date:20200527

Re: [neonixie-l] 1961 Heathkit Catalog

2020-05-27 Thread alb.001 alb.001

  There is an auction from the province of British Columbia Canada of some old physics lab equipment which includes a Dana 3800A nixie multi-meter.  They don't ship so you would need to live nearby or have friend who can get it for you.
  Regards  Pharma Phil

   -- Original Message --
   From: "alb.001 alb.001" 
   Date: May 27, 2020 at 11:00 PM

   I still have some GE silent mercury wall switches still in original packaging.  I also have a plastic bottle with about 5 pounds of pure mercury which I used to play with.
   Pharma Phil

-- Original Message -- 
From: martin martin  
Date: May 27, 2020 at 8:06 PM 

  I have a box of mercury tubes with contacts. They were removed from switches and those old hood lamps on car.

  They still are cool to look at

~

mcvei...@gmail.com

  On Wed, May 27, 2020 at 5:00 PM Mac Doktor < 
  themacdok...@gmail.com> wrote: 

  On May 27, 2020, at 11:53 AM, alb.001 alb.001 < 
  alb@sympatico.ca> wrote:

   I was both lucky and stupid as I did not appreciate what the toxicity of mercury was. Doing stupid chemistry things stayed with me with many further adventures in university.

Forget elemental mercury vapor, ingesting the mercuric oxide would have been a lot more fun.

In the late '70s our chem lab in High School was straight out of the '50s. Nice old-fashioned benches and sinks but no fume hoods or anything more sophisticated than a pair of plastic goggles. Anything we couldn't pour down the sink went into a large ceramic crock in the back corner of the room. I can't remember now if it had a lid or not. Some guy came twice year to empty it.

 In the summer before my senior year I took Chemistry II which consisted of eight weeks of solid lab work for four hours a day. One Monday we walked in and there was a haze filling the entire room. We opened all of the huge windows (10~12' ceilings, steam heat and no A/C) and stood out in the hall for an hour. It had no distinct odor to it so we never did figure out what it was or where it came from.

 One day the teacher asked me to help him refill the small hydrous ammonia reagent bottle we used in the classroom. I held a glass funnel while he poured what was probably less than half a liter into the bottle from a jar that must have been several liters. We held our breath as the liquid filled the reagent bottle. As soon as it was full I yanked out the funnel, put it in the sink as fast as I could without breaking it and jabbed the stopper in. At the same time the teacher set the other bottle on the bench and screwed the cap on as fast as possible. As soon as our hands were free we ran out of there like two bats out of hell and stood in the hall gasping for air while tears ran down our faces.

 Then there was the time we were making some HCL and I got a tiny whiff. Man, that was as close to feeling like I was going to die in my entire life. Those poor sods in WWI. I can actually imagine what it was like.

Terry Bowman, KA4HJH

 "The Mac Doctor" 

 https://www.astarcloseup.com/ 

 "Every kid starts out as a natural-born scientist, and then we beat it out of them. A few trickle through the system with their wonder and enthusiasm for science intact."—Carl Sagan, 
 Psychology Today, 1996

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Re: [neonixie-l] 1961 Heathkit Catalog

2020-05-27 Thread alb.001 alb.001

I still have some GE silent mercury wall switches still in original packaging. I also have a plastic bottle with about 5 pounds of pure mercury which I used to play with.
Pharma Phil

-- Original Message --
From: martin martin
Date: May 27, 2020 at 8:06 PM

I have a box of mercury tubes with contacts. They were removed from switches and those old hood lamps on car.

They still are cool to look at

mcvei...@gmail.com

On Wed, May 27, 2020 at 5:00 PM Mac Doktor <
themacdok...@gmail.com> wrote:

On May 27, 2020, at 11:53 AM, alb.001 alb.001 <
alb@sympatico.ca> wrote:

I was both lucky and stupid as I did not appreciate what the toxicity of mercury was. Doing stupid chemistry things stayed with me with many further adventures in university.

Forget elemental mercury vapor, ingesting the mercuric oxide would have been a lot more fun.

In the late '70s our chem lab in High School was straight out of the '50s. Nice old-fashioned benches and sinks but no fume hoods or anything more sophisticated than a pair of plastic goggles. Anything we couldn't pour down the sink went into a large ceramic crock in the back corner of the room. I can't remember now if it had a lid or not. Some guy came twice year to empty it.

