly cross-connected between the plug and the base, and that there are no shorts, all of the pins can be soldered. The last task is to drill and tap the adaptor to secure the Octal plug. For that, I used two 6BA pan headed screws.

So, after 4 years, it's 'mission accomplished' for the slow burn project!

I'm afraid that I have form going back more than six decades for launching into projects that capture my imagination before finishing others, but likewise, I've successfully completed many quite complex (for me that is), projects such as the PW 'scope, the PW Robin 1 GHz counter, the SPRAT 'Epiphyte' 5-Watt SSB transceiver for 80 Metres with digital readout. I suppose that all that matters is that we're having fun. Clearly I am, or I'd be doing something else with my time.

First pic is the wiring diagram of the side-contact adaptor.
Second pic is a sketch of the adaptor body, turned from Acetal rod.
Third pic shows the adaptor body, the socket and octal plug.
Fourth pic is the side contact holder wire up, ready to be pushed home and screwed down.
Last pic is of all seven adaptors with water-slide transfers applied.

I hope this might be of interest and use to anyone else who is perhaps thinking of making adaptors to extend the range of their valve-tester, be it a Taylor or any other make.
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Old 17th Jul 2018, 6:32 pm   #2
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Default Re: Taylor 45D Valve Base Adaptors (update)

What a beautiful job as usual. lt has given me food for thought as I have been thinking about making a few adaptors for my AVO valve tester.

Good luck with the new knee. I had one in October last year, never looked back. Keep up with the exercises.

Dave
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Old 18th Jul 2018, 8:59 am   #3
David G4EBT
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Default Re: Taylor 45D Valve Base Adaptors (update)

Thanks for your kind words of encouragement Dave.

At the outset, I'd wondered if the extended height of the wiring within the adaptors might - with some valves - cause them to go into oscillation or cause instability, but so far, that hasn't proved to be the case. By wiring up the valve socket then pulling the wires down through the pins of the base to be soldered, the wires are as short as can be - about 20mm.

I do have a Taylor adaptor kindly donated to me by a forum member, which is for the Taylor 45A. It has a B7G valve socket, and a B9 plug. The top can be removed, and reveals no attempt to keep the wires short, which in any event, wouldn't be possible due to the base and the socket having to be wired internally before the 'lid' is screwed down. (The wires are about 70mm long).

I've attached some pics below.

I printed the labels on my adaptors onto white ink-jet waterside decal paper, from the appropriately named firm 'Mr Decal Paper'.

The transfers are very durable, adhere well and look neater than say hand-written felt-tipped pen..
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Old 18th Jul 2018, 1:31 pm   #4
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Default Re: Taylor 45D Valve Base Adaptors (update)

Nice work David.
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Old 18th Jul 2018, 5:17 pm   #5
Craig Sawyers
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Default Re: Taylor 45D Valve Base Adaptors (update)

That looks great David. You must have lathe skills?

I must admit I had not even seen a Taylor 45D until you mentioned it (and of course I googled it). But I note that the AVO163 is also fitted with that strange 14-pin socket for additional valve base adapters. Which are likewise never seen either.

In the Taylor, only the peripheral 12 pins of the 14-pin valve base are wired.

I don't have a 163 by the way....would like one, but at North of a grand nowadays that is not going to happen.

Craig
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Old 18th Jul 2018, 7:39 pm   #6
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Default Re: Taylor 45D Valve Base Adaptors (update)

Excellent David.
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Old 19th Jul 2018, 9:59 am   #7
David G4EBT
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Default Re: Taylor 45D Valve Base Adaptors (update)

Quote:
Originally Posted by Craig Sawyers View Post
That looks great David. You must have lathe skills?

I note that the AVO163 is also fitted with that strange 14-pin socket for additional valve base adapters. Which are likewise never seen either.

In the Taylor, only the peripheral 12 pins of the 14-pin valve base are wired.

Craig
Thanks for reading and responding to the thread Craig.

Fortunately, I bought my Taylor 45D back in the early 80s, when such things were - like Dansettes - considered to be obsolete junk of little value. It had languished unsold all day on a Bring and Buy stall at a radio rally and was an impulse buy as I was leaving.

The lathe skills needed to make the adaptor body are very basic, but of course you do need a lathe.

I have a small basic German watchmaker's lathe over 100 years old, given to me as a rusting heap of scrap, which I fettled up. It has its limitations, but I've done countless little tasks on it in connection with the hobby. I also have an eight speed woodturning lathe with a 1.5 HP motor. Small old basic metalworking and woodturning lathes quite adequate for our needs often appear on e-bay at sensible prices.

To make the Acetal adaptor, I turned the 'spigot' on the metalworking lathe to fit the octal 'plug' and could have used a lathe tool called a 'boring bar' on the small lathe to hollow out the internal openings. However, that's time consuming and when turning plastic, you get the plastic equivalent of 'wire wool' coming off the workpiece in festoons, so have to keep stopping the lathe to clear away the waste. So instead, I used 'Forstner' bits on my woodturning lathe to do the hollowing out (at a slow speed so as not to melt the plastic).

One drawback of using Acetal or similar plastics for any task is it's high price. Often, it's only available by the Metre, or where suppliers will sell from 50mm in length upwards, it's even more expensive. This latest adaptor that I've made used 65mm diameter Acetal, and needed 35mm in length. Smallest amount supplied is 50mm, which costs £11.50 plus £12.00 delivery! Quite out of the question.

Here's what a 1 Metre length of 65mm diam Acetal costs from a few suppliers on the net:

https://www.shopforplastic.co.uk/65-...metre-37-p.asp

£40.61 inc VAT.

So, if I needed to make twenty adaptors, that would be £2.00 each, which is fair enough, but I didn't need twenty - only seven!

https://www.metals4u.co.uk/plastic/c...a-natural/p573

£62.18 inc VAT.

https://www.theplasticshop.co.uk/ace...-diameter.html

£59.46 inc VAT.

Needless to say those prices are out of the question, so I trawl auto-jumbles where offcuts of Acetal and other plastics can sometimes be found at more realistic prices, especially if you're not fussy about the colour - black, white, blue, green grey or whatever.

There's no reason why the adaptor can't be turned on a woodworking lathe in hardwood such as beech, which is cheap and plentiful. There's an example of one below that I turned in beech then sprayed with 'ebonising' spray.

Without drifting too far away from the thread, a simple lathe can be used for other tasks related to our hobby.

For example, if we try to put a thread on a rod by holding the die in our hand, it will rarely run true. However, by putting the rod in the tailstock of a lathe, and the die in the headstock, the lathe chuck can be rotated by hand and the thread will be perfectly concentric. The second pic below shows a 1/4" brass rod shaft being threaded for a hand coil winder that I made. The shaft had to run true as the coil rotated, and had hand-threading been used, even a few degrees out of true , which have made the shaft 'wonky' as it turned.

Often, using a simple lathe is the only option where missing or damaged parts need to be replaced, or custom parts such as pulleys for a coil winder.

Sorry - I'm rambling and dribbling again, but I hope it's of interest.
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