Keithley 164 Nixie Tube Multimeter Repair 

I can't help but imagine someone in the future who eventually gets this machine, cracking it open for debug purposes eventually finding this patch job inside

wow, first time seeing anyone trying to repair an ic. :s

This video is a perfect example of why I love this channel. Mind-numbingly interesting and hilariously funny at the same time!

this is no doubt one of the top 5 electronic youtube channels :D -Love from India

Enjoyed the image of the otter banging the chip on the rocks to get at the bonding wires. Hah

You are completely insane. Love it

I love your presentation, just the right blend of practicality and dry humor. "The magic smoke is always an option" - words to live by.

I really respect people which repairs ancient electronics!

I have a Keithley 160 (the older nixie tube version of the 160B) and I was having trouble figuring out what was wrong with it. Your video was super helpful with diagnosing and finding the problem (bad transistor in the -15V power supply.) It's working like a charm now. Just wanted to say thanks!

that is a real nice bench meter, well done for putting the time in to reverse engineer the dead parts and saving it from scrap. I would think it was valuable but i love the retro tech and who doesn't love nixies? great vid!

When I saw you using that manual solder sucker I thought "I should buy him a vacuum iron"... and of course you have one. :) Keep doing what you do. Cheers

Very interesting video and I am glad, I discovered your channel. For the first time, I saw an attempt to crack open an IC with the intention of making it functional again. As you say, when you repair very old stuff like this, you have a guilty feeling that you are wasting a lot of time, but when it starts working again, the feeling is priceless.

@ Marco Reps Damn, I have huge respect for persons who has so huge knowledge to fix something by making replacement parts from scrap... You blew up my mind,.

I'm right now trying to fix a Keithley 160, and your Video helped a lot! I think I'll just replace the ancient nixie drivers by those more common SN7141s you find on ebay a lot. Thanks from Germany!

this was the definition of geekness my friend. anything involving nixies should be saved and cared for. very good job.

Damn, I'd never think of repairing an IC like that, good job!

That hand silkscreen is crazy. I might need to make a program/plugin to convert boring routings to crazy organic-looking splines

I'd love a whole series of videos just watching Marco repair random electronic bits and bobs and giving away his tricks on what to look for. They dont really teach component level troubleshooting anymore in german tradeschools :(

That ending gave me true joy

Hello, nice repair!! I love it. I found your video because I just found one of these Keithley 164 meters. I had to go in it as well but only to clip the R404 jumper for final calibration. Values must have drifted over 40 years. VR402 would not bring in the calibration. Dc volt ranges (among others) were 1% off and it is only supposed to be 0.1% +1 digit. I am glad it was not complicated. Buying a manual off ebay helped.

Love that mix of ICs and vacuum tubes on the display board.... it's even better now you have put a couple of surface mount components on there too!

The best repair I've ever seen, i thought you can't fix it but wow..

great job, so good to see old equipment brought back to life. thank you.

Instructive and entertaining. You take a lot of time over the video quality. Thank you.

Absolutely love this! You make it seem quite a bit easier than it actually really is. Keep up the great talents you have. I never knew that some ancient or so ics could be cracked open. What a nice thing to know for future encounters.

4 years old and still entertaining.

Your humor is great! It really makes my day, thank you.

Absolutely fantastic repair work and video!

Came up in my recommendations and you now have a new subscriber, Top work.....

Brilliant, an incredible repair job. Well done.

Your videos are great. I hope to have your level of knowledge some day. Thank you

You are an absolute wizard, this was yet another amazing video

Great repair, my very compliments

I've seen one of those ceramic DIPs being delidded with a blowtorch, the glue simply gives up after a certain temperature. You could try that next time an opportunity arises.

I've not been this excited for a new youtube video in a long time, your content is awesome!

❤ the Puscifer @10:38 Hope you can catch MJK with Tool this year!

Great video! I genuinely lol'd in work at the Otter

PCB paths painted by hand. Amazing

Outstanding job !

very impressive! love those nixie tubes!

Very clever repair! Well done.

Your brain 🧠 my friend is at another level ! Love your sarcasm !

Great save of a nice old meter. Any Keithley is worth saving to me.

Wow! Very impressive work!

"My 1955 counterpart should be able to use the attached schematic diagram to build a suitable replacement for the time circuit control microchip" :D

That would have to be the best repair I've ever seen on RU-vid!!! You actually made a custom ic of sorts to replace an unattainable chip!!! Mate total respect👌 also the pepe insert quality KEK right there

As many others have commented...great video!

