Yes I know, next order will be through you guys!

Photos uploaded.

I believe Steve has cancelled his latest order for Ecaps as there is not enough demand to warrant the inventory. I can understand that as, because I repair. I have Inventory & whilst the test equipment I have is old, it also originally came at a cost & when some of it fails that's added cost.

One cannot repair for nix.

Marc

I agree Marcc, Whilst I only repair about 3 or 4 valve radios a month the Test equipment I have and the parts do cost me. I had one person complain that when doing his Kriesler that it cost him over $100 in parts and an added $45 in labour. This was one of the sets from the Mid 1940's with the rubber insulation falling off and also had a stuffed rectifier.

Another complaint I had was on a more modern Precedent. It would stop dead after a few min of use. the fault was eventually traced to a failing 6BE6. When the bill was presented there was a "It was only a valve, How did that take you 2 hrs to find" comment made along with "Why did you replace the caps, it was just the valve was stuffed"

Time and experience mean nothing to some people. I would hate to think how long it would take to fix some radios without my test equipment and knowing how to use it!

I have setup on the bench the usual 100MHz CRO, 1GHz Sig gen with home made doublers, 25GHz Counter and power meter, Fluke DMM, Philips Analogue Meter, Deviation Meter, and a few other things like Logic probes that get used from time to time. (I also repair and build Amateur radio not just Valve gear)

As you can see that is alot of equipment, It didnt cost me Nix, Then there are the spare parts........

Sorry I ranted and have strayed away from the topic. Just hit a raw nerve....

Flakes don't you realise that you are supposed to do it for FREE! . OMG fancy charging for your time lol.

Yes some people do get upset when you charge for your time and they don't even factor into it the time taken for training and you are the one that has all that valuable knowledge. I remember when I was driving a taxi , one of my passengers got upset when I didn't switch the meter off at the traffic lights lol, I explained to her that her boss doesn't dock her every time she goes to the toilet does he lol.

The fellow that recapped my mothers old AWA charged me $200 for it and said is that too much? I said to him that I don't think it was enough because its his time and knowledge and its my firm belief that a you should never complain about the price of a job if its with in reason and well done. the minimum wage is about $20.00 an hour and I am sure a tech is worth a heap more.

I've got pockets full of thankyou's.
JJ

That's the thing - people can thank you as much as they like, and give out plenty of plaudits, medals, and awards - but none of this pays the bills or puts food on the table.

Yes well, as a Mechanic, 4yrs of $14/hr and parts and labour for repairs, diagnosis takes time, I'm not the engineer who designed the car and built in all of that planned obsolescence... I can only do what the customer expects, namely fix the car and would neither expect to spend frustrating hours nutting out some often intermittent fault for nix, that wouldn't put food on my table or beer in my fridge and I don't cramp up my back bending over under car bonnets for sheer love of it! If that were the expectation I wouldn't have customers because they would be offended by my matter of fact expletive laden directions! You guys who repair radio's for a living deserve to earn a living! Same as parts wholesalers/ retailers etc. I'm happy to pay the going rate for bits I need, I'd rather have parts available than not because of somebody underselling their stock!

With Electrolytic caps: What one must do is pay attention to, is that which was in it, or in the specs. Most of the absolutely common in everything "Ducons" were 525 peak Volts. The NZ radio I sorted out recently had 500 WV ones with a PV of 600V.

Where the issue arises is with the understanding of what happens on startup and whilst it is running. Filament valves like 5Y3 / 80 with no cathode sleeve, Silicon diodes and Metal rectifiers, will produce a surge of around twice EMF with no load. The only load will be a voltage divider, if fitted, & perhaps a very small current in a set with good caps. So in a set that aims for 250V "B" the output under load may be 300VDC at the cathode (filament). Most modern caps do not quote a surge voltage, albeit I have seen American purveyors with caps that do.

Heater rectifiers like 6X5, 6X4, or those filament valves with cathode sleeves do not produce a massive surge as they heat at a similar or slower rate to the other heaters, so produce little voltage until they have emission. They too will have more than 250V at the cathode of the rectifier under load. This is one of the reasons that the first filter cap fails if you use the wrong one.

With a start up surge prior to conduction, all components connected to B+ will cop that surge voltage.

On the subject of customers: I was fortunate yesterday; A customer popped in to pick up a 92Y that had done the rounds (no one wanted to fix it). A radio Club member who worked on TV Transmitters in the early days was here, so we had no issues with the customer understanding why there was a bag full of bits that the last person should have replaced.

It stopped & was "deaf" and only got two stations when it did go. I did nothing to it initially other than test the valves (one wrong 6J8 not 6A8... so what, not changing a good valve that will work happily there). I did note that the IF's had been tampered with bottom side. I even had to sort out the illegal wiring of the new mains cable.

Someone had made a magnificent effort too change two NP caps and add one too the antenna coil, which was wrong in value. It needed to be smaller so that the trimmer was actually adjustable & needed to be. Shame about the several resistors that were bad & obviously not checked. Also annoying was $37 for repairs noted on the tag & test on a cable that was illegal?

One filter was changed & an old one (wrong value) was still in circuit. That new one tested faulty? That pair probably killed it? I was never going to bother turning it on after I looked at it.

So with the new parts it actually fired up deaf as a post:That I expected. Re-calibrating & the adjustment of the aerial trimmers soon fixed that. I ended up cleaning the volume pot (cathode type) and the IFT's were indeed miles out.

I of course had the radio running before & when the customer arrived & could demonstrate that it could pick up lots of stations across the dial.

He was happy to part with money & I win another of his collection to sort out. You cannot beat a happy customer.


Marc

Marc, I have an Astor Mickey which I can't get going... I would be a happy customer if anybody could get it going for me, I've done a recap, changed some bad resistors, but found some strange things indicating that this radio has been well and truly munted by persons unknown. I just don't have the equipment for RF alignment and "trade" level diagnostics, I have some good books, but without equipment and actual training there's things I just won't touch, like adjustable RF coils, trimming caps etc.
My scope is basically getting a radio with bad caps and/or resistors or a valve, back to life or disaster proofing a working "time bomb".
I'm happy to admit that.

What model Mickey is it?

I have one (Model HQ) that I am currently rebuilding that was smashed, yes smashed, The chassis has an IF coil that was open. Check all the IFs are good.

The major difference here is obvious: I have been fixing these things, more as a hobby but also commercially as the niche appeared, for around 50 years.

I always advocate photos & physical inspection before, doing anything more than extracting it from the cabinet. After that comes the assessment.

Item Number one is NEVER turn it on, unless, you know it to be safe to do so.

If the set has been got at, that rings alarm bells and says, get the circuit & check if it conforms. The Egg Crate I mentioned is a classic example.

I see no reason why the Mickey cannot be fixed, or it ascertained as to why it won't run.

On IFT's I have one here from USA 1932 with two duds. It was also hacked. It may pay to have a detailed discussion by email rather than hijack this thread further & consume space.

I do have a refitted Sig Gen surplus to requirements. I bought it to stop it getting trashed, as it looked redeemable & was. It had oil filled caps. They are as bad as wax paper, more so, if you let the oil out.

Marc

Ok yes, mine is the "breadloaf" style with the variable coil tuning instead of variable capacitor. Also 6V6 output valve. I'll put up another post when I pull it apart again, with some decent photos!

"Breadloaf"? That sounds more like the type used in car radio's a lot. That is a permeability type And uses Ferrite rods that move in and out of coils.

Marc

Yes, permeability! That's the one... Breadloaf style (shape of the radio)