Experiments, Physics, Electronics, High voltages and Projects. Also any old Electronic and Electrical stuff that should really be in a museum. More at: www.tuopeek.com
if you ground out the electrostatic plates, would they still act weirdly? Sorry if this is dumb, I don't really have any experience with these but hope to learn.
Cool good work mate, I would say you gained some length and I think the swords are more consistent too, I would suggest a few diodes in series across the doubler cap to ensure they can't see reverse voltage, I put anti parallel leds (with a couple of meg strings of resistors) across my doubler caps and noticed the both light so they do see some reverse voltage in staccato operation
Magnetrons take time to frequency stabilize. Consider modulating the magnetic field on the electron path, or using a magnetic polariser on the output. Magnetic polarizers were used in the old days of satellite dishes before you could just get a switched lnb. It all depends on what your purposes are maybe you're doing fast data communications or maybe you are trying to do moon bounce
Thanks yes magnetron response time became the main issue as I was looking for a very quick pulse. The energy level was also to be quite high limiting the options. Although I was concentrating on the electronics it became apparent the oven magnetron was not going to respond correctly.
@@tuopeeks you may be able to pick up some cheap old stock thorn EMI varian coaxial tuned cavity magnetrons which have a very fast response and a tuning screw however they may not be on the band you need I'm not sure your ultimate purpose
Still not sure what I'm looking at. When the magic eye is fully on, that means you have full signal? If there's a gap, that means you're not at full signal?
Basically, that's correct. With no signal on the grid a gap is present. Driving the grid with a signal allows electrons to travel through and hit the fluorescent coating.
I'm old enough to remember the IBM XT with a 10MB full height 5¼" drive and a 5¼" floppy, but 8" drives were mostly before my time. Although I do recall working in the room where the cluster controller for all our IBM 3270-type terminals was once. It had an 8" floppy in it, and I idly pressed the release lever, ejecting the disk and bringing down all the IBM terminals in the building 🤣 Quickly replace disk and exit quietly (and rapidly) stage left... 😋
Yeah don't think many antique shops will be able to help there. There not too complicated, but there are a few varieties. All I've seen are low voltage. The electrical insulation is likely to be poor so first thing is to check for coil operation and shorts. From memory the box generally is wired in series with the bell. This offers some protection from faults as the bell will ring continually. The box here had two bells in the circuit. The deliver door bell was linked to the servant area only, but generally one bell is in the circuit. Do you have the original transformer and bell with the display board? If so I would pay particular attention to the condition of both these with a view to replace.
Hi! This is great. I have a 7603 scope here and is in need of repair. I inherited it from a friend and it was barely working (some initial display but eventually gave in and now just sort of frozen). I use it for experimental XY drawing - as you say it has a lovely big display! Although I have some experience of electronics repair (swapping in broken pots and switches and caps on old synths etc) I am very wary of getting into these devices as there are some high voltages. I am also no good at diagnosis - I can only carry out repairs if I know what I need to replace! I notice you have a Scottish accent(!) - I am based in Glasgow. By any chance are you reasonably near? I would love to bring this scope back to life and am looking to commission someone to diagnose and help me. Any advice hugely appreciated and thanks again
When you say, 'sort of frozen', does it still display in X-Y mode as this would suggest issues with the time-base plugin? I'm about 55 odd miles from Glasgow so maybe not that handy. There are quite a few electronics guys in and around Glasgow but don't know if they would be up for helping. As you are familiar with the electronics I could help a bit by email?
Very interesting time travel, thankfully I'm not old enough to remember anything bigger than 5-1/4. I do remember being astonished and envious when IBM released the tiny Micro HDD's that fitted into a PCMCIA slot (I think they made an even smaller one). I was about to give you a hard time for engaging in a click bait title that suggested old Rangie moving parts but then I realised you being you would have included an NTUC number.
