Philips EL-3400 VTR

[MIPS]

I uh....
Well I went down to the coast for other reasons but this followed me home.



It takes 1" tape, it uses a helical scan head and it weighs a TON. Serial 001689 and while all the youtube videos have someone speaking a pretty heavy European accent this machine is wired for 117v 60hz.
Unfortunately while it was cheap (less than $40) it's a REAL mess with signs of high humidity, liquified belts, random parts rolling about inside, a broken front bezel, missing knobs, missing back, power cable.....







....and while someone took the time to install the head in backwards to protect it the plating on the drum has serious corrosion problems and has bubbled up in places. I think it's a bit too far gone.

Frankly though I got it only because it was somewhat complete AND it's a hybrid. I've seen TV's radios and amps that were hybrid but I've never seen a VTR with tubes in it.

[Electronic M]

I don't blame you. I'd buy one like that for that price any day of the week.

Heck if you come to hate it I'd probably be willing to buy it off you.

[MIPS]

Yeah, the guy I bought it from wanted to keep it because it was totally something that must be worth a few pennies in good condition. That corrosion though.......
I gotta figure out a way to clean up that drum. The capstans are filthy but otherwise they all seem to be okay.
In the computer field the DECtape and LINCtape people if their head block was damaged beyond the point where a simple polish would save it they would put packing tape over it which was thin enough to permit reading and writing and smooth enough that it didn't cause friction issues. A split drum however is a little different, this one in particular with those wire guides.

I don't even have sams for it. I don't even know where the heck you would even find those.

[Electronic M]

I doubt Sam's put out anything on that unit (their VTR data seemed to start in the Betamax era). For service info I'd look for a big old Philips dealer that would have sold/serviced those when new and see if they have service lit, and maybe check with the company to see if they keep any older legacy documentation on file, and ask some vintage VTR collectors/techs.

That packing tape trick is interesting. Are those DEC/LINC tape machines Stationary head or rotating drum head machines (I don't collect vintage computer gear, so IDK)? Packing tape may work on the drum as long as it does not touch, block the spinning heads (don't cover the head slot), or gum up the heads.....I'd probably talk to an electroplater and a machinist about the heads, but then again disassembly may disturb mechanical alignments that are better left untouched. The wire guides are there for the thin edge of the tape to brush against and prevent the tape from riding on parts of the drum it's not supposed to so tape the parts of the drum that those posts don't block.

If it was mine and I got it working, I'd see if I could make it 100% tube....It would be cool to run a 100% empty-state video source and monitor rig, with the added benefit that if nuclear and or solar EMP's take out all PN junctions in the hemisphere you may be the only person left that can still watch actual video.

[MIPS]

What the heck does Philips even do these days besides make lamps, shavers and medical equipment?

DEC/LINC used stationary heads. They're uncovered and face upwards so in the wrong environment they and the tape guides would corrode.

If it was mine and I got it working, I'd see if I could make it 100% tube....It would be cool to run a 100% empty-state video source and monitor rig, with the added benefit that if nuclear and or solar EMP's take out all PN junctions in the hemisphere you may be the only person left that can still watch actual video.

I bet you good money something like that was on the market before even this came along.

[MIPS]

After some time searching and looking at other machines mentioned about online I'm starting to notice something:

-The videos all play content with european languages
-The names of the owners sound rather european
-Most if not all the photos floating about are of rather low quality
-Many of said photos go back to websites and forums that do not speak english
-Many of the english speaking sites speak of it as a 405 line system or operating at 220 volts which isn't native to North America.

While it's always possible this machine was imported a long time ago this machine IS wired for 117v 60hz and shows no signs of modification for this so it is probably a machine designed for North American markets. That being said I'm sure as hell not finding anyone else mentioning they have something similar.

The Rewind Museum apparently has a few copies of the service manual. I've yet to contact them about if they've since scanned any of them.
Anyways with all the photos online being absolute crap and I have to clean and better inspect my machine what the hell, lets photograph the crap outta this!

Front of machine (tagged because 15 image limit)
Front with top open and plastic panels removed (tagged because 15 image limit)
Back of machine. No back cover. (tagged because 15 image limit)







While I don't see signs this was powered on recently I do see that something's up with the rubber caps on some of the larger capacitors. There's also a wound resistor that looks suspiciously like a section was either overheated or damaged. Seems to read fine though.



The loose cable I had noticed before was actually the line for the tape counter. No belts here! It just pops back into a keyed rod and advances fine.




All the belts on this were gone. Where they were not fragments scattered about with a fungus or white material leeching out of it it had liquefied and got EVERYWHERE, then hardened up again. At some point someone had added a replacement belt but it was now equally as nasty and not useable. Not sure how to clean this mess up.



Like mentioned someone had taken care to flip the video head around before storing the unit. This probably saved it from any damage but for now I've removed it and put it in an old stylus container.


Here's a good idea of what's all over the machine. What seem to look like more modern carbon resistors, small axial lytics, metal can transistors with a red/yellow/blue color coding scheme, relatively large glass diodes and those yellow capacitors. They are not wax dipped. It's some other hard material that isn't plastic. Anyone seen this before?


(to be continued...)

[MIPS]

(continued form previous post)


There is a very strange electromechanical switching system on the back frame where the tubes reside. A motor with a series of cams push or pull metal rods which in turn change the positions of various switches.


The markings inside the machine.


A better look at the drum. Until I can figure out how to properly remove the drum I'm at a loss on how to rectify the corrosion issue. You don't wanna put a tape over that AS-IS.


