Variacs N Stuff

WOPL Sniffer said:
AND, although I did just turn 62 today, this was NOT me in the news

\https://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory...cid=clicksource_4380645_11_comic_strip_sq_hed
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Perry, I am prepping my own Variac for lab duty, so I was poking through this string looking for inspiration, and thereby learned that your birthday was January 25th. Was hoping to finish & upload my used W20MT3A to this string *and* wish you a Happy 64th Birthday -- alas, the friggen old tape glue residue was kicking my glass...so my project is gonna miss the self-imposed dealine...

****

Anyway, in honor of all I've already learned from your contributions, here's a tip of the hat to a milestone birthday!

Cheers --

3D
 
WOPL Sniffer said:
So, I was looking for a Simpson Panel meter (Dual Scale 0-1 amp, 0-5 amps AC) and I was messaging this guy and I gotta tell you..... This fucking guy is so full of himself, I couldn't listen to his shit any more. This was the last thing he said before I called an end to out conversation. What a self centered twat. He has the meter I seek in stock but I have my limits of what I'll listen to. I spent time on the phone listening to him extol his great contributions to mankind about a year ago and decided I couldn't handle that again. It was almost as painful as sitting on the phone with Ed. This guy is old and only types in capital letters (which I know pisses some people off as being rude).



New message from: davidriddle (12,588YellowShooting Star)
WELL PERRY, YOU'LL NEVER KNOW WHAT YOU MISSED IN NOT HAVING A CONVERSATION WITH ME! DAVID RIDDLE

P.S. JUST TO LET YOU KNOW; I'M A 22-YEAR EBAY SELLER AND HAVE BEEN SELF-EMPLOYED FOR MORE THAN 47-YEARS AS AN INVENTOR, DESIGNER AND MANUFACTURER OF TOOLS OF CREATIVITY AND PRODUCTIVITY IN THE FIELDS OF ELECTRONICS, MECHANICS AND OPTICS. I FOCUS ON PROVIDING INDIVIDUALS ALL OVER THE WORLD THE MEANS AND WAYS TO ACCOMPLISH A MYRIAD OF TASKS IN VARIOUS TECHNICAL FIELDS AND I DO THIS VIA TELEPHONE CONTACT INITIALLY TO INSURE THAT THEIR EXACT NEEDS ARE MET WHETHER THEY PURCHASE ANYTHING FROM ME OR NOT!
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Shit send me his number I will call and talk to him..lol
 
The Powerful Difference said:
Perry, I am prepping my own Variac for lab duty, so I was poking through this string looking for inspiration, and thereby learned that your birthday was January 25th. Was hoping to finish & upload my used W20MT3A to this string *and* wish you a Happy 64th Birthday -- alas, the friggen old tape glue residue was kicking my glass...so my project is gonna miss the self-imposed dealine...
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If you are perusing this Variac thread, then this link will take you to a couple of posts where I document getting an old Variac ready for duty. The benefit of investing in old Industrial-Strength test equipment is that they were made to be easily remade -- no shortcuts inside. (!)

Enjoy --
 
WOPL Sniffer said:
I almost jumped on this "Variac" because of the name...... You gotta love the ACME brand..... I can just see getting an anvil dropped on the ol noggin

https://www.ebay.com/itm/224851965466?hash=item345a38b61a:g:Ac0AAOSwl~ph9htX
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Perry,

If you took a photo of your new (to you) reel-to-reel...and somehow managed to have that ACME unit innocently lurking in the background, that would be an epic combo.

Some folks think that the sheer amount of money spent is all that matters. I would argue that the 'exclusivity factor' makes for a more memorable & lasting impression. Supposedly there are 52 pair of ($50K-$100K) Infinity IRS-Vs in the world. But I'd bet a dollar that there are even less of those ACME autotransformers still surviving.

Great find!

EDIT: Every time I read the word ACME I automatically hear the 'falling whistle' of the coyote heading toward the canyon floor... :0)
 
grapplesaw said:
View attachment 63497View attachment 63498View attachment 63499Picked up the 20 amp Variac I bought last year
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Glen,

In the land of audio the general rule of thumb used to be that the larger the volume knob, the better the sound that was implied. And I do know that the large 'flywheel' tuning wheel on the old Marantz receivers always gave the very best tactile feedback while watching the tuning meter.

Given this, that knob on your Variac is simply over the top. No doubt knobs of similar dimensions were in the control rooms of the better electric power plants:

Big gauges - Old Power Plant Control Room Stock Photo.jpg
All that's left to do now is to find some nice volt meters of complementary dimensions to go along with your new (to you) Variac.

Well played!

:0)
 
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D-500 Flogger said:
Glen,

In the land of audio the general rule of thumb used to be that the larger the volume knob, the better the sound that was implied. And I do know that the large 'flywheel' tuning wheel on the old Marantz receivers always gave the very best tactile feedback while watching the tuning meter.

Given this, that knob on your Variac is simply over the top. No doubt knobs of similar dimensions were in the control rooms of the better electric power plants:

View attachment 63500
All that's left to do now is to find some nice volt meters of similar dimensions to go along with your new (to you) Variac.

Well played!

:0)
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It’s to go with this gizmo
 

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D-500 Flogger said:
In the land of audio the general rule of thumb used to be that the larger the volume knob, the better the sound that was implied.
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This is true. When I bought my Crown DC-300a it had the smaller black with silver center knobs on it. I replaced them with the earlier bigger all black flanged knobs. Not only did it improve the sound, I had to turn the levels down a bit cause the bigger knobs added 7 HP to the output of the amp. A great upgrade.

If I had known about these variac knobs I might have tried a set on that amp.
 
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