18-08-2015, 04:30 PM
I haven't totally enveloped the 7 watt resistor. The heat shrink was taken from the welding workshop and is a big diameter. It does hug the resistor body but doesn't seal it. However, safety must be given total priority. What bothers me a bit is I soldered the rectifier to the valve pins. I made as sure as I could the soldering was good but, even so, the radio will be turned the other way up when in use. I was going to use Veroboard at first but I hated the stuff. Way too fiddly. So, in the end, I soldered the diodes to the valve pins so each diode would get the secondary transformer output. Then I joined the cathodes. I'm not sure what other people do in such a case with silicon rectifiers.
I suppose what makes the most sense is to get the rectifier valve now I know it works. Then just tidy up any wiring (the secondary cable shows gradual signs of fray so ought to be sleeved around that area).
Also as the set is I think 80 watts, I ought to be able to put a 1 amp fuse in line.
The way I did the capacitors: This was something of an experiment. I used the Wima red high voltage caps I know to perform very well. However, these are no good for point soldering. The method I used was to take copper wire and cut three inches or so. At each end of the copper wire I formed a loop. This was done by wrapping the wire around another copper wire and squeezing with pliers. These loops were then tinned and the copper strand sleeved in insulation. The capacitor tinned lead would then be inserted in the loop of copper wire and more solder fused into it. This would fix the capacitor so it can be used as a radial Only argument against is there are now 4 soldered joints instead of two if you'd used just a radial capacitor. So, not sure if I'll still be using this method and it's a bit time-consuming too. I'd never use flimsy wire so it has to be a rigid copper strand. I should note the Wima capacitors seems quite tough. I've used quite a bit of heat on them and they were heat tolerant so far.
I suppose what makes the most sense is to get the rectifier valve now I know it works. Then just tidy up any wiring (the secondary cable shows gradual signs of fray so ought to be sleeved around that area).
Also as the set is I think 80 watts, I ought to be able to put a 1 amp fuse in line.
The way I did the capacitors: This was something of an experiment. I used the Wima red high voltage caps I know to perform very well. However, these are no good for point soldering. The method I used was to take copper wire and cut three inches or so. At each end of the copper wire I formed a loop. This was done by wrapping the wire around another copper wire and squeezing with pliers. These loops were then tinned and the copper strand sleeved in insulation. The capacitor tinned lead would then be inserted in the loop of copper wire and more solder fused into it. This would fix the capacitor so it can be used as a radial Only argument against is there are now 4 soldered joints instead of two if you'd used just a radial capacitor. So, not sure if I'll still be using this method and it's a bit time-consuming too. I'd never use flimsy wire so it has to be a rigid copper strand. I should note the Wima capacitors seems quite tough. I've used quite a bit of heat on them and they were heat tolerant so far.
