Onto the 3rd volume of the assembly manuals, the Main Chassis.
The first couple bench sessions involved in the chassis construction were strictly mechanical work. LOTS of parts to be installed onto the vertical metal chassis pan. Terminal strips, power transistor sockets, filter caps, various transformers, module connectors, pots, switches, shields, and 3 factory wired sub-assemblies for IF, AFT, and High Voltage. The nut starter and 1/4" nutdriver got a real workout!
The chassis takes up a fair amount of space on the bench, and needs to be repositioned as assembly progresses to different areas. The heavy power transformer is one of the first parts that get installed, and it allows the chassis to be stood up in a vertical position when needed.
Assembly was pretty uneventful until it came to the HV assembly. Despite coming to me still in it's sealed box, it needed a little bit of rework to repair a broken terminal strip, a wire that never received any solder at the factory, replacement of a large electrolytic cap, and cleaning the leached sticky plasticizer from the 2nd anode cap (which I may end up replacing entirely at final assembly). The workmanship on the factory wired parts of this set was not very good at all, with a few spots of burned or melted insulation, somewhat haphazard lead dress, and a few random solder splashes which were found and removed. Probably equivalent to most assembly line wiring jobs of the day, I guess.
The 3CU3 HV rectifier tube (Sylvania branded, FWIW) was rattling around loose inside the cage, free from the socket but still firmly connected to the flyback lead. Luckily it was unbroken, as were the flyback and other parts inside the cage. The tube was tested and reinstalled. Finally the reworked HV unit was bolted into place, completing chassis mechanical assembly.
I did make a minor upgrade to the set, using modern "Sil-Pad" rubber type thermal pads on all the power transistors rather than the plain mica washers and clear silicone grease that Heath provided. I replaced the thermal pads on the sweep SCRs of the HV assembly, as well. The 2 multisection twist lock caps were thoroughly reformed on a power supply and tested before installation. All the other smaller electrolytics were replaced as a precaution.
Next up--chassis wiring begins!