800B Tuner Chassis Slides

[Joseph W Strickland]

The 800B that I have is missing the slide brackets on the side of the tuner chassis. From looking at photographs I see that the slides extend several inches behind the tuner chassis. Could someone measure theirs and let me know just how long the originals were.

Do any of the slide brackets ever turn up on ebay?

Joe

[Norman S Braithwaite]

Glides turn up on parts chassis for reasonable prices from time to time.  The challenge is to find both the chassis part and the cabinet part at the same time.  There were two styles of glides employed on the 800B over the years and they are not compatible.

Norman

[Joseph W Strickland]

Norman;

I measured the spacing of the holes in the side of the 800B tuner/preamp chassis I have and they are spaced 5 inches apart. I looked at the side view in the technical manual #1 from this website and translated the dimensions to the drawing. It appears that the slide brackets were about 15 inches long in the one illustrated in the drawing (if my chassis is typical of its type). Does about 15 inches look correct? The Serial No. plate on mine says: 800  1035. The chassis sides are also missing the Latch Spring assembly and the front of the tuner/preamp chassis is missing the wooden trim shroud that should cover it.

In a previous post where we discussed this unit you posted a photo that showed a wooden travel limit bracket that could be made to limit the forward travel of the tuner/preamp chassis.

I will keep watching for slide brackets.

Joe

[Joseph W Strickland]

There is currently an E H Scott 800B on ebay tuner/preamp, item 311726642211 which has a front trim panel that appears to have had its top chopped down about an inch or so. The rolled back top edge is gone. It does however, have both the Slide Rails and the Latch Springs. It has the FM loop antenna and its chassis has better plating than the one I have (at least it appears to in the pictures I see). However I do not want to purchase another tuner/preamp chassis just to obtain the Slide Rails and the Latch Springs.

I noticed today when I moved the tuner/preamp chassis that some of the cloth braid on one of the cables disintegrated and fell off. The unit on ebay has some clear plastic sleeving over the cable. I might modify this unit by using clear vinyl tubing to protect the cable assemblies.

The same person also has the 15 inch speaker with the concentric tweeter, but it has some damage to its cones. They could probably be re-coned to make them more reliable.

Joe

[Norman S Braithwaite]

The glides are a little longer than 15-inches.  They extend approximately 3-inches behind the tuner chassis.  The glides on the chassis listed on eBay are the chassis side of the later version (seller should be asked if they have the mating pieces).  Look for the opportunity to purchase both the chassis and cabinet pieces to make sure you have a useable pair.  Deteriorating cloth sheaths is a problem for many 800B chassis.  Fortunately, it can be replaced by YnZ Yesterdays Parts (link below).  They offer black or white (may be dyed) for approximately $4.00 per foot last time I checked.  Do not order white with the intent of dying if any of the interior wires have cloth insulation.  The dye contains salt which will impregnate the cloth insulation and conduct electricity quite well to say nothing of the powers of corrosion.

http://www.ynzyesterdaysparts.com/

[Joseph W Strickland]

Norman;

Thanks for the information about the cloth sheathing. I think the cables were originally brown, but the next choice might be black. The problems that dye might lead to is a solution for one issue resulting in unintended consequences later. I will definitely avoid using any dye to change color on sheathing material. I sent a question to the seller on ebay about the slide mating pieces. I hope to receive an answer soon. I will order the sheathing for the cables soon. Thanks for the link.

Joe

[Norman S Braithwaite]

Joe:

You will have to remove the umbilical cord and send it in to YnZ so they can drop it through the loom that weaves the sheath.

Norman

[Joseph W Strickland]

Norman;

Oh, I thought it would be available in a form like the Chinese handcuffs that when stretched would conform to the OD of the wire bundle. I have done that with the copper braid removed from coaxial cable to add a shield to existing insulated wires in a few radios. Thanks.

Joe

[Joseph W Strickland]

Norman;

After looking more closely at some of the pictures of the slide rails I realize that I had a very mistaken concept of how they were made and operated. The slide rails worked with metal wheels to facilitate the forward-reverse movement of the radio/tuner/preamp chassis. I originally thought they had used rails similar to what I have seen on record turntables, which have slide rails containing ball bearings held in compression and having considerable resistance to movement. The wheels or rollers in the E H Scott design would appear to have far less resistance to movement. This would make it very easy for someone to move the chassis forward to its latch position. If the latches were not incorporated, it would likely be very easy for someone to push the chassis back into the cabinet while operating the front tuning and other controls. Thus they added the latches. I assume that a certain amount of force has to be used to overcome the latches when the user wants to move the chassis back into the cabinet and close the cabinet door.

The wheels or rollers used remind me of the ones I see used on sliding glass doors in homes. They look rather robust and could support considerable weight. The chassis weighs 44lbs, which is rather substantial.

Joe

[Norman S Braithwaite]

Joe:

The early version of glide employed by Scott Radio Laboratories used ball bearings.  The late version used roller bearings.  Unless the bearings are gummed up (if not recently cleaned, most are by now), the major resistance to operation is presented by the door mechanism.

Norman

[Joseph W Strickland]

Norman;

Thanks for that extra information on the slides. It is an example of another difference between the early and later versions of the 800B.

I am currently studying the schematics to identify differences between the early and late models too.

Joe