I’ve put this one off long enough. It’s time to get this one done.
This unit is going to require a complete overhaul, including every resistor on the range switch (and then some!) So let’s start with the range switch.
Since almost all of these resistors were custom values, I’ve ended up having to make some of them. There’s an easy way to do that, you can use standard values and a special calculator site:
This site searches standard values and tries to come up with a solution using two resistors. I was able to make all of my hard-to-find resistors (I’ll publish that chart in the wrapup,) except for one. That one was 82MΩ, which is an odd value. There’s limited selection on that one at best, so I made one out of four resistors.
I don’t have all of the resistors I need yet, but I had enough to get started on the switch. This is what I came up with:
I’m going to try and do maybe 5-6 resistors at a time so there’s no screw-ups. This part only has one that needed multiple components, the pair hanging off the bottom is a 325kΩ unit.
This is just going to be a slow process - there’s no way around it. Stay tuned!
I’ve got a kit on the bench called a MAKERbuino, and it’s been kicking around the shop for a while. I started building it a few days ago (videos on that will come later) and discovered something. The kit has a bad display.
Initially, it didn’t do anything, but then it started to flicker and come to life. Hitting it with a little heat will make it work for a while, but it’s very unreliable.
I’ve reached out to the manufacturer to see if they can provide a new part. If not, this is a Nokia display on a slightly different form factor, so something has to be out there.
Odysee is a YouTube-like that allows for videos and shorts, but offers content creators a bit more control over things. It will generally follow the YouTube feed, but there may be a short delay as things sync up.
I’ve added this for anyone who want to stay away from Google services. It’s located in the sidebar, or bookmark the link below.
A note on this: Odysee appears to be in some financial trouble. The founder left literally the day before this was posted, and he talked about having some monetary hurdles to overcome. It’s not really the platform - I like it, but as some commenters pointed out - it’s just a dumping ground for things already posted on YouTube, you’re not getting any creator interaction with videos.
I did notice that, and a lack of any participation. Watched a few videos on the platform last night. Years old, no views.
I’ll let that channel run as long as possible, but if it gets really janky or unusable because of bandwidth issues I’ll stop. If there’s one thing I don’t want to give you, it’s a video that has to buffer like it’s dialup.
I recently did an unboxing for a Radioddity GS-10B Pro. The included battery charger didn’t work, and a friend offered to help me open it up to see if we could figure out what was going on.
I picked up this clean example of a Heathkit IP-2718 triple power supply at Breezeshooters 2026. This popular supply is still quite common, and you can usually find one or two at a show. Some go for giant buxx in terrible shape - another example I saw at Breezeshooters was in this category - and some, like this one, are in pretty good shape for a reasonable price. This one was $30, and included the original manual.
The only thing that this one appears to need is a replacement ground binding post. This one has a white cap that’s shorter than the shaft, and is being held together with some washers. That should be easy enough to fix, it just requires finding one that fits the hole without drilling more.
This one is interesting in that it says Heathkit, whereas my other unit says Heath-Zenith.
Inside, it’s pretty much exactly what you’d expect from a 1970s power supply.
In the foreground is the 5V section with it’s singular large filter, and in the back is the dual 0-20 supply. The hefty transformer sits in the middle of it all.
So, does it work?
Sure does. There’s not much in here to go bad.
This is going to go on the shelf waiting for use, and it will probably show up at some point for the jack replacement. Stay tuned!
I picked this interesting example of a radio up at the Findlay Hamfest last year (2025.) It’s a Zenith 6D029, and was made around 1946 - so just after the war. It’s visually appealing:
It’s in decent enough shape for the age. The cabinet is all there, but the finish is eh. That’s about all I expected for the age.
The back panel is all there, although just a little damaged. That’s really unusual for a radio of this age.
The cord, of course, is in mint condition. I could plug this thing in right away, I’m sure. (Or not. Probably not.)
Removing the back panel reveals the antenna.
The OEM label is still inside.
Oh boy, loctals. Those are always fun.
The chassis is nothing unusual for a radio of this vintage. It’s a 6-tube unit, and has a tuned RF front end. It should be a solid performer when it’s peaked up. There’s only one OEM marked tube in this, so it’s seen a lot of use.
This is listed in Riders 15, Pages Zenith 26 and 27. I have that manual, and when I can get the book clasp to release, I’ll photocopy them and post them in the library.
Right now, one of the knobs is refusing to come off, so I’m deciding on ways to release that. When I’m able to get that off, I’ll pull the chassis and we can inspect the underside to see if anything has been done to this radio over the years.
Stay tuned, quite literally!
Next part of this series: Coming soon.
Wrapup and final thoughts: Coming soon.
While those of us here in the states celebrate our country’s 250th birthday, Projects from the Bottom Drawer celebrates a much more humble acheivment - that of it’s 5th birthday.
