My Tube Collection, Welcome to share yours

Blue58

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Jan 20, 2013
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London, UK
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Sablon Audio

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May 22, 2015
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Pin cleaning adventures. E83f Philips disc getter, so mid to late 50s production

Photo before soaking for 4hrs in lemon juice (and much the same afterwards also….)

740850E9-719F-401A-BF1F-1EA49FC8C9BD.jpeg

Photo after 10 minutes in hydrochloric acid (35% solution)

78EAB2C9-6907-4BC1-8F8B-88C6D41D156F.jpeg

The acid solution started clear but this is what it looked like after 10 mins

F5A30C35-240E-4FA4-B881-C859C6C68D8D.jpeg
 
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Kingrex

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Feb 3, 2019
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Kingrex

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Feb 3, 2019
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Silver dip.
I saw that. I was wondering if there are better brands than others. I want to clean surfaces, but I don't want to strip the silver. And it needs to be water soluble to rinse clean.
Thanks
 

Kingrex

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Feb 3, 2019
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If you look at you pins, they are horribly pittled and blistered. Have you ever tried polishing them smooth. You would remove silver plating, but the contact surface would be much better.
 

Sablon Audio

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May 22, 2015
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I saw that. I was wondering if there are better brands than others. I want to clean surfaces, but I don't want to strip the silver. And it needs to be water soluble to rinse clean.
Thanks
I used an English brand called Goddards but don’t know if that’s available in USA. Silver dip won’t strip the plating and is usually water soluble.
 

Sablon Audio

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May 22, 2015
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If you look at you pins, they are horribly pittled and blistered. Have you ever tried polishing them smooth. You would remove silver plating, but the contact surface would be much better.
So the Philips e83f in the photo, which had the acid bath, have I believe untreated steel pins (rather than the silver plating of the ecc40) and 65 years of atmospheric exposure has clearly taken its toll. I’m sure they could be polished however it would be a rather fiddly given the small size of novals and time consuming job for 36 pins. I just wanted to quickly remove the oxidisation rather than do a full restoration.
 

Kingrex

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Feb 3, 2019
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The small tubes do have a lot of pitting. Hard to deal with. You don't want to shrink the diameter of the pins. The larger tube has more a spalding. Either I agree are hard to recondition.
I deox all my tube pins when done cleaning. I have never used an acid.
You would be shocked to see how much tarnish comes off the surface of gold. Don't forget those.
 
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adrian cheng

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Mar 2, 2022
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UK
EL34 Metal base with different Date Code...1)SYA D4 D5... 2) SY1 56T TO 57C...3) SYN 5A TO 5E.....4) KEC 5D and SYO 67 With same Disc getter...5).. SYO 54L TO 56L..6)...SYA D4 SYA D5 With metal piece....7)...Difference between SYO and SYA IMG-20230612-WA0000.jpg IMG-20230612-WA0003.jpg IMG-20230612-WA0004.jpg IMG-20230612-WA0005.jpg IMG-20230612-WA0007.jpg IMG_20230613_130451 (2).jpg IMG_20230613_133549.jpg
 
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DasguteOhr

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Sep 26, 2013
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Germany
These two hulk first a bit angry now dr banner really good behavior again in set amp.;) 20231127_090956.jpg

1965 wingend -c- 6c33c tube

20231127_092016.jpg
 
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