The two missing plastic brackets for the front bezel and two random bolts that were flying around inside the machine.


The SOUND and MIC 1/4" jacks were missing their locknuts and fell inside the front. No idea if the PHONO RCA plug is original.





Some nice front and back shots of the electrical chassis. I'll work on making a tube identification chart as I pull them and test them.




I did do a random check of two or three tubes and they went well over the 100 mark on the Sencore. How much life did this see?? Anyways I've only come across one fatality so far and it's one of the two EM87's that are used on the front of the machine. I could understand the base cracking if someone had pushed the tube inwards hard enough but the split is perpendicular to the base should that of happened....


The components I removed while I was going at the machine with the air compressor and a brush. The plastics will need a careful wash and repair but stuff like the head and screws live in that bag. Never did find that one knob though.

[Electronic M]

Those large lytics look like they failed and vented...I'd change them or test for value and leakage at rated voltage before considering applying power...

Liquid belt syndrome...A scourge among 8-Track, RTR decks and things like this. 'Goof Off' does a good job of dissolving the rubber scum, but it also can dissolve plastic so if important plastic surfaces are covered use rubbing alcohol to dissolve the gunk (less effective, but plastic safe).

A 405 deck can probably handle 525 with perhaps a bit of modification. If this was sold in North America then it was probably built to NTSC specs....IIRC Phillips built a NTSC roundy with european parts for Canada...Perhaps this is another one of their rare Canadian offerings.

[MIPS]

Yeahhh, this is one of things I would totally only bring up with the Variac and the ammeter attached to anyways. I'll have to lookup the values and hope I can get some substitutes. I typically don't question caps that show physical signs of problems.

In the meantime I finished making a tube chart and testing them all. None of them had any issues testing very good.

[Captainclock]

Originally Posted by MIPS

Yeahhh, this is one of things I would totally only bring up with the Variac and the ammeter attached to anyways. I'll have to lookup the values and hope I can get some substitutes. I typically don't question caps that show physical signs of problems.

In the meantime I finished making a tube chart and testing them all. None of them had any issues testing very good.

I have a question for you, How on earth where you able to test a magic tuning eye tube on your Sencore Mighty Might VII Tube Tester? I'm asking because I have the exact same tube tester you have but in the tube setup guide book that came with mine it doesn't have any tuning eye tubes listed in the setup book. So do you care to share how you were able to test a magic tuning eye tube in your tube tester?

BTW: this question is referencing your earlier post where you showed all of the photos of this VTR unit taken apart and you had a picture of the two EM87 tuning eye tubes with the one good one on the tester.

[MIPS]

The luminous surface itself obviously doesn't get tested but the setup for the EM87 is listed on page 136.

A - 2, 6, 8
B - 6
C - G
D - 1
Socket - 3

I really don't trust the emissions or grid leak tests on this tube because its so simple but if the heater comes on it's a pretty good sign the tube is fine.

[Captainclock]

Originally Posted by MIPS

The luminous surface itself obviously doesn't get tested but the setup for the EM87 is listed on page 136.

A - 2, 6, 8
B - 6
C - G
D - 1
Socket - 3

I really don't trust the emissions or grid leak tests on this tube because its so simple but if the heater comes on it's a pretty good sign the tube is fine.

Interesting because I've had several tuning eye tubes that I really wanted to test but couldn't find the setup info for the tubes, like for instance I have an old Silvertone stereo that uses an EM84 tuning eye tube which its working fine currently but I was kind of curious as to how much life the tube had left in it, I also have an old Grundig Console Radio that uses the European equivalent to the 6E5/6U5 tube (which obviously the Sencore isn't going to be able to test 4,5 and 6 pin tubes because it doesn't have provisions for those sockets, although I'm guessing they had adaptors available for it that made it so you could test 4, 5 and 6 pin tubes using the octal socket I'm assuming.)
It certainly would be cool to see this old VTR up and running again but seeing how badly beaten up it is and how many parts and pieces are missing you may just have to use it as a display piece.

[Electronic M]

I was thinking that with the head removed the drum surface is just metal....I'd venture a guess that you might be able to sand the rough lumps down with progressively finer grits of sand paper and eventually polish it shiny with Brasso or some such. Maybe cut the paper into long, thin, strips the dimensions of the tape, thread the sand paper and let it evenly polish the tape playing surface of the drum smooth...the way hundreds of hours of tape play would.

[MIPS]

The easiest method I can think of is make a mounting jig for the drill press and first clean the drum using progressively finer pieces of emery paper as the drum spins in the drill followed by a polish. Alternately I could do the same if I had a lathe buuuut my workshop is only so large. It's going to depend on how the upper and lower halves of the drum dismantle and what precision points I find along the way. What I'm really hoping is I end up with two pieces and nothing hanging off it so I can polish it like I did with a copper cigar canister I made in highschool. (Remember when copper was cheap? I do because this baby could pay me through university if sold for scrap!)

Also, I'd attach the PDF of my checker's setup manual because apparently mine is updated with extra tubes but it's almost three times the size of what the forum will allow me to upload.

but seeing how badly beaten up it is and how many parts and pieces are missing you may just have to use it as a display piece.

So long as the drum can be salvaged there's high hopes it can be made useable again. Stuff like the back cover and knobs can be substituted. Belts and belt guides can be cleaned and replaced. Internally aside from age related damage the guts are in fantastic condition.

[jr_tech]

Scratching my head here... how do you thread the machine? It obviously requires a full alpha wrap, since it only has one head, but must one painstaking thread the tape under those headcover support posts, or do they somehow get moved out of the way for threading?

jr