Connect !!

These days, just about everyone has an old oscilloscope lying around. You know, an old, dusty, derelict scope handed down from Grandpa (or Grandma). Well, [Paul] had something even better – an old Tektronix 602 X-Y Monitor! Could an Oscilloclock Control Board drive this vintage beauty? Absolutely. Could I make an aesthetically pleasing case? Definitely. How about time sync via WiFi? Stock standard!

Presenting the Oscilloclock Connect:

Here’s what it looks like plugged in to my fabulous old Tektronix 620 monitor:

And why not have a pair of Connects drive a Tek 601 and 602?

The Build

The main component of the Connect is, of course, a standard Oscilloclock Control Board. As usual, all 121 parts on Paul’s board were individually mounted and soldered by hand. The board then was programmed and underwent rigorous inspection and testing. Finally, the board was cleaned to remove flux and renegade flecks of solder, and sprayed with HV coating for humidity protection and – arguably more importantly – to give it its glorious sheen.

The case was custom-made and professionally machined right here in Japan from 6mm-thick sheets of pure cast acrylic (not extruded). This is an extremely transparent, hard, high grade acrylic – and Oscilloclocks deserve nothing less!

The case was sprayed with a special acrylic cleaner and static protection solution, before fitting the various components. Naturally, every part was cherry-picked, right down to the three BNC connectors – they needed an aesthetically pleasing colour, but they also had to have a shaft long enough to mount through 6mm-thick acrylic!

Finally, the physical interface! The knob was chosen for its perfect finger-fit and delicate aluminium/black tones, which gently contrast with the rest of the unit.

The Compatibility Crisis

Over the years, many folks have observed that the scope at hand has an “X-Y mode”, and asked if they could just ‘plug in’ an Oscilloclock Control Board. “Is it compatible?” Unfortunately, the response has usually been disappointing.

You see, creating figures and characters with Circle Graphics relies on the scope’s ability to turn the beam on and off at split-second intervals. This feature is called a “Z-axis input”. While many scopes from the 80’s and beyond do sport such an input, there are two common limitations:

Limitation 1: AC-coupled Z-axis inputs

Capacitive coupling – effective at isolating the input from cathode potential (-1260V !)

The input is connected to the CRT’s grid or cathode circuit via a capacitor. This is a low-cost, effective way to isolate the (usually) very high negative voltage of the grid circuit from the input.

The problem here is that the capacitor, by its very nature, removes the edges from the pulse. The controller is no longer able to control the beam on/off timing, and you end up with uneven blanking across the segments, as shown in the screenshot at right.

Depending on the values of the capacitor and the surrounding resistors, the symptoms may not be severe. However, the best way to resolve this problem (while still keeping the oscilloscope’s original circuit intact) is to insert an isolated DC blanking amplifier directly in series with the grid (or cathode). See the Kikusui 537 Oscilloclock for an example of this.

LIMITATION 2: INSUFFICIENT BLANKING AMPLIFICATION

Most oscilloscopes tend to require at least +5V on the Z-axis input to noticeably blank the beam. The Connect, however, is only capable of delivering +2.5V. It works just fine if you set the scope’s Intensity control very low, but as you increase intensity, the blanking quickly becomes ineffective.

Below we have a beautiful Japanese YEW (Yokogawa Electric Works) 3667 storage scope. The left shot is misleading due to the camera exposure; the displayed image is actually extremely dim. The right shot shows the same* image with the intensity control increased – the image is bright, but there is no blanking!

* Astute readers will observe that the time is significantly different between the two shots. This is a result of the WiFi NTP sync kicking in right in the middle! More (or less) astute readers may also notice that the scope’s trace rotation is not adjusted very well…

Of course, it would be a simple matter to incorporate a pre-amplifier for the Z-axis, which would solve this problem. This will be introduced with the next Control Board revision!


Like what you see?

Nothing brings more joy than connecting this bundle of usefulness into a woefully unused old oscilloscope or X-Y monitor. If this is of interest to you, visit the Availability page for more information, and of course see the Gallery for other unique creations!

More 2015 craziness – the CopperClock!

Happy New Year! Looking back, 2015 was a superb year, full of fun and fancy. And just in case you thought last year’s creative juices were exhausted by the fabulous Oscilloblock, rest assured that there was an even crazier creation – the 2015 luxury edition CopperClock!

CopperClock on shelf 01

The unusual facade for this unit was built to order by a Canadian craftsman specializing in hand-hammered and silver-soldered copper weather vanes. If you enjoy metal art, you will certainly approve of this!

Oscilloclock CopperClock 01

But… you may have read my previous articles and know that three-inch Oscilloclock models are typically powered by 2.1kV high voltage power supplies. Isn’t there any danger in using a metal case?

Never fear! The internals are fully encapsulated in a beautiful cast acrylic case, providing full insulation and utmost safety.

Oscilloclock CopperClock - internals 01

Breaking from tradition, I’ll refrain from describing other features of this unit (such as the selection of a round-faced CRT to give it character), and instead just post a few more photos of the clock ‘in situ’. Enjoy!


The 2015 CopperClock atop a beautiful Philips Radioplayer. What a match!

... or perhaps atop a vintage Estey pump organ?

… or perhaps atop a vintage Estey pump organ?

... perhaps it looks best on a 1920's Edison Diamond Disc Phonograph!

… perhaps it looks best on a 1920’s Edison Diamond Disc Phonograph!


Like what you see?

This exquisite specimen is currently available to someone with a metallurgical and chronometric disadvantage. Visit the Availability page for more information, and of course see the Gallery for other unique creations!

VectorClock Reloaded!

Aside

Fresh from Oscilloclock Labs – a new VectorClock creation, commissioned for the office of a world-famous film and television director:

Tek 520 VectorClock - S/N 002 (image published with permission of the owner)

Tek 520 VectorClock – S/N 002 (image published with permission of the owner)

This unit is based on an original Tektronix 520 vectorscope, which is the predecessor of the 520A that was used in the first VectorClock, described here. This custom conversion employs several key enhancements, and performance has never been better!

Be sure to check out videos on my YouTube channel.