Hi all,
I have a bunch of old tubes which have not been stored properly. I want
to clean them up before checking filaments and then offering them for
sale or trade to hams.
I expect this topic must have been covered here before, yet a quick
search on "tube cleaning" did not find any results that were helpful.
What I would like to know is: What is the best way to clean tubes,
without leaving any residue that would have negative effects on the
tube's ability to dissipate heat, and which would also not remove the
part number and brand name from the tubes? Perhaps the best way is to
cover the label to protect it while cleaning the rest. How about the
aluminum bases on tubes such as 813? What is the best way the clean
those without scratching them.
I would also like to know if there are any easy ways to check tube
efficacy, without having an amplifier that uses the tube type I want to
check. Of course I already know how to light up the filaments with the
correct voltage to see if the filaments are good, and I would do the
basic interelectrode short testing with a VOM or DMM. Is there some easy
way to determine whether a tube is likely to be good, short of operating
it in a amplifier? Some sort of cathode emission test? I presume that I
would need most of a whole amplifier circuitry and power supplies to do
a real transconductance test.
Thanks in advance for any useful suggestions,
Ken N6KB
_______________________________________________
Amps mailing list
Amps@contesting.com
http://lists.contesting.com/mailman/listinfo/amps
|