Tektronix 576 Curve Tracer - Part 3
Рет қаралды 3,138
Күн бұрынI always wanted a decent curve tracer to check up on replacement parts with a bit more scrutiny. But the price was alwas a limiting factor. And the Tektronix model here is also quite heavy, so shipping usually almost doubles that. By the end of 2023, an online friend said he had to sell off his, due to lack of time, space and money. Add that to another online contact making a journey by car earlier in 2024, and I just couldn't pass up the chance! So, here we are: part two of three of the in-depth restoration of this classic device!
...and here we have part three of the Tektronix 576 restoration project! This project has been a fun learning experience for me, and I'm sharing what I came across: both in terms of this specific device and some more general things. As expected, I did get a few minor details wrong on the assembly phase, but only one of them caused more than a brief "Oh" moment. You know, when you mount something and discovere that now access to something else is blocked? That kind of stuff. Or bypassing a regulator and wondering why it won't regulate. Those are the things to be expected. But what happened in the Step Generator section was a bit more subtle. I really need to brush up on my transistor circuit basics, as some of these are used in a strange way... at least to me.
0:00 Intro / Wire Loom / Step Gen Supply
2:47 Step Gen Output / Step Gen Amp / Step Gen / Wire Tangle
5:02 Display Amplifier / Collector Sensing Resistors
6:22 Display Switching / Attenuators
7:55 First Steps on "Other" side / Wire Loom Clamps / Front Panel / Step Offset Pot
9:30 Lower Case Mounts / Fixture Connectors / Variable Supply Control / Readout Board Wiring
11:30 Camera Power / HV supply
13:34 Mode/Polarity switch wiring / Graticule Illumination Pot (Oopsie) / Handle
14:40 Power On! - Uh-Oh! / Transistor Mishap
18:00 Collector Supply / Oil Cap Test and Stand In / CRT Shield Prep
19:48 CRT and Display Readout
20:50 Power On! - With CRT! / Calibration Guide + Fixture!
22:05 Starting Calibration / Display Amp Pot Issue
23:22 Missing Horizontal Calibration Signal / Relay Problem and Fix
25:07 Looping Compensation / Broken Bulbs Galore!
26:28 Oil Cap "Rework"
28:40 Oil Cap Mounting / Safety Interlock?! / Knob / CRT Neck Cover
30:30 Missing Screw for Test Bed / Bottom Cover / HV Cover Plates / Cover Panels
32:33 Push Buttons: New Writing!
34:14 New Bulbs! / Polarity Switch Casting?
35:27 Tests! / 1N4007 / BZX55C / BC337
37:05 Final View / Summary / Credits
General Information: w140.com/tekwi...
Music (in order)
My Train's A Comin' - Unicorn Heads
Town of 24 Bars - Unicorn Heads
First Aid - Letter Box
Dusty Fingers - DJ Williams
Frame of Mine - Freedom Trail Studio
No Good Right - Freedom Trail Studio
(KZfaq Audio Library)
You can support me on Ko-Fi: ko-fi.com/atkelar
and also on Patreon: / atkelar
and now also here by using the "Super Thanks" feature!
Thanks to everybody who signed up already!
@crispy_otter 4 ай бұрын
A wonderful restoration - enjoyed all three parts, thank you.
@agranero6 4 ай бұрын
When you showed the relays I thought: "if those things are broken he will never find a substitute for them". And later when you fixed it I was vibrating like I was watching the final of Monte Carlo Master tennis final today: you fixing the relay was very cool. And the "a job for three paws" was a good joke.
@atkelar 4 ай бұрын
When that relay turned out to be the problem - after quite a bit of tracing the signal all over - I checked on e-bay if these are around. No luck. I just found several posts that said "they fail often and need to be replaced with other alternatives" - so I just gave it a try. Not sure if I ever need that relay other than for the calibration unit, but hey: it's my device, I want it as functional as possible!
@ypx5ub 26 күн бұрын
Hut ab! Eine wunderbare Restauration! Vielen Dank 🙂
@JimmytheCow2000 4 ай бұрын
A typical, "Three paw operation." hahah love it. Great videos, love the 3 part series on this one. Thank you so much! Big fan!
@atkelar 4 ай бұрын
Not sure how common that phrase is around the world - "you'd need a third hand for this" or similar is something I heard many times here. And in this case it's literal: hold the potentometer on the backside, the decade ring on the front and at the same time turn the nut in the center... x.x it was quite frustrating 😅
@aserta 4 ай бұрын
A trick to cleanly open up those oil filled caps is to take a piece of hardwood, make a hole for the bits that stick away from the plane of the top, place the cap in, then using a very sharp, narrow chisel, gently tap the edge open all the way around. Then it's just a matter of prying the lip flat with a punch and slowly unwrapping it. This way, when you stick it back together, you can use a pair of plastic tipped pliers to bend it cleanly back shut.
