Restoring an Old EICO DC Wide Band Vacuum Tube Oscilloscope

[cekiert]

I just picked up a old tektronix oscilloscope, it was from nasa as surplus, come to find out its missing 8 vacuum tubes. its funny cause Ive heard about vaccum tube but never got the chance to work with them cause I'm just 25.. I wish you luck on finding any tubes..

[BigDaddyDarth]

I really hope you can get that up and going! I can't wait to see it all cleaned up....they really dont make things like they used to.  :(

[thomas3120]

@BigDaddyDarth Yeah they definitely made stuff better back then, even if it's usually heavier lol ;)

So far it's going really good. Been trying to find someone who can test the vacum tubes. Not many people deal with them anymore hehe

[Padoca85]

cool, cant wait to see it restored ^^

[thomas3120]

@Padoca85 Thanks Padoca :) hopefully it will work 100% and look ok when I'm done :D

[RetroGamerVX]

Looks like it's straight out of a 50s sci fi movie :o)

Hope that bugger works :o)

[thomas3120]

@RetroGamerVX hehe :) something Dr. Frankenstein had in his lab along with a Jacob's ladder

[RetroGamerVX]

@thomas3120 Oooh, I so want one now lolo, muhahahahahhahaha ;o)

[Baruracrash]

That's pretty sweet! Hardcore for you to just touch that wax, who knows what was in it? Stuff back then might have been found to be safe in the meantime! Oscilloscopes rock though. Hopefully you'll get it running again and can use it to diagnose stuff!

[thomas3120]

@Baruracrash Thanks :) I think it's plain wax, may even be beeswax.

Yeah hopefully it all works out.

[nathanallan1]

Great haul for you! Dude, definitely replace those caps. Modern quiv. is a lot smaller and easier to work with.

Also, can I contribute? Do you need a power cord? I can send one if you like.

[thomas3120]

@nathanallan1 Aww man, thanks for the offer :) I had a new replacement power cord that was for some of my power tools that I think will work great.

I did have a question on the cap replacement. Never dealt much with the paper film type caps. What would be the best modern equiv. for those? (I think they are non-polar from what I've read..? they have a black band on one end where there's a metal foil for shielding). There are also some blue paper type caps that have a '+' sign on one end...

[thomas3120]

@nathanallan1 (con't)... that I could probably use new electrolytic caps there.

Been reading a bit, and seems like the Plastic/Polyester film caps are good modern equiv. for the non-polar paper caps.

[nathanallan1]

@thomas3120 In something like this it's either/or, just want to match up the numbers to make sure your readings come out correctly whenever you test something.

Glad you have a power cord for it. I was ready to use a fancy envelope and everything LOL

[ArcadeMameMachine]

interesting piece of equipment.

[thomas3120]

@ArcadeMameMachine Thanks :)

[atarileaf]

Very interesting piece of history you have there Thomas. The real question is can you mod it to work on a 2600 ;)

[thomas3120]

@atarileaf Thanks J :) If I get it working, it will def. help me out on a 2600 if there's a problem.

[allthingsawesome2]

cool

[thomas3120]

@allthingsawesome2 Oldschool style coolness :)

[TheBladeJunker]

Well its a blast from the past that is for sure. :) I think you can salvage it, all that metal is easy to fix as it is high quality. Man, circuit components were big in the 50s. I won't lie you're bound to get a few less views but I like it and sometimes you got to do things that you want to do. :D

[thomas3120]

@TheBladeJunker Thanks Blade :) Seems to be going good. Not worried about views ;) Even if it helps maybe only 1 person out, I would be happy :D

[MaxinMaytrix]

Nice man! I have an OLD Signal generator that runs on tubes. I've only usted 80's model Oscilloscope gatta LOVE the all metal equipment!

[thomas3120]

@MaxinMaytrix Nice man! back then they made some good (quality) stuff :)

[jboypacman]

This is going to be a amazing project for you Thomas am looking forward to seeing more on this.

[thomas3120]

@jboypacman Thanks Jboy! been wanting one for a while and was given this one. He said he didn't use it much/low hours on the crt...so I hope it works out :)

[Bylga]

Thats amazing.

[thomas3120]

@Bylga Hopefully I can get it working again :)

[TheDamoMonster]

OMG, so awesome man!! I really want an oscilloscope man, and one like this has SO much style and character! Really wicked dude :)

[thomas3120]

@TheDamoMonster Hey Damo, Check out Saelig(dot)com product PDS5022.

Seems to be a good Oscilloscope for a decent price. You can see a review by the Ytber 'Afrotechmods'

I was initially going to get that one.

[WorthyouruniverseHD]

And then, the Claptrap was born

[thomas3120]

@WorthyouruniverseHD Claptran? lol :) ...don't know what that is....does it have to do with rubbing nipples? ;)

[WorthyouruniverseHD]

@thomas3120 hehe, look up the name along with Borderlands on google :P

[narox]

Wow man if you can restore that relic, it's going to be an interesting project.

[thomas3120]

@narox Hey Narox, good to hear from you :) hopefully it will work out...