NOS, usable?

[ungifted]

While searching various goods for my web store I found that sometimes NOS components are not so bad. I'm not speaking about nos tubes, sockets, PIO capacitors, transformers etc. but toggle and rotary switches, knobs, pilot lights, fuse holders, tag boards etc. Now many things come from China, often  not the best quality,  but we have huge stocks of various military grade, heavy, rude and often reliable components in Russia. Are they usable?
I think about heavy projects, or stylization: vintage, art nouveau, steampunk or something like this. Dashboard of nuclear power plant, submarine or battleship.
How in US or Europe, do you have something similar? Any nos components from RCA, GEC and others? What have you used ever?

Sorry for semi ad thread, guys, i'm trying to find out is all this stuff still usable? Many thanks for your posts!

 

[JohnRoberts]

Here's a nice NOS electrical switch.

JR

 

[ungifted]

John thank you for reply!
Where can we use this switch? 
I meant something like this:

Is there anything you use in your diy gear? Or mouser/farnell/etc BOM only?

 

[Rocinante]

Assuming that it definitely wasn't working before I ripped it apart, I buy stuff like that often enough to scavange for parts.  In my eyes I see a missing knob or two for a pultec, plus two knobs for tube mic pre, a pretty cool looking meter I can stick a driver on, possibly some switches depending on their condition... yeah its definitely worth scavenging

 

[ungifted]

Thanks! Yes, and I meant not only scavenging but the same things new old stock. I started adding some nos stuff to my store, just want not to miss something usable.
And it's really interesting is it popular among diyers around the world to use various nos, old fashion stuff. Or we think - it's out of fashion, it's old and not reliable?

 

[ruffrecords]

I tend to avoid NOS tubes, capacitors and resistors; there is just too much variability. On the other hand, things like chunky, sturdy tag strips would be very useful for point to point tube building. The ones in current production seem to me to be rather flimsy.

Cheers

Ian

 

[ungifted]

Ian , thanks for your note! Yes modern tag stripes from China looks not so reliable like our military bakelite stripes. Turret boards and turret stripes are much better.

Does anybody familiar with Russian nos rotary switches? They are not so cheap now but often of good quality, silver plated pins and there are versions: sealed, for the tropical climate and so on. Have anyone used them?

 

[ungifted]

I've added some NOS stuff to the store. I really like quality and design. Will try to find more interesting things. Please let me know if you familiar with any usable russian nos stuff, I will try to find it. One of my favorite:

 

[Lee_M]

I quite often pick up NOS stuff on ebay, Particularly russian stuff.

I really like the K40Y-9 PIO caps, Great value for money (depending on your source!) and they sound great in passive filters.

I also bought a load of tiny sealed potentiometers (similar to Allen Bradley RV6 series) which make great trimpots...If you're into using parts that are complete overkill. I think I paid about 10p each for those.

The type of rotary switches which I bought seemed a bit flakey, a couple of solder lugs come loose when soldering...Possibly due to degradation of the wafer material over the years.
Which type of rotary switches have you had success with?

Scavenging seems to work out well for me too, I'm always trawling ebay for old junk to "recycle" for my DIY projects.

 

[ungifted]

What about some NOS stuff from evil empire? Pilot lights which were used in russian military war planes and famous series Sovtek Mig guitar amps. And similar pilot lights with radiation stmbol and my favorite - high cap for gothic/futuristic amps.

 

[Bowie]

While searching various goods for my web store I found that sometimes NOS components are not so bad.

Sorry for semi ad thread, guys, i'm trying to find out is all this stuff still usable? Many thanks for your posts!

NOS is often better, depending where you're sourcing it from and what it is.  There was a time when these parts were used in critical applications and the money put into developing and producing something like a tube was massive.  People tend to think that technology only grows, and that these things must be better than the were in the 1950s (I have talked to some who are absolutely unmoved from this idea) but does anyone really think that a Chinese factory selling tubes (which are almost a novelty these days) is dumping in the same QC, R&D, materials, etc as a company like GE who was working to keep big-money industrial and US military contracts?  No, there's no money in it, and it's why tube technology has gone backwards.  This is the reason for the big disparity in quality between some of the newer and older items like tubes, sockets, etc.  It's one of many areas in which the quality of parts has gone down because the market has shrunk.  Collector car guys go through the same thing when sourcing parts.

  On the other hand, things like resistors and caps are still in major use and there is a lot of money going into improving them.  Are those necessarily improvements you want in a vintage-style build?  Maybe, maybe not, but they are technically superior and getting better all the time. 
The trouble with the nicer NOS parts is that, at least in the case of tubes, most of the good stuff has been picked though and you're going to pay a premium for the desirable ones.

  As far as Russian parts go, it's hit and miss, IMO.  Some of it is solid, some was never great to begin with.  You'll find it's no coincidence that the countries producing the best gear (Germany, UK, US, etc) also made the best parts at the time.

 

[ungifted]

Old thread but I'm thinking about good source of russian PIO capacitors for my websore, and wonder what voltage and capacitance is usable? Yes, 400-630v are good, but, are 160v, 200v, 250v rated caps are usable?
K42Y2-2, K40P-2, K40Y-9 series.

 

[Lee_M]

are 160v, 200v, 250v rated caps are usable?
K42Y2-2, K40P-2, K40Y-9 series.

Yes, The types you mentioned are very nice in passive filters and EQ's.