Yep, those pesky steppers. They stepped-along just fine, but the contacts were worn-down to copper, which oxidized. Also, they lost their "pinch" and to fix that would have required complete disassembly and carefully rebending, if that's even possible. These weren't anything like the stuff Western Electric used in their telephone switches.
The only thing I really miss from that DVM is the indescribable aroma of the conformal coating. On Thursday, September 5, 2024 at 2:59:36 PM UTC-7 Mac Doktor wrote: > > On Sep 5, 2024, at 5:55 PM, gregebert <[email protected]> wrote: > > But I quickly found out the relays were unreliable despite numerous > attempts to clean them, and the clock would lose time and various digits > would randomly not light. Not all of the problems were with the relays; the > lights were not solidly connected, either. > > > Do you mean the steppers? In pinball machines the contacts are supposed to > be cleaned with a special tool that didn't take the gold plating off. No > Deoxit in those days. > > > Terry Bowman, KA4HJH > "The Mac Doctor" > > https://www.astarcloseup.com > > "I’ve seen things you people wouldn’t believe. Attack ships on fire off > the shoulder of Orion. I watched c-beams glitter in the dark > near Tannhäuser Gate. > > "All those moments will be lost in time like tears in the rain."— Roy > Batty, *Blade Runner* > > -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "neonixie-l" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To view this discussion on the web, visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/neonixie-l/dcdf5349-f3f3-49ba-b5bd-a4a98be8b71en%40googlegroups.com.
