Beauty of old electrical and measuring things, etc.

[jim hardy]

Here's a transmitter for the 20, 40, and 80 meter Ham bands. It will require lots of work should I ever get to it.

Amazing condition on your memorabilia, Don !

I have a Heath DX100 someplace i think.

What a time we live in.. My grandmother lived from times of horse and buggy to moon landings... We've lived from vacuum tubes to cellphones and internet.. It's as profound as the printing press...

old jim

 

[dlgoff]

What a time we live in.. My grandmother lived from times of horse and buggy to moon landings... We've lived from vacuum tubes to cellphones and internet.. It's as profound as the printing press...

It's really amazing to think how short of time this has occurred. I wonder what the world will be like after a similar amount of time.

 

[dlgoff]

I have a Heath DX100 someplace i think.

You should find http://www.heathkit-museum.com/ham/hvmdx-100.shtml and bring it back to life. Might motivate me to bring mine back to life.

 

[davenn]

Here's some of my RF stuff:

Very cool, Don

As Jim said, an amazing collection :)Dave.

 

[dlgoff]

Very cool, Don

As Jim said, an amazing collection :)Dave.

Thank You Sir.

 

[Windadct]

This came up in my LinkedIn feed:

Amsted Rail in St. Louis is still powered by GE switchgear installed in 1898!

 

[dlgoff]

Amsted Rail in St. Louis is still powered by GE switchgear installed in 1898!

Not sure I'd like to open or close one of those knife switches. Just sayin'

 

[dlgoff]

I probably shouldn't post this photo here since it's not beautiful in it's current state. It had a hung-up vain blade, I think. It's going to be another late night.

It should look like this.

 

[dlgoff]

I probably shouldn't post this photo here since it's not beautiful in it's current state. It had a hung-up vain blade, I think. It's going to be another late night.

View attachment 228799

It should look like this.

Beauty of hardware doesn't just come from it's appearance but also it's functionality.

Functioning again.

 

[dlgoff]

A neighbor of mine brought me a bucket with ~75 old vacuum tubes. So I put them into my tube caddy:

But what I found interesting in the bucket was this 4-pin vibrator with the original sales receipt. Back in the day it cost $1.79:

Vibrators were used a lot in old car radios to make "a.c." by chopping the d.c. supply voltage:

image compliments of https://radioremembered.org/

 

[berkeman]

Not sure I'd like to open or close one of those knife switches. Just sayin'

My laser physics professor in undergrad used to say in his lectures, "And then I had the graduate student throw the switch", and he always smiled at that. I was never motivated to become one of his TAs or graduate students...

 

[dlgoff]

My laser physics professor in undergrad used to say in his lectures, "And then I had the graduate student throw the switch", and he always smiled at that. I was never motivated to become one of his TAs or graduate students...

I don't blame you @berkeman. I had an electrician job at an old chemical plant and a work order came down where you had to switch off some really high voltage using a whisker poll. Since it was the worker's responsibility whether to take on the job or not (for safety sake), I told the foreman that 440 vac was my limit.

 

[jedishrfu]

We had a lab setup for the Zeeman effect that used a big knife switch which I imagined came from an old Frankenstein movie that was in series with an old sliding potentiometer. The trick was to throw the switch, amp up the electromagnet via the potentiometer and to then observe the Zeeman effect in some excited sample in the electromagnetic field. The electromagnet was cooled by running tap water through tubes embedded in the core that circulated water about and back to the sink.

The one warning we were given was to never pull the knife switch until the electromagnet was amped down first otherwise we would be fried by the massive spark caused by a collapsing field. I think this experiment traumatized us as we had seen too many monster movies...

 

[dlgoff]

I found this Western Electric telephone set at the Antique Mall at a really cheap price and just had to have it. It's not as old as the Kellogg phone (post #71) but still old. From what I've been able to find, it was manufactured between 1928 and 1937. Here are a couple "before restore" photographs.

Inside of the ringer box:

From the labels on the C-mount dialer, it came from a plumbing business located in Lawrence, Kansas; which maybe explains the ~10 foot long hand-set cable.

I'll post some photos when its "restored" and wall-mounted.

 

[jedishrfu]

Some old timey pictures of my sliderules of yore per an earlier request. The straight ones are decitrigs and the circular one is well circular with basic scales for multiplying and simple trig.

One cool feature of the circular one is a math and science pullout complete with a detailed periodic table written in super tiny writing. You can still get these on eBay or from Concise in Japan.

Physics majors preferred the small pocket size for stealth while engineers and high schoolers preferred the 12” variety as weapons of math instruction.

 

[Borg]

I'll post some photos when its "restored" and wall-mounted.

It couldn't be in better hands.

 

[dlgoff]

Some old timey pictures of my sliderules of yore per an earlier request. The straight ones are decitrigs and the circular one is well circular with basic scales for multiplying and simple trig.

One cool feature of the circular one is a math and science pullout complete with a detailed periodic table written in super tiny writing. You can still get these on eBay or from Concise in Japan.

Physics majors preferred the small pocket size for stealth while engineers and high schoolers preferred the 12” variety as weapons of math instruction.

View attachment 233195
View attachment 233196
View attachment 233197
View attachment 233198

Nice. You have both lengths; same for me. I see yours are "Post" whereas mine are "K+E". Here a picture I posted back in 2014 in the My Old Computer Collection thread.

 

[dlgoff]

It couldn't be in better hands.

Well, thank you sir.

 

[jedishrfu]

Nice. You have both lengths; same for me. I see yours are "Post" whereas mine are "K+E". Here a picture I posted back in 2014 in the My Old Computer Collection thread.
View attachment 233335

Yes, I remember seeing them and wanted to post my meager collection. One item I didn’t post is my old Brother adding machine. I got it new and used it extensively in college physics where I’d convert measurements to logs and add them up to get more precise answers in the age just before the dawning of the hp and TI SR-50 hand held scientific calculators. Oh yeah I still have those too but the hp is a retro anniversary edition. The TI is original.

