Tek 575 curve tracer, should I grab it?

[SoulFetish]

Someone selling a 575 for a little over 100 bucks. I believe this is the model that people mod to use with Tubes. Is it worth it? I've kind of been wanting A tracer for a while and if it's worth putting some work into it to mod it for tubes, ill grab it. and if you have any experience with these?

[loudthud]

They had a 575 at my high school in the late 60's. At that price it probably doesn't work and it won't be easy to get going. It will need a half dozen or so can caps (some of which won't have grounded cans) and lots of weird tubes. Ever seen a regulated power supply made with tubes? The 575 has several. See if you can find the service manual. People sell them on Ebay, but you might find one online somewhere. If it needs a new CRT, you probably won't be able to find one, unless you buy another 575 for parts.

[SoulFetish]

They had a 575 at my high school in the late 60's. At that price it probably doesn't work and it won't be easy to get going. It will need a half dozen or so can caps (some of which won't have grounded cans) and lots of weird tubes. Ever seen a regulated power supply made with tubes? The 575 has several. See if you can find the service manual. People sell them on Ebay, but you might find one online somewhere. If it needs a new CRT, you probably won't be able to find one, unless you buy another 575 for parts.

https://youtube.com/watch?v=IJ_R-G_i4Xk

...I almost got excited about it too. But it's best to kill those dreams early on, I find.
I would rather make a jump in to the deep end of the pool and build the U-Tracer if Im going to take on that kind of project.

But, maybe you can give me some advice on something else related though. I have a old Tektronix scope I got for free. I've been trying to figure out what to do with it. It's a 556 dual trace scope. I don't have the power cord to it but as far as I know it works perfectly it's just been sitting for a long time and probably needs a Job in some maintenance. That's assuming nothings wrong with it. And I've been going back-and-forth as to whether or not it's even worth put the time in on a oscilloscope project (a tool that I need to count on for other projects). But the more I hear about it people seem to really dig this model and it maybe worth putting the time and on. But talk about a boat anchor, it's like they cast this thing out of lead. Its a nightmare to move. What do you think LTE just thing worth getting up and running?

Edit: "probably needs a cap Job". And that was "what are you think LT?"
That's why I hate trying to post on iPhone

[olddawg]

Offer him $25 if you have time to screw with it. That's what it's worth. I gave away a giant Apollo era Tek scope on its own cart OEM CART with 4 modules a couple of decades ago because of the space it took. Wish I would have kept it now. I'm sure it had some 12AX7s in it....

[loudthud]

IIRC the 556 was a dual Beam scope. Except in very special circumstances, the dual beam is not needed. Use a Variac to bring it up slowly. The ceramic terminal strips need to be soldered with 2% silver solder. There is usually a little spool of it inside the scope. Regular lead solder causes the metal on the ceramic to migrate. These things have to be a labor of love, not practical as an every day scope. If you can find someone willing to pay the freight, you could sell it.

[Tom Phillips]

Let us know if you decide to pursue the Tek 556 labor of love. The power cord is just an extension cord with a single female end that mates to a standard three prong 120V AC line plug. If you need an original Tek O&M manual for the 556 (Size of an old New York phone book) I can help you out. The 556 is a fun piece of equipment and it doubles as a 900W shop heater when operating.
Cheers,
Tom

[Gingertube]

Tektronix 575 Transistor Curve Tracer (1957)
See the link at the top of the page to the BAMA SITE for the manual.
Note that it is described as a TRANSISTOR curve tracer.
For tubes I think I would go the U-Tracer route.
Cheers,
Ian

[Enzo]

Yep, says transistor right on the front of it, and the test terminals are marked E B and C.

[SoulFetish]

Tektronix 575 Transistor Curve Tracer (1957)
See the link at the top of the page to the BAMA SITE for the manual.
Note that it is described as a TRANSISTOR curve tracer.
For tubes I think I would go the U-Tracer route.
Cheers,
Ian

What the hell is a "transistor"?

[SoulFetish]

Wait,... are those they those cute little doo-dads that show up in bass amps?

[Justin Thomas]

Not in MY bass amps...

Justin

[Enzo]

It is short for "transfer resistor".

[stokes]

I built the utracer a couple years ago.I love it,well worth it and much easier than fixing a 575 and then modding for tube use.

[SoulFetish]

Yeah, I was thinking about the 575 when I first saw it, because I believe this curve tracer was fairly easy to mod for use with tube. Without going back and double checking, this one was stock supplied with a 200V rail to run curves (at least the first production run was up to a point and they began supplying 400V power supplies stock as well as in upgrade packages.)

But, i would have to service that one as is and mod it. LT convinced me to leave this one alone and live to fight another day. I can't take that kind of project on. I have to finish some other ones. Which is why I will have to wait on building the "U" for a little while. I can't wait to build one, but I can't help but think a big flaw in the design was not providing for the grid to be run in the positive voltage region. Yes, I know about the clever mode for triode connection, but I'm interested in pentode mode. I have no use for traditional triode output stages. Ugh.. dull lifeless critters triodes are as an output tubes. But, hey, I felt that way about fuzz pedals once upon a time. The I got a chance to play a good one and I instantly understood why people make such a fuzz over this pedal (<---see what I did there, with the "such a fuzz... Its a terrible joke and I apologize. I'm EXHAUSTED, and I'm starting to drift off into tangents).

Before I call it a night, I wanted to back up and touch on the Tek 556. Would it get me buy for a little while? What are its limitations other than memory and mobility?
The reason I ask is, I don't have a scope right now for everyday use. It will probably be a couple of (probably a few to several) months till I can realistically buy one. But I absolutely think a scope is a must have, essential tool for designing/testing/servicing electronics. Consider that the alternative is to sit at my bench; look at a circuit; and... f-ing guess?!! I kind of think of about guessing like I think about running. Those are the options you reserve for when all your other plans fail.

[Enzo]

I think a scope is essential to an electronics shop, but having said that, most of what I do is with a hand meter. A super scope is swell and all, but the most rudimentary scope does most everything you need. Very seldom do I use the delayed sweep function of my scope. or the X-Y function. There are places for them, LT has many times offered great X-Y display pictures to demonstrate some phenomenon, but in my daily work I rarely used that. And in fairness, some guys use scopes as component testers on X-Y mode, like a Huntron Tracker. But anything that will display a waveform on a screen will cover the vast majorities of your need. My point being that if you can find an old scope at a ham fest for $10-20, grab it and use it until the scope of your dreams comes along. You don't have to wait for THE scope. Scopes have a basic intuitiveness about them, in my view. Analog scopes. Digital scopes do a million things, but they also come with certain understandings, and I really think it is better to learn about scopes on an analog before moving to digital. If you ever make that move. I never felt the need for waveform storage. If you are a fancy guy and need FFT then so be it, but if you are at that level, you probably already have a scope.

Memory and mobility? Personally I don't need memory, and mobility? Where do you plan to move it to? My scope lives on the bench riser. If yours moves around the shop/warehouse a lot, get a scope cart. Like this one.