In the summer before my senior year I took Chemistry II which consisted of eight weeks of solid lab work for four hours a day. One Monday we walked in and there was a haze filling the entire room. We opened all of the huge windows (10~12' ceilings, steam heat and no A/C) and stood out in the hall for an hour. It had no distinct odor to it so we never did figure out what it was or where it came from.

One day the teacher asked me to help him refill the small hydrous ammonia reagent bottle we used in the classroom. I held a glass funnel while he poured what was probably less than half a liter into the bottle from a jar that must have been several liters. We held our breath as the liquid filled the reagent bottle. As soon as it was full I yanked out the funnel, put it in the sink as fast as I could without breaking it and jabbed the stopper in. At the same time the teacher set the other bottle on the bench and screwed the cap on as fast as possible. As soon as our hands were free we ran out of there like two bats out of hell and stood in the hall gasping for air while tears ran down our faces.

Then there was the time we were making some HCL and I got a tiny whiff. Man, that was as close to feeling like I was going to die in my entire life. Those poor sods in WWI. I can actually imagine what it was like.

Terry Bowman, KA4HJH

"The Mac Doctor"

https://www.astarcloseup.com/

"Every kid starts out as a natural-born scientist, and then we beat it out of them. A few trickle through the system with their wonder and enthusiasm for science intact."—Carl Sagan,
Psychology Today, 1996

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Re: [neonixie-l] 1961 Heathkit Catalog

2020-05-27 Thread alb.001 alb.001

Talk about ammonia. The thing I fear most when driving, especially on a highway is a tanker carrying anhydrous ammonia. Several have crashed with resultant release of clear low-hanging clouds of ammonia gas. If you drive thru one your lungs instinctively close and you suffocate while driving at speed.
Watch out !! Pharma Phil

-- Original Message --
From: Mac Doktor
Date: May 27, 2020 at 8:00 PM

On May 27, 2020, at 11:53 AM, alb.001 alb.001 <
alb@sympatico.ca> wrote:

I was both lucky and stupid as I did not appreciate what the toxicity of mercury was. Doing stupid chemistry things stayed with me with many further adventures in university.

Forget elemental mercury vapor, ingesting the mercuric oxide would have been a lot more fun.

Terry Bowman, KA4HJH

"The Mac Doctor"

https://www.astarcloseup.com/

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Re: [neonixie-l] 1961 Heathkit Catalog

2020-05-27 Thread Nicholas Stock

Sounds like the good old days Terry! Chemistry is (alas) my fortenot
sure how I ended up being a medicinal chemist, but sometimes life leads you
in strange directions and places. Back when I started senior school (high
school for those in the US), we made aspirin in class..I distinctly
remember the sweet smell of benzene (used as the solvent for the
reaction).that certainly wouldn't happen todayMy 1st year graduate
tutor (Professor Charles Rees - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Rees)
used to tell us they washed their hands in the stuff!! In my career I've
certainly used some nasty chemicals (HMPA, dimethylsulfate etc...)...I'm
usually leery of anything with a skull and crossbones on the bottle. As for
smells, using 300 mL of tert-butyl mercaptan isn't for the feint of heart
eitherwe had the fire-brigade called out a few times on that one...

On Wed, May 27, 2020 at 5:07 PM martin martin  wrote:

