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RE: I think it starts with this

Posted by Russ57 (A) on August 19, 2014 at 18:58:38

In Reply to: Electronic SAFETY when Building, any GUIDE ARTICLES ? posted by drlowmu on August 18, 2014 at 12:20:34:

1) It is much less dangerous to build it right the first time. The real danger is in trouble shooting, especially if it must be done with power on. This is where you can help Jeff. Make sure he has a proven schematic. Make sure he breadboards it just like the real layout....no clip leads....the real thing with the same spacing, etc.

2) Know what to expect ahead of time. Have plenty of meters, all hooked up before you apply power. Know what ranges are okay and are not on each one. If you have to wait for smoke, or look at notes, you are courting danger. Again this is where you can help Jeff. He needs to know that some voltages might ramp up before a tube conducts.

3) When you design/build something one should always give thought to what would happen if something fails. It is bad practice to pick cap voltage values with the idea in mind that a tube would present a load and pull B+ down. It doesn't cost that much more to size every cap and resistor for full B+ under no load condition.

4) Keeping the above in mind you do want an protection scheme. You want fuses to blow, and perhaps resistors to go up in smoke. You just need to decide which ones and in what order.

5) Install the extras up front to make mantaining and trouble shooting easy. A panel meter here, some test jacks there, could mean a lot down the road to a beginner. You want to foster his ability to understand basics like tube bias points and balance.

6) If you are going to be involved with picking the schematic and layout....then consider writing a circuit description and trouble shooting procedure. It helps a lot to know what voltages, in what order, and in what places, one should find them. Then info on where to concentrate efforts if one doesn't find them. Poking about in the dark, with B+ on, is a sure way for a newbie to get into trouble. Having to do a good bit of this for work, I can promise you that it will improve your skills to write up such a manual.


So make sure he has a proven plan to work from. Make sure his layout is correct. Blows my mind when I see guys here that don't know which way to count the tube socket pin numbers. Make sure he knows which places to measure when he first turns it on. Probably best to take that in steps....i.e. what ohms to ground on certain pins bfore voltage is applied....what volts to ground with no tubes installed....etc.

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Kimber Kable

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