'I've got a few candidates for this newly opened position' ololol :D. When you put the IC in the vice to open it I was like haha good joke..wait...what?

That was awesome, congratulations!!!!

hahahahaha.. the otter.. omg, this channel is hilarious.. subbed!

I like your attitude to repair! Bust IC, take the top off!!! Never in a million years would I think that that would be an option!

Love your videos and your humour! This channel is hilarious! Thank you Marco!

Dude, supreme video editing!

Very cool repair! Kudos!

Kudos! That's serious repair!

Beautiful meter wish I had one

Very nice job

Test gear with nixies is always worth repairing. Excellent job!

Fantastic! Well done! 😁😁

Common-gate MOSFET driving? That’s some wizard shit.

I love your third hand, great video I just found for super cheap. So the plan is to get it and see what happens. I just love the look of it.

Aww, magic smoke is always fun, but I'm happy you were successful in avoiding it. Great work.

Excellent repair. All that remains now is the calibration ;-)

This guy is a wizard. And I dont mean that in any bad way. Nice job dude :)

I love this guy so much. What fun.

loved the otter scene, i cackled out loud

The traces on this machine are so pretty! Not like those boring 0°/45°/90° lines layouting software generates nowadays… 😄

Oh that's lovely. Ive got the little brother, a Keithley 163.

Wow, I love your videos and this one really thought me a lot beside the great humor :)

Nice job, good video as always.

Great video!

I have a Dana 3800a which is still working. It's a little bit newer than this Keithley 164 but is very similar. Despite its low resolution I still like to use it occasionally since it has a very high input impedance.

Great Video, great channel, lover your style :)

good job my freind

I feel like if I said you had a Keithley problem you'd just say you could quit at any time.

Now I'd love to see you do an "optimized calibration" of this tank. In other words, make it an offer it can't refuse.

Yes, the fun is worth the repair effort. It's the whole point.

I dug thru my IC stash. sn74141 is the closest I found. I have a box full of vintage IC's and unfortunately I don't know what most of them do because I can't even a datasheet.

if its fun, ITS NEVER A WASTE OF TIME, and all the mistakes increase your knowledge and that is worth more than anything.

Love your channel. Also, I have several of those driver chips. Let me know if you run into another candidate for one.

i wish you the best you are very smart and i I salute you

Great video, as allways ;-)

You earned a like man👍🏻

five from five Stars, thanks ....

Very, very good work! Grüße aus dem Westerwald.

So funny... Love this channel

Amazing.

I've got a big ol box of 74LS and 74HC series ICs, almost exclusively in DIP packages...if you want I can dig through it next time I'm home and send you any 74HC42s and...whatever that other chip is.

Wow. Just wow.

Brillant!

God this is fantastic

Hello, I recently bought a Nash & Harrison [?!] Nixie tube multimeter. I am not an electrician, so I'm not quite sure of what the problem is, with this device. When I turn it on, the Nixie tubes light up, as they should but when I try to measure some voltage, the numbers don't change. This multimeter looks great, very clean and nothing inside smells burnt or discoloured or damaged. I know that Nixie tubes require a lot of voltage, so I'm very careful [scared] to measure voltages, when it is plugged in [turned on]. The capacitors look good. The resistors too. I would like to investigate further but it is very difficult to remove the boards [I counted +/- 28 cables soldered to the three main boards, inside] it would be a BIG job for a novice like me, and I don't want to damage this beautiful multimeter further. Also, I couldn't find ANY information online, whatsoever regarding this brand - much less find a schematic for it. So, if you have any advise, insight or whatever, please share it with me. Thank you kindly and be safe.

don't forget to link to the seal helper's RU-vid channel! he/she had the right idea! :)

Insane but awesome!

Nice repair.... Tenacity must be your middle name

The defective BCD decoder just looks like a BCD to decimal decoder IC with high voltage driver output. If so, the K155ID1, a russian IC could be a suitable replacement. And it is still available at reasonable prices NOS.

In another 40 years some poor schmuck is going to open that thing to try and fix it again and be completely bewildered by the "updates". XD Great video, and your voice is very relaxing. :)

Fantastic repair!. I mean, the way you broken the problem to pieces and found out which part of the system does what, is it learned by experience and guesses or is there a systematic procedure for troubleshooting electronics?

DAMN AMAZING!!!! Cheers from Canada!!

You may try к155ид1 for the drivers :)