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Gentlemen,
Many of us are familiar with the all-too-common problem of reciever re-alignment. Dealing the vintage radios with fragile ferite cores in
their IF stages is unavoidable and can prove to be a major PITA. The
cores are brittle and eager to shatter at anything much above mm/mg
torque levels. The key is to use a tool which is not only non-metallic
but also a perfect fit for the slot it must engage with in the top of
the core. Given the range of sizes one encounters in this concern,
it's often necessary to 'roll your own' tool. Well I have a suggestion
to make. Wood makes the best tool for this job and opinions vary as to
which particular wood is ideally suited to this task. Lemon and orange
are often cited. But they're expensive and hard to source typically.
However, I've found a marvellous alternative: yellow heart. I don't
know what the technical name is for this wood, but that's what it's informally called. It's cheaper and more readily obtainable than
orange or lemon and AFAIC, *better* than either with it's incredibly
fine grain and viceral hardness. It files and sands readily and when
dipped in cellulose sealer, will not fray in use.
Just thought I'd share that with you guys.
CD.
Gentlemen,
Many of us are familiar with the all-too-common problem of reciever re-alignment. Dealing the vintage radios with fragile ferite cores in
their IF stages is unavoidable and can prove to be a major PITA. The
cores are brittle and eager to shatter at anything much above mm/mg
torque levels. The key is to use a tool which is not only non-metallic
but also a perfect fit for the slot it must engage with in the top of
the core. Given the range of sizes one encounters in this concern,
it's often necessary to 'roll your own' tool. Well I have a suggestion
to make. Wood makes the best tool for this job and opinions vary as to
which particular wood is ideally suited to this task. Lemon and orange
are often cited. But they're expensive and hard to source typically.
However, I've found a marvellous alternative: yellow heart. I don't
know what the technical name is for this wood, but that's what it's informally called. It's cheaper and more readily obtainable than
orange or lemon and AFAIC, *better* than either with it's incredibly
fine grain and viceral hardness. It files and sands readily and when
dipped in cellulose sealer, will not fray in use.
Just thought I'd share that with you guys.
Gentlemen,
Many of us are familiar with the all-too-common problem of reciever >re-alignment. Dealing the vintage radios with fragile ferite cores in
their IF stages is unavoidable and can prove to be a major PITA. The
cores are brittle and eager to shatter at anything much above mm/mg
torque levels. The key is to use a tool which is not only non-metallic
but also a perfect fit for the slot it must engage with in the top of
the core. Given the range of sizes one encounters in this concern,
it's often necessary to 'roll your own' tool. Well I have a suggestion
to make. Wood makes the best tool for this job and opinions vary as to
which particular wood is ideally suited to this task. Lemon and orange
are often cited. But they're expensive and hard to source typically.
However, I've found a marvellous alternative: yellow heart. I don't
know what the technical name is for this wood, but that's what it's >informally called. It's cheaper and more readily obtainable than
orange or lemon and AFAIC, *better* than either with it's incredibly
fine grain and viceral hardness. It files and sands readily and when
dipped in cellulose sealer, will not fray in use.
Just thought I'd share that with you guys.
CD.
On Wed, 18 Jun 2025 18:04:29 +0100, Cursitor Doom <cd@notformail.com>
wrote:
Gentlemen,
Many of us are familiar with the all-too-common problem of reciever >>re-alignment. Dealing the vintage radios with fragile ferite cores in
their IF stages is unavoidable and can prove to be a major PITA. The
cores are brittle and eager to shatter at anything much above mm/mg
torque levels. The key is to use a tool which is not only non-metallic
but also a perfect fit for the slot it must engage with in the top of
the core. Given the range of sizes one encounters in this concern,
it's often necessary to 'roll your own' tool. Well I have a suggestion
to make. Wood makes the best tool for this job and opinions vary as to >>which particular wood is ideally suited to this task. Lemon and orange
are often cited. But they're expensive and hard to source typically. >>However, I've found a marvellous alternative: yellow heart. I don't
know what the technical name is for this wood, but that's what it's >>informally called. It's cheaper and more readily obtainable than
orange or lemon and AFAIC, *better* than either with it's incredibly
fine grain and viceral hardness. It files and sands readily and when
dipped in cellulose sealer, will not fray in use.
Just thought I'd share that with you guys.
CD.
