Ceramic Strip Soldering Techniques

Ceramic Strip Soldering Techniques - Tektronix

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Күн бұрын

A training film produced by Tektronix of how to solder the ceramic terminal strips used in Tek scopes of the 1950's and 1960's. Preserved and presented by the VintageTEK Museum, www.vintagetek.org

Пікірлер: 19

@ronshaw80 7 жыл бұрын

When I first started working at my job, we had hundreds of the old tube Tektronix scopes. Huge scopes, mounted on carts. Inside, they all used these ceramic terminal strips. Such beautiful workmanship inside these big beasts.

@arthurharrison1345 5 жыл бұрын

The Tektronix TAS485 was the epitome of Tek's general-purpose analog scopes. I have been using one for nearly 25 years, and it has more than 2000 hours of operating time on it with absolutely zero problems. The introduction of digital scopes with their inferior displays and aliasing problems marked the demise of the great analog 'scopes. American industry sold-off the manufacturing techniques for CRTs, and even today, what we have in substitution is an inferior heap of garbage, much harder to use, much more expensive, and much less effective.

@jenniferwhitewolf3784 3 жыл бұрын

Darn right! We still use an array of 7000 series instruments in our business, some over 40 years old. We also have one scope and one curve tracer of tube technology using these ceramics... still functioning fine at over half a century old.

@Turboy65 2 жыл бұрын

I favor the 2465B and its closest relatives as the best all-around high bandwidth scopes ever made. 400 MHz bandwidth. Or get a 2440 and have 500 MHz bandwidth. I rebuild 2465 power supplies as a hobby. I also think highly of the 7000 series when you need slightly more specialized scope applications.

@kevina.4036 Жыл бұрын

I have a 2003 vintage Agilent PSA spectrum analyzer that has 82,000 hours on it. The only service it has had is for o-rings in the attenuators (which turn brittle and disintegrate), and a failing cap in the power supply. Not all digital instruments are less reliable.

@quantumleap359 7 жыл бұрын

Beautiful workmanship and excellent reliability are the hallmarks of vintage vacuum tube Tek scopes. Expensive - yes. But worth it. Great training film. Thanks for posting.

@MaxKoschuh 7 жыл бұрын

I have a lot of experience with Tek's ceramic solder strips. And it always turned out well. But eventually I was using the wrong soldering tip all the time.

@Syncopator 5 жыл бұрын

As far as I know, nobody but Tek ever used these ceramic strips-- and they made them themselves. Anyone else wanting to use them would have to do the same or arrange to buy them from Tek, and at this point they might not be making them anymore. A brilliant idea to use these for vacuum tube circuits though. When they get old however, these strips in the high voltage areas would have an issue referred to as "silver migration" where the large voltage difference would cause the silver to migrate across the smooth ceramic and could result in a short. It was usually visible as a gray area bridging between notches. Repair techs might be able to resolve this by using an ink eraser to remove the migrating silver, but if it was too far gone it required replacement of the strip.

@keithammleter3824 5 жыл бұрын

Syncopator: Japanese manufacturers of professional grade tube based equipment used them too. I have a late 1950's Meguro Q-meter, and it uses almost identical ceramic terminal strips in the exact same way to mount components and wiring. Instead of the ceramic being push-fitted into nylon holders, they have mounting screws embedded in the ceramic. Meguro used greater spacing, and they didn't install tube sockets underneath components, which makes repair considerably easier than with Tektronix. With Tektronix, the strips can become leaky between terminals due to people soldering during repairs and not cleaning the flux off. This is less of a problem with the Meguro version due to the greater spacing.

@mfr58 7 жыл бұрын

I still have some Tek ceramic strips rescued from PER scopes from the now defunkt Post Office Calibration Services Dept. They are great for tube amp projects. Great Channel guys!.

@shyleshsrinivasan5092 5 жыл бұрын

Great video ! Thanks a lot !

@jenniferwhitewolf3784 3 жыл бұрын

I still have hundreds of these terminals, use them only in my most important projects. Unfortunately, the nylon mounting clips have been difficult to find. I have developed a method of using RTV silicone to hold them in place. Wonderful parts.. These need to put back into production somehow, by somebody, for those still doing hand assembly of point to point electronics. They are far superior to turrets that are the only remaining alternative.