New Crack Build Voltage Problem [resolved]

jminassi · 2539

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Offline jminassi

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Reply #30 on: December 23, 2020, 12:35:38 PM
I can't see any leads touching the chassis.  Here are photos.  Let me know if you want more.

Best,

John



Deke609

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Reply #31 on: December 23, 2020, 01:10:58 PM
Some ideas:

(1) I think you could use some more heat on the 8 pin socket - and quite possibly on other joints. What solder are you using?  If it's Cardas Quad, you should see brown flux come out of the joint and settle on the surface of the solder.  If it doesn't rise to the surface, it's insulating the inside of the joint. If you have an adjustable soldering station, try cranking it up to at least 750F.

(2) You've painted the bottom of the chassis and I see that you've scraped the paint away from at least some of the terminal strip attachment points. But I can't tell the full extent of the scraping. I would make sure that the paint is scraped away from any terminal-strip-to chassis connection to which a black wire attaches.  But I doubt that's what causing your negligible voltage at T7 since you have the correct voltage at T9.

(3) Purely for the sake of future reliability, I suggest pushing the leads of the "internal" diodes (the ones closest to the power transformer) farther into the terminal lugs and then trimming the excess on the other side.

All that said, I think your best and fastest route to a working amp is to reflow all the joints, making sure that they get a good heating, and adding just a small dab of solder (unless there's a solder blob there already, in which case don't add any -- or better yet, remove most of it with a sucker or wick and redo the joint).

That's all I can think of. PB may have some better pinpoint suggestions.

cheers and good luck, Derek



Offline jminassi

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Reply #32 on: December 23, 2020, 02:21:49 PM
Hi Derek,

I’m using Kester 60/40 leaded solder.  I had the chassis powder coated.  The guy wouldn’t mask the underside for the $50 he needed to do it and the bell housing.  I saw PB’s instructions to someone else who had the plate powder coated.  I removed paint with a Dremel tool at the ground lug next to the IEC power inlet, and where the screw that holds the 5 lug terminal strip closest to the 9 pin tube is.  I also removed paint under both screws that hold in the octal socket.  I removed paint from the underside of the transformer bell housing where it meets the transformer too.

Thanks for your suggestions,

John



Offline Paul Birkeland

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Reply #33 on: December 24, 2020, 04:35:27 AM
What's your DC voltage at 21?

Paul "PB" Birkeland

Bottlehead Grunt & The Repro Man


Offline jminassi

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Reply #34 on: December 24, 2020, 10:40:09 AM
PB,

DC Volts at lug 21 is 219.6.  Let me know if this is significant.

Thanks and have a great holiday,

John



Offline Paul Birkeland

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Reply #35 on: December 24, 2020, 10:41:33 AM
How about 15?

Paul "PB" Birkeland

Bottlehead Grunt & The Repro Man


Offline jminassi

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Reply #36 on: December 24, 2020, 01:18:40 PM
PB,

0.3 mV at lug 15.




Offline Paul Birkeland

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Reply #37 on: December 24, 2020, 01:28:35 PM
Are you certain about that?  If this was the case, the 270 ohm resistor that runs across your power transformer either isn't connected on one end or would be burned up into pieces.

Because you have appropriately high voltage at terminal 21, I would suspect maybe you measured 16 or 14, both of which would be 0V.

Paul "PB" Birkeland

Bottlehead Grunt & The Repro Man


Offline jminassi

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Reply #38 on: December 24, 2020, 02:16:23 PM
Sorry PB, I was on lug 16.  But I only get 27.1 mV at lug 15.



Offline Paul Birkeland

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Reply #39 on: December 24, 2020, 02:21:17 PM
Are you certain about that?  220V on one side of that resistor and 0V on the other side of that resistor would dissipate 180 watts and it would get so hot that it would fail quickly and horribly, your fuse would blow, etc.

It's possible that one end of the 270 ohm resistor that crosses over the power transformer isn't well connected on one end or the other, or that one of the black wires running around the 6 lug terminal strips isn't well connected. 

Can you power down the amp and let the DC voltage bleed out, then try measuring the DC resistance of the 270 ohm resistor that crosses over the power transformer?

Paul "PB" Birkeland

Bottlehead Grunt & The Repro Man


Offline jminassi

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Reply #40 on: December 24, 2020, 02:23:24 PM
Whoops, that last reading on lug 15 was my error....I didn’t have the power connected.
I get 211.0 V at lug 15.



Offline jminassi

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Reply #41 on: December 24, 2020, 02:34:48 PM
I’m getting 252.9 ohms across that resistor.



Offline Paul Birkeland

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Reply #42 on: December 24, 2020, 03:47:09 PM
OK, the resistor isn't getting too hot.  It will actually be about twice as hot when the amp is working. 

Could I see some tighter shots of the 6-10 terminal strip? 

You have the correct resistance at 7 which should allow the 6080 to draw current on that side, but it isn't.  Can you carefully measure the voltage at B1?

Paul "PB" Birkeland

Bottlehead Grunt & The Repro Man


Offline jminassi

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Reply #43 on: December 25, 2020, 07:25:33 AM
The voltage at B1 is 98.1 V DC.  When I first turned on the amp the voltage was as high as 250 V and then it came down.

One side of the 6080 tube lights up.


I’ll take some tight pictures and send them via my computer as the forum’s system doesn’t recognize photos from my iPad as .jpg files.

Thanks,

John



Offline Paul Birkeland

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Reply #44 on: December 25, 2020, 07:56:34 AM
If only one side of the 6080 is glowing, I would seek out a different 6080. 

Paul "PB" Birkeland

Bottlehead Grunt & The Repro Man