I have no experience with lemon or orange wood. However, if they're
anything like the wooden tuning tools I made and used half a century
ago, I suspect you will have problems. Wood absorbs moisture from the
air. I had problems with the tuning changing at VHF (> 100 MHz)
frequencies. This is about half of the tuning tools I've accumulated
over the years:
<https://photos.app.goo.gl/7Gq4r85pipeccUMz9>
My favorite do it myself tuning tools are ceramic rods. Buy some
ceramic rods and grind the tips until they look like a "blade", Allen
wrench, or whatever. ><https://www.ortechceramics.com/products/ceramic-tubes-rods/ceramic-rod/>
My 2nd favorite is plastic. I forgot which plastic worked the best. A
crude test for a proper plastic is to put a sample in a microwave
oven for maybe 15 seconds. I just tried it on some of the tuning
tools in my collection. No heating, melting or fire. Or, you could
just find a plastic that works as a coil form.
If you have a grid dip meter, measure the self resonant frequency of
an inductor and capacitor in parallel. Find the resonance frequency.
Shove the plastic sample into the core (or nearby). It should NOT
change the resonant frequency.
On Wed, 18 Jun 2025 18:03:03 -0700, Jeff Liebermann <jeffl@cruzio.com>
wrote:
On Wed, 18 Jun 2025 18:04:29 +0100, Cursitor Doom <cd@notformail.com> >>wrote:
Gentlemen,
Many of us are familiar with the all-too-common problem of reciever >>>re-alignment. Dealing the vintage radios with fragile ferite cores in >>>their IF stages is unavoidable and can prove to be a major PITA. The >>>cores are brittle and eager to shatter at anything much above mm/mg >>>torque levels. The key is to use a tool which is not only non-metallic >>>but also a perfect fit for the slot it must engage with in the top of
the core. Given the range of sizes one encounters in this concern,
it's often necessary to 'roll your own' tool. Well I have a suggestion
to make. Wood makes the best tool for this job and opinions vary as to >>>which particular wood is ideally suited to this task. Lemon and orange >>>are often cited. But they're expensive and hard to source typically. >>>However, I've found a marvellous alternative: yellow heart. I don't
know what the technical name is for this wood, but that's what it's >>>informally called. It's cheaper and more readily obtainable than
orange or lemon and AFAIC, *better* than either with it's incredibly
fine grain and viceral hardness. It files and sands readily and when >>>dipped in cellulose sealer, will not fray in use.
Just thought I'd share that with you guys.
CD.
I have no experience with lemon or orange wood. However, if they're >>anything like the wooden tuning tools I made and used half a century
ago, I suspect you will have problems. Wood absorbs moisture from the
air. I had problems with the tuning changing at VHF (> 100 MHz)
It does absorb moisture if left untreated, yes. That's why it's
important to dip the finished tool in cellulose sanding sealer, wipe
it off, let it dry, then repeat the process.
The grain (which is
already very fine and tight with yellow heart) will now be impervious
to atmospheric moisture AND that grain will be bonded by the sealer,
making it much less likely to fray and thereby extending the useful
life of the tool considerably.
frequencies. This is about half of the tuning tools I've accumulated
over the years:
<https://photos.app.goo.gl/7Gq4r85pipeccUMz9>
My favorite do it myself tuning tools are ceramic rods. Buy some
ceramic rods and grind the tips until they look like a "blade", Allen >>wrench, or whatever. >><https://www.ortechceramics.com/products/ceramic-tubes-rods/ceramic-rod/>
My 2nd favorite is plastic. I forgot which plastic worked the best. A >>crude test for a proper plastic is to put a sample in a microwave
oven for maybe 15 seconds. I just tried it on some of the tuning
tools in my collection. No heating, melting or fire. Or, you could
just find a plastic that works as a coil form.
If you have a grid dip meter, measure the self resonant frequency of
an inductor and capacitor in parallel. Find the resonance frequency.
Shove the plastic sample into the core (or nearby). It should NOT
change the resonant frequency.
Certainly won't ifyou use wood either.
You might want to try using a moisture meter. Two types. One type
shoves two pins into the wood and measures the DC resistance. The
other is a capacitance meter with the wood sample between two
capacitor plates (also known as "pinless").