> I have a box of mercury tubes with contacts.  They were removed from
> switches and those old hood lamps on car.
> They still are cool to look at
>
>
>
> ~
> *mcvei...@gmail.com *
>
>
> On Wed, May 27, 2020 at 5:00 PM Mac Doktor  wrote:
>
>>
>> On May 27, 2020, at 11:53 AM, alb.001 alb.001 
>> wrote:
>>
>>  I was both lucky and stupid as I did not appreciate what the toxicity of
>> mercury was.  Doing stupid chemistry things stayed with me with many
>> further adventures in university.
>>
>> Forget elemental mercury vapor, ingesting the mercuric oxide would have
>> been a lot more fun.
>>
>> In the late '70s our chem lab in High School was straight out of the
>> '50s. Nice old-fashioned benches and sinks but no fume hoods or anything
>> more sophisticated than a pair of plastic goggles. Anything we couldn't
>> pour down the sink went into a large ceramic crock in the back corner of
>> the room. I can't remember now if it had a lid or not. Some guy came twice
>> year to empty it.
>>
>> In the summer before my senior year I took Chemistry II which consisted
>> of eight weeks of solid lab work for four hours a day. One Monday we walked
>> in and there was a haze filling the entire room. We opened all of the huge
>> windows (10~12' ceilings, steam heat and no A/C) and stood out in the hall
>> for an hour. It had no distinct odor to it so we never did figure out what
>> it was or where it came from.
>>
>> One day the teacher asked me to help him refill the small hydrous ammonia
>> reagent bottle we used in the classroom. I held a glass funnel while he
>> poured what was probably less than half a liter into the bottle from a jar
>> that must have been several liters. We held our breath as the liquid filled
>> the reagent bottle. As soon as it was full I yanked out the funnel, put it
>> in the sink as fast as I could without breaking it and jabbed the stopper
>> in. At the same time the teacher set the other bottle on the bench and
>> screwed the cap on as fast as possible. As soon as our hands were free we
>> ran out of there like two bats out of hell and stood in the hall gasping
>> for air while tears ran down our faces.
>>
>> Then there was the time we were making some HCL and I got a tiny whiff.
>> Man, that was as close to feeling like I was going to die in my entire
>> life. Those poor sods in WWI. I can actually imagine what it was like.
>>
>>
>> Terry Bowman, KA4HJH
>> "The Mac Doctor"
>>
>> https://www.astarcloseup.com/
>>
>> "Every kid starts out as a natural-born scientist, and then we beat it
>> out of them. A few trickle through the system with their wonder and
>> enthusiasm for science intact."—Carl Sagan, *Psychology Today*, 1996
>>
>> --
>> 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 neonixie-l+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com.
>> To view this discussion on the web, visit
>> https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/neonixie-l/3E96DAE6-7453-41B7-B83D-776CC1A2E7D2%40gmail.com
>> 
>> .
>>
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> 
> .
>

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Re: [neonixie-l] 1961 Heathkit Catalog

2020-05-27 Thread martin martin

I have a box of mercury tubes with contacts.  They were removed from
switches and those old hood lamps on car.
They still are cool to look at



~
*mcvei...@gmail.com *


On Wed, May 27, 2020 at 5:00 PM Mac Doktor  wrote:

>
> On May 27, 2020, at 11:53 AM, alb.001 alb.001 
> wrote:
>
>  I was both lucky and stupid as I did not appreciate what the toxicity of
> mercury was.  Doing stupid chemistry things stayed with me with many
> further adventures in university.
>
> Forget elemental mercury vapor, ingesting the mercuric oxide would have
> been a lot more fun.
>
> In the late '70s our chem lab in High School was straight out of the '50s.
> Nice old-fashioned benches and sinks but no fume hoods or anything more
> sophisticated than a pair of plastic goggles. Anything we couldn't pour
> down the sink went into a large ceramic crock in the back corner of the
> room. I can't remember now if it had a lid or not. Some guy came twice year
> to empty it.
>
> In the summer before my senior year I took Chemistry II which consisted of
> eight weeks of solid lab work for four hours a day. One Monday we walked in
> and there was a haze filling the entire room. We opened all of the huge
> windows (10~12' ceilings, steam heat and no A/C) and stood out in the hall
> for an hour. It had no distinct odor to it so we never did figure out what
> it was or where it came from.
>
> One day the teacher asked me to help him refill the small hydrous ammonia
> reagent bottle we used in the classroom. I held a glass funnel while he
> poured what was probably less than half a liter into the bottle from a jar
> that must have been several liters. We held our breath as the liquid filled
> the reagent bottle. As soon as it was full I yanked out the funnel, put it
> in the sink as fast as I could without breaking it and jabbed the stopper
> in. At the same time the teacher set the other bottle on the bench and
> screwed the cap on as fast as possible. As soon as our hands were free we
> ran out of there like two bats out of hell and stood in the hall gasping
> for air while tears ran down our faces.
>
> Then there was the time we were making some HCL and I got a tiny whiff.
> Man, that was as close to feeling like I was going to die in my entire
> life. Those poor sods in WWI. I can actually imagine what it was like.
>
>
> Terry Bowman, KA4HJH
> "The Mac Doctor"
>
> https://www.astarcloseup.com/
>
> "Every kid starts out as a natural-born scientist, and then we beat it out
> of them. A few trickle through the system with their wonder and enthusiasm
> for science intact."—Carl Sagan, *Psychology Today*, 1996
>
> --
> 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 neonixie-l+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com.
> To view this discussion on the web, visit
> https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/neonixie-l/3E96DAE6-7453-41B7-B83D-776CC1A2E7D2%40gmail.com
> 
> .
>

