Restorer's dream part 2 the chassis.

[MichaelR]

Hi Col,

Considering the quality of the cabinet that you will be fitting it into, I would get the chassis looking as clean as possible, like a "new pin".

I would then make up a brass plate with your name and the date of restore and rivet it to the chassis in some convenient place. record it for posterity with a complete transcipt of the restore. the quality is such that it deserves to become a reference.

Mike

[Amraduk]

Originally Posted by Amraduk

So, what on Earth are you restoring a TV for!!??

I agree with the comments to my question, which was largely rhetorical and certainly tongue-in-cheek!

Regards,

Dave.

[Sideband]

If you are completely happy with it and it's working well and stable, maybe it's time to hook up the Aurora and a DVD and watch a film of your choice. That will give it an hour and a half or more of operation which should be long enough to show up any niggling faults that may be lurking. You will be able to check if there is any line or frame sync drift necessitating your need to adjust the line or frame hold controls. It will also show up any problems in the line stage if the width starts to come in. Doing this will enable you to concentrate on solving just these problems. It's what we used to call 'soak testing'. Strictly speaking, it should be done with the chassis in the cabinet so that it reaches normal temperature.

Hopefully there won't be any problems and you can just enjoy your efforts.

Excellent work. I can almost feel a TV restoration coming on myself.....!


SB

[Heatercathodeshort]

I've loved it Colin. Even better than 1963 when I first came into contact with these superb receivers. Must admit I wobbled with you a few times but you got there in the end. After all that work you did on that cabinet, the chassis just had to be got working. 90% of the faults on this receiver were due to poor storage and just sheer age. I reckon you did an incredible job, rather like a correspondence course in one easy lesson. Great to see it working and if you have any further queries, just let us have 'em! All the best, John. Oh, where is that tambourine..?
[PS I think Colin went about this in the right way. It was a little extended getting first light due to his unfamiliarity with EHT supplies and application but once this was sorted and the tube adjustments were understood it took very little time to come to a satisfactory conclusion. I think this project has created more interest than any other thread and Colin has set a standard in perseverance that will be a hard act to follow.]

[Retired]

Hi,

Thank you Mike for such glowing comments. I initially only wanted to see if I could actually pull the cabinet restoration off as it looked so dire and I thought it would really test me to see what I was capable of. It was a long restoration but I enjoyed every minute of it and as the restoration required extensive timber replacement due to woodworm; new veneer and a full re-finish I thought it might be of interest to other members so took a deep breath and stepped into the unknown leaving my comfort zone far behind and did the work in real time in front of the world.

I will indeed copy the entire restoration onto CD and retain a copy inside the cabinet. I'll also take your suggestion and tidy the chassis up. It seems years ago that I restored the cabinet and although it started off under the name of restoration a member kindly pointed out that it was in fact a customization as the cabinet other than shape looks nothing like the original after the extensive veneering work carried out.

Thanks Dave; yes I understood and thought your comment very apt and well placed.

Before installing the chassis into the cabinet I will indeed give it an extended "soak test" SB; thanks for suggesting it and it makes a great deal of sense; I have a CD/DVD player which can be taken into the workshop and hooked up to the Aurora; I also have lots of downloaded black and white movies which will be interesting to see on this TV and will bring back many memories.

John; you've been absolutely superb throughout this chassis restoration and to receive such high praise from such a recognized TV expert is praise indeed and I feel overwhelmed by it. If you wobbled a bit you can guess how shaky I was especially bearing in mind that I only really wanted to restore the cabinet thinking I didn't stand a chance in ever seeing the wreck of the chassis putting out a picture. Thank you for the offer of future support which is truly appreciated.