On Thu, 19 Jun 2025 14:00:31 +0100, Cursitor Doom <cd@notformail.com>
wrote:
On Wed, 18 Jun 2025 18:03:03 -0700, Jeff Liebermann <jeffl@cruzio.com> >>wrote:
On Wed, 18 Jun 2025 18:04:29 +0100, Cursitor Doom <cd@notformail.com> >>>wrote:
Gentlemen,
Many of us are familiar with the all-too-common problem of reciever >>>>re-alignment. Dealing the vintage radios with fragile ferite cores in >>>>their IF stages is unavoidable and can prove to be a major PITA. The >>>>cores are brittle and eager to shatter at anything much above mm/mg >>>>torque levels. The key is to use a tool which is not only non-metallic >>>>but also a perfect fit for the slot it must engage with in the top of >>>>the core. Given the range of sizes one encounters in this concern,
it's often necessary to 'roll your own' tool. Well I have a suggestion >>>>to make. Wood makes the best tool for this job and opinions vary as to >>>>which particular wood is ideally suited to this task. Lemon and orange >>>>are often cited. But they're expensive and hard to source typically. >>>>However, I've found a marvellous alternative: yellow heart. I don't >>>>know what the technical name is for this wood, but that's what it's >>>>informally called. It's cheaper and more readily obtainable than
orange or lemon and AFAIC, *better* than either with it's incredibly >>>>fine grain and viceral hardness. It files and sands readily and when >>>>dipped in cellulose sealer, will not fray in use.
Just thought I'd share that with you guys.
CD.
I have no experience with lemon or orange wood. However, if they're >>>anything like the wooden tuning tools I made and used half a century
ago, I suspect you will have problems. Wood absorbs moisture from the >>>air. I had problems with the tuning changing at VHF (> 100 MHz)
It does absorb moisture if left untreated, yes. That's why it's
important to dip the finished tool in cellulose sanding sealer, wipe
it off, let it dry, then repeat the process.
The grain (which is
already very fine and tight with yellow heart) will now be impervious
to atmospheric moisture AND that grain will be bonded by the sealer,
making it much less likely to fray and thereby extending the useful
life of the tool considerably.
I beg to differ somewhat. Trees and plants are designed by nature to >efficiently transport water along the trunk (or branches) through the
xylem using capillary action. It can't do that while leaking water
through the outer layers (bark, cambium and phloem). Those are fairly
well sealed. The water transport doesn't stop when the tree is cut
down. Think of the tree trunk as a bundle of soda straws. The water
still moves along the length of the trunk. Therefore, if you want to
prevent the tree from absorbing water, you need to protect the ends
and not so much the outside of the trunk. Capillary action is only a
small part of the water transport system. Most of the pressure comes
from the roots via osmosis. For very tall trees, there's also
transpiration (pressure from evaporating water). However, if all
you're worried about is water getting into your wooden tuning tool,
the small amount of water in the xylem will be noticeable at VHF
frequencies.
<https://www.reddit.com/r/boatbuilding/comments/hhaujy/why_does_planking_end_just_behind_the_bow/>
"This affirms the wooden boat builders trick of sealing the plank ends
with glue, even the staunch traditionalist will put glue on the end of
the planks."
frequencies. This is about half of the tuning tools I've accumulated >>>over the years:
<https://photos.app.goo.gl/7Gq4r85pipeccUMz9>
My favorite do it myself tuning tools are ceramic rods. Buy some
ceramic rods and grind the tips until they look like a "blade", Allen >>>wrench, or whatever. >>><https://www.ortechceramics.com/products/ceramic-tubes-rods/ceramic-rod/> >>>
My 2nd favorite is plastic. I forgot which plastic worked the best. A >>>crude test for a proper plastic is to put a sample in a microwave
oven for maybe 15 seconds. I just tried it on some of the tuning
tools in my collection. No heating, melting or fire. Or, you could
just find a plastic that works as a coil form.
If you have a grid dip meter, measure the self resonant frequency of
an inductor and capacitor in parallel. Find the resonance frequency. >>>Shove the plastic sample into the core (or nearby). It should NOT
change the resonant frequency.
Certainly won't ifyou use wood either.
Huh? I suggest you use some kind of ceramic or plastic, unless you
enjoy research projects.
