Valiant Photos

[ka4koe]

http://flic.kr/s/aHsjFtr7aV

Here are the photos.

Philip

[WBear2GCR]

Uh-oh. Hot glue shaft repair??

That does not bode well. It gets rather hot on that chassis and hot glue gets soft quickly.
May I ask what the repair was to and what is the glue doing?

If it is/was just the coupler, best to replace the coupler.

In a pinch, and for this light duty use you can get away with a short section of reinforced
rubber hose and two clamps, even clear poly tubing will last quite a number of years, like decades.

If you had to go with a "glue" a better choice might be a slow set epoxy.

                      _-_-bear

[w8fax]

I found the coupling broken partially on one of my Valiants. I carefully removed the old rivets with a dumore grinder. Then cut a matching piece from an old credit card. Transfer the holes and then hand drill, (fingers for power) using a small drill bit. Either replace the rivets with small screws and nuts, or re rivet with hollow rivets. I had some small screws at my shop that just fit and the nuts/heads do not touch. Good luck...Al/W8FAX

[ka4koe]

Hot glue melts at around 180F, if I'm not mistaken. If it gets that hot inside the VFO compartment, then we've got bigger issues at hand. We'll see how it holds up. Frankly, the temperature angle never even occurred to me.

P

[MikeKE0ZUinkcmo]

Nice pics for a mad scientist, but it does look like you need a lab assistant.   As to the hot glue, since its "hot melt" I'd think that as the temps rise toward normal operating levels, the glue would at least soften.   I guess only time will tell, but I'd have looked for a different solution.

[ka4koe]

Nah, I do my best work when alone...MUHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH!!!!!

[WBear2GCR]

It well could hit 100c inside the VFO on a summer day. Or nearly so.

I think you might want to test that hot melt stuff and see how well it is doing above 100F, I think it starts to get pretty soft before it finally melts at 180F...

Guess it is a royal PIA to take all that apart...

               _-_-

[Steve - K4HX]

This sounds like a job for epoxy.

Hot glue melts at around 180F, if I'm not mistaken. If it gets that hot inside the VFO compartment, then we've got bigger issues at hand. We'll see how it holds up. Frankly, the temperature angle never even occurred to me.

P

[ka4koe]

EPOXY MAN!!!

Sticks around when the going gets tough, and the tough get silly!

[ka4koe]

I have a temperature probe for my Tek 465. I will put this question to rest once and for all.

[WA2ROC]

JB WELD!  When duct tape just isn't enough....

[ka4koe]

If I had some JB handy, that would have been 1st Choice. As it was, the bride's (K4SMN) hobby room is right next to the Evil Mad Scientist Lab, and my rheumy eyes spied the handy-dandy glue gun o' death.

[ka4koe]

Chatted with K2VW last night on 14.330. Valiant worked fine; only one SNAP somewhere and then my loading started to change. I have the DREADED LOADING CAP issue as they heat up!
Her is a photo of the Valiant, R388, Tek 465 scope, keyboard amplifier for AM audio, and HP freak counter. Look closely and you'll also see the handy dandy Automatic Electric Space Maker telephone.

Philip

[Steve - K4HX]

Nice set up.

BTW, no need to mod the R-388 for TR/PTT. Just use a 12v wall-wart in series with a set of contacts on your TR relay.

[WBear2GCR]

Fwiw, I monitor myself via my R-388 while transmitting on my Valiant II, using a DowKey relay for switching (the Valiant does that), no muting. The extra contacts on the DowKey I expect could do the muting if I wanted to mute it. No overload problems, needle sits about 40dB iirc, a little over.

Probably that's heresy, but I've been running like that a long time.

The speaker is about 10ft off to the side... if i go up to QRO this set up may no longer work.

                         _-_-

Btw, you might try hooking a cable from ur scope to the IF out of the R-388, I do...

[ka4koe]

Yes, you are a radio heretic. Burn, baby burn! If you don't have a pan adapter, what good does it do to sample the IF.

[Pete, WA2CWA]

Yes, you are a radio heretic. Burn, baby burn! If you don't have a pan adapter, what good does it do to sample the IF.

Panadapters are generally connected to the input side of the IF to monitor a slice of spectrum. Connecting a scope to the output side of the IF allows you to monitor the receive signal. If also provides shack eye candy for those that don't run "smug"(do a search on this forum) rigs.

[ka4koe]

Anyway, the Tek 465 is strategically-placed so as to not use up desk space, and works dandy for monitoring of the envelope.

The main thrust is my shack is almost clean and organized, yeah right....

Just have to figure out now where to put the free standing 19" rack that's currently taking up space in the garage.

[Pete, WA2CWA]

Ahhhh, smugalicious. I have a Flex 5K, and I am indeed smug. I am even more smug now that delivery on the new Flex 6K series appears to be beset with issues.

What delivery issues are you referring to?

[ka4koe]

I heard that there were delays in delivering product; of course my information may no longer be current.

[Pete, WA2CWA]

Last I heard, boards and assemblies were built and ready to go but I think they are still soaking the software.