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Re: [neonixie-l] 1961 Heathkit Catalog

2020-05-27 Thread Mac Doktor

> On May 27, 2020, at 11:53 AM, alb.001 alb.001  wrote:
>  I was both lucky and stupid as I did not appreciate what the toxicity of 
> mercury was.  Doing stupid chemistry things stayed with me with many further 
> adventures in university.
> 
Forget elemental mercury vapor, ingesting the mercuric oxide would have been a 
lot more fun.

In the late '70s our chem lab in High School was straight out of the '50s. Nice 
old-fashioned benches and sinks but no fume hoods or anything more 
sophisticated than a pair of plastic goggles. Anything we couldn't pour down 
the sink went into a large ceramic crock in the back corner of the room. I 
can't remember now if it had a lid or not. Some guy came twice year to empty it.

In the summer before my senior year I took Chemistry II which consisted of 
eight weeks of solid lab work for four hours a day. One Monday we walked in and 
there was a haze filling the entire room. We opened all of the huge windows 
(10~12' ceilings, steam heat and no A/C) and stood out in the hall for an hour. 
It had no distinct odor to it so we never did figure out what it was or where 
it came from.

One day the teacher asked me to help him refill the small hydrous ammonia 
reagent bottle we used in the classroom. I held a glass funnel while he poured 
what was probably less than half a liter into the bottle from a jar that must 
have been several liters. We held our breath as the liquid filled the reagent 
bottle. As soon as it was full I yanked out the funnel, put it in the sink as 
fast as I could without breaking it and jabbed the stopper in. At the same time 
the teacher set the other bottle on the bench and screwed the cap on as fast as 
possible. As soon as our hands were free we ran out of there like two bats out 
of hell and stood in the hall gasping for air while tears ran down our faces.

Then there was the time we were making some HCL and I got a tiny whiff. Man, 
that was as close to feeling like I was going to die in my entire life. Those 
poor sods in WWI. I can actually imagine what it was like.

Terry Bowman, KA4HJH
"The Mac Doctor"

https://www.astarcloseup.com/

"Every kid starts out as a natural-born scientist, and then we beat it out of 
them. A few trickle through the system with their wonder and enthusiasm for 
science intact."—Carl Sagan, Psychology Today, 1996

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Re: [neonixie-l] 1961 Heathkit Catalog

2020-05-27 Thread Nicholas Stock

Elemental mercury gets a bit of a bad rap...it really isn't as deadly as
people make outminimal acute exposure will not do much harm (did
amalgam fillings really impair the life expectancy of most that had them?).
Chronic exposure to the vapor will cause issues however. Mercury salts and
organo-mercury compounds are the ones to be concerned about ingesting or
even touching, but even then the hullabaloo about eating too much Tuna is a
bit over-blown (IMHO)how many nursing Japanese women don't eat sushi?
LOL. I know of one particularly nasty case of mercury poisoning however...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karen_Wetterhahn

...not a nice way to goand the exposure was very minimalbeware
dialkyl mercury!

On Wed, May 27, 2020 at 11:35 AM gregebert  wrote:

> I still have a small vial of mercury I removed from light switches almost
> 50 years ago.
>
> There is a "pellet" with metal on both sides, separated by a glass or
> ceramic bead. When the switch is tilted up, the mercury makes electrical
> contact to both metal sides and a hole inside the ceramic bead. I was 10
> years old at the time, and we were very nervous about breaking the bead
> because some mercury compounds are explosive (mercury fulminate). After
> debating a few days, we cracked it open and course we were enthralled with
> the mystery liquid, but we knew it was toxic and never touched or heated it.
>
> --
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> 
> .
>

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Re: [neonixie-l] 1961 Heathkit Catalog

2020-05-27 Thread gregebert

I still have a small vial of mercury I removed from light switches almost 
50 years ago. 

