Donald Chester wrote:
<snip>
It would be a shame to ruin a vintage unit like that. Those things
are classics. Another problem, some of them are potted with tar. You
would have to heat the whole transformer to melt the tar in order to
disengage the side panel to get at the receptacles. That would be
messy, as best, and at worse, you could damage or ruin the transformer
in the process.
I'd stay away from doing anything to modify the original transformer.
Don K4KYV
Don and group: I agree completely. This transformer itself could be a
work of art just in the design, paint, and attention given to details
like the cap nuts. The insulators are a deep brown porcelain with a
wonderful shine, like new. I've had this unit for about a decade, having
purchased it at a hamfest for $10 from a university that was cleaning
house. My biggest concern was using it somewhere in a rig where I'd
never see it! It looks that good.
It didn't come with pins though, and since all the iron I've come into
contact with either had studs or wires, I'm just at a loss for what
these pins look like. But you can rest assured, I'm not about to do
anything to modify this unit to simplify its use. I have enough stuff
around here to muck with as it is. I wouldn't mind using stiff wire
temporarily, but I'd prefer to use the correct hardware if possible.
Out in my garage there is also a HUGE power supply purchased from a
friend mainly to obtain the large UTC (I think) HV transformer in it.
It's close to 3 feet long and a foot high inside of a footlocker-sized
rolling cabinet with a clear plexiglass end, and took 3 of us to roll it
up into a pickup. It's not as 'finished' looking as the Thordarson mod
iron, but it's not bad looking. Someday , given enough time and enough
floor space, they'd be the makings of a great HB rig. Not sure how to
put a viewing window in that far down the cabinet, though.
~ Todd KA1KAQ
