[codefox1]

Loctals to octals. If you have a bad loctal tube, and can't find another one right away, here's a trick. If you hammer the loctal just right, you will still have the tube base. Now cut away all the superstructure until you just have the pins and file away any jagged edges. We are now ready to attach an octal socket to the loctal base. The Loctal pins on top will be hard to solder to, so file away the oxidation first. Solder short pieces of wires to all the pins you need, then solder them to the appropriate ones on the Octal socket. Now get one of your plastic prescription bottles that fits around the loctal base and octal socket and tape the whole thing together. I hope you have enough vertical height to make this fit inside the cabinet, but mostly it works. Took me about 45 minutes to make this one up. I didn't have a 14A7, but I did have a 12sk7, and I wanted to finish the repair. To my utter astonishment this works; alignment was not even off that far. I would have no concerns about subbing, say, a 50L6 for a 50A5, and so on. Now when I get a 14A7, I will merely remove the contraption and plug in the replacement. Kludge? yes. Works? yes.