Connecting with an old friend

[Tin Falcon]

Well sort of.  In days of old  in high school electronics class i leaned to use a multi meter. The standard at the time was the Simpson 260. A little research I find the Simpson had been and continues to be the industry standard for analog VOMs since the 1930s. they are still made. Of course the electronics have changes some over the years as have the required batteries. 

Almost 3 years ago I went with my family to help long time family friends  pack and move.  Our friends had lived with his parents for several years to help care for them . Dad has passed a couple years earlier and mom had just passed away so time to move one. My task was to assist with sorting through and packing of the shop. And as with any such endeavor some things just need to be tossed  and treasures kept.  One item my friend  chose to toss that I saw as a treasure was an 1980s vintage Simpson 260 series 6 . The meter in mostly  good condition but a battery had leaked and one of the battery contacts disintegrated.  My friends father had retired from GE as an electrical engineer it was his meter with a GE cal sticker on it and the original red  read the manual label IMHO this was a piece of history not to be tossed .
Last evening I finally took the time to pull out a piece of brass shim stock and the soldering iron and put this old meter back into commission.
I went to Simpson 260.com and downloaded the manual. I also downloaded the Navy Electricity and Electronics training series. these modules were what I used in high school electronics class. 
So repairing this old meter brings back memories and connections to friends.  And it gives me a nice vintage meter to use in my shop



Tin

[b.lindsey]

Glad it has found a good home with you Tin. Though I suspect more modern digital VOM's are more accurate, this one certainly deserves to be preserved, if only for historical reasons.

Bill

[Don1966]

Nice find Tim and I use to repairs Simpson and Fluke meters years back. I still have some battery terminal if you need one. Just drop me a pm with your address. My memory is not to good, so does this meter have a D cell and 9v battery or does it have AA batteries. The old 260 used D and 9 V batteries. One thing about this meter that I remember is that static Electricity will effect the placement of the needle. This is from rubbing the face which is plastic. I use to use static spray to get rid of it. Even using your hand to clean the face would effect it. The needle would follow your finger. Let me know if you want the battery contact.

Don

[Tin Falcon]

the series 6 meters are on e bay for about $ 40 -$50 USD  so about the regular price of an inexpensive new digital.
These are a popular meter so not worth a kings ransom or exactly a museum piece  but I like it. And worth the time to fix.


I have a
Model 260-6XLPM
Lots info on the simpsons here
http://www.simpson260.com/
tin

[Don1966]

Tin I forgot to mention that Simpson uses a battery contact to hold the nine volt battery in place. It can be used for the D cell.

Don

[Admiral_dk]

Nice save Bill - those old analog instruments can't be beat for instantaneous response to whatever you measure, and the better digital ones can't be beat for precision (though really precise analog did exist, the prices where through the roof).

I got my first very good analog back when my father sold the house this summer and moved in with his new spouse - I can't say that I use it, but I couldn't bring myself to toss it either 

[b.lindsey]

Um, I think you meant that for Tin. He is the rescuer in this case.

Bill

[steam guy willy]

Hi from across the pond .....the AVO    amps volts ohms is the military choice that i used in the 60's when an electronics engineer.! this also had the mirror to prevent parralex error's They are quite cheap at car boot sales about £ 5-10  if you are lucky, They also had a trip device if used on the ohms scale when measuring volts !!I don't know what they use now though ??

[Admiral_dk]

Um, I think you meant that for Tin. He is the rescuer in this case.

Ups - you are right Bill - I had a brain fart .... Sorry Tin, it was you I meant - but I'm sure you figured that 

[Roger B]

I still have my Father's AVO, like the one on the right in Willy's picture, with the original braided leads that I don't think I would use on higher voltages today.
Currently I use a repaired AVO (2001?) DVM some BBC (Brown Boveri et Cie) Analogue meters and the ubiquitous Fluke DVM and Amp Clamp.

[Tin Falcon]

Glad it has found a good home with you Tin. Though I suspect more modern digital VOM's are more accurate, this one certainly deserves to be preserved, if only for historical reasons.

I thought so. unfortunately too many folks are ready to toss good old tools . Often because there is no: time, interest or skill to do a quick repair or restoration.
tin

[Lew Hartswick]

My 260 is series 3 and I would be lost without it.  For all those who are enraptured by the latest Digital gimmick all you have to do is "tune" any thing for a Maximum or Minimum to get so disgusted with any digital readout it's pathetic. :-)
   ...lew...

[mnay]

This will date me, but my high school electronics lab had those in every work station, obviously an older model. I was in high school in the late sixties.  I love to use the analog meters, even though i have several digital meters.

Along the same lines, I have a home built foundry at home to melt aluminum and brass.  While visiting my daughter in Logan, Utah i found this analog pyrometer in an antiques shop.  I has a Browning firearms tag on it, the factory is based in Utah.
It was a $100 but i could not pass it up and it even works!!!

Excuse the one picture, quite out of focus, but you get the idea.  I was still in the original case.

[Troutsqueezer]

As it happens, I just threw my Simpson 260 into the garbage can last week. It finally gave up the ghost after using it since 1972. That's 46 years of service. I will say this, perhaps the newer meters are more accurate but I got to the point after repairing thousands of broken electronic what-have-you's for a living in my twenties to where I could judge the condition of a P-N junction (or resistor) just by watching how fast the needle would swing. Didn't matter where it landed, I didn't have to wait that long. That's a touch I never could develop after many years in the business afterwards using expensive Flukes and other meters. For accurate readings in R&D labs, the newer digital stuff is superior but for hands-on repairing things, nothing ever touched the 260, IMO.