Tektronix 465M Teardown!

[FenderBender]

Hey guys and girls,

I've been meaning to get to this, but here's the (incomplete) teardown to my newly acquired scope, which is as you might have noticed, a Tektronix 465M. I got it for $70 shipped off of eBay. Took a chance on this one.

The 465M is not so much a relative to the popular 465 and 465B as it is the 455. The 455 and 465M are almost identical apart from a few internal differences granting it 100MHz bandwidth vs the 455's 50MHz bandwidth. The 465M is also supposed to be a "military" model. It is quite rugged, though I'm not sure what constitutes "military". (I guess that's what the M stands for). Additionally, speaking of "Ms", this is a modular oscilloscope, which means that the horizontal and vertical modules can (pretty)easily be swapped out if need be, which makes servicing quite a bit easier...and if it's a complete disaster, the entire module can be replaced.

A few other things to note. This is a fanless unit! There is a big aluminum heatsink on the back. My photo of the back came out like crap, so I didn't upload it, but you can imagine (or Google) it. This translates into having almost no dust within the scope, which is great for things like switches, and keeping the components from overheating.

It also uses a green PCB as opposed to the brown/tan types that Tek had been using for a few decades before. I'm not sure if the brown PCBs that had previously been used were paper-type boards or lesser quality, but I'm really digging the green!

This scope is really serviceable. Apart from the HV stuff which I probably won't touch unless someone guides me through it, there is barely a part on here that couldn't be replaced. Pretty much all of the parts with numbers on them are from top-notch American manufacturers, including Sprague, Bourns, Clarostat, Spectrol, Dale, etc. Really good stuff. None of that Chinese crap that you see in a lot of today's equipment. However, this was around a $3000 scope back in the day.

So really good stuff. I can't really find anything wrong with it as of now. Haven't done too many checks, but everything seems to work pretty dandy. I might replace some of the pots and clean a switch or two, but the stuff that doesn't have any moving parts seems pretty set!

Pictures didn't come out quite as nicely as I would have liked. I was using my old camera and it's macro function isn't as swift as I thought it was. But none the less, I did my best. I might try retaking a lot of the pictures with my good camera and uploading them. I was just lazy and didn't want to empty the SD card.:p There is a pretty awesome teardown of the 465M located here: http://www.controlelectronics.com.au/used/tek465m/465m-images.html

[FenderBender]

More pictures!

[vtl]

I've been meaning to get to this, but here's the (incomplete) teardown to my newly acquired scope, which is as you might have noticed, a Tektronix 465M. I got it for $70 shipped off of eBay. Took a chance on this one.

$70 sounds like a real bargain, is it fully functional?

[BravoV]

+1, $70 is quite a good catch there.

Thanks for sharing the photos, what a beauty.

[wkb]

Beautiful piece of engineering!  Looks really clean inside too, or did you clean it?

[hacklordsniper]

Porn and art in one package, beautiful. Where have gone those good times...

[tekfan]

It also uses a green PCB as opposed to the brown/tan types that Tek had been using for a few decades before. I'm not sure if the brown PCBs that had previously been used were paper-type boards or lesser quality, but I'm really digging the green!

The tan boards are from the late 60's to the late 70's. They are not paper type but are proper FR4 material. They just have a transparent solder mask as opposed to the green solder mask which was used from the early 80's onward.

This scope is really serviceable. Apart from the HV stuff which I probably won't touch unless someone guides me through it, there is barely a part on here that couldn't be replaced. Pretty much all of the parts with numbers on them are from top-notch American manufacturers, including Sprague, Bourns, Clarostat, Spectrol, Dale, etc. Really good stuff. None of that Chinese crap that you see in a lot of today's equipment. However, this was around a $3000 scope back in the day.

I guess now you see why people still want to buy these things. The quality of test equipment will never be the same again sadly. And no damn fan to annoy you!

[FenderBender]

I've been meaning to get to this, but here's the (incomplete) teardown to my newly acquired scope, which is as you might have noticed, a Tektronix 465M. I got it for $70 shipped off of eBay. Took a chance on this one.

$70 sounds like a real bargain, is it fully functional?

I'm no expert at all with these things, but some of my preliminary tests show that this this is almost entirely fully functional. Some of the switches are a little intermitent and I am considering replacing a scratch pot or two, but otherwise, it works a treat. If I had to chose between human porn and this scope, I would pick this scope. It's a thing of beauty.

[FenderBender]

The tan boards are from the late 60's to the late 70's. They are not paper type but are proper FR4 material. They just have a transparent solder mask as opposed to the green solder mask which was used from the early 80's onward.

I guess now you see why people still want to buy these things. The quality of test equipment will never be the same again sadly. And no damn fan to annoy you!

Yeah I wasn't sure if those were paper or fiberglass boards but I think the green is better for contrast since a lot of the components are earthy colored anyway.

I might have a look at the power supply and see if any of the caps need replacing, but as far as I can see, looks like it's barely been used.

And to answer another question above: This is a fanless unit so that's why it looks very clean. It may have been cleaned somewhere along the line, but because there is very little airflow happening anyway, the only dust that collects is the dust that falls through the tiny vents on the case.

[FenderBender]

Porn and art in one package, beautiful. Where have gone those good times...

I wish I knew where they went. I feel unworthy to get something this good for so cheap.

[nrgeek]

Speaking of the 465m.. anyone here help out with time/div uncal light issue on the right hand side of this same scope .. which adjustments screws do I need to adjust to fix the uncal issue.. and yes I have locked and unlocked this twisted and turned every direction still the same

I borrowed and modded one of the above pics to show the time div light .. not at home to snap one of my own

I have a manual just cant figure out what to adjust via the manual to fix... info overload

[nrgeek]

Well Damn do I feel stupid rflol .. I just realized that the cal light is on because the red var knob is not turning off! LOL ,, turn all the way to right its supposed to click off like the channel one and two var does .. which I just found out sheesh!

Ok so now I gotta figure out why its not allowing me to turn off .. doesn't click .. and I aint about to brute force it lol.. any clue on that one ?