6V6 tube with loose plastic base

punderdown · 2267

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Offline punderdown

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on: September 19, 2020, 04:21:19 AM
Just got the kit, very excited to start building my eighth Bottlehead! The plastic base and pins on the bottom of one of the 6v6 tubes appear to be loose and there is about an eighth of an inch rotational movement in relation to the glass part of the tube. Is this ok? Is there a way to test the tube with just a multimeter?

Thanks,
Phil



Offline Thermioniclife

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Reply #1 on: September 19, 2020, 04:56:24 AM
the heater pins 2 and 7 should read a very low resistance, something like .4 ohms or so. All other pin combinations should show no continuity between them. that's about all you can check with a dmm.

Lee R.


Offline punderdown

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Reply #2 on: September 19, 2020, 06:49:57 AM
Thanks Lee, I actually get about 4 Ohms between pins 7 and 2 on both tubes, but on the tube with the loose base the reading goes haywire if I wiggle the glass at all.



Offline Paul Birkeland

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Reply #3 on: September 19, 2020, 07:03:03 AM
What I do when I run into that is to run superglue around the edge between the glass and the plastic base to secure it.  These bases are glued on from the factory, but that was done ages ago and it isn't too crazy that they sometimes come loose.  If you wiggle the tube enough, you will damage the connections between the base and the tube itself, so I would avoid doing that.

Paul "PB" Birkeland

Bottlehead Grunt & The Repro Man


Offline punderdown

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Reply #4 on: September 21, 2020, 11:32:06 AM
I superglued the base as suggested. Now when I take a reading between pins 7 and 2 I get 10 ohms, but the slightest movement causes it to fluctuate, whereas the other tube is steady at 4 ohms.



Offline Paul Birkeland

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Reply #5 on: September 21, 2020, 11:34:46 AM
The movement may have broken the lead wires in the tube.  It shouldn't do any harm to go ahead and use it in the build, and if there is an issue you'll most likely notice that the tube itself just doesn't glow.

Paul "PB" Birkeland

Bottlehead Grunt & The Repro Man


Offline punderdown

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Reply #6 on: September 24, 2020, 05:32:32 AM
The tube in fact does not glow when I do the glow test on page 33 of the manual. I swapped tubes and the channel not glowing followed the tube.



Offline Paul Birkeland

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Reply #7 on: September 24, 2020, 05:36:30 AM
You can contact replacementparts(at)bottlehead(dot)com about getting a replacement tube.  Do be sure to paste a link to this thread in your request.

-PB

Paul "PB" Birkeland

Bottlehead Grunt & The Repro Man