@OmarMekkawy 4 ай бұрын
I am speechless, hats off to you. I just have a wish. I wish to see a video for your workshop and the tools that you use.
@atkelar 4 ай бұрын
When I get around to sorting all the "stuff(tm) and clutter(r)" a bit more, I'll make one. But right now, I feel I'm invading the dust bunnies privacy 😜 - I do have plans on getting better organized during this year though, so I hope the option will present itself late summer time...
@brianbeasley7270 4 ай бұрын
You are an extremely gutsy guy to tackle this project!
@RensePosthumus 4 ай бұрын
Beautifull, just beautifull. Hats off to you!
@TeslaTales59 4 ай бұрын
That's one serious restoration! Great work atkelar!
@arrbam02 4 ай бұрын
Beatiful restoration job, well done! This is an instrument I dream if owning someday. I need to remember that pliers plus duct tape trick, clever!
@DaveCurran 4 ай бұрын
Very impressive work.
@richardayres7958 4 ай бұрын
Possibly the best project yet!
@atkelar 4 ай бұрын
Thanks! I hoped to have something special for the 100th. Just sad that it can't all be this elaborate. Next one will be a bit smaller again; and I have a mechanical one in the queue too.
@UpLateGeek 4 ай бұрын
It's a good thing you move so much faster in your human form than a regular human, otherwise I bet this would've taken many hours across many days to reassemble! Seriously though, the result looks great, and as a bonus it even works. Great job!
@bw6378 4 ай бұрын
What an amazing rebuild. Thanks for sharing!
@YuriyKrivosheyev 4 ай бұрын
Great, thanx! Very happy to see the success
@Runco990 4 ай бұрын
Let me just re-iterate that you are COMPLETELY NUTS!!!! And I mean that in the most flattering way! 😁
@R.Daneel 4 ай бұрын
Algorithm comment and sincere thanks for continuing these fantastic videos.
@jamesbennettmusic 4 ай бұрын
That's a great shot of the screen at the end!
@atkelar 4 ай бұрын
I had to tweak it a bit in post-production - but the general image is as it is shown.
@Pulverrostmannen 4 ай бұрын
I mean what wouldn't you do to properly check the knee of a 1N4007 ?? Incredible work! And I bet Murphy was smiling when he mixed those transistors on the hard to reach heat sink.
@atkelar 4 ай бұрын
I thought about what device to first check... and came to the concusion that the probably widest used rectifier diode ever would make a perfect candidate; most people here know how these should look like 😁
@valmonta3647 4 ай бұрын
Amazing work you do, thanks for sharing it
@garyramsey4275 4 ай бұрын
Incredible job, Atkelar! (And Stage Hand too!)
@colinstu 4 ай бұрын
cute refurb sticker
@atkelar 4 ай бұрын
Thanks! Karpour made the image for me; as most icons I like to commission him for his style.
@KeritechElectronics 4 ай бұрын
What a lovely and insanely complex restoration job! I'm still collecting the discombobulated fragments of my jaw from the floor. 13:27 my advice here would be to use forceps to hold the shield while sinking the heat and not letting it reach the insulation. I always use this technique for soldering shielded cables. 26:30 hope it's not the polychlorinated biphenyl oil... Nasty thing. Nicely restuffed cap though. Always happy to see those lovely fiber optic pseudo dot matrix incandescent displays. Absolutely Fran-tastic.
@atkelar 4 ай бұрын
Normally, I try to hold the shielding with tweezers; but for rebuilds it's often on the shorter side so it's "be quick" time :) In case of these particular wires, I can say that the inner insulator can take quite a bit of heat, compared to the outer insulation. I was very careful with the oil; as in use multiple gloves and a respirator. So I think it's good.
@1dolar1note1 4 ай бұрын
ah, the joys of repairing something, testing it, and having to figure out what might've changed after putting it back together. In my time repairing things I've probably had to take a few units apart a few times more than I really should've, but working without schematics and purely on pictures of the pcb did make work a struggle.
@atkelar 4 ай бұрын
The old devices, where you can find detailed manuals and schematics are indeed a joy to work on. Still, accidentally flipping the heat sink upside down either when taking the picture or when assembling it... hrmpf! 😡 - that cost me quite some significant time. Should I ever get a similar symmetrical thing on my bench, I'll make sure to make a clear indicator which way is up on both sides when taking pictures. Like adding a paper clip to the fins of the heatsink... Lesson learned 😊
@TheDefpom 4 ай бұрын
Very nice work, I was worried that once you took it all apart that it would be too hard to put back together again, but you managed it.