There is a "pellet" with metal on both sides, separated by a glass or 
ceramic bead. When the switch is tilted up, the mercury makes electrical 
contact to both metal sides and a hole inside the ceramic bead. I was 10 
years old at the time, and we were very nervous about breaking the bead 
because some mercury compounds are explosive (mercury fulminate). After 
debating a few days, we cracked it open and course we were enthralled with 
the mystery liquid, but we knew it was toxic and never touched or heated it.

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[neonixie-l] Re: 1961 Heathkit Catalog

2020-05-27 Thread newxito

Last year I had an amalgam filling removed. The dentist and her assistant 
wore spectacular gas masks and I had a huge tube from a fume extractor in 
front of my face. After the treatment I received 10 selenium pills for 
detox. I was really impressed :-)

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Re: [neonixie-l] 1961 Heathkit Catalog

2020-05-27 Thread alb.001 alb.001

  The high school I went to in the 1960's was refurbishing the chemistry lab and they simply discarded all the bottles of chemicals into waste bins in what was the playground behind the school.  I looked thru the bins and took many jars of chemicals home including red mercuric oxide. When I got home, I put the mercury compound in one of my mother's frying pans and put it on the stove and heated it up.  The compound decomposed to produce liquid mercury with some vaporizing.  I took it off the stove to let it cool.  I am sure I must have inhaled some mercury but never became symptomatic of any poisoning - I was both lucky and stupid as I did not appreciate what the toxicity of mercury was.  Doing stupid chemistry things stayed with me with many further adventures in university.
  Pharma Phil

   -- Original Message --
   From: "'jf...@my-deja.com' via neonixie-l" 
   Date: May 27, 2020 at 9:50 AM

We kept ours in an Erlenmeyer flask, and I could never get my hand past the bottleneck.

On Wednesday, May 27, 2020 at 1:06:26 AM UTC-7, Terry Kennedy wrote:

   I grew up in a time where in elementary school you got to dip your hand up to the wrist in a bottle of mercury,

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Re: [neonixie-l] 1961 Heathkit Catalog

2020-05-27 Thread 'jf...@my-deja.com' via neonixie-l

That is a lot of mercury.  I don't think we kept more than a pound.  Also, 
I don' tknow how you get the Hg completely out of the pan, since ISTR that 
we would use the Hg to shine up nickels and pennies.

On Wednesday, May 27, 2020 at 7:46:33 AM UTC-7, Ira wrote:
>
> Get a pan off of the stove that you use to cook in every day, pour it in 
> there, THEN stick your hand in it. After playing with it, pour it back into 
> the flask, and put the pan back on the stove. Problem solved!!!Ira.
>
>
>

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[neonixie-l] Re: Is it possible to identify a single nixie?

2020-05-27 Thread 'jf...@my-deja.com' via neonixie-l

In addition to photons and cosmic rays, illuminating other elements can 
also promote the firing (isn't that the reason for the "keep alive" on the 
Panaplex?).  

It has been a long time since I did it, but ISTR that you could stay on the 
negative resistance branch by aggressively limiting the current.  In the 
olden days, that was using bigger resistors, but nowadays I would build a 
transistorized variable current regulator.


On Wednesday, May 27, 2020 at 7:05:48 AM UTC-7, gregebert wrote:
>
> I had a very difficult time trying to measure the firing voltage, probably 
> due to photons and other particles whizzing around the workbench. 
> Typically, it was about 10-15 volts higher than the smallest measurable 
> current where I could see any hint of glowing. The value varied from 
> reading-to-reading.
>
> I recall that I could not repeatedly/predictably measure currents below 
> 100uA, because the segment would just extinguish and the current went to 
> zero.
>
> Whenever I get my last 2 R|Z568m tubes, I'll spend more time on ionization 
> measurements. Right now, those tubes are still waiting on a dock or tarmac 
> to get shipped to the US.
>

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Re: [neonixie-l] 1961 Heathkit Catalog

2020-05-27 Thread Instrument Resources of America

Get a pan off of the stove that you use to cook in every day, pour it in 
there, THEN stick your hand in it. After playing with it, pour it back 
into the flask, and put the pan back on the stove. Problem solved!!!    Ira.



