coolest looking components

[Artlav]

Radar modulators: for when you need an IGBT, but they haven't been invented yet...

33kV, 40 Amps pulse rating, a megawatt and a half in MHz range of modulated frequency.
I'm not sure there are IGBTs for that kind of scale even today.

But yeah, the thing took 300W just to heat up...

[T3sl4co1l]

AFAIK, radar modulators were usually just for switching PFNs, so didn't have to handle pulsed CW; an IGBT would do just as well (and indeed, does to this day, as pulsed klystrons are used in particle accelerator applications; I don't know anything about modern radar, but they probably still use pulsed magnetrons in the simpler (commercial) ones?).

If you needed to do pulsed CW at a few MHz (probably not much over 30MHz, given the size of the thing), you'd be able to get off more than a few cycles of something pretty mean, though.   It would be pretty expensive to do the same (or at much higher frequencies) with SS.

Tim

[T3sl4co1l]

I meant with the tube shown, sorry for using ambiguous pronouns 

[SimonWasAnEngineer]

I dont know why but vacuum tubes are really fascinating to me 
@Artlav do you have a few more photos? And maybe the name?


I just checkt ebay, only the tube costs about 200€, a little bit to much for something that just sits on my desk and looks good 

This is technically a vacuum tube, for a cyclotron.  Does it count?   

Relaxing to just sit and look at. 

[Artlav]

I dont know why but vacuum tubes are really fascinating to me 
@Artlav do you have a few more photos? And maybe the name?

GMI-90, here is the full set of pictures:
http://lavart.livejournal.com/3340.html
The text is in Russian, but there isn't much to say.

And on the opposite side of the gas tube spectrum, here is a 2.5KW Xenon light in a box:
http://orbides.org/page.php?id=1003

[XOIIO]

I dont know why but vacuum tubes are really fascinating to me 
@Artlav do you have a few more photos? And maybe the name?

GMI-90, here is the full set of pictures:
http://lavart.livejournal.com/3340.html
The text is in Russian, but there isn't much to say.

And on the opposite side of the gas tube spectrum, here is a 2.5KW Xenon light in a box:
http://orbides.org/page.php?id=1003

Hey, I got one of those! (though not in a box, and it's half a kilowatt lower than that one.)





I thought it was an x-ray tube of some kind, then found out what it was, and then found out (through here I think) that it's apparently under quite high pressure. Still haven't found a proper way to contain it.

[wkb]

Digital Equipment VAX9000 MCM (Multi Chip Module)

[ToeJam]

I bet you get a great tan from that mercury rectifier!

[veedub565]

Those old British film capacitors with the dipped color codes/bands.

I like them

[PointyOintment]

This is what I thought a FLUX CAPACITOR should look like.  Recognize this?

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Some kind of wobbulator capacitor?

[dexters_lab]

i think most would agree that the coolest components are anything made from glass, you can actually see or imagine the physics in action

hybrids on ceramic substrates come a close second though, this 8 pin hybrid i thought was quite cute

http://dexterslab2013.blogspot.co.uk/2015/10/teardown-lecroy-hvl100-discriminator.html

[Electric flower]

I think that Kiel probes deserve place in this thread, especially when seen in action.

[Electric flower]

And this is pretty mental   

[JoeN]

i think most would agree that the coolest components are anything made from glass, you can actually see or imagine the physics in action

hybrids on ceramic substrates come a close second though, this 8 pin hybrid i thought was quite cute

http://dexterslab2013.blogspot.co.uk/2015/10/teardown-lecroy-hvl100-discriminator.html

That's interesting, the caps on the hybrid have what I have been led to believe is a piss-poor solder joint - there is no fillet at all.   Anyone know why that may be?

[T3sl4co1l]

That's interesting, the caps on the hybrid have what I have been led to believe is a piss-poor solder joint - there is no fillet at all.   Anyone know why that may be?

Not really, you just can't see it from this angle.  They may also use conductive epoxy versus solder (which if they did, might need to be pure lead solder so parts don't shift around during lid soldering (with solder or glass frit), and later board soldering steps).

I don't know if chip caps need to be tighter tolerance to fit on a hybrid, but most things are higher tolerance.  (The metal and glaze enamels are probably good examples of especially poor tolerances, as hybrids go.  This one looks to be screen printed for all layers.)  The semiconductors of course are a prime example, where nothing can be printed or etched nearly precisely enough to work directly, hence wire bonding is needed to make connections.

Tim

[calexanian]

This is technically a vacuum tube, for a cyclotron.  Does it count?   

That is an E/M tube for schools to demonstrate how to calculate the mass of an electron. They used to build a different style one at M.U. there are several of them around down there to look at.

[NiHaoMike]

This is what I thought a FLUX CAPACITOR should look like.  Recognize this?

It's a "solid state motor start relay". Which turns out to add enough series resistance with the start cap to greatly reduce its effectiveness...

[radar_macgyver]

Hydrogen thyratrons, the old-timey glass envelope kind. Specifically, the giant 1257.



Link to more info: http://home.earthlink.net/~webdisk1/oddtubes/oddtubes.htm

I tried to take a picture of one while it was running - it was with my crappy Nokia phone camera. They produce this weird purple glow. Luckily, we don't use them any more, replaced by slightly more modern ceramic envelope thyratrons

Edit: fixed link

[dexters_lab]

That's interesting, the caps on the hybrid have what I have been led to believe is a piss-poor solder joint - there is no fillet at all.   Anyone know why that may be?

Not really, you just can't see it from this angle.  They may also use conductive epoxy versus solder (which if they did, might need to be pure lead solder so parts don't shift around during lid soldering (with solder or glass frit), and later board soldering steps).

I don't know if chip caps need to be tighter tolerance to fit on a hybrid, but most things are higher tolerance.  (The metal and glaze enamels are probably good examples of especially poor tolerances, as hybrids go.  This one looks to be screen printed for all layers.)  The semiconductors of course are a prime example, where nothing can be printed or etched nearly precisely enough to work directly, hence wire bonding is needed to make connections.

Tim

doesn't look like solder in the traditional sense so maybe some conductive glue/epoxy, probably the same stuff that's glued down the other bits?

tighter crop attached

[mikron]

Looks like conductive silver adhesive.

[profany]

resistance

 

[dannyf]

Glass passivated diodes. I have a few from way back.