Thanks, yeah, the PCMCIA format was compatible electrically with the old IDE interface so it wasn't too difficult to plug a drive in, particularly if small enough to fit the slot. The rust reference wasn't intentional but well spotted. 🙂
In the 83, I programmed on an M/A/I Basic Four mini, the company purchased a 2nd hard fixed drive with a removable multi-platter pack, the drive was a 285mb drive for $37,000.
Thank you Kram for this very interesting insight into these drives old and nearer those of today. No doubt the hard drive will soon be totally committed to history. Five years ago our Apple computers in the office had solid state drives and of course access to data was instantaneous. The most impressive thing for me having been associated with computers for many years was the boot up time from cold which was about 5 seconds!
Thanks, think you are correct, much as I have enjoyed working with the technology over the decades, their gains are slowly being overtaken by advances in Solid State Drives. Access speed being the big gain here. Reliability is also claimed to be an advantage with SSD but I have lost about the same on both types.
HDD capacity gains have dramatically flattened over the last decade or so and the writing is on the wall. The end is nigh! The progress has been astounding though. I remember in the 80s when almost no one's computer had one because they were so expensive, to today's multi TB chocolate bar sized things that use mere dozens of atoms per bit of storage. It's been a wild ride.
As you say the days look numbered for the HDD. I also remember managing to buy a 30Mb drive as the first HDD for any of my computers at the time probably around 1990. It is amazing how cheap a modern Tb drive can be bought with all the research and development behind it.
@@tuopeeks I'm quite honestly scared by the sheer capacity of modern drives. I can't imagine losing terabytes of data if a drive goes down, all my backup systems use Raid 5 so I can at least have peace of mind that if one drive does go down, I can replace it and the data is automatically rebuilt.
So, the PL509, used as the line output stage in colour TVs, was a pentode, although it is often described as a beam tetrode, but rarely configured as such.
This unit was salvaged from some old spectral equipment. Not sure were you would find one on its own. It's not too difficult to run the lamp if you can arrange a heater supply and a simple ignition circuit. The lamp also needs a constant current control and this may vary slightly depending on the lamp being used. I have a little more information here: www.tuopeek.com/deuterium.html
50 or 60 Hz transformers that power Neon signs are also good for the ( Jacob's ladder ) demonstration , and save you time rewinding ... another use is burning off the carbon deposits off of sooty engine spark plugs ( ! ) ....... but take care , their output is LETHAL , keep WELL away when powered up ( tried - n - tested ) .... DAVE™🛑
Yeah, 50 / 60Hz works fine as well so long as the transformer is up to it. The Jacob's ladder' is just a good easy demonstration and test for any HV transformer performance. You need to know what your working with on any HV transformer for safety
One time when we were visiting Photonicinduction, he blew up a 90W SOX lamp that had failed due to one of the electrodes becoming detached and rattling around in the arc tube. I think it got up to 4000V or something approaching that, before it went bang and caught fire. Then the ceramic lampholder cracked...😋 Then he poured water on the liquid sodium that had dropped onto the carpet..! (Yep, more burn marks on the famous carpet.) 🤣
😁Yes, I had been once before but the reason for opening it up and the video was the locking spring had failed and I suspected the spring had broken somewhere.
Technically possible, but toroid stability may make it difficult to work well and modulation needs to be added to the electronics. The sound level is also quite low. Yes, think you are correct the lamp is likely to be a mixture or argon and neon, and also feature in the plasma globe. This is a popular mix of gasses as the combination can reduce the strike voltage to considerably less than for either gas on its own.
I found the circuit diagram eventually. Thanks for sharing. I have a quick question: Which one of the two coils in your diagram is the one through which you put the lamps? The one marked 6Turns or the one marked with the dashes (---)? Can you also please give more details about the coil or transformer marked with dashes? I would very much like to replicate this setup.