I know I'm not normal and need treatment but when I first saw this set at Steve P's after Steve kindly transported it from WB for me; my eyes lit up; to me it was a restorers dream as it looked terrible and was just pleading for some TLC after years of neglect. This was a personal challenge and I knew I had little chance of success but I would be in for a lot of fun; never ever did I expect the story to take off the way it did and I would like to thank everyone for your continued support and encouragement whilst I worked on the cabinet in the middle of the worst winter ever recorded. The lows were incredibly low and at times I could have cheerfully walked away from it whilst feeling frozen and things were going wrong. I've tried to add as much detail as possible of work in progress and all the while I was aware success was not guaranteed but if I failed at least I would have done my best.

In the near future I hope to post pictures of the set fully assembled in all its glory before then though I'll take Mike's suggestion and tidy the chassis up; last night I was again in the workshop this time polishing valve cans and here is a little story which might be of interest.

I've always found polishing aluminium valve screening cans and caps a most irksome job; last night I was sitting with the can in one hand and craft knife in the other scraping away the many small lumps of corrosion then I used 320 grit abrasive paper followed by rubbing with Solvol Autosol before giving a final buffing.

This always takes ages and I end up with aching hands and arms even after doing only one so as I worked on the first can I started to wonder if I could make the job easier for myself. I considered turning a wooden plug then I could mount the can in the lathe and run it at speed which would help but it was pitch black outside and I was tired. I looked around the workshop when a thought popped into my head; could I possibly nip the can endways in the large wood working vice? Yes this worked and I was very careful not to crush or distort the can but it felt secure enough. I then tore an inch long strip of 320 grit abrasive paper from the sheet and folded this lengthwise in half and I found it incredibly easy to wrap this strip partly around the can and pull it to and fro whilst holding both ends between finger and thumb. Next I cut a piece of old shirt material this time about one inch wide by fifteen inches long and soaked the material with Brasso. Again it was so easy to work the material to and fro and stop to rotate the can in the vice before carrying on. A quick buff with clean shirt material and the can had a mirror finish. For the can top I hand rubbed with abrasive paper then double folded a piece of shirt material giving four thickness's; this was soaked in Brasso then placed on the bench and secured with finger and thumb at its outer edges. The can was then inverted and vigorously rubbed against the material between my finger and thumb then buffed with clean material.

This all sounds long winded but I wanted to give full details; using this method I can polish a can in less than five minutes and enjoy doing so. One thing I must do in future is to wear gloves as the Brasso bites deep into my skin which is a pain to clean away by washing.

I've included a few pictures of the can polishing method; why didn't I think of this before.

I sincerely hope my story encourages others to have a go at such a restoration; with a set in such dire condition there is little to lose but everything to gain; I must have spent hundreds of happy hours playing with this set and even had I failed I would still have enjoyed myself. One thing was certain and that is whatever I did to this set would not make it worse; at times whilst working on the cabinet I was absolutely frozen but didn't notice until I knocked off as I became so engrossed in what I was trying to do; believe me: I have no special skills but I am stubborn in the extreme and just won't quit; many things have gone wrong whilst working on both the cabinet and chassis but it is such times that I learn the most. Please have a go because making the start is undoubtedly the hardest part. I've gained masses of experience and made many friends whilst working on this single project; yes to me it is a restorers dream come true.
Kind regards, Col.

[Heatercathodeshort]

It's going to look good Colin. Take care with your cleaning and don't disturb any fine wires around the scan coil and LOPT dept. It is a bit sensitive in this respect around the back area of the LOPT panel, the rear plate where the width adjuster is located. Take care around the I.F. cans with regard to possibly conductive abrasive power or bits of who knows what. Steer well clear of wire wool, it's a disaster mixed with electronics.
Thanks for the praise Colin but I ain't that good! Regards, John.
PS Just noticed Sidebands comments on 'SOAK TESTING' Don't dump it in the bath..Not that sort of soaking.

[Retired]

Hi,

Thanks for the caution John and its duly noted; I dislike wire wool with a passion and agree that using it in this situation would be reckless.

The praise I gave you John is well deserved as you are the tops.

