I always wanted a decent curve tracer to check up on replacement parts with a bit more scrutiny. But the price was alwas a limiting factor. And the Tektronix model here is also quite heavy, so shipping usually almost doubles that. By the end of 2023, an online friend said he had to sell off his, due to lack of time, space and money. Add that to another online contact making a journey by car earlier in 2024, and I just couldn't pass up the chance! So, here we are: part one of either two or three (most likely three) of the in-depth restoration of this classic device! (note: not visible in the video becuase I stupidly didn't think much of it at the time: I found a loose resistor resting smack against one of the test fixture onnectors in it. So any less-deep restoration might have missed that and ended up with a short eventually. So yay! I found a good reason after the fact at least!) 0:00 Intro / First Look 2:20 What Is It For? 3:48 CRT Driver / CRT Removal 5:15 Test Fixture / Buttons / LV Power Supply and Rectifier 7:02 Knobs / Soldered Wires / Filter Caps 9:15 Belly Plate and Transformer View / Step Generator / Rear Panel 10:21 Current Shunts and CRT Amplifier / CRT Shield / Handle / Final Knobs 12:05 Front Panel / CRT Driver Removal / Oil Cap / Compensation Assembly / Relay 13:20 Chassis Front / Button Boards / Mains Transformer 14:50 Power Resistors / Collector Supply 16:00 Wiring Loom Tangle / Collector Supply Unwrapping 17:00 Test Fixture / Cleanup! 18:30 Test Plate Restore / Wring Cleanup / Banana Plug Cleaning 19:37 Left-Right Switch Clean / 22Ohm Issue 20:39 Mode Switch Clean 22:23 Rebuilding Fixture / Decals / Safety Interlock Switch 24:57 Wire Repair / Case Closed / Lamp Test 25:56 Summary of Part 1 / Credits / Outtakes General Information: https://w140.com/tekwiki/wiki/576 Music (in order) My Train's A Comin' - Unicorn Heads Town of 23 Bars - Unicorn Heads First Aid - Letter Box Dusty Fingers - DJ Williams Frame of Mine - Freedom Trail Studio No Good Right - Freedom Trail Studio (YouTube Audio Library) You can support me on Ko-Fi: https://ko-fi.com/atkelar and also on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/Atkelar and now also here by using the "Super Thanks" feature! Thanks to everybody who signed up already! ... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pQRmlUGJsZA

Pawpet News: My way to put unconnected gags to work. Think of this first one as a test-drive for the format. I only had about one day to do it so there's next to no animation on the intro and no music again to keep it license free. ... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SgeE7ED476E

I got some vacuum tube based projects in my pipeline and might get more of those over time... so I decided to go for a "tube tester", which were quite common in the days of tubes. There are different categories of those: simple short and heater testers that might include a "yes/no" light indicator to show that they are doing something; on the other end of the spectrum are complete classification devices that can accurately measure tubes. Neither of which makes sense for my intended purpose. I want a bit more than a pure yes/no result but I don't need a full lab setup either. So the third category in the middle was my choice: an emission tester. These heat up the tube and put a current through it, connected to an analog readout to show how good or bad the tube is, compared to its "should" current. As a complete random coincidence, I found a Prcision Instruments - or Precision Apparatus? I've seen both names on plates and documents - model 612; It is a rather versatile device in this category and it fits the Precision VTVM that I restored last year perfectly! Exact same case! Down to the two random holes in mine, which are used in this one, so now things make sense! This is part two (of two) and in this one I'm finishing the assembly of the tester and show how the buttons are used to measure things; except the capacitor test, since I'm not sure it is all that helpful, and I don't have any test subjects around right now; A note about the "permanent" magnet issue: I am aware that hard knocks and heat might "weaken" them, so I took care that the dremel cleaning wouldn't get them hot to the touch... I am at a loss why they lost so much strength. But the added rare earth magnets do the job nicely. It is back to linear 0-2-4mA display characteristics. Also, some of the contacts where so much oxydized that even a Dremel and wire brush wouldn't help: I had to use a file and sandpaper for some... I saw @Mr Carlson's Lab use one of these recently (an older video, I just saw it after I got my version here) - would love to hear what he thinks of my work; even if it doesn't quite measure up to his standard... 0:00 Intro / Meter Assembly 2:33 Meter Test / Calibration 4:09 Potentiometer Cleaning 5:48 Push Buttons 7:17 Toggle Switch 8:27 Capacitor Replacement / Painting Base Plate 9:15 Tube Cap Contacts 10:12 Solder Resistant Resistor 10:45 Switchboard / Voltage Selection Switch 12:15 Assembly Time! / Banana Jacks 13:00 Tube Sockets: Mounting / Wire Loom 13:59 Transformer 14:45 Switch Bank Mounting / Knobs 15:39 Battery Tester Test! / Tube Database Cleanup and Cover Sheet 17:18 Tube Sockets: Soldering / Finalizing Packaging 18:15 Calibration Procedure 19:27 Battery Test Example 19:50 Tube Test Example 21:00 Finished Overview / Summary / Outtake Music: My Trai ... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GPOQuSsF-qg

Last year, I ordered a batch of four different dictaphones to have one as data store for my Sharp PC 1403. I did the restoration on the one that best suited the task and put away the others for later. Coincidentally, it is later now, so let's get the first one out and ready! The device is a Sony M-570V, a microcassette recorder with dual speed and voice activated recording (VOR, "voice operated recording") There are two issues with the device: for one, I had a slight mishap during the disassembly phase, but I got that under control. The case is very scuffed up though and in need of a fresh coat of paint. I would have painted it, I got a can of silver model paint that is very close, but there's printed labels on the device and I'd need to do some silk screen printing for those again... not enough time right now, maybe I'll come back to that later. 0:00 Intro & Presentation / Belt removal 1:15 Case Overview / Disassembly / Recapping 2:23 Switches / Sockets 3:53 Motor / Case disassembly 4:50 Drive mechanics disassembly 5:33 Spring has sprung! 6:23 Cleaning parts / Tape counter / Cleaning case / Friction wheel 7:43 Rebuild Drive 9:25 Spring replacement 10:16 Finalizing Drive / Head / New belts 11:00 Paint? / Encasing it! 12:13 Batteries + Test / Presentation 12:48 P.S... / Summary / Credits / Outtake If you want to support me, you can drop a few coins into my ko-fi: https://ko-fi.com/atkelar Music: My Train's A Comin' Unicorn Heads (YouTube Audio Library) ... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_pJx1xDqelI