Cursitor Doom <cd@notformail.com> wrote:
Gentlemen,
Many of us are familiar with the all-too-common problem of reciever
re-alignment. Dealing the vintage radios with fragile ferite cores in
their IF stages is unavoidable and can prove to be a major PITA. The
cores are brittle and eager to shatter at anything much above mm/mg
torque levels. The key is to use a tool which is not only non-metallic
but also a perfect fit for the slot it must engage with in the top of
the core. Given the range of sizes one encounters in this concern,
it's often necessary to 'roll your own' tool. Well I have a suggestion
to make. Wood makes the best tool for this job and opinions vary as to
which particular wood is ideally suited to this task. Lemon and orange
are often cited. But they're expensive and hard to source typically.
However, I've found a marvellous alternative: yellow heart. I don't
know what the technical name is for this wood, but that's what it's
informally called. It's cheaper and more readily obtainable than
orange or lemon and AFAIC, *better* than either with it's incredibly
fine grain and viceral hardness. It files and sands readily and when
dipped in cellulose sealer, will not fray in use.
Just thought I'd share that with you guys.
You must be psychic!
Last weekend I bought an Eddystone EC10 at a radio rally. It suffered
from the usual problem of 'whiskered' OC171s causing random bangs and
crashes so I decided to change all the transistors to silicon and make
it negative earth.
When I came to align it, most of the ranges were within specification
(not bad for ba set that is 50 years old) but Range 3 was so badly out
of alignment that I thought someone must have adjusted the local
oscillator high-side at the bottom calibration point and low-side at the >upper one. It turned out that this wasn't the case but the Range 3 >oscillator core was cracked and had obviously suffered from 'screwdriver >drift'.
I couldn't find my Neosid nylon hexagonal trimming tool, so I used a
plastic knitting needle filed approximately to a hexagon - if that
hadn't worked, I was going to use a wooden barbecue skewer. Luckily the
bits of the core unscrewed with a bit of patience and - even more
luckily - at the radio rally I had been given a box of old scrap coils,
one of which had an identical hexagonal-holed ferrite core in perfect >condition.
Range 3 still wouldn't line up and I discovered that the tracking
capacitor was out of spec. That proabably accounts for why the previous >owner had been messing around trying to re-align it. Everything is
working now and I never cease to be amazed at the sensitivity and low >internal noise level of these sets - even though, in 1968, I worked in
the factory on the production line of its companion receiver, the EB35.
My job? - aligning them!
On Wed, 18 Jun 2025 22:27:15 +0100, liz@poppyrecords.invalid.invalid
(Liz Tuddenham) wrote:
Cursitor Doom <cd@notformail.com> wrote:
Gentlemen,
Many of us are familiar with the all-too-common problem of reciever
re-alignment. Dealing the vintage radios with fragile ferite cores in
their IF stages is unavoidable and can prove to be a major PITA. The
cores are brittle and eager to shatter at anything much above mm/mg
torque levels. The key is to use a tool which is not only non-metallic
but also a perfect fit for the slot it must engage with in the top of
the core. Given the range of sizes one encounters in this concern,
it's often necessary to 'roll your own' tool. Well I have a suggestion
to make. Wood makes the best tool for this job and opinions vary as to
which particular wood is ideally suited to this task. Lemon and orange
are often cited. But they're expensive and hard to source typically.
However, I've found a marvellous alternative: yellow heart. I don't
know what the technical name is for this wood, but that's what it's
informally called. It's cheaper and more readily obtainable than
orange or lemon and AFAIC, *better* than either with it's incredibly
fine grain and viceral hardness. It files and sands readily and when
dipped in cellulose sealer, will not fray in use.
Just thought I'd share that with you guys.
You must be psychic!
Last weekend I bought an Eddystone EC10 at a radio rally. It suffered
from the usual problem of 'whiskered' OC171s causing random bangs and >crashes so I decided to change all the transistors to silicon and make
it negative earth.
When I came to align it, most of the ranges were within specification
(not bad for ba set that is 50 years old) but Range 3 was so badly out
of alignment that I thought someone must have adjusted the local
oscillator high-side at the bottom calibration point and low-side at the >upper one. It turned out that this wasn't the case but the Range 3 >oscillator core was cracked and had obviously suffered from 'screwdriver >drift'.
I couldn't find my Neosid nylon hexagonal trimming tool, so I used a >plastic knitting needle filed approximately to a hexagon - if that
hadn't worked, I was going to use a wooden barbecue skewer. Luckily the >bits of the core unscrewed with a bit of patience and - even more
luckily - at the radio rally I had been given a box of old scrap coils,
one of which had an identical hexagonal-holed ferrite core in perfect >condition.