I've slipped up and owe both John and Jeffrey an apology. Whilst on my hands and knees in the workshop last night I noticed a cardboard box on the floor marked T311. Ages ago our friend Harold Scott whilst visiting us kindly brought along a selection of TV valves and to my dismay I had totally forgotten about them; included is a PY33 and U25 and when Harold brought them the valve numbers meant little to me so did not register. This now puts me in a bit of a dilemma as I feel guilty due to both John and Jeffrey so generously giving me valves in good faith but also I do not wish to offend by returning them so if it is OK I would like to accept the valves in the spirit they were given and say sorry for my error. To prevent this happening again I'll store the valves inside the cabinet together with the CD.

Everyone has been so supportive and I feel like a fool but I would like to thank Harold for the valves and also offer my thanks to Mike (Mikeymushradio) for his generosity and the trust he recently put in me. Mike supplied entirely free of charge the replacement LOPT and a week ago brought me the Myford lathe trusting in me to do a veneering job once he is ready. I would have done the veneering for Mike anyway in repayment for the LOPT but as Mike says; the lathe which is incomplete and in kit form is too big for his garage. Thank you Mike.

I must also not overlook the fact that Danny very kindly offered me a scrap T311 ages ago which too would have supplied a working LOPT.

Mike has a large Murphy TV and this requires extensive veneer work so hopefully this will appear as work in progress on the forum in due course and possibly turn into yet another saga.

Finally I would like to thank Gary Tempest for making all this possible. Many years ago when I joined the BVWS I was amazed at the quality of Gary's restorations and in particular is cabinetwork. I could at that time only aspire to such high levels of workmanship and adopted Gary as my role model. Gary's work had a profound effect upon me and now many years later I hope I can in turn encourage others through my own endeavours. Gary continues to turn out exemplary work and I'm privileged to have Gary as a very good email friend.

Kind regards, Col.

[Heatercathodeshort]

Please keep the PY33 Colin with my compliments. You might need it for your next project.
You can never have enough spare valves. I have a number of PY33's and as most of the PY32's have been replaced with the later valve I will never need them. Cheers, John.

[G4XWDJim]

Col,

I'd just like to say how much I've enjoyed this epistle and offer you and your support team my congratulations and very grateful thanks for the detailed reporting. Frederick Forsyth didn't write such good cliffhangers! I couldn't wait for tomorrow!!
I've learned a lot about TV theory reading this, not enough to want to take up TV collecting or repairing myself you understand but enough to satisfy my curiosity about their faults. You're like the Pied Piper, it looks like everyone is following you when you look at the interest this thread has provoked.

As you may see if you read my contribution to the 'Minder' thread I've done a lot of work on TVs but not really for enjoyment, more to make a few bob, wolves and doors etc, and I must confess the slightest fault stumped me.

Well done you and I'll read the rest with enthusiasm and await your next project with just as much interest.

Are you going to drill a tuning hole in that wonderful cabinet. Maybe you could bring a flexible drive out to the back panel.

Best regards,

Jim

[ppppenguin]

Don't worry abou the U25. I have plenty in stock.

[murphyv310]

Time to sit back Col and see how good a system 405 lines actually is. I have given vintage a bit of a back seat recently due to a new job, family commitments, leaks in the shed, a bit of depression and some other issues, these are the reasons for my lack of posts.
Ekco's are fine sets and yours is ready for another 50 years of sterling service.
You deserve a pat on the back and what I say to my grand children when they have done something well "Award yourself a dog biscuit", well done Col.

[Sideband]

Originally Posted by Heatercathodeshort

PS Just noticed Sidebands comments on 'SOAK TESTING' Don't dump it in the bath..Not that sort of soaking.

Funny you should mention that John. Back in my Philips days when we actually had a workshop and did customer repairs, we had a letter from a customer who thought just that! They were very worried that the set may not have 'dried out' sufficiently from our 'prolonged soak test' and could we advise how long they should leave it to be sure.

