Transformer took a hit

[Yukkah]

Hi everybody !


I'm new here. I didn't find a place te present myself, so i do it here.


I'm a jazz/rock and so on guitar player from Belgium, always playing on tube amps for years and years.


One of my amp took some rock and roll on the side, and the transformer took a hit. on the side. (See picture below.)





My questions are the following : do you think the transformer is broken ? If not sure, do you think i can try to switch the amp on without damaging anything else than the transformer if it's broken ? (NB : the amp wasn't switched on when it took that hit and has never been switched on since.)


I don't have much of a peny to ask to a technician to repare it right now, but i still would like to play so hit singles if it's still working.


Thanks a lot in advance for your time and help.


Best everything you like,


Y.

 

[Mooly]

I would guess it would be OK electrically. Why not undo the nuts and slide the bolts out and pop the cover off to look.

If you do that then get a feel for the tightness of the nuts/bolts first. Tighten them up equally afterwards.

 

[GoatGuy]

What Mooly said! I would add, once you take off the little grey cover, with nothing more complicated than a small hammer and a 2 inch pile of recycled corrugated cardboard (to hammer on, but 'with give'), I'd just de-indent that cover, and with a small can of metal-friendly spray paint, give it a spray job, and put it back. Noting now tight the screws need to be, per Mooly. You're pretty much good to go, after that. And it only costs you time, and very little money. Spray paint. Seven bucks.

 

[egellings]

I'd take the dented cover off and check the coil windings where the dent was to be sure that the coils are not damaged. If not, then just take the end cap off and pound out the dent the best you can or else don't bother with that if the cosmetics aren't a concern. If coil has damage, I'd look for another xfmr, even if the damaged xfmr is still working. Its reliability could be compromised.

 

[vinylkid58]

One of my amp took some rock and roll on the side, and the transformer took a hit. on the side. (See picture below.)

A bit of Bondo and she's good as new.

jeff

 

[Bandersnatch]

I doubt it is injured. Remove cover and inspect. Then check for continuity( where there should be, and where there should not ). Then attack it with a hammer and some wood to push it back into shape( the enbdell ).
cheers,
Douglas

 

[tomchr]

A bit of Bondo and she's good as new.

My thought exactly. As long as the windings of the transformer are intact.

One could also just leave it as-is. "Your transformer is dented." "Yeah!! You should see the guy's face!!" It builds street cred. Or call it 'patina'.

Tom

 

[TonyTecson]

remove the end bells and see the windings inside...

 

[pcan]

Replacement transformer end bells are available. I mostly buy them from this shop (it sells to UE only): Calotte.

 

[Adolf Corkscrew]

I double on what's been already stated. Before firing anything up, remove the end bells and check the windings and bobbin inside. That dent doesn't look too bad, it might not even have hit the bobbin. But better safe than sorry.


And if you don't know what to look for after you've removed the end bell, just take another picture of the innards and post it here for advice. I won't bet, but I'd strongly suspect that cosmetic damage is all that's happened here.

 

[nigelwright7557]

Looks like its taken quite a whack.
There is paint missing from the chassis too.
I would give the whole thing a good looking over.
Especially the components (if any) inside the chassis.

 

[lcsaszar]

1. Visual check for internal damages. If YES, go to 2.
2. Continuity check (easy). If YES, go to 3.
3. Shorted turns check (difficult). If YES, discard, replace, restore, ...

 

[50AE]

Judging by the location of the hit, there's a high chance the transformer could be intact. It's the edge of the coil, where rounding begins. The coil former edge might be broken, but without damage to the insides of the transformer.

 

[peufeu]

As others said the transformer is most likely fine.

After removing the dented cover, I would also recommend opening the amp and making sure nothing has come loose inside due to the shock. Gently push on components with your finger to check for broken solder joints, also make sure there are no heavy components that bent their leads so they might touch stuff they shouldn't touch, check the screws, check any PCBs for cracks or broken standoffs, etc. Shouldn't take very long.

 

[Yukkah]

Hi you all guys !


First of all, thanks a lot for all your answers. It's really appreciated.



Actualy, you all said what i thought it would be. My only problem now is it will be very easy to open the transformer. But it will be very hard to put back in place as the screws that keep it in place are litteraly the first ones to be tightened when you assemble that amp. So i will have to dismantle everything, in order to check the inside of it. I will post a picture once it's done.


Once again, thanks a lot to everybody ! We find everything on the internet ! Justin Bieber as well as people helping each other ! It's amazing !


Y.

 

[amplidude]

Check trafo chassis against its outputs with multimeter, if it reads in megaohms you're good.

 

[Kay Pirinha]

As said before, better safe than sorry. Please do the effort of dismantle everything just to remove this end bell just for inspecting. Maybe you don't have to desolder all the wires prior to remove this bell, as they're obviously protruding through the one at the other side. If still unsure, show us a photo of the open transformer.


Best regards!

 

[gideon1990]

Depending on how tight the wiring under the chassis is you might get away with just undoing the bottom two bolts which tie the endbells and transformer to the chassis, then lifting the transformer up 2 centimeter, undoing the top screws and pull off the endbells. So the wiring and the two brackets stay connected to the chassis but you can pull off the endbells.

However it is still worth to just go all the way, just to be sure