While out and about the other day I came across an oscilloscope left by a gatepost. It was still there later that day, and today when I passed by again, there it was, looking very sad. I asked at the house and was told it was being binned but that it worked...... its a Gould 1425 digital storage scope, by the looks of it an early model, probably late 80's at a guess.
So now it is on the bench and it doesn't work. The mains switch is partially open circuit on one pole as these combined pot + switches have a habit of doing. With the switch temporarily bypassed it powers up but the brightness control is not fully functional, the trace is massively blurred and broken up and more worrying, there is a faint sound of acing. Close inspection in the dark showed a faint purple 'arc' randomly tracking in the vicinity of the CRT baseboard. So that would need to come off for a closer inspection.
I'm just wondering whether its all worth it given the condition. Most of the grime is surface dirt, as if its been stored in a shed for months, but the internals are surprisingly clean and given half a chance would clean up. Many of the presets have a curious white furry powdery deposit on them which is odd. Maybe paint that was used to seal them and that has flaked in some way... weird.
So the scope is at a crossroads, something to play with and investigate further, but also I suspect something that may be to far gone to be worth the effort.
So now it is on the bench and it doesn't work. The mains switch is partially open circuit on one pole as these combined pot + switches have a habit of doing. With the switch temporarily bypassed it powers up but the brightness control is not fully functional, the trace is massively blurred and broken up and more worrying, there is a faint sound of acing. Close inspection in the dark showed a faint purple 'arc' randomly tracking in the vicinity of the CRT baseboard. So that would need to come off for a closer inspection.
I'm just wondering whether its all worth it given the condition. Most of the grime is surface dirt, as if its been stored in a shed for months, but the internals are surprisingly clean and given half a chance would clean up. Many of the presets have a curious white furry powdery deposit on them which is odd. Maybe paint that was used to seal them and that has flaked in some way... weird.
So the scope is at a crossroads, something to play with and investigate further, but also I suspect something that may be to far gone to be worth the effort.
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I suspect you are right looking at the bigger picture with this thing, although one glimmer of hope is that having flicked the CRT baseboard off is that there is visible condensation on the plastic former that the CRT pins poke through. Little more than condensation really, so I'm just leaving it to dry off naturally for a few hours.
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