My main interest in a curve tracer would be for tube testing/matching. A
few months back, I believe there was discussion of a home-grown 576 fixture
for that. For now, one of my upcoming projects is to build my own tube
testing rig. For example, I'd wire up a single socket to some voltage and
amperage gauges and power the rig with an external DC supply across a
mixture of plate voltage and cathode resistance ranges. But that's a a lot
of work for each tube. I've seen a few hacks that convert old oscilloscopes
into curve tracers but haven't really studied any of them.
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On Mon, May 14, 2018 at 2:43 PM, Kevin Oconnor <kjo@...> wrote:
Just chiming in...
I would agree with Chuck on this. Some other factors...
A 576 is way more complex inside with all the display lighting and control.
If something fails, you have a lot more work to do. I just sold a 576 for
$750 and I think, for a fully working unit, it was a buyer bargain. The
owner just wanted it gone....
I use a 577 for just about anything discrete. I have a dozen fixtures. (No
IC testing though as mine has the 177 fixture) . Both are versatile, and
you can build fixtures to do things Tek didn't anticipate or support. I'm
working on a fixture to test Nuvistors.. A work in progress though.
One caution (among many) If you get one and then go looking for fixtures,
be ware that many of the Tek plug-in fixtures have reached EOL. The covers
are screwed into bosses in the base boxes. Both the threaded bosses and the
covers themselves are now failing. As the plastics aged they became brittle
and the stresses have fractured the bosses and the covers now pull away
from the base. I have seen top covers laced with hairline cracks causing
the top to break up like a jig-saw puzzle. So take a good look at what you
are buying.
kjo
David Berlind wrote:
. . .
I saw this 577 Curve Tracer show up on eBay and it sold for $256. Not
sure if that power-up trace indicates an issue (not having had or operated
a curve tracer, I don't know what the power-up trace should look like).
Following-on to conversations in this forum about the the 576, I've been
keeping my eyes out for a 576. Is there a significant difference between
the two?
