I was in corporate purchasing for a number of years. I've bought my share of Lambda power supplies...they've been around forever. And I recall when Harmon Kardon was a premier name in consumer audio. Both of those were high-quality products. I bet you got a lot of pride & satisfaction working there.
I soldered a lot of stuff as a kid. The first real project I recall was an ArcherKit analog voltmeter. One day I blew the power diode in the thing and took it to work to replace it. This was when Beckman DVMs first hit the market. In order to test the repair, we got a stack of resistors and measured them side-by-side...me with my ArcherKit, and a friend with his Beckman. Just for grins (and because I'm a smart aleck) I was using the mirrored needle to call out measurements two places to the right of the decimal point. We were shocked at how close I could come to the Beckman.
Yes I did get a lot of Pride and satisfaction especially working for Harman Kardon I can go on forever. Wiring and soldering recitation series equipment was exciting to me it those were the greatest tube amplifiers ever made.
@Tony Page The Harmon Kardon Citation 2 power amp was a real innovation. $159 in kit form in 1959. It used 12BY7's as differential phase splitters to drive the push pull KT 88's. With feedback, it achieved a frequency response that was the best around. Those Freed outputs transformers had amazing response and even today bring an amazing price from old-time audio buffs. My father bought the kit and I helped him do some of it including soldering.
I was gonna comment on the old HeathKits. My brother-in-law built his own HeathKit amp and used it his entire life. But I had no idea that Harmon Kardons came in kit form.
Stu Heckman designed the Harman Kardon citation amplifier and preamplifier, they had an extended frequency range well beyond human hearing this gave you harmonics in the range you can hear which made for a completely unique sound. If my memory holds correct the preamp frequency range went from 5 or 10 Cycles to around one meg. We would hand wire the kits has Harman Kardon two at a time is increased our production.
Here is an example of how crimping and making a solid electrical contact is necessary and the solder is just to seal around the contact thus allowing no oxidation and assuring the contact stays bright and tight. This joint is on the 120 VAC side of the power supply and was designed to carry 20 amps 24/7 in commercial service. The crimp of bright copper to copper is the key to a long-lasting maximum conducting joint. In applications like this, we never used pre-tinned or tinned wire. I remember the Professor in Broadcasting school being a fanatic about this. This is from my 1980's home designed and built for commercial shortwave broadcast transmitter power supply.
No real issue except in certain applications the bare copper to copper is preferred as it conducts better than through a lead/tin coating even a thin one.
Interesting. There have been times I've had a hard time getting the solder flowing unless I pre-tin. I wonder if there's a difference with a single conductor wire versus multi-conductor/stranded.
Much of my electronics stuff came from here: I wired a 5-inch oscilloscope kit from them, forget the brand right now. Solder, solder guns and irons, magnet wire for my high voltage transformers and Tesla coils, which came later. I believe I was about 12 doing the 'scope. My Dad hated driving me there; we rarely traveled into Chicago proper. 'Course, the other Chicago jaunts were to National Scientific, a small laboratory supply owned by a nice old gentlemen. In those days, purchasable materials, even by a minor, included Phosphorus, both red and white, Sodium and Potassium metal, etc. Luckily, I didn't blow my fool head off triturating Berge's Blasting Powder in 8th. grade....my dictionary defined triturate as energetic mixing, so I was doing so using my bug porcelain Mortar & Pestle. WHOOF! A month off from school! Frank
My favorite place 2 shop 4 soldering irons, soldering guns, solder, components, wire, terminals, was Courtland Street in New York City it has a nickname radio row every shop had something to do with electronics, From Surplus components, chassis, parts, cabinet Builders 4 speakers systems this is where I got most of my kits the wire and solder.
I forgot about Allied. I vaguely remembered that they got absorbed into a different business, and Wiki confirms that Radio Shack purchased them and eventually spun off the commercial (non-consumer) side. I do recall "Allied/Radio Shack" being bandied about for awhile. That was a long time ago. I had a Gilbert ChemLab, but had no adventures like the ones you seem to have survived.