Range 3 still wouldn't line up and I discovered that the tracking
capacitor was out of spec. That proabably accounts for why the previous >owner had been messing around trying to re-align it. Everything is
working now and I never cease to be amazed at the sensitivity and low >internal noise level of these sets - even though, in 1968, I worked in
the factory on the production line of its companion receiver, the EB35.
My job? - aligning them!
Yes, a properly aligned AM rx with a decent loudspeaker in a properly-designed wooden cabinet can sound fantastic. What's your
preferred methodology for IF stage re-alignment? I have a Knight
signal generator/wobbulator made in the late 60s which I like to pair
up with a spectrum analyzer. Some folks seem happy just to tweak 'n'
peak the audio level, but I don't think that comes out as well and
risks osciallation of course. Then there's the 'S' curve brigade (not
my cup of tea personally). There are probably other methods as well,
which I'm sure someone will chip in with!
Final Verdict
The guyAs claim is technically grounded but overblown. Your sealed
Paulownia sticks are just as good as plastic or ceramic for practical
tuning, even at VHF. HeAs worrying about a non-issue for your use
case. Keep rocking those sticksuyouAre golden!"
I don't believe the AI's claim that water incursion into the tuning
tool will have very little effect on the tuning. If you tested it
with de-ionized water, there will probably be very little detuning.
However, real world conditions aren't very clean. There will be all
kinds of potential contaminants available to cause some detuning.
On Fri, 20 Jun 2025 18:04:24 +0100, Cursitor Doom <cd@notformail.com>
wrote:
(chomp)
Final Verdict
The guyAs claim is technically grounded but overblown. Your sealed >>Paulownia sticks are just as good as plastic or ceramic for practical >>tuning, even at VHF. HeAs worrying about a non-issue for your use
case. Keep rocking those sticksuyouAre golden!"
Thanks. I'm not used to arguing with someone who is polite. It's
nice, even if it is from a polite AI.
I don't know anything about Paulownia sticks. So, I do a little
digging:
<https://www.wood-database.com/paulownia/>
"Endgrain: Ring-porous, occasionally semi-ring-porous; 3-5 rows of
very large earlywood pores, large to small latewood pores; tyloses
common; narrow to medium rays visible without lens, normal spacing; >parenchyma winged, lozenge, confluent, and marginal."
Notice the "ring-porous" which means if it's not properly sealed at
the ends, it's going to suck in some water. The AI mentioned
"properly dried and sealed wood" several times as a requirement for
keeping the water out of the tuning tool. If you go through all that,
I don't see much of a problem. If you dry it in some half baked
manner (i.e. toaster oven or microwave oven), I suspect you will have >problems.
Further down the wood-database page:
"Comments: The other Balsa. Paulownia is used in applications where a >lightweight (yet proportionately strong) wood is needed."
Personally, if the wood is as light weight as the article suggests,
it's not going to make a good tuning tool, which should be as hard and
stiff as possible. I'm trying to visualize how well a rubber tuning
tool might work.
I've played with Balsa wood making model airplanes. It's very
lightweight and quite suitable for making things that float or fly.
The light weight comes from large air pockets in the wood. If
Paulownia is anything like Balsa Wood, it's going to look and act much
like a sponge. Even if it's "properly dried and sealed", a flimsy
sponge is going to flex, crack and bend, which could ruin the seal.
Yep, looks like balsa wood: ><https://www.wood-database.com/wp-content/uploads/royal-paulownia-endgrain.jpg>
I don't believe the AI's claim that water incursion into the tuning
tool will have very little effect on the tuning. If you tested it
with de-ionized water, there will probably be very little detuning.
However, real world conditions aren't very clean. There will be all
kinds of potential contaminants available to cause some detuning.
Exactly which contaminants and how much detuning they'll produce, I
don't know. I could probably build and test a Paulownia tuning tool,
but I won't have the time. I'm going for some surgery in about 2
weeks and prefer to do other things.
Good luck.
Jeff Liebermann <jeffl@cruzio.com> wrote:
[...]
I don't believe the AI's claim that water incursion into the tuning
tool will have very little effect on the tuning. If you tested it
with de-ionized water, there will probably be very little detuning.
However, real world conditions aren't very clean. There will be all
kinds of potential contaminants available to cause some detuning.
The wood itself will contain soluble salts, so even if deionised water
is used for the test, it will soon be contaminated with ions as soon as
it enters the wood.