It's difficult to know what to say to a customer in this situation but we managed to explain what a soak test was without making him feel an idiot!


SB

[Retired]

Hi,

Thank you John and Jeffrey for your kindness regarding my blunder with the valves; I do feel embarrassed but thought it better to put my hand up and admit the mistake.

Thank you for your praise Jim and I'm happy you've enjoyed my rambles. Boy you've been busy and sold a lot of TV's to say you still class yourself as a novice; I'm impressed. I don't intend to drill a tuning hole in the side of the cabinet unless forced to do so but I have a template of the original side for reference just in case.

Keep posting Trevor and I hope you are feeling much better; thanks and woof woof!!

Its funny SB how what is classed as a very simple term such as "soak testing" in the trade can be misunderstood by a novice or customer. I did wonder what it meant at first and I was familiar that transformers can be soaked in oil; I once visited Yorkshire Transformers as a school child aged 14 and was told the transformer was immersed in oil. My late father once told me that gas was being laid on in a cottage nearby and the owner asked if the gas would come up the water pipe.

Here are a few notes for other novices from a novice.

Obtain the correct circuit diagram and also the chassis component layout above and below chassis. I didn’t have the correct component layouts and this caused me considerable trouble in finding my way around; I found it helped a great deal when I took the time to draw a sketch of the valve positions on the deck of the chassis then pull out each valve one at a time and record the details on the sketch.

Have a large mirror handy for viewing the screen.

Take lots of pictures and start a log.

If as in my case the “works” were on the bench remote from the cabinet I found it highly beneficial to make up a wooden CRT and speaker support; this cost nothing other than a few offcuts of timber and a bit of time but was well worth it.

From the circuit diagram count all the caps and their ratings that will be changed and these will be every cap above and including 0.001uF and obtain a stock. Include Electrolytics but if HT is present the two smoothers should be OK. I used 635V items throughout excluding the electrolytics.

Obtain any diodes as necessary.

Ensure the mains plug is fused at 3A and that the lead is correctly installed and in good condition taking neutral to chassis also to add a direct short between both tags of the neutral of the on/off switch this by-passes the switch entirely on neutral so if the switch should fail the chassis remains connected to neutral for safety reasons.

Locate and completely remove the mains capacitor before doing anything else; I had great difficulty in locating this as it was completely buried with dirt and only found it by applying full power at 13A making it explode to tell me where it was. (Drastic but it worked and I had become fed up of blowing 3A fuses)

If the 3A fuse blows; stop and find the cause as there is a direct short somewhere. (Mains cap for example).

Ensure the CRT coating (Aquadag) and CRT metal band are securely connected to the chassis causing a direct short between the three.

Isolate the HT and spend time to get the valve heaters glowing; do not proceed until this is done.

Re-connect the HT once the heaters are working.

I made a miniature wire winder ages ago and this now really came in very handy indeed. One by one I changed all the waxy caps; I snipped each out leaving a ¼” long tail at the tags and scraped the tails clean; I formed a coil on each lead of the new cap using the winder after firstly adding insulation then soldered the cap in place. I could do this knowing that I would not lose the connections as the remaining tails ensured this did not happen but otherwise only change one component at a time then switch on as it is so easy to slip up and make a silly mistake.

Apply power through either a 100W test lamp or better still a Variac to ensure there are no nasty surprises in store. If all is well then apply full power but closely watch all the time for signs of distress.

A quick test for EHT is to place a hand or arm near the screen with power applied and see if your hairs are attracted to the screen. Another test is to try the spark test on the LOPT rectifier; U25 in this case; place a well insulated screwdriver near the single wire of the valve and be ready for the loud hiss and spark; this is the AC and take care not to come into direct contact with it as it will be most unpleasant. Now take a screwdriver with a well insulated handle but bare blade and avoiding contact with the blade place the blade against the LOPT enclosure making direct contact with the enclosure then bring the tip of the blade near to one of the other two wires of the valve (the other end) this is the DC end of the valve. You should be able to draw long sparks from both wires by doing this.

