Not long ago, I purchased an HP 8116A signal generator/pulse generator on the 'Bay. My scope is currently on the fritz awaiting a donor kidney being shipped from Israel, so I tested it as best I could by wiring up an audio amplifier and speaker. The machine seems to make all of the expected beeps and boops. But while playing around, I was made nervous by the sound of something rolling around inside the case.
So I opened it up, and what should fall out, but one of the output transistors! There are eight TO-5 cans, all with little clips that it looks like were supposed to screw into a heat sink. The heat sink is missing. All eight cans are inserted into sockets that hold them VERY TENUOUSLY. So tenuously, that one of them had fallen out of its own weight.
There is quite a bit of evidence of previous repair by someone not very skilled. Deep digs and scrapes in the solder mask. Ugly solder joints with flux left all over the place. Etc.
So my question is, if anyone has seen the inside of one of these things, are the output transistors supposed to be socketed, or were the sockets an "improvement" added by the monkey who "fixed" this thing? Should I leave them, or should I just rip them out and resolder the transistors directly to the board?
As an aside, I managed to find the manual along with schematics online. The missing heat sink appears to be no more than a sheet of 1/8" Al with a few holes drilled. I think I can fabricate a reasonable replacement.