SB-610 graticule, how to make?

[Mike Morris]

At 03:49 PM 09/01/2000 , you wrote:
>In the process of restoring an SB-610 monitorscope, I had to
>come up with a replacement  graticule. Of course, they're
>unobtainable, so what to do?
>
>Well, I tried "replicating" one  (hello, Star Trek fans) with
>2 pieces of software. I used Visio 2000 to make the graticule.
>Visio has a stencil called "Forms - Shapes". In that stencil is
>a 10 line form which can be resized and rotated to make a
>reasonably good, even-spaced graticule with a minimal amount of
>work. Looks just like the  original, with the grid, major
>and minor divisions. I then saved my drawing as a WMF graphic
>file for editing and touch up with Paint Shop Pro. I cropped it
>to the right size and shape and would  be virtually
>undistinguishable from the original were it not for one single
>thing: I haven't  come up with an acceptable white print out.
>The best I can do is print a slightly yellow, light-colored
>graticule.
>There's another problem. I'm trying to print this out on a
>transparency.
>
>What I found is that transparencies don't have as much color
>density as prints on regular paper. It makes  sense that this
>would be the case.
>You don't want opaque print on something that's supposed to let
>some light come through. The best prints on transparencies are
>black in color. That would be great for duplicating dials and
>markings but obviously, that's not what's needed  here right
>now. So the question is how do you print thick enough
>white lines on transparencies? Anyone else on the list have any
>experience doing this type of thing? I'm using an HP  Color
>LaserJet 4500DN with HP transparencies C-2934A. As Chief
>Inspector Clouseau would say "I am so cleuse, I can fell it in
>my beuns". BTW: Visio has some interesting stencils for vacuum
>tube aficionados. There's diodes, triodes, and pentodes. You
>can have directly or indirectly heated cathodes and you can show
>or hide the tube envelope. Unfortunately no pentagrid converter.
>Other than that, it would be perfect for drawing neat tube circuit schematics.

While not directly applicable to Visio, here's something I posted
to this list back in April of 1999.

>____________________Reply Separator____________________
>Subject:    Re: Graticale - SB610
>Author: Mike Morris <morris at cogent.net>
>Date:       4/19/99 1:19 AM
>
>Sorry about just now replying to a 6-day old message, but I just
>now read it...
>I am not familiar with the '610 graticule - I've never seen one -
>but if it is anything like an old DuMont scope I worked on, the
>lines are scribed into the plastic, then filled with white
><something> - paint, maybe...
>
>Heath - at least on the '610 - may have gone the cheap way and
>used silk-screening on unscribed plastic.  If yours is scribed,
>then chalk rubbed into the groves should make it white again.
>
>Another method:
>Years ago a friend of mine acquired an older tube-type Tektronix
>scope - a 1960s model 513 I think - from a hamfest but with the
>graticule missing.  We found a duplicate scope at an electronic
>surplus store and "rented" the graticule for a few hours, took
>it over to a copy store, and had them make copies on both paper
>and on clear plastic - an overhead projector transparency.
>Be careful, some public copy machines drift out of optical
>adjustment and actually do a 3-5% reduction when it is set to
>100%, so you may have to hand-pick the proper machine to make an
>exactly sized copy.  Just compare the paper copy to the original.
>
>Note that if you have a white-on-clear graticule then a black-
>lines-on clear film transparency is not going to be stock, but
>if nothing else it's a good temporary replacement.
>
>Then we took the original graticule to a plastics place - there's
>a chain here in L.A. called Paragon Plastics that sells raw
>plastic of many types and sizes.  We got two half-thickness pieces
>of the proper material, then returned the original graticule.
>In the garage we sandwiched the transparency between the plastic
>pieces, then used 4 C-clamps to hold them between two pieces of wood
>buffered with felt, like so:
>
>use a monospaced font to see this:
>
>   paper copy ----> ----------  <glued with rubber cement to the wood
>         wood ----> ==========
>         felt ----> ----------
>      plastic ----> ==========  <
>transparency ----> ----------  < glued together
>      plastic ----> ==========  <
>         felt ----> ----------
>         wood ----> ==========
>
>We glued the new graticule together with model airplane glue -
>we ran a bead around the edge of the sandwich and let it sit
>overnight.  Be careful with the glue, don't use too much or
>let it drip - it is a solvent and turns the clear plastic
>milky white. That's OK on the edges, not on the working area.
>
>Using the paper copy as a guide, we used a drill press to drill
>all the proper holes by just running the drill through the
>entire stack.  There's special bits made for drilling plastic
>that avoid splitting by have a flat bottom and a little tiny point.
>Bingo - one replacement graticule.  Total materials cost about
>$5 (back about 1988 or so).
>
>Mike Morris  WA6ILQ

_______________________________________________
Why pay for something you could get for free?
NetZero provides FREE Internet Access and Email
http://www.netzero.net/download/index.html

Listserver Subscription:listserv at listserv.tempe.gov - "subscribe heath 'name' 'call'"
Listserver Submissions: heath at listserv.tempe.gov
Listserver Unsubscribe: listserv at listserv.tempe.gov - -"signoff heath"