For the AK tester

Thatch_Ear

Thatch_Ear

Addicted Member
I bought an old B&K 500 Dynajet tester for keeping records on the tubes in the Tube Box. Yes it is going to happen and hopefully MikE will mail me the tubes colected so far. As of right now to get this tester working I have replaced the elecrolytics, the diodes and need to do so for the tubes............I need in exellent working condition a 4 pronged tube diode to replace the mercury vapor 83 and a 6AT6. Good ones. Soon as possible.

I am getting close to having the caddy restoration finished.

I also have a Seco that would be nice to get a schematic on. It is a model 107. If the squat magic eye tube is OK then I am fine sine the only othrt tube is a 12AU7. It need a major cleaning and removing of oxidation but I have silicone to replace the selenium diodes and the rest of it looks like it has indusrial resisters and such. I can tell that someone has replaced the original electrolytic and I am not sure of the value.

Let me know if you can help. Having funtioning testers that can at least do the basics are importany enough that the Tube Box (es) won't work without them.

Cable is acting squirrelly from storms so I don't know when I will be back on line again. Dig through those tubes for a 4 prong rectifier and a 6AT6. There are subs for this tube but staying original would be best for this antique piece of test gear.
Thanks, and this collection is yours! Let's make it work. And in case you are wondering nobody gets their tubes back unless they have an interest in checking out that part of the collection..................................................
David Thatcher
 
Seco 107!

I have one of those I think. A friend of mine has one also, but his has a better tube chart than mine. Also, I would love to have a user and technical service manual for it so I can get it back to spec. I use it on occasion, but my tube tester days were long ago and I often get frustrated with trying to remember how to use it.

Unfortunately I have forgotten more in my older years than I remember LOL !!!

Ron
 
Any thing I can get on it would be a great help. I have the user's manual but the tech manual would help a lot if it has a schematic. I suppose they are different things.

My computer won't talk to my printer and a hard copy of the schematic would be nice to have.

I can't pull up the PDF file and look at it right now
because for some reason it locks my puter up and generally is a PITA.

Getting the Seco into spec and knowing it was adjusted correctly would be great. I don't know if it is a better tester but it takes more tubes and is more compact than the B&K. I really need both to funtion so I can send one to Bill since he is willing to keep a tube library for Canada. Because of import duties and time in would make it too expensive to keep just one collection in the US and the tubes will need to be insured for shipping. Cross border shipping with insurance just takes too much time and money to make it worth while and I don't want to leave such a large group ot because of where they live.

As for the Seco the loose leaf I have is called "Tube Index Flip Chart". It does not have a schematic or calibration info.
 
Thatch_Ear said:
I bought an old B&K 500 Dynajet tester for keeping records on the tubes in the Tube Box. Yes it is going to happen and hopefully MikE will mail me the tubes colected so far. As of right now to get this tester working I have replaced the elecrolytics, the diodes and need to do so for the tubes............I need in exellent working condition a 4 pronged tube diode to replace the mercury vapor 83 and a 6AT6. Good ones. Soon as possible.

David Thatcher
Click to expand...

Here's one on Ebay:
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=25422&item=7512672394&rd=1
 
Thatch, PM with your address and I'll send an 83 and 12AV6 and the Seco schematic. Maybe I'll print off a copy of that manual too...
 
The boatanchor web site may also have the owner's and tech manuals for the B&K and Seco. Use the boatanchor mirror site as it easier to access. I also have the tubes you are looking for, but others have offered to send them already. As you guys probably already know, a tube that tests OK in a tester may not work in some/all circuits. For many tube types, most testers do not test at operating voltages but at lower voltages, so actual use in the circuit is the "true" test. Good Luck :thmbsp:
 
I got the PDF opened and mailed the link to my wife at work. If she can download and print then all I will need are tubes. I bet the 83 is fine I just don't like the idea of mercury vapor. The 6AT6 could be fine but I can't test it so one known to be good would be a great thing Tom. I think there are 83s that are not MV if not I am sure an 80 or other 4 pin diode will work fine. I was actually very surprised at finding the MV in there. Not real common.
The B&K has a schematic and once I am sure everything is working fine there are only 2 pots for adjustment and I can use some tubes I tested on the 118B that has a 0-100 scale to adjust if I need to. The Seco I don't know yet but it looks like I need to replace a couple of selenium diodes and a single electrolytic. I didn't see anything that could be adjusted beyond the scale/meter. I will probably aproach it in the same way.
I am thinking 6L6s should be good tubes to start with, then 12AX7s. Common varieties with high voltage for the type. I also have a good 15 tested with the numbers written with Sharpie 6V6s a quad of EL-34s, some octal dual triodes and other things to measure against the readings I got off the punch card Hickock.
I am not looking for great accuracy, but a good strong yes, no or maybe. I think I can get that out of these.
Bill was eying a TV-7, maybe he got it.
 