 

[dlgoff]

I found this Western Electric telephone set ...

I'll post some photos when its "restored" and wall-mounted.

I thought I might ought to explain how I've learned to bring back some beauty to Bakelite. The phone's hand-set shell is made entirely of Bakelite. The screw-on ear and mouth pieces were in really bad shape; showing raised surface blemishes. And where one grips the hand-set showed a little wear. I'm thinking the perspiration may be to blame. Anyway here's what the ear and mouth pieces looked like. Note the white spots which I believe are the fillers used to soak up the Phenol formaldehyde resin during manufacturing.

First I did a light rubbing of the bad areas with 0000 steal wool followed by a coating of an automobile vinyl protector (a very thin oil).

After about 30 minutes, all the oil was absorbed into the Bakelite. Then I coated it with a black shoe polish paste and another coating of the oil.

The oil absorbs some of the black dye from the shoe polish and the Bakelite absorbs that after about another 30 minutes.

I repeated this step twice followed by hand polishing (removing excess oil and polish) with a soft cotton fabric. For the hand-set grip, only a VERY light steel wool rub on the ware area, oiled, then cotton fabric polished. Here are the results.

Now back to work so I can finish this project. Completed and mounted photos to follow.

 

[davenn]

wonderful resto

 

[dlgoff]

wonderful resto

Thanks Dave. I think I could have done a little better though.

 

[davenn]

Thanks Dave. I think I could have done a little better though.

can always have a redo in the future if you feel inclined ... at least it is currently protected from further corrosion/other damage gosh, I haven't had time for restoration work for quite some years. Used to do quite a lot of old tube radios.
Recent years I have just been busy with an electronics production line that I do from home supplying several customers.Dave

 

[Charlie Cheap]

Okay Don, you are the guy with all that old neat stuff from my youth. At 75 I remember most of what you have, and I have one question...does any of it "Meet Code"? Just kidding. In the 1950's my buddy and I made crystal radio sets and ran AC to his barn where we "tinkered" with radio stuff we got from Mr. Weaver, the local TV repairman. Between him and the Army/Navy surplus store, we had a dream shop in my buddy Wayne's backyard, where I am sure we created havoc with neighbors radios and TV's. Antenna wires all over the house and barn, lights that lit the neighborhood, speakers, headphones and mikes everywhere...until the city told Wayne's Mom, NONE of it met Code. All gone in one day. WOW, does this jog an old man's memory!

 

[dlgoff]

Okay Don, you are the guy with all that old neat stuff from my youth. At 75 I remember most of what you have, and I have one question...does any of it "Meet Code"? Just kidding. In the 1950's my buddy and I made crystal radio sets and ran AC to his barn where we "tinkered" with radio stuff we got from Mr. Weaver, the local TV repairman. Between him and the Army/Navy surplus store, we had a dream shop in my buddy Wayne's backyard, where I am sure we created havoc with neighbors radios and TV's. Antenna wires all over the house and barn, lights that lit the neighborhood, speakers, headphones and mikes everywhere...until the city told Wayne's Mom, NONE of it met Code. All gone in one day. WOW, does this jog an old man's memory!

You're my kind of man Charlie. I wish you could have kept all of your goodies.
And like you, I'm sure I put some noise on my neighbors TV's horizontal oscillators.

 

[dlgoff]

Completed and mounted photos to follow.

Here we go. The completed and mounted Western Electric Telephone:

Western Electric and Kellogg telephones together:

 

[davenn]

lookin' awesome

 

[dlgoff]

lookin' awesome

Thanks Dave.

 

[kiki_danc]

Hi, most isolated transformers being sold now use the shell type design due to more efficiency.. but I want to take hold of one using core design (at least 500VA) for collection (not to use it).. do you know where I can still buy core designed isolation transformer (I don't want to build it as I don't have the time to do it and not hobby to build things)?

 

[dlgoff]

... do you know where I can still buy core designed isolation transformer (I don't want to build it as I don't have the time to do it and not hobby to build things)?

I don't know but I'll keep an eye opened for you. If you do happen to find one, please post a picture.

 

[dlgoff]

Beauty of hardware doesn't just come from it's appearance but also it's functionality.

Here's a good example of this. I picked up these reference tubes from ebay.

Now I can trust my Hastings VT-5AB vacuum gauge numbers.

 

[kiki_danc]

I don't know but I'll keep an eye opened for you. If you do happen to find one, please post a picture.

I bought a 500VA Isolation Transformer for research and study (in my country, all transformers are autotransfomers being only 1/5 the cost of the IT) but found out it was shell type which is more efficient. But I want a core type for collection.

 

[jim hardy]

this guy has a warehouse of surplus electrical stuff ,
http://www.integratedresources.net/

as does this guy
https://denverbreaker.com/

there are plenty of other such places try google
just I've been in both of those treasure troves myself

experimenter's paradise, both of them

good luck

 

[Charlie Cheap]

Don, as you can see by my 65 Mustang I am an old car guy. One thing you may not know is, if you have old hard rubber items, say headphone covers, wipe them generously with lacquer thinner to soften them. It works great on old rubber car parts, like window seals that are no longer available. Afterwards, Armorall helps keep them soft. Phosphoric acid works great on old rusty metal...but don't drop an old Rare 40 Ford rearview mirror in it overnight...next morning glass is all that is left.

 

[Charlie Cheap]

Don, I forgot...Pot metal is not safe around phosphoric acid...which I learned the hard way.