@chrisw4578 4 ай бұрын
What a different place the world was when this construction method was considered a sane/necessary way to build.
@atkelar 4 ай бұрын
I think my reply got lost in a browser crash... sorry; I think the timeframe was just about between the "tube" and "digital" timeframe. When some things were still done with point to point wiring and some parts were trusted to integrated circuits. People will naturally stick with what's proven first.
@graealex 3 ай бұрын
I think this is a direct contradiction of the typical "everything was better back then, because it was repairable" sentiment. Yes, the lack of integration makes it more tangible, but this (and a lot of other devices from that era) are borderline not repairable, because at the same time, the lack of integration makes diagnosing faults and actually repairing them very, very hard.
@mcawrse 4 ай бұрын
Nice work! You went a lot farther than I would have, and it turned out excellent. Interested to see what you have in mind for fixtures. I saw a nice little home made fixture on the IMSAI Guy channel, and I believe there are some 3d printed examples on the internet also. I have a 577 that I need to pull out and do some repairs on, it has no fixtures either. Amazing what people think the fixtures are worth. Keep up the good work!!!
@mx0r 4 ай бұрын
Beautiful! 👏🏻
@gordonwedman3179 4 ай бұрын
I am almost lost for words. If you made a hundred mistakes putting that monster back together I would still be mightly impressed but you tracked down the couple you made and the instrument is better than new.
@atkelar 4 ай бұрын
I think showing the issues I ran into with the projects makes it a bit more interesting. Thankfully, I haven't had anything major happen so far, but if even one person out there can remember some of them before making a similar oopsie... it's already worth it.
@wall_k 4 ай бұрын
What a complicated project! I'm amazed with your work every time, thank you for sharing!
@ericmoeller3634 4 ай бұрын
i thought i blocked your channel from showing in my recommendations wow i thought this was that channel with a puppet show and electronics i like watching people work on electronics im a grown man
@atkelar 4 ай бұрын
I'm also a grown man, but different tastes are fine... however, rest assured that I don't control the KZfaq suggestions...
@TheDiveO 4 ай бұрын
I once put in a BC308C into a place of a BC238C due to fat fingers in my stash of small signal transistors and then wondered why the output LED always lighted up when the TTL output was low. I checked everything over and over again, until finally checking the (fine) print on the transistors... if you don't drive hard, PNP and NPN are somehow interchangeable *grin*
@explorer914 4 ай бұрын
Be careful with them old oil capacitors. They can contain PCB. :)
@atkelar 4 ай бұрын
Not knowing what they exactly put in it is why I was wearing gloves, a respirator and had the paint booth extraction fan running. Only when I had that oil and interior separated, I dared to touch that. Brrr.
@fletcherreder6091 4 ай бұрын
Looks like a combination of Bourns series 3329 and PV32 for those trimmers. I like that whole engraving thing with the buttons, might have to steal that for my poor 475.
@atkelar 4 ай бұрын
Thank you! That manufacturer reference helped to find at least very closely matching ones! I shall properly replace them once they arrive.
@fletcherreder6091 4 ай бұрын
@@atkelar I tried to find the relays too, but even an NSN cross reference only showed Tektronix themselves :(
@atkelar 4 ай бұрын
Yes, they seem to be made by Tek in house. By the part number, I found some articles that mentioned how unreliable they are when aged... a shame really, the design seems nifty.
@user-ku8bh5oe9j 4 ай бұрын
Once again, just wonderful work you do.
@ahooper99 4 ай бұрын
a master at work, beauty!
@AdrianRumpold 4 ай бұрын
What a beauty! Could you estimate how many hours went into this restoration in total?
@atkelar 4 ай бұрын
Really hard to estimate; looking at the video files for the "filmed work time" reference, it's about 28.5 hours of footage; including the puppetry and voice work. I'd say that's not all, but at least it's most of the actual physical work, but doesn't include research, pondering about transistors and similar issues... and also not included is the video editing time. So I'd about double that number for a realistic estimate of overall time without the video and maybe 3 times with the video. Started the project in Mid February, and just finished it.
@jmpeax3596 4 ай бұрын
Nicely done! Serial# is 744 off :)
@atkelar 4 ай бұрын
Off from... oh! Hehe! I didn't even check. The service manual has listed parts with "up to serial number 5" - so it seems there have been some early changes. And with "we have a number 5" it's not quite clear to me, how they did the numbering. I just can't see that they actually made over 300k units of that? Seems a tad bit much.
@TheMovieCreator 4 ай бұрын
Really stunning work here! But at 3:04, was that center tap on the step generator power resistor soldered later on?
