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The worst build quality I've ever seen

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Perfect poster for cold solders and insulation "hickeys." :)
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A good iron, solder, practice, and a stable, solid chassis setup with good lighting will help to solves a lot of the bad in the above photo. I like the Weber chassis cradle. I bought mine used, for $25 in 2000. Still have it. :thumbsup:

amp cradle - weber (SMALL).jpg

DSC07455 (SMALL).jpg
 
Lately I've been making the wooden bases that my amp top plate rests on tall enough that I can flip the top plate over and not have the tubes or transformers touch the table in that orientation. Makes working on the amp a breeze!
 
Pio1980 said:
A small spool is packed in every unit, to be used servicing them.
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I have the complete service and use history from when my Tektronix 547/1A1 was purchased new, mid 60's. I am the second owner. This unit originally ran virtually continuous duty in a lab. Then it easily ran 40+ hrs per wk in my shop. That little plastic spool of silver bearing solder is still present and unused. No repairs ever, tube replacements only. I have replaced 2 tubes since the 1990s.

Trace is still bright enough to blind you, and it's still sensitive enough to pick up a fart on Mars. It's getting awful cold up here , but that don't mind me none, my 547 shop heater keeps things nice.

As George said; "Yeah, who do you love?"
 
I got my first soldering iron (an Ungar) when I was seven. I'll admit, I made stuff like that. My dad had to re-do one of my Heathkit projects in 1967 due to poor soldering. But by the time I was nine, I was pretty darn good!
 
I am sort of curious why there is what is apparently an antique resistor in the middle of all that mess. New parts, and then a resistor from 1965 connected to it all.
 
I think that it would take about 6 or 8 hours of work to make that amplifier acceptable, thus exceeding its value unless the work is being done by a hobbyist. The layout isn't bad, and even the parts look OK, it just was built by someone new to soldering.
 
maxhifi said:
I think that it would take about 6 or 8 hours of work to make that amplifier acceptable, thus exceeding its value unless the work is being done by a hobbyist. The layout isn't bad, and even the parts look OK, it just was built by someone new to soldering.
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That, and clean up the elyticap mounting with round holes and proper brackets.
 
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Pio1980 said:
That and clean up the elyticap mounting with round holes and proper brackets.
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I was thinking about that... I'd probably leave the mounting alone, and then disconnect them and replace with properly mounted caps under the chassis. Leave a bit of the builder's personality. He may not have put a lot of skill into it but he did put effort. Given all the burned wires I get a sense he may have struggled with hours of troubleshooting to get it working!
 
maxhifi said:
I was thinking about that... I'd probably leave the mounting alone, and then disconnect them and replace with properly mounted caps under the chassis. Leave a bit of the builder's personality. He may not have put a lot of skill into it but he did put effort. Given all the burned wires I get a sense he may have struggled with hours of troubleshooting to get it working!
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He may also have had $#!t for a soldering tool.
 
Cave man fabrication technology. I'd like to have watched how holes for lytic caps were hacked in that scrapyard chassis. Looks like this precision iron was judiciously applied to properly heat the connections, parts & the unfortunate nearby wiring.:whip:
 

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