Thanx for the replies guys...I'll stick with the 6SN7 adapter build plan.
TD...How did you cut the glass of the tubes...glass cutter? dremel? carbide "saw"? I would love to just use the throw-away OE Chinese tubes and make for easy floating connectors!
Any reasonable source for sockets in the US, or should I just order the gold ones from China for $7-10/pair??
TA
-Mark
I wrapped the tube up tightly with a couple of wraps of electrical tape. Using a black cutting disk on your Dremel, you can go around the bottom of the tube slowly and gently allowing the glass to cool in between cuts. The base will crack if you cut too fast, hard or even look at it the wrong way so you might want want to prepare a few cheap tubes.
Cut all the inner wires away that attach the tube parts to the pins. I just carefully cut the pins off I won't be using on the inside with flush cutters, right next to the little glass support post.
The wires that go to the tube parts are spot welded to the pins, you will need to sand the pins a little and use a little flux to get them to take solder. Some bases will crack as well when you put heat to the pins so be aware of that as well. I had many a perfectly cut off tube have the base crack while soldering wires to the pins.
Once your wires are soldered on, fill the hole with hot glue and apply a piece of shrink tube so it just slightly comes down over the edge of the bottom of the tube.
Can be more effort than it is worth depending on how well the tube survives the cutting.
I have also used a thick little disk of Lexan and drilled holes in it with the drill press in a B7G pattern which is 7 pins arranged at 45 degrees spacing in a 9.53 mm (3/8th inch)
diameter arc, really easy to make, just keep cutting the circle in half till you have 8 points on the circle. I used straightened paperclips as the pins with a loop on the top to attach a wire.
Good luck either way you go.
