Beauty of old electrical and measuring things, etc.

[dlgoff]

When you get old, you get forgetful, so I don't remember if I've posted this old Model 83 Fluke Meter:

 

[berkeman]

Who you calling old? I have a couple of those in our lab...

 

[berkeman]

BTW, have you ever tried to replace the fuse for the uA/mA current measurement input? What a weird size fuse!

 

[dlgoff]

BTW, have you ever tried to replace the fuse for the uA/mA current measurement input? What a weird size fuse!

It was a long time ago, but I do recall. I'm not wanting to open it up, but didn't it have a very small diameter glass fuse? Do you remember when those meters were introduced?

I'd never call you old as I'm the old one here.

 

[berkeman]

IIRC, the fuse was physically bigger than the standard sizes that we carried in labstock. I think I even checked the local electronics stores, with no joy. I have at least a couple of those meters with blown mA circuit fuses and notes on them to let the operators know.

 

[dlgoff]

IIRC, the fuse was bigger than the standard sizes that we carried in labstock.

Now you've got me curious. I will have to open it a check it out. From some google searching, it looks like it came out in the 1980's.

 

[dlgoff]

IIRC, the fuse was physically bigger than the standard sizes

Yes. You're right. They're really large:

 

[DaveE]

Yes. You're right. They're really large:
View attachment 304279

We used a bunch of those fuses (KTK, KLK) in our Ion Lasers. They're rated to interrupt HV DC and/or high interrupting capacity, hence big and expensive. Full of glass/sand around the filament.

 

[dlgoff]

our Ion Lasers

I'd like to see one of those. :)

 

[Baluncore]

I'd like to see one of those. :)

Eye safety precludes that.

 

[Oldman too]

This might qualify for the thread, wife picked it up at a yard sale along with a nice arrowhead collection for $5.00. The plastic battery case is cracked but it works great, ordered replacement cases from ebay, just waiting on them to arrive before using it. It's a model 63TR, circa 1974.

 

[dlgoff]

This might qualify for the thread, wife picked it up at a yard sale along with a nice arrowhead collection for $5.00. The plastic battery case is cracked but it works great, ordered replacement cases from ebay, just waiting on them to arrive before using it. It's a model 63TR, circa 1974.
View attachment 304497
View attachment 304498View attachment 304499

My parents did a lot of hunting for old coins with White's metal detectors.

 

[Oldman too]

My parents did a lot of hunting for old coins with White's metal detectors.

That's one of my wife's obsessions, along with gold, fossils, rock hunting etc. While searching for battery parts, I was dismayed to learn that Whites recently went out of business, then I found out Garret had taken over the Whites label. I still had to go to ebay to find the parts though.

 

[DaveE]

Cleaning up a bit at my mother's house, I found some old electronic parts my father saved. He was an EE (too) from 1950's - 1970's. This one caught my eye. GE 2N107, packaged in it's own tube with a datasheet printed on vellum.

So, knowing I had no desire to actually use it, I cut it open to see the guts.

That transistor die is about 3mm x 3mm. If you wanted to make a modern uP with about 20 billion transistors, it would cover about 1/2 mile².

It is beautiful to me, in it's appropriate context. Back when a single transistor was high tech.

 

[hutchphd]

Point contact. Wow that is neat. Thanks

 

[Joseph M. Zias]

The 2N107/2N170 pair were the hobbyist transistors of the late 50's and early 60's. In the 70's I worked for a company that was still using the 2N1370 series germanium transistors. Some of the old circuits with germanium won't work with silicon.

 

[jedishrfu]

And as The Antique Roadshow appraiser would say:

Wow, now if only that was an intact transistor, it would be worth $XXX,XXX dollars at auction and maybe even as high as $X,XXX,XXX but sadly now its worth $X-$XX

 

[Borg]

Yeah, it was sad to see that an antique complete with papers, was dissected.

 

[jedishrfu]

I checked and you're good they are in the range of $X to $XX across ebay and etsy, There is one on display at the computer history museum:

https://www.computerhistory.org/collections/catalog/102718890

 

[jedishrfu]

Yeah, it seems only Robots and the @Borg can appreciate the sadness of having one of our single celled ancestors dissected in the name of curiosity.

 

[dlgoff]

Here are a couple of old beauties. Too bad they don't work:

 

[DennisN]

@dlgoff :
"r/hr"... I had to google for it. "Roentgen/hour" I suppose?
And if so, I guess they are some sort of radiation detectors/radiation measuring devices?

