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Author Topic: MCS (Mouse Cleaning System) Applied to SP-600  (Read 9472 times)
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WBear2GCR
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« on: July 18, 2017, 07:47:33 PM »


So, an SP-600 followed me home from the Suzzex NJ hamfeast.
This isn't that one.
This is another one.
One I got about 3 years back at the Mt. Bacon hamfeast (Mt Beacon NY).
It was thoroughly MOUSED!
The entire bottom was at one point filled with MOUSE.
The seller had cleared out the MOUSE, but the RESIDUAL MOUSE was omnipresent.
Which is a shame since he had obviously put quite a lot of time into a restoration up to that point!

So, I fired up the one I just got - which was not in great cosmetic shape.
It had been stored in a "bus" for 3 years!
The gear train was seized, and all the steel hardware thoroughly rusted.
So I lubed the gear train, etc... and fired it up.
It plays nicely on the lower BC position and has some reception on the regular BC band,
and since it was daytime, no clue about the HF bands. So somewhat funk-shun-al.

This made me brave.

So I grabbed the other TWO SP-600s that were languishing... one was the MOUSED
bottom SP-600. That one and the other not moused one of the two are both JX-6.

The new one is a JX-14. It needs electronic and cosmetic TLC.

But this is about the MOUSED one.

Today, was when I grabbed the two... the pix show MOUSED/MCS applied. Cheesy

                                        _-_-


* MOUSED SP-600.JPG (698.5 KB, 1480x1110 - viewed 394 times.)

* DEMOUSED SP-600.JPG (769.93 KB, 1480x1379 - viewed 395 times.)
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_-_- bear WB2GCR                   http://www.bearlabs.com
KB2WIG
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« Reply #1 on: July 18, 2017, 08:32:16 PM »



Annette would have been proud.


klc
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Patrick J. / KD5OEI
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« Reply #2 on: July 18, 2017, 09:59:52 PM »

more of these=less of those


* cat-s-c.jpg (51.9 KB, 338x379 - viewed 236 times.)
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KC4VWU
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« Reply #3 on: July 19, 2017, 12:35:14 AM »

So Bear, does the MCS get rid of the pee smell? I once obtained an SX-42, it HAD to make a trip to the car wash for the "lemon scented" rinse! Got rid of the smell of damp basement and mouse piss though!
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WBear2GCR
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« Reply #4 on: July 19, 2017, 06:45:09 AM »

Patrick, I did not "Mouse" the unit.
I obtained the unit at the hamfest, "pre-Moused" - no extra charge! Cheesy

VWU, I would expect that for the most part the smell is gone.
When it gets hot again today, I'll take a sniff and see.
The big problem is in the wire harness, since the wires are cloth covered, and
that soaks it up. I did multiple, multiple spray and rinse and still the "brown" kept
coming. So, it may require a "Febreeze" spray onto the wiring harness, followed
by rinses, followed by sprays, followed by rinses to get it minimized. It is an issue
that is hard to deal with.

One method is Vinegar, that tends to kill "pee" smells. I may go with the Vinegar over
the Febreeze. Or Vinegar treatment, THEN Febreeze (generic from the $1 store). THAT ought
to kill it. The Vinegar ought to get a dilute baking soda rinse as well, to neutralize the acid.

But I think getting the Mouse out is easier than the Tobacco smell, that cooks out whenever
something gets hot.

Although, overall I've been finding fewer and fewer old pieces drenched in Tobacco than in
years past, which is making me scratch my head a bit. Most everyone seemed to be a smoker
back in the 1950s...

                                     _-_-bear


Btw, ZEP 505 is still king of the spray cleaners for me.
The 5 gal bucket this was sitting on is full of DARK BROWN water!! Dark.
And that's not all of it, just the diluted catch after multiple passes... looking for the runoff
to become clear...
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« Reply #5 on: July 19, 2017, 08:53:59 AM »



B,
Try ' Natures Miracle". Its an enzimatic based cleaner that kills da stink.. it will kill cat urin, puke, toacco smoke, and assorted staines. I've used it and it works. Fabrese has a carpet deoderizer that works well on tobacco and assorted smells.You may have to search for it as it's a comercial product.

KLC
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KD6VXI
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« Reply #6 on: July 19, 2017, 10:43:58 AM »

Nature's miracle is sold over the counter, at grocery stores, pet supply stores, pet stores, etc. In California.

It is by no means regulated here, which I would take to mean it's available just about anywhere else on the face of the earth!......  California regulates EVERYTHING!

Case in point.  Went to purchase a battery charger.  Yesterday.  Big one, 10/30/200 amp.  Kind that rolls around on wheels.

"This product not offered for sale in California"

I'm sorry, say what.

I guess the impregnation in the transformer is no good?

Actually, they must be PWM for efficiency now.  No more transformer based units offered for sale here.

Except the non transformer based units see a completely discharged battery as a short  and won't turn on.

