6-pin Vacuum tube base

thingiverse

Combine hollow brass tubes with a commercially available tube socket, available on Amazon, to create an adapter between a 6-pin socket and for example an octal tube. I used it to adapt a Russian 8-pin "magic eye" tube to a socket meant to take a 6-pin magic eye. It's best to make the parts from ABS. I've added photos of the toolkit that I used to make the pins. Use the jig to cut the brass tube segments to the correct lengths for the pins, and a metal punch to flare one end of each pin/tube. To flare the tubes, take an aluminum block and drill shallow holes of appropriate diameters. Rest the brass tube segments in the holes so the tops stick out, and use a hammer to pound the point of the punch into the open end of each tube. The attached photo shows the result. To assemble, solder wires to the insides of the brass tubes. Insert the tubes in the tube base. Thread the wires through the holes in the tube "lid" and press the lid down onto the flared ends of the pins. Thread the wires through the collar and insert the collar so that it rests on the "lid." Solder the wires to the socket and then attach the socket to the base. The socket will press the collar down onto the "lid" and hold the pins in place. Here is the 8-pin socket that I used: https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B00KORDF6A/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o02_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1