HV socket woes
 

I may be wasting my breath with this post but I'm trying one more time on the Admiral HV cup/socket. I did as suggested by 1 VK member to take it out and thoroughly scrub and rinse it. There was an oily fim in between the chassis and the cup however after cleaning and rinsing it I saw the problem. There is cracking on the inner perimeter corresponding with the chassis hole/lip it sits in.:tears:You can see it in my first photo.I may be wasting my efforts to reinstall it with that cracking in there.As I said in previous posts I can't see it visually but there is a constant ticking inside of this cup when the set is running.

I guess as a last resort I could put a layer of silicone on the inside of the cup but I'm hoping one of you would give up a part from your parts stash to help a fellow VK member or know where to get one.:scratch2:

I believe it is bakelite with a separate black octal socket glued in. It's 1 and 3/4 in diameter and 2 and 9/16 from screwhole to screwhole and the same from front to back.

Is that crack through the cup? Is this what you could still call structurally sound? I would take a dremmel tool and knock that crack down a bit with a router tip and fill in that area..You may think I'm silly but that could possibly be repaired with some two part epoxy or any material for bakelite/plastic. I'd try to salvage what you got there as it looks pretty good otherwise.

Those pins are also removable...I'd take 'em out and inspect them. If any are marginal you could swap them with any that were unused.

See thse triangular tabs on the pins? Just push that part inward with some needle nose pliars and the pin will push out towards the tube side.

I don't think anything's wrong with the pins. They look to be in excellent shape and no corrosion. Epoxy might be a good idea on those cracks.I guess I've got nothing to lose at this point. Just don't want to make it worse in case I can't find another one since noone seems to have one so far.:worried: For some reason it mitigates the ticking sound quite a bit when I stick one of the later short base tubes(a 1G3) in than a 1B3 with the standard base.Must be because the start of the glass of the tube is sitting farther away from those cracks and closer to the socket (sitting lower) so it's got to be breaking down in the crack area. They do not appear to go all the way through. Only other thing I see is the bakelite is shiny everywhere else except the area where the lip of the hole in the chassis contacts it.

I don't think it is coming from any other area like the flyback.Some of the hard plastic tire had cracked and fallen away and I rebuilt those areas with black rtv a while back.If I run it with no rectifier I don't hear ticking just the normal corona off into the air off of the cap.I guess the only way to prove it 100% would be to put an open filament rectifier in or disable the rectifier to prove 100% it was coming from the rectified hv but seeing the cracks and hearing the slight echo like it's inside the cup and the rectifier swap I did pretty much says its those cracks in the cup.

Just an idea, but have you considered using a ss stick rectifier temporarily? That'd bypass the tube, socket, and cup until you can find a proper cup.
Bill(oc)

I was going through a box of old spare parts and I found a spare uncracked socket which might be what you are looking for. :yes:

What are the dimensions of your socket?

Is there a Solid State rectifier that would work? Tell me more. That might be useful to know for some future project.

Carl

You could probably harvest one from a junked B&W set of 1970s vintage onwards.
oc

It's 1 and 3/4 in diameter and 2 and 9/16 from screwhole to screwhole and the same from front to back.It takes an octal tube such as the 1B3.

The socket itself is a separate piece from the actual cup but it was glued in place during manufacture.

Thanks!!

Perhaps you could use a bit of Teflon tape. The kind plumbers use. Teflon is a good insulator. Rap that bad boy up!
Just a thought.
Terry

I will compare the measurement tonight and let you know.

I measured my socket. It is a bit bigger: 3 3/8" screw hole to screw hole and 2 5/8" diameter. It has an octal socket and a corona ring holds the socket in place with solder (as originally manufactured).

:saywhat:Would this fit?

It would only work if it it didn't have to go through that hole in the chassis.In other words if it was made like my zenith color HV cup.It has a flat bottom and everything comes out of 1 side.I could rewire the HV wires for something like that.

If you don't decide to change the socket, I've used silicone to insulate arc-overs and it works well. You need to dig the crack out a bit in case there's any carbonization in there (could be invisible?).