The coil on the right marked 6 turns is the main LC coil. The dashed lines indicate I've used a ferrite core and this coil is a blocking filter to prevent the HF feeding into the DC supply. Its not critical and doesn't need to have a core but it should have more turns than the oscillator. The most critical thing with the coils is the current the can handle. The oscillator coil wire is 3mm in diameter and can run hot. Not only voltage is high but current too.
@@tuopeeks thanks. I was wondering if you could do voltage and current waveforms across and through the oscillator coil? That would be very informative, I would imagine.
@@Baraka-yl2dp It's not too exciting and would really need another video to do that. The LC wave-form is more or less a perfect sine wave when working properly. Measuring the current with a scope is much more challenging as this need to be converted to a proportional voltage without distortion. The voltages and currents are very high compare to the supply and at resonance are in phase.
@tuopeeks it may not be exciting but could be informative. In fact, from your statement I can already imagine that it would be informative. The fact that it's a perfect sine wave when a transient decaying LC wave is expected is already exciting and informative enough. Also, the fact that the voltage and current are very high compared to the supply peaks my curiosity already. Please just do the voltage waveform if the current waveform is going to be a pain...
I used two devices based on availability, cost, speed and breakdown voltage. The first a SMT device SCT2750NY and the second is through-hole MSC750SMA170B
@@tuopeeks ahhh, yes that explains it!! BaO is commonly used to aid emission if I remember correctly, and excited Ba produces intense green spectral lines
That does look like fun - ty for posting, rly enjoy yr vids. Can i ask what were the L C values, and what transistor worked best. What was supply voltage, cant remember if u said that or not. And is yr adjustable cap homemade? It is awesome, reminds me of a film processor feed thingy, minus fins of course. I really really liked your split diode xray trans dismantle, tour, explanation, circuit diag especially, and synthetic wax pour. I wonder what unit it powered, and whether medical or industrial
The variable capacitor is from a small transmitter, I think. So not home made and larger air gaps than a receiver tuning cap. Value between 50 -110pF . I was mostly using it down at around 50pf and moved to a fixed one at 40pf at one point. Still looking for the best MOSFET but the one I was using here was IRFP260N but have blown a few. Yeah, thanks, the x-ray transformer is nicely made. It was from a medical x-ray supply.
I love this oscillator, definitely build a tube version when i get back in my lab 😃.. thanks for posting, very cool, i really liked the tungar lamp, very interesting, and the plasma spheres in the HC spectral lamps 😎👍
You can add a shunt-capacitor via D-S of mosfet, about 1-5 nF, ceramic cap or low-loss MKP film. The efficiency of the circuit usually increases by one and a half to two times after adding it. The heating of the transistor is reduced by approximately the same amount. Also don't forget about AC voltage (summary with bias) swing on the gate via different loads and tank quality factors. Adding a TVS to G-S is a good decision. And finally - the G-S part is a fraction of the total LC-resonator now. Add 1-5 nf MKP in parallel for bypassing a portion of AC current. This also forms a sort of AC-divider with air-tunable cap, which allows you to fine control of gate AC-overshoot. I developed a push-pull version of this circuit, but in a common drain topology. It turned out to be a very evil thing, for real.
Thanks, as you pointed out, there are a lot of factors to get these performing well. I'll try adding the shunt capacitor as not tried that yet. Also find selecting a MOSFET has a big impact too. Easy to got through them too🙂
As I found out, one of the most important parameters of FET for this circuit is a forward transconductance - larger value is better, especially with low supply voltages (30V and below). Switching times and Rds-on are obviously important too. As a common FET example, showing great results with Vsupp 15-25 V, IRFP4321 is a good one, for frequencies up to 50 MHz.
Interesting point. There two different coupling mechanisms are very noticeable. Some of the bright flashes with the Tungar lamp are due to sudden evaporation of elements adding to the gasses.
