All points well taken. I need to get some air flow into my floor resting
P.S. I like your white thread = air flow design.
Mine either wasn't turned on much or was cleaned regularly. Even the fan
blades were clean when I opened it to work on the band switch.
So I've only had 2 problems with the amp since I bought it used on E-Bay
from W3NBC...
1) Failure of every filter cap (I'm sending them back to
Mallory/Sprague/AC..all failed same way within days/weeks of each other and
were the same 1988 production run.
2) Loose nuts on band switch cap
I did not remove the fan to see if the mounting grommets were hardened.
When I take apart the station for the arrival of the Orion I'll finish the
internal mods for the Omni-V.9 and pull the fan from the Titan and see what
I can do to quiet it / restore it.
I put foam rubber under each of the 4 feet and that cut down 90% of the
vibration noise from the fan into the wood desk "sounding board". And even
without headphones the noise is tolerable. I'm just concerned that the
bronze bearings will eventually wear out and the fan grind to a halt someday
with no exact replacement available.
Thanks for the tips Chester!
73 de Tom K2TA
----- Original Message -----
From: "Chester" <calderman@cox.net>
To: <tentec@contesting.com>
Sent: Tuesday, March 11, 2003 6:16 AM
Subject: [TenTec] Titan 425 D&C
> I have an 11 year old Titan 425 amp that has thousands of
> operational hours contesting and chasing DX. Over these 11 years I have
> had one final tube failure (first year!) and changed the (very abused
> with high speed CW) vacuum relay at least half a dozen times. When I
> first got the amp, I noted in the users manual that TT recommended an
> annual Dust and Clean. So I do it! Does it help? I really don't know,
> but it sure doesn't hurt...if your careful.
>
> To help keep dust out of the amp, I cut up a cheap air
> conditioner air filter, just large enough to cover the air vents on each
> side of the cabinet. (Make sure it's NOT too air restrictive.) I used
> plain black sewing thread to loosely tie the air filter to the air vents
> on each side. This will not keep all of the dust out, but it sure helps.
>
> Simple tools needed: home vacuum cleaner with a 'blind's
> attachment', small/stiff shop-type brush, one-inch wide paint brush,
> alcohol, shop rag, sewing machine oil, a rainy day in late summer, one
> hour of 'free' time.
>
> The cleaning process is just plain intuitive requiring only
> patience and a handful of 'CAREFUL'.
>
> Remove the tubes and clean the tube and the rubber sleeve's,
> using the shop rag and alcohol, making sure to remove the alcohol
> residue. Set the (expensive) tubes away from your work area. (I do not
> mark which socket each tube was removed from?) Remove the small chassis
> cover on the bottom of the chassis. Using the small paint brush and
> vacuum, carefully brush and vacuum that entire cavity, including the
> tube sockets and the fan output duct. I also use the shop rag and
> alcohol to clean the aluminum housing inside the amp where the tubes
> mount, and the small paint brush to clean all of the high voltage
> components near the tubes. Be very careful when dusting the HV wire
> wound choke.
>
> Using the vacuum/paint brush/shop-type brush, I clean as much of
> the bottom of the chassis as I can reach with those tools. Next I use
> the brushes and vacuum to clean as much of both capacitor plates as I
> can reach, the same for the three pc boards near the power output
> connector. Next clean the HV components near the HV connector on the
> back/inside of the chassis. Clean the HV connector itself. Inspect the
> band switch and if needed, put a SMALL dab of silicon grease on the
> switch detents (of course NOT on the switch contacts). Next to last,
> clean as much as reachable in the front panel wiring section. Then
> firmly, but not hard, press each wiring connector in the amp to ensure
> they have not wiggled loose.
>
> Then using the small shop type stiff brush, brush clean the fan
> vanes, using your finger to hold it in place while your brushing. I
> reach into the fan through it's opening behind the tuning cap (be
> somewhat careful of the large dropping resistor sitting right in front
> of this fan opening). I then brush as much of the fan vanes by reaching
> into its output funnel, inside the bottom compartment. Then use the
> vacuum to remove the dust residue you have cleaned off the fan vanes.
> Add one drop of (Singer) sewing machine oil on shaft at it's back
> bearing and clean any left over oil from the shaft.
>
> Replace the tubes and reassemble the chassis, being very careful
> to set the aluminum HV crowbar bracket back to it's correct position.
> D&C the back and front panel.
>
> Since I wear headphones almost always, I can not hear the amp's
> fan. To semi-solve this problem, I tie two white strand's of sewing
> thread to the air outlet on the chassis top cover. Since I habitually
> glance at all of my operating equipment during operations, I am always
> assured the amp's fan is doing it's job. During contesting I place a
> small fan on the floor, pointed into the louver vents of the power
> supply and one fan blowing into the air intake louver on the right side
> of the cabinet cover. My amp sits on it's own small table with nothing
> within 6" of the air intake vents and nothing within 12" of the air
> exhaust louvers on the top of the cover. I cut two 8" long pieces of 2x4
> and set the power supply (on the floor) on top of these pieces of wood
> for air circulation purposes.
>
> OVERKILL? Heck no! Just one ham's way of providing a little TLC
> to his ham gear. Do you D&C your ham gear?
>
>
>
> Tom/W4BQF
> calderman AT cox.net
>
>
>
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