CTC-5 No luminance.

[OS X]

Well finished testing the rest of the tubes there's a fair amount that are weak. Both 5U4's are weak along with a almost dead 3A3, (2) 6AQ5A's,6CB5A and the 12BY7A. Unfortunately now there's a biger issue when I was removing the 6AW8 (and I was being very carefull) The tube socket just crumbled into pieces it was the only tube in the set that already was replaced, being it is the tube directly next to the 5U4's I'm guessing the extra heat did not help it.

[SwizzyMan]

Those cheap phenolic thin wafer sockets do not like heat. Gets to a point when no matter how gentle you may be they are just too brittle and they break.

[miniman82]

You can still get PC mount tube sockets on eBay.

[Electronic M]

I've had sockets where a few pins no longer were in contact with the remaining phenolic....I was still able to plug tubes into them and have the set work fine.
Electricity don't care how good something looks or how complete the mechanics are, as long as the paths it is supposed to follow are conductive and the ones it is not supposed to follow are not conductive, it will keep flowing the same way it has for decades.

Just be careful not to bend the socket contacts when removing and inserting the tube and it should be fine.

[Arcanine]

Originally Posted by OS X

Well finished testing the rest of the tubes there's a fair amount that are weak. Both 5U4's are weak along with a almost dead 3A3, (2) 6AQ5A's,6CB5A and the 12BY7A. Unfortunately now there's a biger issue when I was removing the 6AW8 (and I was being very carefull) The tube socket just crumbled into pieces it was the only tube in the set that already was replaced, being it is the tube directly next to the 5U4's I'm guessing the extra heat did not help it.

3A3 tubes always test bad. The testers don't generate the voltage that goes though those tubes. It's still good. Don't sweat it. Get a spare, yes, but even NOS will test bad, too.

[OS X]

Thanks everyone I'll probably get a new tube socket being there still available. How hard are they to replace? My soldering skills are not all that good yet but I have worked on replaceing caps on a few B&W sets before.

[Electronic M]

Originally Posted by OS X

Thanks everyone I'll probably get a new tube socket being there still available. How hard are they to replace? My soldering skills are not all that good yet but I have worked on replaceing caps on a few B&W sets before.

Unless you have a 70W+ soldering iron AND good solder sucker (or have mastered the tricky art of using solder wick) don't bother replacing it....You'll just end up lifting the traces and messing it up real bad. Socket removal is not easy with a good iron and sucker, and becomes a royal pain with out both on hand....I only do a socket change when I can no longer clean a socket's contacts, it's gotten too damaged to use, or I've tried everything else to fix an intermittent associated with a tube.

[dtvmcdonald]

Another idea, if its not an RF tube, is to install a socket saver in the afflicted socket,
and leave it there forever. That's expensive, but this is a reasonably valuable set.

[old_coot88]

Originally Posted by OS X

... The tube socket just crumbled into pieces it was the only tube in the set that already was replaced, being it is the tube directly next to the 5U4's I'm guessing the extra heat did not help it.

If all the lugs are still solidly in place, couldn't you fill in amongst/around them with some silicone?

[andy]

...

[Electronic M]

Originally Posted by andy

I agree that it should be fine as it is, but if you do replace the socket, break up the rest of the phenolic and remove one pin at a time. After the pins are out, you can remove the solder and install a new socket.

If you do that be sure the solder terminals match up with the ones of the original that go through the board (i.e. make SURE it fits) before you crunch the old one....Otherwise you may temporarily be SOL.

[Kamakiri]

Welp, he was here yesterday and we tested his tubes. Shunt regulator was dead as a doornail. I think 5 or 6 tested weak. Hooked him up with all new tubes. Hopefully he'll report back in when he makes further progress.

[miniman82]

Originally Posted by Kamakiri

Welp, he was here yesterday and we tested his tubes. Shunt regulator was dead as a doornail. I think 5 or 6 tested weak. Hooked him up with all new tubes. Hopefully he'll report back in when he makes further progress.

Not that it needs a 6BK4 or anything, they struggle to make HV even with it disconnected. Hopefully he checks the HV with a probe to make sure it's not running too low, a 5 with a dead regulator is an unlikely situation.

[Kamakiri]

I was puzzled by that too.....

[OS X]

I'm finishing up recaping a B&W RCA set first, I'm 95% done with that I'm just short 2 caps I forgot to get, once I finish up that I'll get back to the CTC-5