The five L/R time constants in the analog meter's "needle deflection" coil could make it unable to show the "delta t" of the back EMF pulse. I'm not sure what chips a modern DVM uses to report voltages but in my Micronta analog multimeter, the deflection mechanism is a large-ish coil that is fed the input signal from the meter's probes when they touch the being-measured circuit. The analog meter itself is an electromagnetic induction device (a coil and magnet) and the ability of a DVM to faithfully indicate the rise time of the back EMF pulse, or better yet, an oscilloscope, just in case the analog meter's internals (the coil inside the meter that takes the input from whatever circuit/device is being measured). I always use an oscilloscope with the input probe set on "x 10" to protect the o'scope. The back EMF spike can be pretty astonishing in - very brief rise time - the voltage magnitude of the spike I love analog meters - when I learned electronics in the U.S. Navy there were no digital multimeters. The one you have looks very robust. .
Yeah the meter won't accurately react, although the field collapse in the large transformer is quite slow. DVM don't react a lot faster than analogue meters in my experience, and are far more susceptible to damage from HV spikes. The scope is the best but also possible to damage the input if not careful. The meter I'm using is old and obsolete here now, but it was always considered a tough and popular instrument in Britain. It was manufactured by Thorn-EMI and known as AVO ( for Amps, Volts, Ohms) .
@@tuopeeks I would never part company with my analog meters. The fact that they are very basic devices is confidence-inspiring. The fewer parts that can break, the better, imo. The one you have looks to have been a high-end one. It's like an old guitar: they are keepers!
Nice job. That governor is an absolute joy, it'd be interesting to check how stable it is with an optical tacho. I can almost hear Italians weeping into their pesto in the background
Very nice Kram. Why are there lots of strings traversing the horn? They look like the strings of a musical instrument. I think I even saw rest pins to tune them.
This seems to be particular to the Klingsor company at the time and don't think its documented. It's thought resonance with the strings with the sound improved the overall quality of the sound. I can't confirm this as this example is very out of tune and I haven't tried to tune it.
vc I KNEW that the effect Lennard gives to create a vacuum and fly in the direction that vc want to use in a ship because vc does not face is very interesting
I would have been a bit more gentle with it, they don't grow on trees and are fairly valuable as basically obsolete systems go. 21264 boxes are as nice as these things get after all, in terms of small size alpha systems, there was a time I very much wanted one but I gave up on it as $2k roughly was what they were asking. DS10 and DS20's if memory serves, what would have been cool is running VMS on it pretending it's a big ass 11/780 or so. That's what they are cool for imo, all the other shizz you can do on much more easily available hardware. Except maybe Ultrix, which if I'm not mistaken there theoretically is some reason to run still - I can't remember what though.
Throughout the entire video, I had the feeling that this was a version of a vacuum-tube Tesla coil, but made in a strange manner. Transformers with an air core, in my opinion, are more optimal at higher frequencies, in the region of a few to tens of MHz - fewer turns are needed. Or in the case of very short pulses, but this is a completely different topic. A beautiful compound-filled "keg" asks to insert a core into it and discharge the capacitor to the primary winding. I think the winding insulation will hold it up.
Interesting point to add a core given there is a hole through the transformer. It is slightly tapered for some reason and the high voltage terminal would be extremely close to a core, if fitted. Yes, it is identical to a VTTC except for the large number of turns on the secondary making the inductance 1.2H for this coil. One of my large TC coil measures around 0.15H.
Yes, this is exactly the phenomenon of phosphorescence in these alumina tubes that I'm after. Do you remember the make and model of the second high pressure sodium lamp used here? It looks like it could be GE, but I don't know. Apparently this afterglow is only present on a very select few models and only then of certain years manufactured. Incidentally the demonstration of diatomic sodium vapor molecular absorption causing the arc tube to be colored after shutdown is fantastic here. The exact same vibronic coupling mechanism that gives Iodine its deep violet color and the other halogens their lighter colors.
Can't remember what manufacture produced that bare arc tube it could be GE, I have two other SON lamps that exhibit this behaviour an 'Aura' badged lamp and an 'Eye'. Its seems to be age related more than manufacturer.