You can't make this crap up.

Even home cheapo and Lowe's carries nature's miracle OTC, so I think you'll be good outside KKKalifornia.

--Shane
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KA0HCP
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« Reply #7 on: July 19, 2017, 01:45:15 PM »

Superb job, Bear!! 

I've had great success with Krud Kutter (diluted).  It's the one thing I've used that eliminates tobacco and mildew, even from wire.  b.
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WBear2GCR
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« Reply #8 on: July 19, 2017, 02:55:52 PM »

Ok!

I'll go for that Nature's Miracle.
To quote Bobby Weir, "I need a miracle every day..."

I'll definitely check that out.

Ok, success to report, RCVR Two, one of the JX-6 pair, the one not shown is just now fired up on the bench
and running Brother Stair, Alex Jones' frequency, and Dr. Gene on the 12-13mc freqs. So this one appears to
actually work fine electronically. The power switch on the back of the ARF gain pot was NG. May try DeOxit or
if the one in the pix fails to fire up tonight (it's on day two of SOLAR BAKE) I'll maybe swap the pot from that
one until I find a source for a replacement...

Doubt that either one so far is 100% correct in all regards, but at least they're playing and receiving.
Remains to be seen how the tubes measure, and what the sensitivities really are - or if the S meter
is doing the right stuff.

The tuning gear train is a bit funky - will lube and see if that smooths out. Likely, I expect.

How "loud" is the BFO supposed to be - aka how much does the RF gain have to be backed off to
get the balance? Think the BFO on the first one is not running, and on this one seems low. Sad

Haven't had this much success in ages! Wow!!

                _-_-
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WBear2GCR
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« Reply #9 on: July 20, 2017, 08:22:22 PM »

Happy to report that no less than all 3 (three) SP-600s are up and running!

All functions working.
Two of three are fully lubed.
The MOUSED one came back to life midday today.
Badly corroded tube sockets in two positions. Sad
DeOxit made them work.
They ought to be replaced.
More work needs to be done on this one. Some wires were added or replaced others and hammy soldered,
the insulation was melted. Will have to replace those.
The gear train is in dire need of lube. Dire. Got halfway through that. Gonna pull the top cover and DeOxit
the contacts where the turret's connections are...

Meter is DOA. Movement is NG. Sad
Anyone got any SP-600 meters? Can take one with bad glass, bad case, or even just the movement!

The other two are pretty good. No complaints. One may need the Xtal filters looked into.
All would benefit from a full alignment.

Paint. The front panels need paint, bad. Two have noticeable corrosion. The type where the aluminum
looks like it has started to turn into graham cracker material (expanded). One just needs paint.
One has been stripped down to the bare metal - that's the MOUSED one.

So far I am favorably impressed by the general sound and sensitivity of the receiver. Really nice to listen
to the usual broadcast suspects. Had WBCQ running a short while ago.

Selectivity, not so good. But might improve with a proper alignment.

FYI, should you get an SP-600 with no RF meter movement (or no AF meter, or both) in my case 2 out of 3 were
due to high resistance contacts on the front panel RF/AF METER switch! I now know where all the ALC circuit/meter
circuit parts that make the meter move are located! Cheesy So spray the switch first!! Actually it might have been
3 out of 3, but the MOUSEd unit has a dead meter, so I dunno. It got sprayed anyhow.

So from Zero to three SP-600s in two days! Cheesy

Wheeeeeeeeeee!

              _-_-

PS. many very soft 6BA6s in there... managed two sets of "good" tubes with two "hot" tubes for the first
two RF sections in two receivers... looks like I will need a couple of sleeves of 6BA6s. Heh. Probably have
some at the main QTH, but I never stocked up heavy, expecting to need 9 (I think) per radio! Heh. Who knew?

PPS. And, not to forget, two broken main tuning knobs came with the units. So now I need to find two.
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WBear2GCR
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« Reply #10 on: July 23, 2017, 10:23:22 PM »


...after multiple washes and multiple rinses this was the residue left in the 5gal bucket holding
the SP-600 up! The Color Of DEMOUSE!


* COLOR OF MOUSED.JPG (271.24 KB, 1480x1110 - viewed 233 times.)
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WBear2GCR
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« Reply #11 on: July 23, 2017, 10:35:16 PM »


The final result, the actual DEMOUSED SP-600 (which had a paint stripped front panel when I got it) running earlier tonight, with
my Singer Metrics SP-3 Panadapter... hope you enjoy the glow! Cheesy


* SP-600 + SINGER METRICS PANADAPTER.JPG (362.62 KB, 1480x1110 - viewed 286 times.)
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MikeKE0ZUinkcmo
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« Reply #12 on: July 24, 2017, 07:21:45 AM »

Love the pan adapter. 

I've done most all the conventional cleaning routines over the years, but I've found that judicious use of the pressure washer makes very short work of most of the chassis cleaning task.   