On 5/27/2020 6:50 AM, 'jf...@my-deja.com' via neonixie-l wrote:
We kept ours in an Erlenmeyer flask, and I could never get my hand 
past the bottleneck.


On Wednesday, May 27, 2020 at 1:06:26 AM UTC-7, Terry Kennedy wrote:


I grew up in a time where in elementary school you got to dip your
hand up to the wrist in a bottle of mercury,

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<>

[neonixie-l] Re: Is it possible to identify a single nixie?

2020-05-27 Thread gregebert

I had a very difficult time trying to measure the firing voltage, probably 
due to photons and other particles whizzing around the workbench. 
Typically, it was about 10-15 volts higher than the smallest measurable 
current where I could see any hint of glowing. The value varied from 
reading-to-reading.

I recall that I could not repeatedly/predictably measure currents below 
100uA, because the segment would just extinguish and the current went to 
zero.

Whenever I get my last 2 R|Z568m tubes, I'll spend more time on ionization 
measurements. Right now, those tubes are still waiting on a dock or tarmac 
to get shipped to the US.

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Re: [neonixie-l] 1961 Heathkit Catalog

2020-05-27 Thread 'jf...@my-deja.com' via neonixie-l

We kept ours in an Erlenmeyer flask, and I could never get my hand past the 
bottleneck.

On Wednesday, May 27, 2020 at 1:06:26 AM UTC-7, Terry Kennedy wrote:
>
>
> I grew up in a time where in elementary school you got to dip your hand up 
> to the wrist in a bottle of mercury,
>

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[neonixie-l] Re: Is it possible to identify a single nixie?

2020-05-27 Thread 'jf...@my-deja.com' via neonixie-l

Over that voltage range, I would expect three branches on the IV.  Did you 
also track the firing voltages and extinction currents?  Dark rooms vs 
well-lit?  Ambient temperature?

On Friday, May 15, 2020 at 8:57:08 AM UTC-7, gregebert wrote:
>
> Yes; for a given segment, there are tube-to-tube variations in segment 
> current for a given voltage.
> The data below is for 8 tubes, for segment #1.
>
> At 200uA, the voltage varies from 127 to 138V. At 6mA, the voltage varies 
> from 169 to 181V
>
> Using just a resistor for setting the current will result in large 
> variations across tubes and supply-voltage. That's why I use 
> current-regulators on each cathode. It's probably overkill, but given the 
> ridiculous pricing for b7971's, I'm not taking any chances. I have no 
> spares for my 8-tube clock; just 2 tubes that have a shorted or dead 
> segment.
>
> I have no idea what happens over time, but I suspect that as tubes age the 
> current, hence the brightness, decreases for a given voltage. In a few 
> years, I will retake the data and see what has happened. This clock went 
> into service in 2017.
>
> 0.2 0.5 1 2 3 4 5 5.5 6  <-- Current
> 130 133 138 145 152 159 167 170 172  <--- Tube 1
> 135 138 143 151 158 166 174 178 181
> 134 137 142 150 158 166 174 178 180
> 138 138 140 145 151 158 164 169 172
> 137 138 142 148 156 163 172 176 180
> 135 136 140 147 154 162 171 174 177
> 131 134 138 144 151 158 166 170 173
> 127 130 134 141 147 155 162 166 169 <--- Tube 8
>
>

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[neonixie-l] Re: Is it possible to identify a single nixie?

2020-05-27 Thread 'jf...@my-deja.com' via neonixie-l

Based on my experience, you should expect at least another 300k hours even 
if you "overdrive" them.   That said, I don't remember anyone reporting a 
natural death from old age and excessive usage.

On Wednesday, May 27, 2020 at 1:44:43 AM UTC-7, Terry Kennedy wrote:
>
>
> B7971s are amazingly robust. The MOD-SIX in the room where I'm typing this 
> reports 76,571 tube-on hours 
>

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[neonixie-l] Re: Is it possible to identify a single nixie?

