Loading…
5
Finally fixed a stubborn old oscilloscope that's been on my bench for months
It's a Tektronix 465 that a friend gave me, and the vertical amp was totally dead. I spent a whole Saturday tracing the signal path with my multimeter and found a cracked solder joint on a tiny resistor. After I reflowed it, the trace came right back on the screen. It felt so good to bring a classic piece of gear back to life. What's the oldest piece of test equipment you've managed to save?
4 comments
Log in to join the discussion
Log In4 Comments
miles_burns7mo ago
Man, I know that exact feeling. Finding that one bad joint after hours of poking around is a total win. My old HP power supply had a similar ghost fault, just a single cold solder joint on a regulator. That moment when it finally springs to life makes all the head scratching worth it.
6
spencer7827mo ago
Totally get the satisfaction of that fix, especially on a 465. Those old scopes are full of character and finding a single point of failure feels like a real victory. Don't listen to anyone who tries to downplay it, bringing any piece of history back from the dead is a win. My own bench queen was a tube based signal generator that took me three weekends to figure out.
5
daniel1405mo ago
@spencer782 that tube gen story reminds me of finding a dead 1930s cat in my grandpa's barn radio.
4
robins837mo ago
Honestly, that just sounds like basic maintenance to me. A cracked joint is a simple fix, not some epic repair saga. Calling it "saving" a piece of gear feels like a stretch for just reflowing one solder point.
2