The usual precautions regarding water based dial printing, not filling various transformers with water, and rinsing with distilled water before drying cycle are observed.

I usually apply a liberal amount of standard Pressure Washer "soap" and let it soak for maybe 5 minutes, then, hold the wand back a foot or so unless there is something really stuck. Then a day or two in the sun.





Mike
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Mike KE0ZU

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« Reply #13 on: July 24, 2017, 02:18:36 PM »

I use Nature's Miracle here too. I buy the gallon jug and transfer it to a spray bottle. A good dose of sunlight is definitely good for many smells and contaminants. Maybe someday I will own a SP600. Its on my wishlist, but I don't have the space now. KrudCutter is strong stuff. There is a weaker version around here in the dollar stores called Awesome cleaner. Works well and is much less per bottle cash outlay.
LB
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WBear2GCR
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« Reply #14 on: July 24, 2017, 06:52:02 PM »

I've tried a great number of cleaners, including all the dollar store ones. Mean Green I think is the
most effective of the lot. Nothing so far touched that Zep 505. The brown just flows off. Incredible.
That stuff dilute with Mike's power washer would render it back to the day it was made! Cheesy

I'd still afraid of aiming my pressure washer at a chassis - I've seen it rip stuff apart when I use it
outside. If I could get some machine with about 100-125 psi, maybe. But that pressure washer is
up over 600psi. A lot of power there.

               _-_-
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« Reply #15 on: July 24, 2017, 07:21:14 PM »

Bear,

I have enjoyed following this thread and taking a close look at the photos you and Mike posted. I have read a number of comments on the web cautioning about powering up an SP-600 without first replacing black beauty caps.  Did you replace any capacitors in your unit?

I have an SP-600 that I have visually inspected under the chassis but have not disassembled anything, replaced components or powered up.  The inside of  my SP-600 looks about like the original condition of Mike's National receiver - dusty but otherwise pretty clean.

Your Singer panadapter is an interesting looking piece of gear!

Brad
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WBear2GCR
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« Reply #16 on: July 25, 2017, 12:05:51 AM »

Note that there are 3 different SP-600s.

Generally speaking, and depending on the situation, I like to fire up an unknown rig on a variac
and see what it does, before I dive in and break it more! Wink

Of course that might be different if I had done up a number of them and knew my way through it
all very well. But this is my preference.

In this case, I expected nothing and got 2 out of 3 working very well with a minor degree of
repairs. But the one in the pic had been worked on by the previous owner, he had changed
out most of the under the chassis caps for orange drops. Which was nice of him to do. So far on
this one nothing in the turret YET needs work.

The one I put in that spot in the rack turned out to not receive at all in the 7.x to 15.x band (is that
the right range?) I thought I had checked it , but probably not, since the other bands work ok fine.
So at some point that will be need to be looked at. IF I get into the turret, I may decide to do all the
caps on that unit - but I'd want all the values ready and waiting. Otoh, with some tube extenders
it would be possible to trouble shoot the specific stage that was not working - so there is that temptation
too...

I still need a replacement meter for the one in the pic. Sad

Probably I'll run this one for a while then grab the third one and see how I like it.
The least "good" one at that point may then donate the meter.

So, if I go and do a proper alignment, THEN it may become clear that some of the stages are not doing
what they ought, and I'll dig into the turret's caps. Or if I was doing a "serious" restoration, then certainly.
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« Reply #17 on: July 25, 2017, 12:08:52 AM »


Brad,

To be more specific, of the 3 units one had chassis caps replaced. The other two were mostly stock, with
some individual caps replaced back in time...

...I'm not sure what will happen if one of the caps is leaky or shorted, maybe I had best go back and read
that caution? HA!
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« Reply #18 on: July 25, 2017, 03:18:20 AM »

Bear,

Doing a web search "SP 600" or similar should turn up some of the comments about failing black beauty caps.  I can't say whether there's any merit to the warnings but it's probably worth taking a look.  By the way, I saw an SP-600 meter for sale on e-Bay in May, can't recall the asking price.

Brad
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« Reply #19 on: August 02, 2017, 09:33:02 AM »

So last night a friend gave me a Heath SB-310 that's been in his garage for about 20 years. Yup, a mouse house! I just can't get passed the idea of using a power washer - what damage might I expect, of course excluding any physical trauma that I will try to avoid?
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KC4VWU
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« Reply #20 on: August 02, 2017, 01:12:59 PM »

You'd better remove the front panel before power washing or all that Heathkit green will be gone! That paint tends to be pretty fragile.
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MikeKE0ZUinkcmo
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« Reply #21 on: August 03, 2017, 07:11:15 AM »

Here is what TEK did to test gear at their service centers.  HP did same thing I've been told.

Don't know what the HK model is you mentioned, but if it has any meters, remove them before you use any water/soap.





Mike
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