R-390 Reflector June ‘02 Edited From [email protected] Sat Jun 1 00:37:31 2002 Subject: [R-390] Tube List For R-390 (non A) writes: << I got an e-mail from someone who recommends also the CV-133 and the 6135 as subs for the 6C4. They're supposed to be quieter and have gold pins. My TV-7D/U tube checker list shows the 6135, but not the CV-133. Any info out there on this? I have heard of the 6135's, but not the CV-133....of course, lots of british tubes will interchange with ours, but the tube books don't always show them. Les From Barry Hauser" <[email protected] Sat Jun 1 00:47:43 2002 Subject: [R-390] Cleaning Chassis and rebuliding -Long Hi Pete & gang: >This has become even longer. Today I did some more work on the current BLUE STREAK project here. (Not the 1960s Missile Project but the St Juliens renovation!) >A blue striper from one of the usual sources? <snipped> I have the rebuilt St Juliens receiver working very well, astonishingly so in fact. Especially as it was a pretty badly corroded and sand laden example from the massacre. I have been working on it on and off for about four months now. > Ah, yes, the massacre, not a pretty sight. I washed the IF, PSU and audio decks in hand washing soap and warm water, with plenty of pure tap water wash off, then dried them in the clothes airing cupboard for about two weeks. >Dave Medley goes as far as to do the final rinse (before sun baking) with distilled water. I took great care not to get the IF transformers wet, but other than that the chassis and components were all cleaned and came up beautifully. I was amazed by the amount of dirt and grit washed off into the bowl after the initial cleaning. >Imagine if the rig was cleaned before it was shipped. You could have saved on shipping. heh heh Last weekend I stripped the RF deck of its transformers and painstakingly dismantled and cleaned every face of every paxolin cheek in each transformer. I remember Nolan saying that he found the deposit on these surfaces to be conductive, so I didnt want to take any chances here!. 1 >I remember Nolan, but not that. Can anyone add to this -- is there a special coating? (BTW, anybody hear from Nolan lately?) I used a QTIP (Cotton bud, here in UK) to clean inside each coil former and around the ceramic caps. I used methylated spirit for this work, taking care not to get too much on the coils themselves. I used a fresh cotton head for each face so as not to cross contaminate from one piece to another. >What's another name for "menthylated spirit", or a US translation? During the RF deck cleaning I found the wrecked 2-4MC antenna transformer. It had me foxed as I could not get at the fixing screw on that particular unit. It was obscured by debris inside the can. When I finally got the transformer off the chassis I found the remains of three slugs and the broken former lurking inside. Totally useless! >Did you order a replacement? The RF deck was washed with kerosene, and thoroughly cleaned. The metal was perfect under all the dirt that had built up on it. The deck is a Collins, as are most of the transformers. I re lubed the moving parts and used Molyslip, applied with a Qtip on the sliding faces and bearing surfaces of the slug racks. >"Molyslip" sounds like the Dow Metal Assembly Paste I use. This stuff is a jelly-like charcoal gray stuff in a tube. I found that it's best applied like a polish -- rubbing in and buffing out or burnishing. The molybdenum works its way into the microscopic pits in the surface of the metal, making it more slick. I then use a very small amount of synthetic lube, like Mobil One. The combination is particularly effective, however the moly paste itself is not much of a lube just painted on. Moly treatment (burnished in) is particularly good on the cam follower slots and the cams themselves -- they're stamped and have fairly unfinished edges. On re assenbly I straightened all the slug springs . I didnt have any talcum powder to hand at the time so I have left applying talc until later, if at all. >There's a difference of opinion on whether talc is worth it or not. Did you tweak up the adjusters on the slugracks to re-align the slugs? A major worry was the coax relay. It was very badly tarnished and showing powdery corrosion in places. I guess that my radio had its back to the sea at St Juliens, as the rear of the set has taken the brunt of the corrosion and dust ingress. One of the coax relay coils was open, so I decided to strip the relay, clean and rebuild, which I did today. >Tell us how you went about that -- wire used, turns, etc. I used Goddards Silverdip, which is a silver jewellry cleaner available from supermarkets here in UK and possibly internationally. >I don't know if that was such a good idea, from prior threads. Sounds like the same clear liquid like Tarn-X sold here, and maybe internationally (used to be an infomercial product). Foul smelling when in use. Word was that it's too aggressive and that anything cleaned with it tends to oxidize more rapidly. I dumped the silver parts into the liquid and scrubbed them with a toothbrush.... the Silverdip has magic 2 properties and restores a clean silver finish to most parts after about five minutes immersion. (BTW it is only about £2 a bottle, enough for about 4 R390s). So having rewound the magnet for the whip antenna channel and re assenbled the relay parts, I now have a pretty good looking coax relay at the back of my set. >It restores that shine by taking off the oxides, and again, word was some of the un-oxidized metal as well. That's a problem with plating. Better to use something like DeOxit. Even though it doesn't magically shine that well, if you just burnish the mating surfaces and apply some DeOxit, that generally does the trick without risking what's left of the plating. I also changed the selenium (?) rectifier for the relay supply, as I found it had one poor leg. >Poor thing -- I think protocol is to shoot them. ;-) Yup, they are selenium. Don't throw it down the well, though some vitamin/mineral supplements contain selenium, so I don't know... I guess this might be why one of the relay coils has gone open in the first place. I replaced it with a silicon equivalent, using the old rectifier mounting bracket for the new one. I added a 100volt 100uF electrolytic across the dc side of the relay rectifier. I found that this reduced the hum from the relays when they are energised. A tip worth noting! >Interested in other opinions on this -- -should this be a standard "mod". I recapped the audio deck and added 47uF 400 electrolytics beneath the chassis to the audio decoupling components. What an incredible uplift in audio output and quality.....Definitly worth doing that on any set with 30year plus elecs in it. >Tell us more about this. How many and where exactly? Did you reform/replace/bypass the plugins? The EAC IF deck seems ok, so no recapping there yet except for trhe dc blocker berfore the Mechanical filters...just a precaution! I used 0.01 2kV disc ceramic as it was to hand and fitted in easily. >Does it matter what type -- I generally use an orange drop or yellow poly tubular. I was hoping to report the repair of the 200kc Calibrator crystal, but alas that was not to be..... The crystal was loose inside the HC6/U can, and therefore the calibrator would not lock. I opened the crystal and attempted to resolder it to its mounting posts. I used a heat gun and LMP solder Any way, my attempt failed as the crystal now oscillates at 275kc. I guess it has cracked under the heat. I thought it was a long shot any way! >Did you heat sink the xtal -- or is that even possible? Suggest you put the modifed xtal up for auction under "@RARE@ 275 KC Calibrator Crystal". Who knows, maybe someone out there is looking for a bleep every 275? So, in finishing the receiver is working well on all excepy the 2to4 MC banbs, but without a calibrator. The PTO needs stretching, but I will tackle that next week. In the mean time the rig is back in my shack and I am listening to it for a while! >Whew, I think you've done quite well. Listening? Oh, right, I almost forgot. ;-) More updates later. >Good -- and thanks for the blow-by-blow. Barry 3 From Barry Hauser" <[email protected] Sat Jun 1 01:04:30 2002 Subject: [R-390] Tube List For R-390 (non A) > I have heard of the 6135's, but not the CV-133....of course, lots of british > tubes will interchange with ours, but the tube books don't always show them. It's listed as a sub on this web page http://project.llaky.fi/audiocrew/vintage/tuberef.htm More relevant, I also found this in a pdf file on the r-390A site: "I went through the RF deck and individually swapped out tubes with at least 6 of the same type and left the best S/n tubes in place..