11-01-2014, 11:30 PM
I haven't worked on an RCA-Victor 140 as yet, but I can tell you one thing for sure since I have worked on some G.E sets that were very similar like the J-82 and S-42A, the quality of the parts was much better, you have to really try to wreck a tube socket in one of those. Those are much along the lines of that Rogers Ten-60 I have, only the service info is much more detailed in the RCA or G.E folders, and the hand wired circuit boards actually have tie points attached to the board rather then relying on resistors with spade terminals to use as tie points. The main thing with any of those 1931-33 RCA and G.E sets is that you need to plan ahead, you have to document everything that is not in the service folder, remove everything in the way to get access to the underside of the chassis, and then start rebuilding everything in layers. The Electrohome chassis isn't anywhere near as deep as a Victor 140, but unlike a 140 everything is either soldered to the chassis or riveted in place, so it is not easily removed.
If it were not for that one tube socket I would be 90% finished by now, and it is not because I am too rough with it either, it's just poorly designed, much like the A.K coil cans that you and Mike are having to deal with. I just can't get over how a company that normally made sets that were so cleanly laid out produced such a crap pile as these. Most Electrohomes are like RCA sets from the same era, they used large spacious chassis where you can get at everything, they still had the crappy sockets but at least you could get enough access to the tie points to avoid bending them and snapping them off.
It's sort of hard to explain why the tube sockets are poorly designed, but they used wafer sockets which are so so anyhow, but the real issue is in the design of the terminals. The tie points or terminals are lets say 1/4'' wide, but for some reason the manufacturer cut a 1/16'' notch in either side near the base of each terminal. So 1/4'' of brass, minus 1/16''+1/16'' leaves you with basically a terminal that is only 1/8'' across at it's weakest point, but to make it more fun the cuts created a weak spot so if you even look at the terminal the wrong way it will snap off, whomever designed these things clearly did not understand the concept of metal fatigue.
Regards
Arran
If it were not for that one tube socket I would be 90% finished by now, and it is not because I am too rough with it either, it's just poorly designed, much like the A.K coil cans that you and Mike are having to deal with. I just can't get over how a company that normally made sets that were so cleanly laid out produced such a crap pile as these. Most Electrohomes are like RCA sets from the same era, they used large spacious chassis where you can get at everything, they still had the crappy sockets but at least you could get enough access to the tie points to avoid bending them and snapping them off.
It's sort of hard to explain why the tube sockets are poorly designed, but they used wafer sockets which are so so anyhow, but the real issue is in the design of the terminals. The tie points or terminals are lets say 1/4'' wide, but for some reason the manufacturer cut a 1/16'' notch in either side near the base of each terminal. So 1/4'' of brass, minus 1/16''+1/16'' leaves you with basically a terminal that is only 1/8'' across at it's weakest point, but to make it more fun the cuts created a weak spot so if you even look at the terminal the wrong way it will snap off, whomever designed these things clearly did not understand the concept of metal fatigue.
Regards
Arran