@atkelar 4 ай бұрын
Yes, it was; the centers are actually connected with a wire that was still on the upper one, so I only could solder that "input" wire, once I had mounted the top one again.
@JeffreyGroves 4 ай бұрын
Have you ever considered a second channel named "Cursing with Atekelar" where you post nothing but outakes where stage hands loses it tempor?
@atkelar 4 ай бұрын
It would probably be way too many videos for KZfaq to handle 😜 - seriously though: I try to keep those moments in the videos with whatever funny take fits. Most of the time it's just "come on... really?" moments and those are probably not as funny to watch.
@vespapkxl5526 2 ай бұрын
a CNC 3018, i am building an upgrade kit for it :-)
@bborkzilla 4 ай бұрын
Weird connector? It was probably a Lemo - Tektronix likes those although they're pretty pricey.
@atkelar 4 ай бұрын
Maybe, but what Google shows me looks slightly different; The calibration fixture had a - half broken - male counterpart still attached. I also replaced that with a barrel jack and put the original one back in a bag for my friend to decide later on. Not sure why they used three pins here, I couldn't find any "Tek Camera setup" that even had that cable to begin with. All that I found had batteries or other supplies, if they needed power at all.
@sefarkas0 4 ай бұрын
You may want to try some heating and air-conditioning aluminum tape around the oil cap repaired end.
@atkelar 4 ай бұрын
As the original seemed to have been leaking a bit of the noil already, I *think* my cleaned up version is already much safer. Besides, the "plug" part where I had to use the vice to get it in again is most likely a good seal...
@sefarkas0 4 ай бұрын
@@atkelar I just meant to make it look better
@atkelar 4 ай бұрын
Ah! It looked abit worse on the video for some reason. In person, the "lip" isn't nearly as bad IMHO. Also, there are lots of comments about that cap maybe containing PCB, so I thought this was also going into that direction. 😊
@sefarkas0 4 ай бұрын
@@atkelar Great that it was just in the video that it looked so injured! I have used the aluminum tape to cover up twist loc caps after opening them - works great. I once had to rewind a 1950's X-Ray transformer and got a friend to get me fresh PCB oil from his place of work at the local power company. When I inquired about the dangers of the PCB type oil he said "don't worry out guys practically swim in this stuff" - haha
@atkelar 4 ай бұрын
I think it's like with many dangerous chemicals: as long as you don't work a day job with them, it shouldn't be much of an issue. That said, I'd be worried if people bathe in it as part of their job 😜
@brianwood5220 3 ай бұрын
Absolutely brilliant. Just as a matter of interest how much did the item cost you? It's probably 3 times that value now. Thanks for sharing this with us.
@atkelar 3 ай бұрын
I'd rather not mention the actual amount; compared to what I see them listed on e-bay, I'd say I made a decent purchase, with slightly under the cheapest I found there, but almost no shipping.
@brianwood5220 3 ай бұрын
@@atkelar Excellent. Sorry I didn't mean to put you on the spot. Love your work.
@atkelar 3 ай бұрын
Thanks! - I didn't feel "put on the spot" as such; it's a legit question, but since the deal was amongst friends, I don't think it's proper to share those details.
@JeffreyGroves 4 ай бұрын
What is the liklihood of there being PCBs in that oil filled capacitor?
@atkelar 4 ай бұрын
greater than zero... I'm no chemist, so I took all precaution I could when I opened it. Originally, it did have some actual leakage going on around the contacts: there was oily gunk around those. So "a bit of that stuff" was alrady on the outside. I don't think I made contact or inhaled anything significantly more than what was at that stage.
@BinarySplit 3 ай бұрын
At 27:10, is that an improvised soldering iron!?
@atkelar 3 ай бұрын
Not improvised; it's the close up of the tip of my soldering gun. For these large metal plates I'm tinning at this time, the regular iron isn't powerful enough to keep up. It would either be cold joints or - sometimes - solder itself to the contact. That solder gun is 250W or close to it.
@BinarySplit 3 ай бұрын
@@atkelar Ohhh! I had no idea about soldering guns! My search for "soldering iron with a loop" only lead me to surgical cauterizing tools. Thanks for the explanation!
@byterock 4 ай бұрын
Did you make sure that Oil can Cap did not have PCB in it?? Pre 77
@atkelar 4 ай бұрын
I made sure not to get into contact with any of that stuff as good as I could. Other than that, it's probably mute to validate; becaue no manufacturer would have that on thier archive. By brand and wikipedia list, it seems to not be affected though...
@byterock 4 ай бұрын
@@atkelarOne trick is to pick up a modern one for AC units and gut that one ;) and dispose of the old one
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