Do not under any circumstance prod around in the area of the LOPT enclosure with a DMM.

If the rectifier Valve (U25) is glowing a bright blue or purple change the valve it should have a nice gentle red glow.

Locate and replace diodes (2).

Do not reuse caps even if they test OK; REPLACE THEM!!!!!

Hopefully at this stage you should have “first light”.

If in doubt or you have a question however silly the question may appear don’t be afraid to ask; I’m not the timid kind and don’t easily frighten but I don’t like electric shocks let alone shocks at 16,000V; its much better to raise a laugh on the forum from the experts than find out the hard way. Expect a bit of leg pulling and accept this with good grace as we were all novices once and I still am.

This is dangerous work so be careful; it’s OK to handle the controls on the neck of the CRT but do not come into direct contact with the CRT coating; metal band or its end cap. If in doubt ask first and be careful as the chassis owes you no favours and will bite given the chance.

These notes are not comprehensive but contain a lot of information I encountered as I worked through this restoration and I hope they are of use.

I'm having a lazy day having just returned from taking Bron out for some retail therapy. I'll be in the workshop again tomorrow full of enthusiasm.

Kind regards, Col.

[Heatercathodeshort]

Wow! Some really good advice there from Colin. Your learning too fast Colin. If you had owned a TV shop just along the road from mine 30 years ago, I would have been concerned about the competition!

It is vital to get 'first light' with the very minimum of disturbance. This can involve some bodges and many short leads fitted with crocodile clips. Don't worry about slightly frayed mains leads or perished rubber wiring. If you are not aware of the dangers you should not be working on mains driven electronic equipment. First light may be just a flash on the screen on switch off. This proves that the line output, EHT, power supply and almost certainly the tube will be in working order.

Avoid disturbance at all costs such as cleaning and general poking about. Do not disturb ion traps if fitted or picture tube mechanical adjustments. Remember it probably worked to some degree when pensioned off. Often the reason for the receiver being stood down all those years ago may be apparent, such as the burnt LOPT case on the Ekco. Some receivers just became obsolete and were replaced. Many original owners could not bare to part with their first television receivers and retired them to spare rooms, lofts and hopefully, dry sheds. This is how we find them.

Obtain the service data or you will be working in a very dark room with flat torch batteries. Get the power supply and heater chain working first. Follow this up with the line output stage combined with the EHT and tube first anode supplies if the tube is a tetrode. Boost capacitor, line coupling capacitor to grid of line output valve and decoupling waxies will all be leaking badly but it is surprising how bad these have to be before total shut down of the line stage results. This should result in something appearing on the face of the tube if only an out of focus blob or if you are lucky a very distorted raster.

With a bit of luck a signal applied to the aerial socket will produce changes on the tube face and maybe some distorted sound. Once again this proves that the signal circuits are working to some degree and can be left alone until the frame output stage has been recapped. Do this in a methodical way replacing one component at a time noting the changes in the shape of the raster and log them in a book together with the circuit positions. This will prove of use in future restorations. Take plenty of digital pictures, they cost nothing! Many service manuals give a complete description of the circuit. Follow this through and identify the components mentioned.

Concentrate on getting the frame timebase working well and with a bit of luck the test card should begin to look reasonable.
The picture tube then confesses all to the judge and jury giving clues as to where to look next. More attention will probably be required around the line output stage to improve width and EHT. Valves are rarely faulty but it is nice to have a few spare timebase valves available to remove that nagging doubt.

Sync, signal circuits and RF decoupling follow next followed lastly by the sound. With the aid of the service data, locate the picture centering adjustments and taking great care make small adjustments so as to gain experience in this department. Mark items you are going to disturb with Tipex so that approximately the same setting can be returned to.
NEVER blanket replace capacitors and other components or go on a crazy cleaning expedition that would put Kim and Aggie to shame! Believe me you will end up with a disaster on your hands and a thread on the Forum of Gone With The Wind proportions. Not only will you end up frustrated but your method may put you off future interesting projects and that would be a shame.

