[Boatanchors] Re: [Hallicrafters] Re: RE: Help! My coilslugisstuck! - ...

[Kevin Ward]

Ed -

Saw your post about melting all the beeswax out of the coils in your SX-100,
and I just want to say; DON'T DO IT!

First of all, that hair dryer can and will soften or melt plastic parts and
cause more grief than it cures.

Second, you don't HAVE to melt all the wax.  Just do one coil at a time.

Third, using candle wax is bad advice.  I spent many years repairing
avionics, tube type and transistor, and here's my advice concerning coil
slugs and wax.

Paper coil forms are usually slathered in beeswax to keep the slugs from
moving.   Here's a tip to make removal or adjustment easier.  Hold the
business end of a soldering iron or gun near the coil form (no closer than a
quarter-inch) long enough to soften the wax, then turn the slug out before
the wax hardens.  This trick can also be used during alignment and will
prevent slug breakage.

I keep a lump of beeswax at the workbench for tightening up loose slugs.
Use a pen knife to shave a small bit of wax on top of the loose slug, then
carefully heat the form as before.  In all cases, keep the iron from
actually touching the coil form.  And never, ever use candle wax.  Here's
why.

Beeswax is the stuff bees make their honeycombs out of  -  literally.
Candle wax is solid paraffin - a hydrocarbon of the methane series.  It is
made from paraffin oil, which is obtained from petroleum.  Beeswax will
remain solid at higher temperatures than will paraffin, and when solid is
harder than paraffin.  Paraffin could soften and run out of the coil if your
vacuum tube rig gets really hot.  Then the slugs would be free to move and
throw the alignment out of whack.

Give this a try and let me know how you make out.

Treasure Life,
Kevin  N2IE



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