2020-05-27 Thread Terry Kennedy

On Friday, May 15, 2020 at 9:51:45 AM UTC-4, gregebert wrote:
>
> For each of my expensive tubes (b7971, R|z568m) I measure and plot the I-V 
> characteristics. There aren't any serial numbers on b7971's so I just write 
> one on the backside.
>
> If the tube fails later on, I check the I-V characteristics to see if 
> anything changes; so far only 1 b7971 has failed when segments shorted 
> together. None of the unaffected segments showed any measurable changes.
>

B7971s are amazingly robust. The MOD-SIX in the room where I'm typing this 
reports 76,571 tube-on hours (nearly 9 years) and is on its original tubes 
(the CPU, PSU and case have been replaced over the years, with the tube-on 
hours copied to the newer CPUs). I've never had one that worked when I got 
it fail on me. In around 100 I've purchased over the years I've had 4 or so 
DOAs - 2 cracked, one with an unfixable short and one with a poisoned 
cathode I couldn't clean up.

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Re: [neonixie-l] 1961 Heathkit Catalog

2020-05-27 Thread Terry Kennedy

On Wednesday, May 27, 2020 at 4:06:26 AM UTC-4, Terry Kennedy wrote:
>
> After all that, I'm not worried about leaded solder. And since people 
> opening and eating products assembled with lead solder seems unlikely, many 
> ROHS
>

[Hit Post too soon by accident] 

.. many ROHS goals could be accomplished by making products longer-lived, 
easier to repair, and enforcing safety regulations at recycling centers.

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Re: [neonixie-l] 1961 Heathkit Catalog

2020-05-27 Thread Terry Kennedy

On Wednesday, May 27, 2020 at 4:06:26 AM UTC-4, Terry Kennedy wrote:

> After all that, I'm not worried about leaded solder. And since people 
> opening and eating products assembled with lead solder seems unlikely, many 
> ROHS
>

[H 

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Re: [neonixie-l] 1961 Heathkit Catalog

2020-05-27 Thread Terry Kennedy

On Saturday, May 2, 2020 at 6:24:48 PM UTC-4, jf...@my-deja.com wrote:
>
> It was meant as a joke.  I still use SnPb eutectic solder, and I think my 
> ~1 kg is a lifetime supply  I think I can blame this for my dumbness, since 
> I used to hold the solder in my teeth during construction and repair.
>

I grew up in a time where in elementary school you got to dip your hand up 
to the wrist in a bottle of mercury, vaporize iodine into a 
room-filling purple cloud, and play with large chunks of the alkali metals. 
I once was responsible for inventorying a bulk donation from an 
industrial laboratory (let's leave them anonymous) to the college I was 
working at. On opening a metal crate, I had the distinctly unpleasant 
sensation of ozone forming in my mouth. I shut the box and took off - they 
had shipped us a Cobalt-60 source in error. More recently, I've ordered and 
received various electronic components from a seller in the Ukraine. An 
Elektronika clock was among the items and as you may know, I refurbish 
these with all new tubes, etc.This clock was absolutely filthy inside with 
the most bitter dust you could imagine. Not that I was tasting it on 
purpose, but I didn't realize I needed a full respirator. I asked the 
seller where these items came from and he replied "a disused industrial 
premise approx. 150km NNW of Kiev". AKA Chernobyl. this does not reassure 
me about radiologic inspection of items coming into the US, though to be 
honest I'm sure the actual radioactivity was low.

After all that, I'm not worried about leaded solder. And since people 
opening and eating products assembled with lead solder seems unlikely, many 
ROHS

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Re: [neonixie-l] 1961 Heathkit Catalog

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[neonixie-l] Re: 1961 Heathkit Catalog

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Re: [neonixie-l] 1961 Heathkit Catalog

[neonixie-l] Re: Is it possible to identify a single nixie?

Re: [neonixie-l] 1961 Heathkit Catalog

[neonixie-l] Re: Is it possible to identify a single nixie?

Re: [neonixie-l] 1961 Heathkit Catalog

[neonixie-l] Re: Is it possible to identify a single nixie?

[neonixie-l] Re: Is it possible to identify a single nixie?

[neonixie-l] Re: Is it possible to identify a single nixie?

Re: [neonixie-l] 1961 Heathkit Catalog

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