Obtain books and magazines of the period and study the circuits you are working on. You would not replace the gearbox in a Morris Minor if it failed to start on a cold morning. 'Practical Television' and the Spreadbury series of hard backed volumes published from the late 40's to 50's are ideal starting points. F.J. Camm had an uncanny way of explaining television receiver technique to the amateur and his advice holds 100% today. Avoid any receivers that obtain their EHT supplies from the mains via a high voltage transformer. [ 1936-1949 approximately] These are not for the inexperienced and great care must be taken when servicing. These receivers are DANGEROUS to the inexperienced. There are hundreds of variations in circuitry and methods employed by different manufacturers so a good basic knowledge of radio and familiarity with components is a must before tackling a mouldy telly. Test equipment required will be minimal. An AVO 8 is ideal. [Flickering digital meters will drive you crazy and often give misleading readings.] together with an old signal generator and a valve data book to cover the types in the receiver under surgery. Most television chassis are live so a 1 to 1 isolating transformer should be employed for safe handling of the chassis. Build a good lamp limiter and learn how to read and use it. I just plug 'em in but I know the dangers having repaired receivers since I was 12 years old, 51 years ago! I am a bad influence for newbies..

Take your time, make notes, take pictures and if all else fails, holler on this excellent Forum and I'm sure someone will be able to help. Regards, John.

[mark pirate]

Excellent advice John, i too have been fiddling with valve telly's & radios since the early 70's, i have learnt the hard way that EHT hurts, but HT is really shocking

Now I am re-learning 405 line in a new way, I.E. restoration rather than repair, not just changing a valve or capacitor to get it running, but a methodical approach to each stage.

I have 4 sets awaiting restoration this winter, so no doubt i will be seeking help from our resident experts.

Unlike John, i am a coward, i always use my variac to power up my sets, after making careful checks & snipping out that mains filter cap, yes i have had them explode in the past....

Mark

[Heatercathodeshort]

Oh yes Mark! I forgot to mention the mains filter cap. Never mind, if you forget to snip it out it will soon let you know it's presence. J.

[Retired]

Hi,

Thank you John; high praise indeed but assure you I can only aspire to your level of skill and expertise when it comes to TV work; you have vast experience to fall back upon learned through many years of hands on work; I'll never attain your level of proficiency on TV work as I have so many other hobbies demanding my attention;unfortunately these hobbies are excluded from this excellent forum as they are non electronic related which is a pity.

I thought I might appear a bit cheeky having only worked on my very first TV chassis for such a short period then offer advice to novices but I wanted to do this to demonstrate what can be learnt so quickly by a novice with guidance from the forum experts; in my case it couldn't have worked out better and I ended up restoring a wreck of a chassis into working order; I sincerely hope this encourages others to have a go because I have no special skills in fact reading John's post of how to go about it I think I did most things wrongly but survived to tell the story.

Not to worry John; after my run in with the mains capacitor I covered it in post #313 but it is worth repeating as mine was a direct short blowing fuses.

"Locate and completely remove the mains capacitor before doing anything else; I had great difficulty in locating this as it was completely buried with dirt and only found it by applying full power at 13A making it explode to tell me where it was. (Drastic but it worked and I had become fed up of blowing 3A fuses)"

The things I did wrong; well there were plenty: as the cabinet was fully restored first and having spent four months working on it I didn't want to damage it by having it on the bench in fact it would not have fitted onto the bench.

Before starting work on the cabinet I removed everything from it that could be removed leaving the empty shell. I took lots of digital pictures and drew sketches adding notes for future reference. The first thing I did wrong was to completely remove all the coils from the CRT together with the ion trap (magnet) I did note the location of the magnet and ensured I had the pictures and sketches of how the coils located then placed these safely out of the way; the CRT was then stored in the front bedroom for safety as was the loudspeaker. At this point I wasn't too concerned about the chassis because I never thought I would see it working and only took this project on to see if I could restore the cabinet which was dire.

