Drug Store Tube Tester project

[Terry S]

I've been working on an early 70's Seco retail tube tester. Seco was a Minneapolis company, so this unit, which may have never been in retail service (based on the condition) never strayed far from home. I got it free off CL several years ago. No lower cabinet. It took me 3 years of searching and finally some hard negotiation to get a rusted out, dented up, poorly repainted cabinet, which came with another tube tester I didn't even want!

I've done no electrical restoration, as it seems to work as intended. A lot of cosmetic cleaning & polishing.

The lower unit was a different story. Required extensive sanding, dent removal, a little filler, priming & painting. Repainted legs & new feet. New piano hinge. The lower steel wood grain door was too far gone to salvage, so I'm building a wood replacement. The idea is that it will allow me to use the strength of the wood to do a little more tweaking & straightening of the cabinet, which despite my best efforts, is still just slightly askew... You may be able to spot that in some of the photos.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/***@N02/albums/72157674341385913

More pictures after the door is complete.

Terry

[Foxs Mercantile]

Post by Terry S
I've been working on an early 70's Seco retail tube tester.

It's funny, I have several tube testers, but when I bought the
store in Ranger Texas, it came with one of those "drug store"
testers. Whee!

[Michael Black]

Post by Foxs Mercantile

Post by Terry S
I've been working on an early 70's Seco retail tube tester.

It's funny, I have several tube testers, but when I bought the
store in Ranger Texas, it came with one of those "drug store"
testers. Whee!

That would make a great hands-on display.

You have a box of old tubes, the visitor can pick one out, and then use
the tube tester. At which point you step in, tell them the tube tester
isn't very accurate, and sell them a new tube.

Michael

[Terry S]

Minor update.

The original setup chart was printed on some sort of vinyl or similar heavy flexible paper, it has yellowed badly and is growing fragile. All the setup info is still legible, but the paper itself is in the process of perishing.

I had the roll chart scanned at a local print house and reprinted. I also got the scan in digital format, and went thru it and cleaned it up, removed unwanted scan artifacts, wrinkles, holes & tears, foxing, ragged edges and misprinting on the source.

I reprinted the chart on ordinary paper, taped it into a loop, and installed it into the tester. It looks great -- probably better than the original new -- and it works well on the wooden rollers.

Now that I have a pristine scan, I can reprint the chart at will. I've safely stored the original, and when my custody of the machine expires, I will pass that original chart along to the next owner.

Granted this is just a commercial tube tester, but like any artifact, I like to keep in mind that I will not be the final owner. Someone else will enjoy this after me. Hopefully in my tenure I will have done due diligence to at least maintain, if not improve, the condition of the unit for that future caretaker.

I'll post additional pictures showing the new chart. It might make a good wall hanging if you care to reprint it yourself. If you have this same tube tester you should grab the image as well. If anyone is interested, I'll make it available.

Terry

[Terry S]

Pictures of the re-mastered chart installed.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/***@N02/32054142900
https://www.flickr.com/photos/***@N02/32431953475
https://www.flickr.com/photos/***@N02/32431958745

Terry

[Peter Wieck]

On Thursday, December 22, 2016 at 10:22:29 AM UTC-5, Terry S wrote:

VERY nice!

Peter Wieck
Melrose Park, PA

[Terry S]

Finished! (mostly)

https://www.flickr.com/photos/***@N02/32694576316/in/album-72157674341385913/

https://www.flickr.com/photos/***@N02/32694566056/in/album-72157674341385913/

Today I installed the lower door that I hand crafted. I used 3/4" edge-glued Baltic Birch, because I like the way Birch takes stain -- not perfectly evenly. It allows the character of the wood to come thru.

I cut the door to size and stained it with a dark walnut stain, followed by 3 coats of satin finish polyurethane. It turned out nice -- much better looking than the original door, sheet metal covered in contact paper.

My original plan to use the lower door to straighten the cabinet didn't pan out -- it couldn't apply enough force. But I managed to straighten the upper door -- took out at least 75% of the sag -- by adjusting the hinge mounting points slightly.

I attached the new hinge section to the cabinet with pop rivets, and the door to the hinge with low profile truss head screws designed for drawer glides. The low profile head was essential so the hinge would close. Thank you Rockler Woodworking.

I found a nice beefy spring loaded roller catch for the door strike. It closes with a satisfying thunk and stays shut.

So what's left? I am debating having a buddy CNC engrave an RCA or GE or maybe Sylvania logo into the lower door. If I could find an appropriate water slide decal for the door glass, I might settle for that.

Would love to hear your ideas on the finishing touches.

Terry

[Terry S]

After a lot of searching, I located a fellow who had a hardcopy of the original manual and schematic that would have shipped with this tube tester. Some horsetrading resulted in him sending me scans of his manual. Additionally, I had the original roll chart scanned, and I re-mastered it as I mentioned earlier.

I've now submitted the manual and roll chart to the BAMA site, and the caretaker has kindly archived both and made them available for public access.

http://bama.edebris.com/manuals/seco/1100-1150/
https://www.flickr.com/photos/***@N02/albums/72157674341385913

I think that's it! A satisfying project complete.
I'll add one more picture to the Flickr site tonight.

