Hey All,
I have a pile of old 500 Series TEK scopes that are inoperable and need to regain the space they currently occupy. My only solution seems to be removing any parts from the scopes that would be smart to keep and then scrap the remainder. Any sure fire things to keep before I do send them off to scrap? What would you keep? What would be useful in the future to scrounge right now?
Cheers!
I have a pile of old 500 Series TEK scopes that are inoperable and need to regain the space they currently occupy. My only solution seems to be removing any parts from the scopes that would be smart to keep and then scrap the remainder. Any sure fire things to keep before I do send them off to scrap? What would you keep? What would be useful in the future to scrounge right now?
Cheers!
Well, first off, the tubes of course, then, looking at a pic of a 545 under the cover, it looks like the chassis/frames could make good amp cases. A pair would be great for mono-blocs but only if the architecture suits your building style. The large plug-in cases look like they might be a good house for a phono stage . . . . . I'd use them for that.
Just talking about doing this pulls on my antique heartstrings. I would rather see them go to good use in a lab, but nobody seems to want them for anymore than the tubes and transformers. What about those BB caps, should they all be kept as well? These are mostly 535, 545, 547, 575 scopes, like five of each or so. Waaaaaay toooooo mannnny scopes.
I am there too!
A superb Hameg Triple trace scope with 200MHz band width (2 off), Hameg 150MHz storage scope and another.
They all need calibrating and I have bought to try a UTD2020 Digital Storage scope, whilst they are away being calibrated. It has a four channel input capability with a USB input for recording results and I can look at them later on my PC and produce a spread sheet for my more picky clients to peruse!
I think I may not bother next year to calibrate the Hamegs as the the Digital Storage Scope with an LCD screen fits the bill!
A superb Hameg Triple trace scope with 200MHz band width (2 off), Hameg 150MHz storage scope and another.
They all need calibrating and I have bought to try a UTD2020 Digital Storage scope, whilst they are away being calibrated. It has a four channel input capability with a USB input for recording results and I can look at them later on my PC and produce a spread sheet for my more picky clients to peruse!
I think I may not bother next year to calibrate the Hamegs as the the Digital Storage Scope with an LCD screen fits the bill!
As others have said, the transformers are valuable.
If you have one working scope, keep a set of parts for it. If none of the scopes work even most of the tubes will be of little value.
Worth stripping out some of the ceramic strip tag-boards for future projects.
Mains Tx in Tek scopes are extremely good, worth keeping and maybe sell a few on seeing you have a good few.
If the CRT's are any good, maybe worth selling those off too...
A set of knobs, switches etc for any working scope you have as well as the pots etc are worth having...
Mains Tx in Tek scopes are extremely good, worth keeping and maybe sell a few on seeing you have a good few.
If the CRT's are any good, maybe worth selling those off too...
A set of knobs, switches etc for any working scope you have as well as the pots etc are worth having...
Hv assembly. Transformers , sockets CRT relay assembly . all knobs (need a hexagon screwdriver to undo those.
all ceramic supports. capacitors (really good caps) reform them and their allright
BTW dont scrap any of the dual beam ones. such as the 551 555 560 or the 585 that really breaks my hearth.
you should try get some to work. as their really great machines.
V4lve
all ceramic supports. capacitors (really good caps) reform them and their allright
BTW dont scrap any of the dual beam ones. such as the 551 555 560 or the 585 that really breaks my hearth.
you should try get some to work. as their really great machines.
V4lve
I'm sure there are sets of rather tight tolerance, ratio-matched, resistors and/or capacitors in the timebases and range selectors that can be re-purposed to other instrumentation applications - such as high-purity test oscillators, audio millivoltmeters, calibrated test amplifiers, etc.
Dale
Dale
Oh BELIEVE me I know!! I have a fully calibrated 547, 549 w/ 1L5, 556, 570, 575, 576 in the shop that I use regularly. I love the old scopes and have a hard time doing this in the first place, but these extras have taken up too much space for too long. Part of the issue is that I also have this very cool TEK ENG PSU that was used in the factory to develop and design these old scopes. It was designed using the 585 bottom PSU tray and has all the voltage n current I could use for my purposes. So it is not like I need all these transformers to make awesome bench PSU's as I have that................
if you have the time. unsolder everything completely, and only toss the blank panels.
the scopes will ,as a collection of parts only take up 1/5 of the space.
Btw i would be intrested in taking some of the high voltage assemblies of your hands. as i have a 545B that needs a new one.
I personally have 7 500 series scopes. and i intend on restoring them all, but sofar im stuck on a 535A that completely baffles me. the horizontal amp is unbalanced to the point where the beam is driven into the neck.
V4lve
the scopes will ,as a collection of parts only take up 1/5 of the space.
Btw i would be intrested in taking some of the high voltage assemblies of your hands. as i have a 545B that needs a new one.
I personally have 7 500 series scopes. and i intend on restoring them all, but sofar im stuck on a 535A that completely baffles me. the horizontal amp is unbalanced to the point where the beam is driven into the neck.
V4lve
Yes, the ceramic solder stripes are very nice to build with. But in case you're not familiar with these, do not over heat them. Tek is very specific regarding this because too much heat will break the bond between the insert and the ceramic. That's one reason Tek used low heat silver bearing solder on these and even included a small roll of it inside the scope. So solder and unsolder quickly.
About 10 years ago I bought a couple of boxes of those strips new from a fellow who told me they were the kind used in Tek scopes and that they were great to build with but when I tried them I found the insert to have enough mass that I couldn't get solder to wet it using the Hakko 936 iron. I went back to using phenolic strips.
It sounds like it's worth another try with lower temp solder but just to check, do the Tek ones have long very thin threaded rod set into the ceramic or are they the ones with threaded inserts?
It sounds like it's worth another try with lower temp solder but just to check, do the Tek ones have long very thin threaded rod set into the ceramic or are they the ones with threaded inserts?
The early Tektronix scopes used ceramic solder strips that had threaded posts imbedded in them. These are somewhat easier to work with as far a mounting them goes. Later scopes used a ceramic solder strip that snapped into a plastic shoe which inturn force fitted into small holes in the metal chassis. I know of none with "threaded inserts".
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