One NOS ac flyback is nice. Finding its identical twin 3 months later is awesome

[extremeodd]

So a few months back I stumbled across an eBay seller offloading a ton of various new in the box vintage AC flyback Transformers. I spent a few hours looking at every single one he had and I bought the largest looking one, a Thordarson fly-173. The diagram sheet indicates it is 15kv.

After repairing the ancient failing insulation with several layers of corona dope, it worked like a champ and has been an excellent hv ac source. When I looked the seller up to grab some more random vintage NOS flybacks his store was completely cleared out. It was a sad moment but I got over it and pushed it all to the back of my mind.

Then just a few days ago when looking at a listing for a cheap dst flyback I noticed some familiar looking thumbnails in the "who also viewed" section. So I gave one a click and I didn't immediately believe what I was seeing. It looked like the one I got months earlier, so I looked at my order history to double check and sure enough not only was the listing for the same
model flyback, it was straight up the exact same listing I had purchased from previously, pictures and all.

At this point, I started feeling like it maybe some sort of scam, especially since he reused the previous listings everything including images. That last bit had me somewhat nervous since I was essentially buying it completely site unseen. But as they say, the greater the risk, the greater the reward so I rolled the dice.

Oh boy was it ever worth it. Despite being the same model, same approx age, this flyback looks like it's 20 years newer. To the point that I am almost hesitant about Corona doping the snot out of it and playing around with parallel and series ac flybacks. Part of me is screaming to just carefully clean it up and place it in a display case with its box and diagram but the nerd in me is dying to pair them up and start experimenting.

Either way, I'm freaking stoked. These old flybacks are works of art and this one is no exception. That and the odds have to be astronomical to manage to randomly get 2 of the same model vintage ANYTHING brand new NOS, espcially with electrical componenets. Cant wait to see how she'll look with the insulation cleaned up and everything coated in corona dope.

[profdc9]

I have two similar flybacks like that.  Be careful!  They arc between windings quite readily.  I patched mine up with some epoxy, but be warned.   I think the insulation strength decreases over time.