If I snag the Heathkit TT1A for a decent trade I'll considering passing on to the group. It may need some work though, although I just finished restoring mine and have a system for restoring it.
 
Your a good man LPD. If it doesn't work out I will send Bill one of these. I know he has a guru up there that might help him out on getting it set up as a simple yes, no , maybe type of tester by comparing tubes tested on a good machine.
Mainly the testers will be used to test before shipping and after getting the tubes back to make sure there has been no damage. We sure don't want to send a bad tube out to a member to roll for listening. As long as what we get for the libraries are in test new shape we basically just need something to monitor them. Later on if this gets to be a big thing better testers might need to be invested into.
For now I am spending the money to get this thing off the ground. MikE told me tonight he will be shipping the tubes (I guess) tomorrow.
After I get the tubes I will post an inventory. Russ is going to donate the generic white tube boxes and I will finish the caddy I am working on to store them in.
As a group we can decide on a basic direction the collection should go and then I will ask for some donations.
Everything including what I put in that is inventoried will become property of AK, so that means you. Don't expect a horizontal of 300Bs unless someone decides to donate one.
Really I do expect we will be able to put together a few sets of power tubes. I bought a fairly closely matched quad of RCA 6V6s (graphite sides probably from the 50s) couple of weeks ago and if someone buys a PP 6V6 stereo amp wants to hear them, then decides to buy some, hopefully they will donate the Russian, Slovack or Chinese tubes the amp came with to AK. Then we have 2 quads of 6V6s.
I am not asking for cast offs by any means, but for a couple of bucks in shipping if you can listen to the same type of tube from a different country and era, wouldn't you want to?
Hopefully people will post their impressions for the archive. How cool would it be to be able to listen to 5 sets of 12AX7s in your new preamp? 4 kinds of 6DJ8s? We all know how much synergy effects what comes out the speakers. The chance to try it and to help others find it is something that we want to bring about.
If you can't tell I am real excited about this. There are some great people that are members of this site that just haven't had the access to tubes like I have. This is an opportunity to hear the magic, to share some of the great tubes you own but will never use. Hey, some tubes are great but not worth the hassle of selling but much to good to throw out. I want those and then some of the ones it is worth the hassle of selling but it is better to share with friends.
This can be a great asset for everyone including those who will never borrow any of the tubes. If you donate and someone uses the tubes for a while then there is more to talk about, impressions to share and it will give you a warm fuzzy feeling. Kinda like the dice hanging from the mirror of Thor's Mary Kay Pink Miata.
Thor is by the way, the leg breaker. You will be laughing too hard to run and it's off to Miller's Crossing.
 
Community Tester

I just picked up a EMC 213 basic little tester with the manuals a couple of weeks ago. I would be more than happy to start passing this around amongst the members just as long as it does not get too long a vacation in one spot.
 
This has become an interesting and somewhat surprising learning experience for me Thatch. It looks like the TV-7 surplus tester I was pursuing is as you suggested, a highly regarded piece that has become another one of those strange cult-like items on epay where prices are getting outright stupid - I mean $900 bins on cherry examples?!?!

I will watch for something more reasonable and have a Stark 9-66A to check out (kind of a Canadian/Hickok mutant I believe) so I'm sure I'll eventually come up with something. I do have a simple good/bad emission tester I can probably use in the mean time so this shouldn't be a show stopper or anything.
 
I don't think you could give the things away 20 years ago. My friends punch card tester, well just a set of the cards go for $1KUSD. The simple will have to do especially since we are basically on our own. Things do work out, so while there may be glitches I don't expect major problems.
 
The stark 9-66a sounds like a good one if you can snag it for a good price. I am certain it was made Hickok. Can test nearly every tube and has a noise test. Mutual Conductance tester.
 
The Stark 9-66 IS a Hickok tester made under license from Hickok in Canada. There are several variations, with the earliest version(s) unable to check newer tubes like the Novar base (7868 type). All variations are mutual conductance type. Downside, little info available here in the US as to tube charts, owner's manual, repair info, folks who can repair it (unlike a Hickok).

Yep, prices are outrageous on ePay and many testers sold there have not been checked out - so, a described "cherry" tester may or may not be. If the auction says "sold as is" without the seller checking it out and knowing how to check/calibrate it, forget about it :thumbsdn:

5-6 years ago you could find many good testers cheap, or reasonable if it was Hickok or B&K.
 
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