Having restored the cabinet much to my relief and surprise I then some months later (3 weeks ago) after a gentle nudge from Andrew decided to have a go at the chassis but to be honest my heart wasn't in it and perhaps this is why I left the chassis so long before touching it.

Immediately after posting my intention of having a go at the chassis on the forum I was rapidly drawn into what must be the quickest correspondence course on TV repair work in history.

I had used the airline to blow the debris from the chassis including all the rubbish from within the LOPT area totally unaware that the LOPT should have had a plastic housing; this housing had deteriorated so much that it was nothing but dust which caused a cloud as it was blown away. The LOPT was then sitting on the top of the chassis with broken connections. I could not store the chassis in the bedroom as it was hence this was my second mistake in giving it a clean.

Never blanket chance the caps; whoops; once again yet another mistake as I changed all the waxy caps I could see at one go but in my defence I have done this before many times on radio work and as explained by leaving 1/4" tails I did not lose any connections so this was done with confidence.

I was very surprised initially when Jeffrey kindly sent me details of his splendidly re-created LOPT housing and thought I was going to be in for a lot of work until Mike kindly supplied the complete unit for me to drop in. I was somewhat worried about getting the connections right as the original LOPT had broken a number of connections but I got lucky and installed it correctly the first time.

I still regard this chassis restoration nothing short of a miracle not only given the state of the chassis but that I had split everything to gain a bare cabinet and the condition of the LOPT. It really was bad.

Last night I could not settle so spent a couple of hours in the workshop until 9 o'clock. I re-stuffed the 2x16uF cap adding one inside the can and the other under the chassis using the new items kindly supplied by Gus. I then took the newly polished valve screening cans and a pair of electrolytic cans into the garage and sprayed them with clear acrylic lacquer. I blew them with the fan heater to dry them then refitted the valve cans and soldered the electrolytics back in then quickly ran the set to ensure the test card was still displaying which it was before knocking off.

Thank you John for posting the more comprehensive repair notes which will prove a great help to other novices as well as me.

We have a lot in common Mark; I don't like blue flashes or bangs and I take a lot of care not to come into contact with electricity; if in doubt I quickly take a voltage reading (but not on EHT) I also am very wary with capacitors especially the large smoothers which can make me jump if they remain charged.

I'm unable to do much work on the chassis today as we are out all afternoon but tonight I might manage an hour or two. This is becoming addictive.

Kind regards, Col.

[ppppenguin]

As a devout coward I don't like things going bang, catching fire or giving me electric shocks.

In my fortunately limited experience, EHT shocks hurt less than mains or HT. It's usually a pin prick sting, rather like a bad static shock. The pulsed AC at the LOP anode is not so nice; can give a burn rather than a shock.

Please note that this is not a suggestion to try it. All shocks should be avoided. Mains derived EHT, as found on prewar and some early postwar sets is another matter. It is dangerous.

Even in the terrible state this set was in, getting first light with the chassis still in the cabinet would still have been a good first step. The LOPT was a harder problem. You were very lucky to get a good replacement part. There was a good chance the old one could have been rebuilt along the lines I did mine.

[Heatercathodeshort]

If I remember Colin's early post I think the lopt had become burned due to excessive case tracking. I seem to remember the overwind being charred and therefore beyond reclamation. All the same a great resurrection. J.

[ppppenguin]

Originally Posted by Heatercathodeshort

If I remember Colin's early post I think the lopt had become burned due to excessive case tracking. I seem to remember the overwind being charred and therefore beyond reclamation. All the same a great resurrection. J.

I suppose even a rugged Ekco LOPT won't survive that.

Wasn't there supposed to have been another great resurrection just over 2000 years ago? Not in the same league as Col's T311 of course