Welcome Guest! Be sure you know and follow the Phorum Rules before posting. Thank you and Enjoy! (January 12, 2025) x

Thread Closed

restoring 1934 mod 663 Weston volt-ohmmeter
#1

Hello Philco Pfriends! Been busy round here lately with daily-life schedules. A couple weeks ago, I started transporting many vintage tube amps, broadcast gear, hifi stuff into my shop from a shed-find. In the mix was several pcs vintage test gear.
I am saving a orphan (circa 1933-34)highly- neglected Weston stepchild VOM. Not much info on the net about this vintage item at all, once considered a high-$ pc of vintage-test gear from the depression days. Once I ascertained the vintage meter-movement was still good, I decided to try restoring it just to try to bring it back to new life.
This item had many old orig "open" previously-fried small resistance-coils ( small ( stacked-type & centertapped together)spools of wire coated with beeswax), luckily I found ink-stamped print on the ends of the small metal round-coils orig-ohms readings after carefully removing the orig wax to use modern carbon resistor replacement parts that Weston didnt have back in 1933-34. Ive replaced all the orig coils with "closest select proper ohms matches" with precision & lots of hours of matching the orig wire resistance-coil spools (vs) new carbon 1/2 watt types resistors ( hand-matched,tested proper ohms) and all new "point-to-point" rewiring inside the unit. I have the 1934 Weston Mod 663 working again somewhat after building a new replacement battery-pack! I removed the orig batterys last installed(dated) in 7-1953, 3- 4.5v , & (1) 1.5 v Burgess D cell. Amazingly!!, those orig batteries ( last installed in 1953) never leaked, and all the battery cases still look new good as new! Ive placed the orig batteries in my "vintage-battery" collection. They look cool!!
The "ohms" readings are again ( after electronic parts resto)very precise upon initial tests with new resistors testing! Seeing that 1934 Weston meter jump-to-life again was worth all the hours Ive spent so-far indeed! However, the orig 7- position selector switch which is complex in design is intermittent at best! I sprayed it with dexoit, & cleaned it throughly, with not much improvement without completely dis-manteling the orig 7- position switch unit (yet), which will be another massive-chore!
Does anyone here know a good source for a modern-type ( low profile assembly) 7-pole rotary switch with 1/4" shaft? I can retro-fit if one still exists.
Since this vintage test-item was originally designed for DC resistance & ohms only applications, I figure the orig-coils were fried by someone previously trying AC tests with the unit. This nice little vintage pc of 1933/34 Weston "bakelite" test equip, is trying its best to "cough back to life" for me!! If you wish, you can see the only info I found on the www on this vintage item at:

http://www.stevenjohnson.com/weston/weston1934.htm


One thing I can say for vintage Weston test equip "meters",is they are "survivors" indeed!!
Any help on finding a replacement 7-position switch would be highly appreciated! This IS, a nice pc of vintage Radio repair-shop test gear indeed, in its orig 1933-34 bakelite cabinet!
Even the old orig wirewound "zero-meter" adjustment pot is still good in this vintage VOM.
This project has been much fun for me, & I hope I can get the orig switch working, or be able to replace it if necessary to get the milliamp meter section & DC current ( select from 2.5v- 1000v dc only) sections working again.
If so, another nice vintage pc of yesterdays 1933/34 era Radio repair "benchtest gear" saved! I figure 7-section, low-height mounting profile types, rotary switches may be hard to find these days? Icon_wink


Messages In This Thread
restoring 1934 mod 663 Weston volt-ohmmeter - by Texasrocker - 04-25-2009, 01:18 AM



Users browsing this thread: 1 Guest(s)
[-]
Recent Posts
under chassis parts locator diagram for 1938 Zenith 9s262
Has anyone gone to the trouble of creating an under chassis parts locator image?  Yes, I can identify components by foll...bobloney — 08:57 PM
Plug Voltages Needed For A 1943 CRV-20130 Power Supply
Try looking at this site the book mark is for a old generator that I was given. David    https://radionerds.com/index.ph...David — 08:36 PM
Plug Voltages Needed For A 1943 CRV-20130 Power Supply
Hello Everyone, I am looking for voltage identification for all the pin positions on the socket of a CRV-20130 power su...Tonym4704 — 08:16 PM
Philco P45-6365 Universal Transformer Instruction Manual
Can anyone guide me to where this may be found?GRG — 03:00 PM
54C Complete Teardown/Rebuild
I don't think that I have encountered a 12Z3 before, curious how it uses one of those but includes a #43, which is a 25 ...Arran — 02:17 PM
HiFi (Chifi) tube amp build - but my own design.
It's the other forum. I'm also in DIY, but mostly read there. Honestly, I kinda jumped into this without much thought to...TV MAN — 10:43 AM
Philco 71 Code 125
Hello,  I am in need of a schematic for this radio. Mine has the three separate circular tube shields and a shadow me...dconant — 08:06 AM
Stromberg Carlson 1500 Squeal
And life just keeps getting more complicated.dconant — 07:57 AM
54C Complete Teardown/Rebuild
Hello Roy, here is this one sincerely Richardradiorich — 12:45 AM
54C Complete Teardown/Rebuild
Richard, Had grabbed it already but thank you just the same.  I find myself wanting to find some way to block out the...glyphmon — 12:03 AM

[-]
Who's Online
There are currently no members online.

>