My Christmas vacation

Mark Boesen Sun Dec 25, 2016 10:53 pm

Took this week off, Jr. was home from school and he'd been talking about building a Sterling engine. Since there was way to much snow on the ground to find an errant disc, i thought why not...six days later nothing got done around the house (other then a little last minute Christmas shopping) it was cutting, grinding, painting, designing, soldering, grinding, drinking coffee and laughing and joking with my son for the majority of the day(s)....and jammin' out listening to Pandora thru the stereo system in the garage, the engine needs some tweaking, but i wouldn't trade it for the world!

My Christmas vacation 20161210

KariFS Mon Dec 26, 2016 2:22 am

Time well spent, I'd say. Father-son projects are great, especially the "fun" ones Smile

Nice engine too! What are you using for heat source?

**Admin** Mon Dec 26, 2016 4:01 am

Looks like a lot of fun! Great learning opportunity to.

For the last few days I've been tinkering with a 1953 Airline 35GSL-1564B tube radio. It works but the volume and sensitivity instantly comes and goes at random. It's not the output tube (50C5), could be the detector tube (12AV6), or it could be the converter tube (12AU6), or I could be dealing with a mild case of "silver mica migration" (aka SMD for silver mica disease) of the capacitors in the IF can. SMD is cancer for old radios, it tends to only progress until the radio is practically unusable. Dropped in a new 12AV6 which didn't solve the problem. I swapped the darkened well burnt-in 12AU6 with a 12BA6 (as it can be used as a substitute in some circuits), played well for quite some time and didn't act up, but it still needs more testing. I'll still need to get a new 12AU6 as the 12BA6 is not a perfect substitute.

Anyway, I still need to do the Black Lynx .049 drawings and there's 1000 things that need to get done around the house.

I spy a Vornado there in the background, I have a 16C3-1 that my grandparents bought new. It gets used regularly throughout the summer.

**RknRusty** Mon Dec 26, 2016 4:07 am

Getting to know my son on a mutual adult level has been the most rewarding experience of my life. Two weeks after his birth I had the surgery to provide my dialysis access. Average lifespan of a dialysis patient was 5 years in 1985, and I had a new mission in life... to see him graduate from High school and begin to know what he wanted to do in his life. That happened in 2003. Now he's a scientist, my own childhood dream, not quite met, but close enough to get me a job I enjoyed and was good at, a technician. He got his Mom's IQ and went on to be a real scientist and works in manufacturing as a chemical engineer, and we now teach each other as we play with ideas and projects. Now he has his own family that is a thrilling challenge that he appears to embrace with all the frustrations and enthusiasm, that come with it, and it brings back my own memories that I remember from those days for me, and gives me more teaching and advisory moments. I'm so happy fo you that you're beginning to enter that same phase in life that I had serious fears I'd never live to see. Congratulations, Mark, you done good! Life is good. Happy New year.
Rusty

Mark Boesen Mon Dec 26, 2016 11:50 pm

Thanks Rusty! Hope you and your family had a great Christmas, good luck this contest season!

rsv1cox Tue Dec 27, 2016 7:22 am

Lot's of your post that I didn't understand Mark, not you - me. I just don't get out enough!! Smile

Sterling engine. Heard of it, nothing more so I went googling. Neat stuff. Definition plus a chance to spend money. I like your's better.

http://www.garrettwade.com/classic-precision-stirling-engine-gp.html?scid=W6071005&gclid=CO3qzsC4lNECFUpahgodPngIow

Pandora. A rock group? religious sect? a new type of Girl Scout cookies? More google, now I know why the radio in my Miata has Pandora on the face plate.

I do understand spending time with your son though. I do the same. Time well spent.

Bob

rsv1cox Tue Dec 27, 2016 7:30 am

Admin wrote:Looks like a lot of fun! Great learning opportunity to.

For the last few days I've been tinkering with a 1953 Airline 35GSL-1564B tube radio. It works but the volume and sensitivity instantly comes and goes at random. It's not the output tube (50C5), could be the detector tube (12AV6), or it could be the converter tube (12AU6), or I could be dealing with a mild case of "silver mica migration" (aka SMD for silver mica disease) of the capacitors in the IF can. SMD is cancer for old radios, it tends to only progress until the radio is practically unusable. Dropped in a new 12AV6 which didn't solve the problem. I swapped the darkened well burnt-in 12AU6 with a 12BA6 (as it can be used as a substitute in some circuits), played well for quite some time and didn't act up, but it still needs more testing. I'll still need to get a new 12AU6 as the 12BA6 is not a perfect substitute.

Anyway, I still need to do the Black Lynx .049 drawings and there's 1000 things that need to get done around the house.

I spy a Vornado there in the background, I have a 16C3-1 that my grandparents bought new. It gets used regularly throughout the summer.

Jacob

Last week this on-line auction house had pallets full of vintage radio tubes, capacitors, etc. for auction most going for less than $20 for the whole pallet. They usually have old radios etc. All items are stored in a large warehouse near where my son lives and he visits frequently.

https://hashauctions.hibid.com/auctions/current/

akjgardner Tue Dec 27, 2016 6:09 pm

Thats neat Mark, Glad your boy hangs out with you.

Mark Boesen Tue Dec 27, 2016 9:58 pm

lol, by Sunday night i could tell he was ready to get back to school and his world!
I listen to Pandora all the time it seems, in the car, garage/shop, surfin' 'net, etc.. I had stopped the $5 per month charge and deal with the commercials, but after listening to it for long periods of time, the same commercials over and over and over get pretty annoying, jeez, i wonder if that's the idea?
Ok, so here's what i listen to, top 40 from the sixties, rock from the '70 thru the 90's, surf rock and motown, etc., etc., the stations have anchor bands, but will also play 'like' bands of that type or period.
My Christmas vacation 76586811

**RknRusty** Tue Dec 27, 2016 11:24 pm

My boy and I share a lot of the same stuff. (Blues are more mine unless we're talking Hendrix, S.R.V, Savoy Brown, J. Winter, etc.), and all the rest. He's a rocker. Follows Dead concerts and camps out too.... Hates football. Rolling Eyes

Here's my Pandora shuffle list:
My Christmas vacation Pandor14

That's the max 99 I can cram into a free account. My phone has an unknown number of albums too. I have a bluetooth mini-tower speaker in the shop, and love it in my car. I seem to listen to more Gamecocks sports radio in the car, except on long drives.

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