has anyone soldered their 300B to the socket

[marco08]

one of my socket's metal thingies have gone bad, and no amount of screwing around with a screwdriver will make a good connection to the tube pins. every hour or so, I have to go a jiggle the tube base to restore a good connection, otherwise, I lose the channel.

I know I really should order a replacement from BH, and disconnect/reconnect the socket properly. But, if I'm feeling lazy, maybe soldering the tube pins ? I don't roll anymore since I found the sweet spot (TI2's).

thoughts, guys ?

otherwise I found some chinese "tube savers", 300b to 300b adaptors ... but would look goddam ugly !!

[fullheadofnothing]

You should be able to bend the metal back into shape to make firm contact. You are pulling the tube before bending it, right? Additionally, have you re-flowed the soldering on the socket to confirm it's a mechanical problem?

Neither of your suggestions will work. The basis of a good solder joint is firm mechanical connection. You don't have that so you can't get a good joint. It's also just a bad idea for a variety of reasons...

A socket saver would only work if your socket was working. Again you would need the firm connection from the socket to the pin, in this case of the saver.

[marco08]

i don't know why, but i expected this... smile.

i did reflow a couple time, or three. it's the mechanical contact i can't get tight however i bend the fins (and i'm afraid they'll break if i work them one time too many).
so I have to buy a new socket, i guess !!

[fullheadofnothing]

Reading over your posting history, it appears that some of your problems have stemmed from nicked wires breaking. All connections, on and off the socket, should be carefully examined for both soldering and physical integrity. I will point out that if you have truly reshaped the metal on your socket, then you will have a good connection there. The metal is springy enough that once the connection is established, it will remain pushed up against the pin. The symptom of starting out working and then fading is far more likely to be an electrical problem rather than mechanical. Jostling the tube may be resetting a failing connection elsewhere and have nothing to do with the socket.

[marco08]

fair enough, you are right to point out that I did have my share of cold joints, and broken wires. that has been history for a while. Reflow once, reflow twice, and if in doubt, reflow thrice !!!!

A stepup transformer has also taken care of wall voltage, really necessary here in continental europe (vs the UK)

Now, it's really purely mechanical, and the socket metal has really lost elasticity (i don't know if it's my misguided reshaping, could be).

Oh well, a couple hours job.

marc

[fullheadofnothing]

Which pin has lost contact?