Author Topic: Anyone out there kind enough to help me repair my new Type 547 Tektronix scoop?  (Read 3398 times)

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Offline The GuyTopic starter

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Looking for someone who understands this scope willing to help me out with the repair. There is a lot of stuff wrong with the scope i believe.

I just bought it for a few bucks and I want to fully restore it.

Thanks in advance.

Guy
 

Offline Old Don

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Might help to know what country/state/province/county/zone/district you live in.
Retired - Formerly: Navy ET, University of Buffalo Electronic Tech, Field Engineer and former laptop repair business owner
 

Online tautech

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Yep, MartinM from the link I provided to his thread.
PM him.  ;)
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Offline The GuyTopic starter

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Might help to know what country/state/province/county/zone/district you live in.

Hi, I'm not living i  the usa... . I want to repair it myself so I can learn a thing or two ;) I just need some guidance from someone who knows the scope.
« Last Edit: August 31, 2017, 12:56:23 am by The Guy »
 

Offline The GuyTopic starter

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Yep, MartinM from the link I provided to his thread.
PM him.  ;)

Thanks, I already contacted Martin through his website Wellenkino.de the other day, but he told me that he was in a fair show in Hannover and he hasn't contacted me back yet.
 

Online tautech

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Yep, MartinM from the link I provided to his thread.
PM him.  ;)

Thanks, I already contacted Martin through his website Wellenkino.de the other day, but he told me that he was in a fair show in Hannover and he hasn't contacted me back yet.
Great, then send him a link to this thread and sit back and be patient.  :)

While you wait you might like to give it a good clean, there's plenty of pics of Martin's methods in his thread.
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Offline The GuyTopic starter

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Yep, MartinM from the link I provided to his thread.
PM him.  ;)

Thanks, I already contacted Martin through his website Wellenkino.de the other day, but he told me that he was in a fair show in Hannover and he hasn't contacted me back yet.
Great, then send him a link to this thread and sit back and be patient.  :)

While you wait you might like to give it a good clean, there's plenty of pics of Martin's methods in his thread.

Thank you... I actually joined the yahoo tekscope group and they've helped me a little... In fact I already found some faulty components, but I'm pretty much stuck... since I have no idea where and what replacement parts I need to get. These things are so old! lol

I am waiting for some hot wather to clean the circuits... it is raining right now! I am really stuck here Lol
« Last Edit: August 29, 2017, 02:01:58 am by The Guy »
 

Offline Alex Eisenhut

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But what exactly is not working? It's a complex beast...
Hoarder of 8-bit Commodore relics and 1960s Tektronix 500-series stuff. Unconventional interior decorator.
 

Offline Armadillo

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I must say the service manual is amongst the best described I have seen.
The scope is a mixture of semiconductor device and valves technology. Opps! Sorry, I have got to raise my hands up in surrender.
Can I say is a paid headache, buy someone else trouble so to speak.
I mean there are a lot of cheap better scopes around and I don't think you can go anywhere with this one.
Let it go, man, lost a few dollars but don't lose your time on it, we call it cut loses.
No offense, just my opinion when I see my grandfather technology in pain.
BTW, put the country of yours up and I am sure your country men will be eager to help out.   ;D
 

Offline The GuyTopic starter

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I friggin' fixed it!!!! I am smarter than Einstein!! Lol!! :-DD

Check this out baby:

https://youtu.be/KMRNyncKq6Q

ain't it beautiful? ....IT.IS.AWESOME! Pure tube goodness.

Uhhhhh yeahhhhh.... :clap: :box: bliss bliss bliss

NOTE: the guys at the tekscopes group helped me out with the troubleshooting method. That's how i did find the faulty component.
« Last Edit: August 29, 2017, 04:19:06 am by The Guy »
 

Offline Alex Eisenhut

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Excellent. Let it run for 30 minutes, one hour. If the trace starts to lose focus and "grow", you've got problems.

Let's check how it behaves first.
Hoarder of 8-bit Commodore relics and 1960s Tektronix 500-series stuff. Unconventional interior decorator.
 
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Offline Armadillo

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 :-+
Grandfather technology actually works!, my God!

 :-+
 
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Offline The GuyTopic starter

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But what exactly is not working? It's a complex beast...

Horizontal amplifier's transistors Q554 and Q564 were out of whack. It is a transitory fixin' probably tho. The transistors didn't pair well, they were out of balance... so what I did was to look the schematics until I found another 2N2207 transistor somewhere in the circuit (actually the transistor Q424 in schematics page #7), took it out, took the Q554 and Q564 also out, grabbed my DMM, tested them, and voilĂ ... two perfectly matched transistor back in Q554/Q564 positions and the scoopie doopie worked.

I reckon it needs a whole calibration... this thing hasn't seen the light (or current), like in 30 years i believe.

But it works!!

Now...I must say... this thing has the sharpest trace I have ever seen. Amazing.
« Last Edit: August 29, 2017, 03:29:39 pm by The Guy »
 

Offline The GuyTopic starter

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Excellent. Let it run for 30 minutes, one hour. If the trace starts to lose focus and "grow", you've got problems.

Let's check how it behaves first.

It doesn't lose focus/grow, it dims... so I think this one has the classic high voltage CRT trannie issue. Gotta fix that one now.
 

Offline The GuyTopic starter

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:-+
Grandfather technology actually works!, my God!

 :-+

Right? I wanted to have this scope since I like to build guitar tube amps. I am a tube nut. So I wanted an awesome tube scope ;)
I hate chips, I love tubes.
« Last Edit: August 29, 2017, 03:52:35 am by The Guy »
 

Offline Alex Eisenhut

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It dims after a few minutes because the circuits are still reaching temperature. Adjust intensity...

The HV transformer issue is really when you lose focus and the whole trace blooms. BOY am I glad I got that fixed!

Welcome to the very restricted club of working 547 users!
Hoarder of 8-bit Commodore relics and 1960s Tektronix 500-series stuff. Unconventional interior decorator.
 
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Online tautech

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Cool, hope you can keep the ol' girl going.

Martin should give you good advice and have some knowledge on things to watch out for.
Forget calibration for now as some parts of the circuit will be high impedance so a good clean will reduce leakage paths and get her closer to spec.
 
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Offline The GuyTopic starter

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It dims after a few minutes because the circuits are still reaching temperature. Adjust intensity...

The HV transformer issue is really when you lose focus and the whole trace blooms. BOY am I glad I got that fixed!

Welcome to the very restricted club of working 547 users!

Glad to join the club. I've heard only good things about this model.

So, do you have a 547?!? Awesome! How do you like it?

This one starts dimming like after 5 minutes until it looses all the intensity with the intensity knob topped clockwise. To get the scope back to shine i need to turn it off for a few minutes.

« Last Edit: August 29, 2017, 04:17:30 am by The Guy »
 

Offline The GuyTopic starter

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Cool, hope you can keep the ol' girl going.

Martin should give you good advice and have some knowledge on things to watch out for.
Forget calibration for now as some parts of the circuit will be high impedance so a good clean will reduce leakage paths and get her closer to spec.

Thanks man... waiting for Martin to appear. Finding Martin is a tougher one than finding Wally lol.

Yep, gotta wash this babe out first. Then see how the saga continues.
 

Offline The GuyTopic starter

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It dims after a few minutes because the circuits are still reaching temperature. Adjust intensity...

The HV transformer issue is really when you lose focus and the whole trace blooms. BOY am I glad I got that fixed!

Welcome to the very restricted club of working 547 users!

Btw. How did you fix the HV transformer issue?

Cheers.
 


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