5e3 clone

[danman]

As long as you are seeing the correct B+ and heater filament voltages then I wouldn't worry about the PT or other parts of the circuit. There really isn't a way to test for "stress" so the best you can do is just make sure your voltages throughout the amp are correct. Using the light bulb limiter probably saved your PT from catastrophic damage luckily.

[fixer2]

I will back with my results it will be next week when I get back to it because I’m working two jobs thank you for your help and advice .

[danman]

Your welcome! Keep us posted of your progress.

[fixer2]

When testing the amp it all was going good till I got to step 23 and at c10 I was only getting 9.3 volts instead of 22 I was plugged into my bulb limiter with a 40 watt bulb my 75 watt got broken . And the power tubes were not too warm only about 70 degrees I can hold them ? Is it a bad solder joint no smoking

[danman]

Voltages will always be low on the limiter. You only want to use the limiter to power up the amp for a few seconds to make sure the bulb does not glow brightly. Once you see that the bulb is good, you need to unplug the limiter and plug straight into the wall to take your voltage readings.

[fixer2]

Ok , I’m only questioning it because of my mistakes I did miss wiring , .The build was a small light around 30 watts I can not read it anymore and my 75 watt bulb got broken and incandescent bulbs are hard to find. The bulb was lighting about 1/3 of the way and I did get a brief buzzing noise but I unplugged it and I tried it again and no buzz . But the power tubes are only about 70 degrees and I can grab them maybe I have the boa way way down or the connection to ground is weak , but I’m going to get get and drain it and do some testing for continuity Then try the other bulb I have which is a 200 watts bulb

[danman]

The bulb will glow bright if you have tubes in because they are drawing current through the circuit. The tubes won't function properly and the voltages will be low if you are still using the bulb.

You can find the correct light bulb at hardware and auto parts stores. Just look for a rough service bulb for use in a drop light or work light. They are still available for those types of lights

[fixer2]

Ok great I’m always in the auto parts store as my job is I’m a mechanic thanks again I will get back to you with my results

[fixer2]

Ok I found that the connection on C10 was poor so I reflow that and tried it again threw the light bulb limiter with a 40 watt bulb that’s all I had so now I’m getting all my test are ok but lower than they should because of the bulb I’m getting 15 volts on c10 instead of 22 plus or minus 3 volts so 15 is pretty good and now one of the power tubes is at normal operating temperature but the other one V 4 is cool no heat , so now what do I check please let me know thank you

[danman]

If the filament in that one power tube isn't lighting up, you either have a wiring mistake or a bad solder joint on that socket. The filament wires should connect to pins 2 and 7 on the 6v6 socket. If the wiring is correct, I would reheat the solder joints and add a touch more solder to make sure you have a solid connection.

[fixer2]

Just wanted to keep you updated I checked the wires and the one pin is loose I can wiggle it so I am getting new tube sockets and redo my wires and make it much neater too thanks

[danman]

It's normal for the pins to be loose in the socket. If they were fixed solid inside of the socket, there is a chance that the tube's glass could crack when inserting a tube into the socket. The pins have some wiggle room so that they can conform to the tube's pins easier.

If the solder joint is solid but the tube doesn't get warm, trace your AC heater voltage down through each socket to see if you are losing voltage somewhere along the line.

[fixer2]

Yes I think I have a internally broken wire

[danman]

Twisting too tightly can cause the wire to break. I stopped twisting my heater wires and all of my builds have been nice and quiet. The main thing is that the two filament wires run side by side so that they cancel out each other's magnetic field. Marshall ran their heater wires this way in some of their models as did Soldano in the SLO 100. Definitely easier than trying to twist them between each socket.

[fixer2]

Just wanted you to know that I’m having this trouble with V1& V2 not heating up and working I got V3 going . It was a bad soilderjoint very little and poorly connection I fixed that . I started to go threw my wires on the v1 v2 and I saw that I have wired right but we were talking about two different things so I wanted to clear it up with you that my latest problem is now getting v1&v2 going