 

[dlgoff]

Roentgen/hour

Yes.

 

[jedishrfu]

Are they old enough for the Troy Incident?

https://churchtree.tripod.com/troyincident.html

 

[jedishrfu]

Are the batteries dead, or is there something about the detectors reaching the end of life?

 

[dlgoff]

Are the batteries dead, or is there something about the detectors reaching the end of life?

I put in a new battery and the one on the left one looks okay doing a "circuit check". So must have been a dead battery. The one on the right still doesn't work with a new battery. :(

 

[dlgoff]

Are the batteries dead, or is there something about the detectors reaching the end of life?

This old Ludlum (counts/minute) works good though:

 

[Tom.G]

Here are a couple of old beauties. Too bad they don't work:

Since they are "identical" they should be a breeze to troubleshoot, especially if you have an oscilloscope available.

If that's not your thing, post schematics, photos, and whatever voltage readings you can get. I suspect the combined grey-matter mass here would solve the problem shortly.

 

[dlgoff]

Since they are "identical" they should be a breeze to troubleshoot, especially if you have an oscilloscope available.

If that's not your thing, post schematics, photos, and whatever voltage readings you can get. I suspect the combined grey-matter mass here would solve the problem shortly.

I have an old Heathkit scope. If you look back through this thread, you'll see that I've restored many old beauties. But in this case, I just don't want to take the time and effort to restore that old counter. Thanks for the offer though.

 

[DaveE]

I just don't want to take the time and effort to restore that old counter.

Yup. My experience repairing old test equipment goes like this:
You can either diagnose and fix it quickly, like 1 hour, or it's nearly impossible and will take much more time than it's worth.

I also like the "buy two broken ones, make one that works and throw out the rest" approach*. Swapping parts/modules often doesn't require a lot of knowledge or effort.

The sad, painful, truth is that if you just want to make a measurement, you can probably buy a new version from China on eBay for less effort, time, and money than repairing the old stuff. But then part of your DIY EE soul will die with each purchase.

* Full disclosure: I'm actually not that good at the "throwing out the junk" part of this.

 

[dlgoff]

Full disclosure: I'm actually not that good at the "throwing out the junk" part of this.

I hear that.

 

[DennisN]

Another vintage camera for the thread...

Here's the Chinon CE Memotron, a 35mm Single Lens Reflex Camera with electronically controlled exposure system produced in the 1970s.

Chinon was a somewhat less famous camera manufacturer (Japanese), but some of their lenses are quite good. In fact, I bought this one just because I wanted the lens, and the camera was a bonus. I'll keep it around as decoration .

 

[gmax137]

"Memotron" I love that...

 

[dlgoff]

I haven't been working on any new "beauties" lately but hope this thread will be read by all new members. And maybe help get me on this year's PF awards list. Thanks @Greg Bernhardt for letting me share some of my stuff.

... Don

 

[dlgoff]

Another vintage camera for the thread...

Here's the Chinon CE Memotron, a 35mm Single Lens Reflex Camera with electronically controlled exposure system produced in the 1970s.

View attachment 317077

Chinon was a somewhat less famous camera manufacturer (Japanese), but some of their lenses are quite good. In fact, I bought this one just because I wanted the lens, and the camera was a bonus. I'll keep it around as decoration .

My home got broken into a year or so ago and my parents camera (the one on the left) and the middle one got stolen. I'm so sad. https://www.physicsforums.com/attachments/97pmyfg-jpg.170323/

 

[DennisN]

My home got broken into a year or so ago and my parents camera (the one on the left) and the middle one got stolen.

That's sad.

I've seen a couple of various cameras of that type for sale (I don't know anything about brands or models, though) since I've been looking for vintage optics. I thought I could at least mention that if you would like to search for a replacement on e.g. Ebay.

I've been close to buying one of that type just because they are cool, old equipment. But I haven't bought any since I've told myself to not become a camera collector .

 

[dlgoff]

I thought I could at least mention that if you would like to search for a replacement on e.g. Ebay.

I've thought about it, but I've already got lot's of old stuff.

 

[dlgoff]

My home got broken into a year or so ago and my parents camera (the one on the left) and the middle one got stolen. I'm so sad. https://www.physicsforums.com/attachments/97pmyfg-jpg.170323/

Now, I haven't been able to find the one on the right. I guess it was stolen as well. Dang.

