Hello All,

As I get deeper into this great hobby, I was thinking about building up a vintage workbench. I was thinking:

1. AWA 1A56031 Oscilloscope
2. "Scope" Soldering iron
3. AWA Voltohmyst
4. Palec ET4A Valve tester (Or similar)

I already have a mid 1940's AWA Modulated oscillator. But I'm not sure how I'd use that for TV applications.

Those were the main ones. Wide range oscillator? Frequency counter?
Television alignment equipment?

But I don't know where to find them! Thoughts?

Thanks,
Oli

Here is a Palec valve tester, claimed to be in working order. It is a bit expensive though.

https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/297957222828

Hi OliB,
you do not need a 'valve tester'.
You are more likely to have to fix the tester before you can use it!
Valve testers will be as faulty as any radio you may work on.
I don't have one or any use for one and I play with valves a lot.

All you need for most radio work is some multimeters, a CRO, a RF generator and an Audio generator and a brain.
For most test work or repair work that's all I use.

Valves are rarely faulty and most faults a 'valve tester' wont find.
Radios usually have faulty caps and resistors.
Faulty valves usually have an O/C heater or no vacuum.
You test that by trying another one.

Yes I have a shed full of machine tools, welders, spray gear and so on.
That helps to make stuff from scratch, but I work on radios on a bench with just the above mentioned test gear helped by some DC power supplies.

Fred.

I agree with Fred on one of the raised matters - valve testers, whilst handy for testing a large number of stocked valves, is not really needed for basic radio restoration. Valve testers have a circuit inside them similar to what a radio has - resistors, condensers, coils and a birds nest of wires. If you acquire a valve tester which has not been used for some time, it will require restoration before it will work and may even require some form of calibration. I have a few valve testers. Only one works and I last used it twelve years ago.

Also, whether a valve tester is suitable or not will depend on either when it was made or when it was modified. As time went on, valves changed, both in pin numbers and pin configuration. 1920s valves were mostly triodes and only had four pins. From there, it was five, six and seven pin bases, then eight pin bases through the 40s. Into the 50s came the so-called baseless valves with the pins directly attaches to the glass. In reality, for a valve tester to be worth the investment it needs to be able to test all of those valve types and optionally, the comparitivly rare Philips P-base valves, more common in European radios, though a handful of Australian radios did use them. I had an Airzone Radiostar AC/DC radio from 1937 which used them throughout and a Kriesler Projectographic table radio from 1938 (I think) which has one of them.

In reality, for most of the restorations I have done over the years, I've used basic hand tools, a heavy duty soldering iron, analogue multimeter, digital multimeter, standard electrician's test lamps and an insulated work bench with an orange box (powerboard with an RCD in it). In the last five years I haven't done many restorations but those I've done I've used a variac to ramp up the volts when 'smoke testing'.

Hello Brad and Fred,

I did wonder if valve testers really were nessacary. Why did people have them in the first place?? They seem to be perfect for eBay sellers who want to overcharge for valves, and to "prove" why they're charging what they are!

Thanks for the help, all in all.
Although I wonder if what I'm trying to do is misunderstood.
I was thinking building up a workbench consisting of purely 1950s-1960s equipment. Why? I don't have a reason!

My apologies if this is off topic.

Oli

Hi Oli, no problem, all discussion is good.
Valve testers were used in repair shops to give a benchmark for the common valves used in radios.
A lad like me could do the first evaluation at a simple level. Free up the screws and knobs and pull the valves clean the pins and emission test. Any thing after that was handed on to the real technician.

It was also a common practice for customers to walk in with 4 or 5 valves and ask for them to be "tested".
A valve test had the chance to pinpoint the reason for a dead radio without the customer paying for a service call.
Of course, you then hoped the customer could put the valves back in the correct sockets or not drop one and break it!

From the point of view of having a period workshop, YES.
Great idea.
If you get a valve tester you will have to fix it first before it can be used.
You must have the original handbook or get tech data, if no, forget it, it will just be a shelf queen or boat anchor.

You will need an AVO multimeter as well to look right.
Techs could fix a set with an AVO, substitute valves and knowledge.

I graduated from an AVO to a Japanese multimeter around 1980.
You can use a 240 volt soldering iron around 60 watt.
I bought a Scope iron with transformer in the 1960's, and then a Miniscope a bit later. (smaller tip).
You could have a Cosser CRO or even a 'Radio and Hobbies' CRO using a 5BP1 tube.
There were a few Australian makers of test gear I just forget now.
The smartest thing is to read old issues of 'Radio and Hobbies"/ Electronics Australia" and read the ads.
Silicon Chip used to sell a CD with all the RH issues from 1939 to 1960 something.

Fred.