The PHILCO Phorum

OK, feel free to tell me how many ways this is bad...

I broke a solder lug (pin 2 / cathode) of a 50B5 while recapping a Dewald E-520 I picked up at Kutztown. I know that's bad ! I have to be more careful with the rest, the sockets look kind of chintzy. I don't have a replacement socket with the right rivet hole spacing to replace it. So if "fixed" it.

I slightly enlarged the slot the lug comes through on the bottom phenolic wafer. I then attached everything (1 cap, 1 wire, 1 resistor) to the lug. Finally I soldered the lug to the bit of metal going to the socket between the phenolic wafers. I let the solder run in through the enlarged slot. I figure solder is pretty viscous and won't stray very far. I'm not so sure about the flux. Yes I know if someone ever tries to solder to that pin they'll get a surprise.

It works and nothing bad has happened yet...

Thanks
Greg

Who ever said anything about bad? If it works, it works.

I have had mixed results trying to repair broken wafer sockets, Canadian Electrohome sets, better results in a 1941 Deforest Crosley, it really depends on how the terminals are constructed. There are two ways you can get a replacement socket, one is to pick up a parts chassis and drill the rivets out, preferably one with molded Bakelite sockets of the right spacing, the other way is to acquire some Russian, Bulgarian, or China made sockets via fleabay, and decipher the metric measurements into Imperial ones, and hope you got it right. Forget about U.S made sockets over fleabay, with few exceptions most sellers seem to think they are made of gold or silver rather then Bakelite, a Ham fest might be another alternative though. NOS wafer sockets are still cheap, but you have to know what your are buying, and as a rule you might as well get a new China or Russian/Soviet surplus Bakelite socket for the same price, which tend to be copies of Eby, Cinch, or Amphenol made sockets anyhow, with the exception of one peculiar design which may have been a Soviet original.
Regards
Arran

Another way might be possible. Is there an unused terminal on the socket? If you are willing to do the "surgery", it might be possible to dismantle the socket, and switch the terminals around.

Just a thought - it may not be possible. For a 50B5, pins 2 and 7 are internally connected, so in theory one of these might be used, if reconfiguration of the wiring allowed.

Ed

yeah,, there has to be a particular tube with a pin that is available. even those pins that are used to gather grounds cold be re-purposed. just bring all the terminations straight to the socket ground lug instead of using a tube socket pin.

Or you could rewire it for a 50C5, cathode is on pin 1 and the control grid is on 2 and 5.

(10-18-2018, 09:06 PM)Greg Wrote: [ -> ]I let the solder run in through the enlarged slot.

Sorry but I would not trust that "repair" any further than I could throw my F-150.

Excess solder inside a tube socket is a big no-no and you're just asking for a short or a carbon track.

My opinion. You don't have to agree with me. You have every right to be wrong if you want to be. (Rev. Lowell Mason, RIP)