EEVblog #265 - Philips PM6672 Timer Counter Teardown

The first of the new regular segment on the EEVblog - Teardown Tuesday.
Dave cracks open the Philips PM6672 1GHz Timer Counter, and more interestingly, the PM9690 10MHz oven stabilised reference crystal oscillator.

[ClawSpike]

Dave this was the most stressful and exciting full teardown in all these years. I was screaming at the screen “don’t open the crystal heater. You are going to ruin it”. Then you said it would be silly to open it. I gave a sigh of relief. But then you opened it! I almost fell off my seat. Great video. I would rather watch your teardown videos more than any Tom Cruse movie.

[morelenmir]

Thank you VERY much for posting these teardowns/repairs. They are fascinating and the older ones genuinely nostalgic for me. Most of all the way you demystify things is incredibly inspiring. Please keep them coming; your channel is fast turning into the favourite among my youtube subscriptions.

[internet]

You've inspired me to do a teardown of an 70's era philips scope. Awesome vids!

[xquercus]

The precision OCXO teardown was great! Thanks for the show!

[jippenfaddoul]

I love seeing the teardowns with you as a guide. Its helped me learn quite a lot about electronics.

[EEVblog]

Either separate piles or tossed in the one bin, and just keep a mental note.

[SeanBZA]

Prerscaler IC's are TV tuner dividers. Used in the first gen digital tuned TV sets.

[compwiz]

Great video! I'm on my way to look at some test gear for my lab tomorrow morning; a 3mhz sweep function generator, an Elenco F1000 Counter (w/ Oven controlled crystal!), and an old heathkit audible/visual signal tracer.

[gfsh]

The reguler theme is a great idea Dave gives the thing a bit of structure. Great idea!!

[ChrisRtro]

Just wanted to let you know what I think: Teardown Tuesday, is the best idea ever!

[SeanBZA]

Ceramic board - big resistor on it to heat the crystal. Transistor far away to keep feedback low. On the ceramic will be the reference voltage source and comparator, kept at constant temp.

Crystal is so big because it is aged stock, has been cut and manufactured, then stored for years to age out all the stress. Only then assembled into a unit and tuned finally. Small fibreglass PCB has the oscillator and tuning components, to keep them stable as well.

[kibi]

Yes, let's have a regular Teardown Tuesday. Brilliant idea!

[EEVblog]

Be sure to post it as a video response!

[ytrewq]

Thumps up for teardown tuesday. Thanks dave for showing us whats inside even to the extremely sensitive parts and taking the time to explain everything properly. My favourite so far was the Tektronix MDO4000 Oscilliscope pure nerdgasm on that one :-)

[ExStaticBass]

Mate, I bloody love teardown Tuesday. It's one of the highlights of my week. In fact, it is the main reason I subscribed to your channel. That is to say that I think you got your "tongue angle" right when you had the idea... I do love that bit too frankly. It's silly bits like that that make the rest just that much more entertaining. So thanks lots mate, and keep em comin...

[thisoldguy]

I'd be up for Teardown Tuesday as well as Thursday!

[drblah]

The last part with that crystal was awesome. Thanks!

[EEVblog]

Awesome, thanks. Yeah, there it is, a "counter on a chip".

[TheCrazyInventor]

Tuesday is now my favorite day of the week. Sounds like an awesome idea. :)

[RandyLott]

I get butterflies when I see a new EEVblog video. YES!