[JMS] B&W TVL coil rehab

[james_millen_society@mailman.qth.net]

All:
After being a little lax on the issue, I decided to address a sore point on my Millen 90881 amp: the tank coil. I had a box of coils given to me as part of the deal. Unfortunately, all the coils were in the process of disentigrating. As stated by another list member, the B&W stuff was just bad. 

Well, I decided to investigate what could be done. I took dimensions of the coil (including the turns per inch) and went to (you guessed it), Barker and Williamson's current site. While they are no longer in the Upper Darby Penn area, they had some coil stock that I felt that I could use to repair the coil. Turns out (pardon the pun) that a 2010TL would fit the bill. Besides, I felt that the Lexan plastic would hold up a little better than the original acrylic supports.

I eventually ditched the old coils (as they were literally falling apart) and cut a near equivalent pair of coils from the new stock. Seems to me the plastic material is much "meatier" than the old stock. I took that stock and did some careful measurements and cut out a new acrylic support brace from some scrap plastic I got from a hobby store. I then proceeded to measure off and drill the appropriate holes. I did make a mistake, however, in my choice of glues. I initially used epoxy. Didn't do a good job of bonding the two plastics. I eventually switched to this stuff called "GOOP". Did a great job! Bonded the coils and the plastic together just like peanut butter and jelly!

I also noticed that the banana jacks and hardware had that same green verdigris like the other hardware I had cleaned off before. But, I had NO vinegar to use on the stuff. My solution: I got a quarter cup of coffee and heated it up in the microwave (no hardware inside) and then dumped all of the stuff after I was done. Looks like the coffee has some mild acids inside so that cleared off the verdigris after an overnight soaking and a spraydown with purple cleaner.

I eventually mounted all the hardware back onto the old ceramic mounts and soldered lugs to the loose wire ends. I now have a refurbished TVL coil ready to go on 75-80 meters when I get the 90881 amp back into fighting trim! Stay tuned for more "Millen" adventures. Cal. N6KYR

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