Greetings all!
Recently I scored two 'barn find' scopes which I'm a bit terrified to try powering up - the technology they use is entirely alien to me although I did once inherit a valve based scope which eventually exploded on me so I threw it out (something if I'm honest I regret doing).
Can anyone tell me what sort of pitfalls I should watch out for in attempting to service these old beasts? Can you tell if a Valve has gone bad by visual inspection? The larger of the two (I think it is a 'Cossor Instruments LTD Cossorscope Model 2000') had a date on a component of 1959 and the second unit which is a 'Telequipment Serviscope Type D33' has a date on a component of 1961, both of which are full of various valves and giant capacitors of strange design. I have not tried powering them on as I value my life but I did use an air brush and a soft bristled brush to give them a bit of a dusting off.
If Dave smelled them he'd definitely make a face.
I have taken a few pictures for you all to look at, of the two the Telequipment unit seems to be in better condition, I can see that the other one has what seems to be a leaky cap block... Maybe these devices would be better left alone and if that's the advice then I'll do just that as they were free and I have modern equipment for doing actual work but you know how it is when you get something for free.
Behold that retro design!
I suspect they both came from this department:
Inside the Telequipment #1
Inside the Telequipment #2
Inside the Cossorscope 2000 from the top - here we can see the leaky capacitor block thing:
Inside the Cossorscope 2000 #1
Inside the Cossorscope 2000 #2
As Dave would say, pretty crusty:
A vintage probe:
Thanks for any advice or taking the time to read!