Terry

[Peter Wieck]

On Tuesday, October 10, 2017 at 10:09:02 AM UTC-4, Terry S wrote:

I am not going to give up my big Hickok - but I am jealous!

Peter Wieck
Melrose Park, PA

[Foxs Mercantile]

Post by Terry S
I think that's it! A satisfying project complete.

That it is.
I'm looking for the manual for mine.
Mercury Model 203
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[Terry S]

I recently had an email exchange with the son of the founder of Seco Instruments, the manufacturer of this tube tester. How I made contact is not important, but what is cool is that I've learned a lot about the company, and even got some scans of photos related to the early beginnings of Seco.

I can't post all of them because some contain personal information that the fellow would rather not be made public (names and addresses), but I did get permission to post a few photos. I've uploaded 3 to my Flickr page for this tester. Scroll to the bottom.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/***@N02/albums/72157674341385913

What you will see are two shots of an early TV/Radio shop in Minneapolis, and a 3rd shot of a much earlier RCA Radio Demonstrator truck (Model A!) based out of a radio shop in St. Cloud, MN. The name on the truck is unrelated to the founder of Seco, but he was an employee of the shop. He is the driver in this photo. Look at the huge Nipper on top of the truck!

The shop building in Minneapolis still stands; it is now a Scuba shop.

The shop pictures resonated with me because the shop I worked in, in St. Paul, was also a Sylvania shop. Much later of course.

Check out the neon in the window of the shop! I would love to get my hands on that sign. "Sylvania Movie Clear Television".

Terry

[John-Del]

Post by Terry S
I recently had an email exchange with the son of the founder of Seco Instruments, the manufacturer of this tube tester. How I made contact is not important, but what is cool is that I've learned a lot about the company, and even got some scans of photos related to the early beginnings of Seco.
I can't post all of them because some contain personal information that the fellow would rather not be made public (names and addresses), but I did get permission to post a few photos. I've uploaded 3 to my Flickr page for this tester. Scroll to the bottom.
What you will see are two shots of an early TV/Radio shop in Minneapolis, and a 3rd shot of a much earlier RCA Radio Demonstrator truck (Model A!) based out of a radio shop in St. Cloud, MN. The name on the truck is unrelated to the founder of Seco, but he was an employee of the shop. He is the driver in this photo. Look at the huge Nipper on top of the truck!
The shop building in Minneapolis still stands; it is now a Scuba shop.
The shop pictures resonated with me because the shop I worked in, in St. Paul, was also a Sylvania shop. Much later of course.
Check out the neon in the window of the shop! I would love to get my hands on that sign. "Sylvania Movie Clear Television".
Terry

I wonder if they made the testers for RCA. I had a tester that looked a lot like that and I took it to the landfill sometime in the mid 80s as I recall.

[Peter Wieck]

Post by John-Del
I wonder if they made the testers for RCA. I had a tester that looked a lot like that and I took it to the landfill sometime in the mid 80s as I recall.

VIZ Electronics, still extant and still in Philadelphia, made a number of test instruments for RCA under license, and later under their own name. I expect that RCA would have turned to them for these sorts of things. Today, they are still jobbers-to-others, but make specialty items such as Radiosondes and meteorology equipment in their own right.

Peter Wieck
Melrose Park, PA

[John-Del]

Post by Peter Wieck

Post by John-Del
I wonder if they made the testers for RCA. I had a tester that looked a lot like that and I took it to the landfill sometime in the mid 80s as I recall.

VIZ Electronics, still extant and still in Philadelphia, made a number of test instruments for RCA under license, and later under their own name. I expect that RCA would have turned to them for these sorts of things. Today, they are still jobbers-to-others, but make specialty items such as Radiosondes and meteorology equipment in their own right.
Peter Wieck
Melrose Park, PA

Not sure if VIZ existed before RCA, but I do know that all RCA test instruments were rebadged as VIZ after RCA got out of the test instrument BIZ. Whether they were a behind the scenes OEM for RCA beforehand I don't have a clue.

In any case, I don't think RCA would have made such a contraption as the tube checker. I'm not sure they even made one back in the vacuum tube's heyday. Even back when I owned it, I was under the impression that RCA didn't make that "drug store" tester. The only place it said RCA was on the upper plastic display sign. I repaired it a couple of times during the 70s (usually worn sockets) but it didn't seem to resemble any kind of RCA product that I could recall.

[Terry S]

Here is the RCA branded version:

https://www.flickr.com/photos/***@N02/38654450912/in/dateposted/

This was taken before disassembly.

Terry

[John-Del]

Post by Terry S
This was taken before disassembly.
Terry

Yep. That's the one. It was probably ten years later that these things started becoming collectible. As usual, I was kicking my ass when these things took off and realizing it had been scrapped. I'd love to own it now just to display. Back then, it was an outdated marginally useful tester that took a lot of room. I have half a dozen other testers that are more capable and fit under a bench, but none of them have any charm whatsoever.

John
Wolcott, CT

[Terry S]

Seco definitely made this tester branded RCA, I had another copy that was labeled RCA. The only difference was the plastic signage at the top.

That unit became the donor for the lower cabinet for this tester. The tester itself was sold off to another enthusiast for his shop.

Terry