Retro OS-8C/U Oscilloscope Restoration
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- čas přidán 15. 06. 2018
- I purchased this retro Navy oscilloscope from an Amateur Radio Hamfest several years ago for around $20. I finally had time to perform a proper restoration on the device and document it - please enjoy!
Also, check out Mr. Carlson's channel here: / @mrcarlsonslab I learned pretty much everything I know about restoring this retro equipment from watching his videos.
Finally, check out my other videos as well as my website at coytbarringer.com/ for other cool electronic projects and tutorials.
Wow. A cool looking guy doing nerdy tech stuff!
I just got one of these. You can pull the glare shield out a few inches.
I have one exactly like this one.
Well done, Coyt. I'm a novice electronics hobbyist, which means that I basically know enough to get into all sorts of trouble. I had also watched Mr. C's videos on building a curve tracer with an old analog scope, so I went in search of one, stumbled upon the OS-8/U series of scopes, and took a keen liking to them. In fact, I just bought an OS-8E/U as my first scope and have started to do a basic restoration to get it into working order so that I can start using it. I also had planned to convert my OS-8 into a curve tracer, possibly in its own external project box and, hopefully, connect it through the rear terminal board. It's cool to hear you had the same idea. I'd love to see your scope in action or in use as a curve tracer and how you chose to construct and connect it. Thanks for the vid!
Very nice video man! One thing though, I highly suggest you go in right now and get rid of those selenium rectifiers!! It not a question of will they go, but when and I bet it will be very soon. I show replacing them in some of my videos. The signal generator I think I went into more detail of adding series resistance and such.
Thanks! And will do! I had no idea the selenium rectifiers go bad until your comment. Just did some research and yea I see now I'll have to go back in and add a modern replacement as well as a series resistor. Hopefully I have suitable parts laying around.
Good job dude! Very nice and clean workspace ;)
This is a really neat video! Very entertaining and easy to understand. Great job! Hope to get more videos in the future 😚😙
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Hi Coyt. Nice video. Was gifted one of these beasts. I am going to rehab it, but having a hard time getting past the smell. It smells like used motor oil. I'm told by other hams that is "Cosmoline" that the Navy spread and coated everything with back in its heyday. I'm told that the scope was watertight in the case if the clips were tight and the gaskets were in good shape and would float. ??!!
Did you notice a strong smell from your scope? You described you were going to clean it, but did not show in your video, nor did I hear you describe what you used and how you cleaned it. I've heard tales of HP and Tek using fire hoses and simple green cleaner, then baking it at 180f overnight to drive out any remaining moisture.
Hmmm... honestly I don't recall any significant smells coming from the scope nor did I notice any weird coatings. The inside of my scope was relatively clean already, so it didn't need much besides a dusting - I think I used an old paintbrush and compressed air can to make sure there was no surface dust / dirt inside. For the outside, I did use simple green and paper towels to wipe/scrub the entire outside including knobs, etc... to get it as clean and new looking as possible - this seemed to work well. I probably wouldn't soak it in cleaner, but as long as it dries I doubt it'd hurt anything.
Also, I'm wondering if a cap exploded or leaked in your unit and that's possibly causing the smell? The old electrolytic caps that I took apart were pretty nasty inside, and one of the other caps I replaced may have been filled with oil if I remember correctly (the one I cut open to mount the new caps at around 11:15 in the video).
@@CoytHV Thanks for the response. I believe you may be correct about the smell being capacitor goop. If liquid in the electrolyte evaporates, the gas has to go somewhere, and this beast was stored for decades in its case locked up tight. I powered it up gently and slowly with a variac a couple years back, with zero restoration, and she did work!
Great video man, and cool little scope! I noticed on one of Mr. C’s videos he uses a sharpie to follow the line horizontal line of the crt, then uses that to align. When I worked in the glass field years ago, we used sharpie lots, and removed with denatured alcohol. This is how I align old crt now. Quick question, did you use iMovie for your editing? I am hoping to do a few vids myself to honor Mr C ‘s teachings, and like that speed up effect a lot. Again, nice video, and great job!
Thanks! I was going to do the sharpie/dry erase method, but honestly I cheated a bit and ended up just leaving the CRT a bit loose. This allowed me to gently twist it a bit while it was on by simply using the friction from my fingers on the front of the glass. Once the trace was straight I went back in and tightened it fully. I'm sure this method rarely works but it was easy and quick for this scope.
As for editing, I'm using CyberLink PowerDirector. I've only made 2 videos with it so I have no clue how to use 99% of it's capability - it's a pretty full featured program - but seems decent so far.
You sound like a young Jeff Goldblum.