Recent TDS 724D acquisition

[Preda-Fran]

Good afternoon EEVBlog,
Hopefully, you guys are having a good weekend. I have acquired a Tektronix TDS 724D as my first oscilloscope, I have access to the ones at my college for when I do work over there but I want to have something for my home projects. Now with a unit this old, I know there are a bunch of problems to be had, but I wanted to hear from people who have more experience and knowledge on how to approach such a project, both as a learning opportunity on how to upkeep and restore test equipment properly in general, and to learn more about what would be the best course of action. I have done a lot of restoration work on simpler test equipment and old audio equipment, but nothing that required this level of precision or had this many ICs

• I have read that the NVRAM could be having an issue anytime soon, and I do have access to a substantial amount of calibration gear, but not enough gear or knowledge on how to properly calibrate it.
• The screen is a little dim and a little blurry, but it still works, so, for now, it is not a worry, but I know I will be replacing this with an LCD at some point once I take some more classes on VHDL and FPGA.
• I have read that some of the units seem to have issues with capacitors, but it was not clear to me if it is something that is a year basis or model basis or a capacitor manufacturer basis. I am not opposed to changing capacitors since I can do SMD repair, and I am considering replacing any electrolytic at least since they are past their prime, but I am unsure what other ramifications regarding the calibrations of the machine
• I will be doing some of the software unlocking for the unit(Already have options 13, 1F, 2F, 1R), but I don’t have access to a GPIB Interface yet, I was wondering if the floppy drive should be kept or if it’s worth trying to convert it to a floppy drive emulator unit so I can use USB drives for it.
• The 1GHz modification seems very worthwhile to do so I will be tackling that sometimes soon. I am just unsure if my equipment for the voltage signals that need to be generated is up to par for the task.
• Finally, is the hard drive in the unit prone to failure at this age, is there a replacement unit I should consider, or a more modern equivalent I can toss in for peace of mind

The unit has the VGA, RS-232, Centronics and GPIB ports in the back.

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Tektronix TDS274D Oscilloscope
HP 54645d Oscilloscope
Tektronix 455 Oscilloscope
3x Hameg HM8012 Digital Multimeter
Hameg HM8030-6 Function Generator
Hameg HM8040-3 Triple Power Supply Unit
Hameg HM8018 LCR-Meter
Leader LTC-906 Transistor Tester
Instek PSP-Series Programmable Switching Power Supply
Rigol DSA815-TG Spectrum Analyzer
Rigol DSG815 Signal generator
Kikusui AVM15 AC Voltmeter
National Panasonic VP-7750A Wow Flutter Meter
Hakko FX-888D Digital Soldering Station
Hakko FR-301 Desoldering Tool
Hakko FR-810B SMD Hot Air Rework Station
Tektronix AFG 5501 Programmable Arbitrary/Function Generator



I have looked at some videos(the ones David and NFM made), read some of the threads here, and looked around the forums using the search functions, but since it is my first time with such an undertaking I was interested to hear any information or tips or anything that you guys don’t mind sharing. I do plan to keep this scope for a long time since it seems very capable, and I want to start acquiring more equipment for a home lab so if you guys think that there's a piece of equipment that might be worth finding to both help with fixing the unit and for future ones, I would be very thankful to know
It is all very appreciated

• The 1GHz modification seems very worthwhile to do so I will be tackling that sometimes soon. I am just unsure if my equipment for the voltage signals that need to be generated is up to par for the task.
• Finally, is the hard drive in the unit prone to failure at this age, is there a replacement unit I should consider, or a more modern equivalent I can toss in for peace of mind

I have looked at some videos(the ones David and NFM made), read some of the threads here, and looked around the forums using the search functions, but since it is my first time with such an undertaking I was interested to hear any information or tips or anything that you guys don’t mind sharing. I do plan to start acquiring more equipment for a home lab so if you guys think that there is a piece of equipment that might be worth finding to both help with fixing the unit and for future ones, I would be very thankful to know
It is all very appreciated