 

[CALNNC]

In regards to the original post about old stuff still working, there are probably a couple ham operators on this list, but there are quite a few hams that eschew the latest whiz bang knobless black box options and keep vintage stuff going. 1930 radio gear, through the heyday of the ham years with many manufacturers producing parts and equipment, it is still out there on the air. I have all the radio gear that was in a B17 up and running and make contacts with, plus other vintage tube gear. Even my 'newest' and only solid state rig is over 40 years old. Plus I have several 'All American Five' BC sets I saved and restored, plus various brands of shortwave receivers. It is a great part of the hobby, key word - hobby, as long as you can endure those knobless black box idiots telling you your 70 year old transmitter is 50 cycles low.

 

[DennisN]

I visited a Ukrainian site where they sell VERY cool clocks, so-called "Nixie clocks" made of Nixie tubes.

And of course I thought that I just had to post about it in this thread.

I think they are so cool that I'm considering ordering one, though I am a bit uncertain about the longevity of the tubes (I have no experience at all with this type of component).

Here's a photo of a couple of Nixie clocks:

(there are other versions on the site)

Link: https://nixieshop.com/store.html

 

[Vanadium 50]

You can get a Nixie watch too.

 

[berkeman]

You can get a Nixie watch too.

Link? It must use a large battery...?

 

[berkeman]

(there are other versions on the site)

Link: https://nixieshop.com/store.html

Gotta love the message to the "russian warship" on their home page.

 

[Vanadium 50]

Link? It must use a large battery...?

Battery life stinks. I think they have a Big Ole Cap to get the voltages they need.

 

[DennisN]

though I am a bit uncertain about the longevity of the tubes (I have no experience at all with this type of component).

Update:

According to the FAQ page:

What is the average lifetime of a Nixie tube?​

According to the datasheet of one of the most popular IN-14 Soviet made Nixie tube the minimum lifetime is 5000 hours which is even less than one year. But in fact the major number of Nixie tubes will serve for many years (or even decades as some Nixie clock owners say). However, since all the Nixie tubes that we use in our clocks were discontinued 30 years ago (the last batch's date code was dated to the late 80s) there is a chance that some of the tubes may die earlier.

and

All of our Nixie clocks are powered by 12v and at least 0.5A. The average current consumption is 0.2-0.3A though.

...so according to this the power consumption is about (or less than) 12*0.5 = 6 W (which actually is lower than I expected).

 

[Vanadium 50]

No fewer than four makers of Nixie tube watches. About $500 each

I'd buy one, but I am afraid it would make me even more popular with the ladies. Seems unfair.

 

[gmax137]

maybe that's @morrobay 's secret ?

 

[dlgoff]

... made of Nixie tubes.

I have a Heathkit Frequency Counter that has 9 Nixie tubes. When I got it, the person that put it together couldn't solder as most of the solder joints were intermittent. It looks like one of those joints that I fixed is now open again, so I can't show you it powered up. But here is what it looks like:

IIRC, I had to purchase a couple Nixie tubes that weren't working. I'll have to look in my tube supply sometime to see if I still have any new ones. Maybe some day I'll pull the thing out of the wall and do a little work on it.

 

[anorlunda]

I visited a Ukrainian site where they sell VERY cool clocks, so-called "Nixie clocks" made of Nixie tubes.

Try to see a working nixie tube in-person. One thing you won't see on video is the significant depth component. Look carefully at the picture you posted in #640. You can barely see wispy images of the other digits hiding behind the lit one.

When you look at multidigit Nixie display in-person, you can plainly see that the lit digits are not all at the same depth plane.

Whoops, I'm dating myself by knowing about that. My first physics lab in college had only needle analog meters, plus a few with Nixie digits.

We also had a Geiger counter in the lab that used a neon tube technology the cousin of a nixie. Sorry but I can't find a picture. Instead of a Nixie display of a decimal digit, it showed a single orange dot. With each count, the dot in the rightmost tube moved by one of 10 positions (like the hours on a clock face but base 10 instead of base 12). When it passed 10, it caused the next tube to it's left to increase its count by 10.

 

[hutchphd]

Was it the Wang calculator/computer that had a Nixie tube readout? I have a very hazy memory of the neon glow....probably early 1970's undergrad lab work.