Monthly Archives: January 2011

Refurbishing a Capacitance Tester

Posted on January 20, 2011 by jwk

Parts Express sent me an advertisement for a $45 capacitance meter today. This actually a pretty good deal, and it’s a useful thing to have around if you’re doing electronics work. I’d probably have bought one myself, if I didn’t … Continue reading →

Posted in Electronics, Radios and Tubes, Vintage | Tagged , , , , | 1 Comment

Cost Engineering in 2011

Posted on January 18, 2011 by jwk

Cost engineering to pick the exact right time of failure has gotten considerably more precise since then. The warranty on the array controller in my enterprise backup server expired on Jan. 2, 2011 – just over two weeks ago. Today, … Continue reading →

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Cost Engineering in the 1930s

Posted on January 15, 2011 by jwk

It looks like cost engineering was already happening back in the 1930s: In the foreground, the destroyed original power transformer from the 1939 Zenith 7-S-363 radio; the rear, an equivalently rated replacement built in October 2010 by Edcor Transformer. In order … Continue reading →

Posted in Commentary, Radios and Tubes, Vintage | Tagged , , , | 3 Comments

Repairing a Vintage Radio (Coronado 907)

Posted on January 13, 2011 by jwk

This is my first project, a 1940 Coronado model 907. This was originally a “high end low end” receiver: it only receives the AM broadcast band, but has three tone settings and mechanical push-button presets. It also uses 7 tubes … Continue reading →

Posted in Projects, Radios and Tubes, Vintage | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment