When equipment was built to last

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MichaelB said:
A different world????

A few years ago I brought home an older Company truck,
I was driving my daughter and she says, it's hot. I say roll the window down.
She says, 'Where's the button?' as she is staring at the crank...........
Click to expand...
My granddaughter saw the window cranks of my '66 Galaxie and said. "Oh yeah, I've seen those in old movies."
 
£32 pounds in 1970 was about £900 now . With original cabinets they go for huge amounts..and thanks for the thought re amps
 
Relative to some of the items presented here this is relatively new, yet it has been around a while. A 1946 Quincy Model 310 compressor, with automatic water purge (that still works) an unloader valve and no-load starting (doesn’t compress until it reaches full operating speed). Originally finished in the light green machine color of the era, has now been repainted Rustoleum machine grey. A quiet, reliable, workhorse that will likely outlive us all.

When equipment was built to last
 
oldmikew said:
No I built cabinets for them when purchased in 1970 and since then left undisturbed. They were very expensive at just over £32 per bare chassis speaker . A possible problem is failure of condensers in the crossover units.But so far so good. A good idea to rotate the drivers , had never occurred to me and thanks for the suggestion.
What I have found difficult is to find modern amplifiers that are underdamped The Tannoys are very highly damped. Am very reluctant to purchase a vintage Rodgers or an old valve amp because of the likelihood of component failure
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Even the use of the word condenser in the English language for electrical/electronics has been phased out since the 1960s,replaced with capacitor.Also perhaps a redesigned crossover network would give a better match to modern amps either valve or solid state while still matching the speaker parameters to cabinet volume ? Capacitors do age particularly the electrolitic caps ,you are nudging the limit at near 50 years .Is the big bang awaiting .
 
HRD said:
Even the use of the word condenser in the English language for electrical/electronics has been phased out since the 1960s,replaced with capacitor.Also perhaps a redesigned crossover network would give a better match to modern amps either valve or solid state while still matching the speaker parameters to cabinet volume ? Capacitors do age particularly the electrolitic caps ,you are nudging the limit at near 50 years .Is the big bang awaiting .
Click to expand...

Yes, the old electrolytics do age, leak and fail. The same happens to the "condensers" in our standard Kettering (points) ignitions and magnetos. It is interesting that the automotive industry still makes reference to "condensers".

I have a Marantz 2325 receiver on the bench at the moment that has suffered from electrolytic "age". I should check the crossovers in the Infinity Column II's as well.

~998cc
 
My son was in the driveway trying to separate ball joints on his truck. He needed some kind of wedge that he could bang on to get the joints apart. I handed him a big old cold chisel that was my grandfather's. It did the job, and it brought a smile to my face to think that 4 generations of men in my family have whacked that piece of steel. It still sits in my toolbox.
 
HRD said:
Even the use of the word condenser in the English language for electrical/electronics has been phased out since the 1960s,replaced with capacitor.Also perhaps a redesigned crossover network would give a better match to modern amps either valve or solid state while still matching the speaker parameters to cabinet volume ? Capacitors do age particularly the electrolitic caps ,you are nudging the limit at near 50 years .Is the big bang awaiting .
Click to expand...

Yes the crossovers are probably on borrowed time ... in which case will get them 'sorted' but not by an update.
 
WZ507 said:
Relative to some of the items presented here this is relatively new, yet it has been around a while. A 1946 Quincy Model 310 compressor, with automatic water purge (that still works) an unloader valve and no-load starting (doesn’t compress until it reaches full operating speed). Originally finished in the light green machine color of the era, has now been repainted Rustoleum machine grey. A quiet, reliable, workhorse that will likely outlive us all.

View attachment 11640
Click to expand...

That looks kind of familiar. Mines runs alongside a 6 horse "Big Red" compressor from the 80's.
The Quincy had to have a valve job once back in the late 70's.
The "Big Red" has been rebuilt 3 times since the mid 80's.

When equipment was built to last
 
In 1971 I was just out of college and had my first job. First thing I bought with my new found money was a Kenwood Tuner/Amplifier
and a pair of JBL Studio Monitor speakers. Those speakers were quite expensive at over $500. This set up still works perfectly
and is in my shop. No repairs or maintenance ever done. Of course I am not listening to vinyl records or cassette tapes any more as my collection is housed in my iPod. It is my 3rd one as previous ones had failed.

The second thing I purchased was a 1971 Yamaha RD350. I sold that a few
years later.
 
I'm going to look at a benchmaster horizontal mill tomorrow, though I'm not too keen on the model (it has no back gears) but the price is really good so I figured it's worth a look.

When equipment was built to last
 
interesting piece of kit hope you struck a deal.. Such machinery was available in the uk in the late 20th when small engineering firms were going over to CNNC . Now who knows?
 
comnoz said:
That looks kind of familiar. Mines runs alongside a 6 horse "Big Red" compressor from the 80's.
The Quincy had to have a valve job once back in the late 70's.
The "Big Red" has been rebuilt 3 times since the mid 80's.
Click to expand...

I like the oil filter as an air filter.
 
Our Nortons for unknown reasons. I'm surprised none of you picked that one up. I know they weren't designed to last, but here we are all these years later still riding them with glee, & wild abandon in some cases when the brakes fail.
 
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