On July 4th, 2021, I set up pygg.xyz as a way to move my personal dealings off of a very breached gmail address. It had recently been in the 2021 LinkedIn breach, something I still get fallout from 5 years later as mailers insist that I’m actually a business and do I need help with employees/receivables/publishing/etc.
At the same time, I decided to re-open this blog - it had been hosted on blogger.com. I quicky found that .xyz domains had little trust in the internet world and set out on a search for another porcine-related site. Wereboar.com had recently been released by it’s owner, so I made the purchase and here we are.
Pull up a chair, have a slice of cake, and thank you for joining me these past 5 years. I hope to present strange junk and weird projects for many more.
This is kind of an unusual device in the tube tester world - it’s the only “Lunchbox” style device that I’m aware of. Most devices of this nature are suitcase or other lay-flat devices.
I picked this guy up at Athens 2025, for a really cheap price. The reason for that price is someone accidentally splashed acetone on the front panel and destroyed some of the lettering. I don’t really care about that, you can still tell what it was.
The back is nothing special, and just has two screws to hold the chassis in.
Someone attached some mangled GC pin straighteners to the top of the unit. I’ll probably take these off.
Inside, it was obviously a factory build.
Almost everything in here is laced, save for a few things…
There’s a special place reserved for people who do this.
The only part of concern in this unit is a blocking capacitor of the Elmenco style. It’s dated 1974, which is surprisingly late for a tube tester. This can be easily changed but is it really worth it?
So let’s test something. I have a 6X5 laying around from the recent EICO 950A rebuild. It’s a NOS tube, let’s see how it works…
Yeah, that’s a good tube. But, remember - this is an emissions tester only. It’s a glorified go-no-go test, but it at least will tell you if the tube is working. Sort of.
This one isn’t going to need anything except maybe that capacitor. Probably not even that.
The EICO 950A has been completed. While this wasn’t really a complex build, it was challenging in that the previous owner made a mess of it before I got it.
This unit benefitted from remove the component/replace the component methodology that I used, where possible. It wasn’t possible in the power supply, which was a horror show, but everything else was easily replaced as it was taken out, as not to have too many components on the bench and too much “Where did this go again?”
The capacitor kit was purchased on eBay, and that’s what I’d like to talk about the most during wrapup.
Capacitors…too little, too late?
While the kit I purchased contained good quality parts, there were a few issues:
1: The mica capacitor in the measurement circuit.
Mica capacitors are generally thought to be bulletproof - but they are not. They are subject to the same issues as the Automatic Electric IF cans - that is, silver mica disease. You’ll be told this isn’t the case and that a mica is good forever, but searching online will reveal more than one person mentioning how they saw these starting to fail in the 90s, just 40 years after their common use.
We’re now 35 years past that, and these things are suspect. They haven’t failed - but they are suspect. First problem, is it mica? Paper parts were made on a similar body type. Second problem, these have miniscule surface cracks in the coating that have developed over the years. It’s not a matter if, it’s when they will fail. Will that be in my lifetime? I have no idea, but a new part is cheap, and there’s no excuse not to replace it.
In particular, I had a hard time getting a stable reading on the one in my unit - possibly because of moisture ingress over the years. The surface of the part didn’t look that great either, to be honest.
2: The main 8μF filter.
There’s nothing at all wrong with the part in the kit, but B+ in this unit is 600VDC - and that’s at a reduced line voltage. If your line is running 125 like most do today, your’re going to exceed the value of this capacitor by a wide range instead of the 7VDC I was exceeding it by. While the capacitor is probably going to hold up to this without too much issue, a weakened or older part could pop. As higher voltage parts aren’t really easily available these days, the best solution (even if it’s not a good one) is to take two 350VDC parts of roughly double the capacitance, put them in series, and use that. I’m planning on doing that at some point, but not right this minute - stay tuned for the addendum to this project.
While this 600VDC capacitor will probably handle 607VDC just fine, always use parts rated for what you’re doing. I like to derate by about 80%, meaning that for 600VDC I’d use 750-800VDC for this part.
Another thing of note was the 30kΩ resistor that feeds the main circuit. When I did the final parts placement, I joked about having to use two overly-exacting parts, i.e. two 15kΩ 0.1% 15ppm resistors to make up a 30kΩ because I didn’t seem to have any. Looking back at my notes - I probably decided to go this route originally because I couldn’t get a 30kΩ part, and decided to use those 15kΩ units for just that.
I didn’t replace the tubes like I had originally planned because the eye I purchased wasn’t a whole lot brighter, and the 6X5 tests similar to the new one. I’ll stick those aside for later use or other projects.
The challenge with this one was simply in the figuring out what the previous owner did, not in the doing. I now have a good working example of this device in my collection, even if the physical condition of the device isn’t the best.
Battle scars on test equipment are fine by me.
There’s another EICO 150, a Zenth Consoltone, and an EICO 249 waiting in the wings. Stay tuned!
