HISTORY:
This component has been pulled from a wonderful piece of test equipment made by KEITHLEY (USA), the 642 Electrometer. This equipment is from the 1980's ~ 1990's era, technically advanced (for the day) and designed to measure voltage, current and charge to extremely low levels (see one of the snapshot photographs from the User Manual)
Why "part out" such an instrument? I have decided to make this equipment an "organ donor" because a critical component is no longer with me, the remote head! To make measurements a wired head is required and without that, the instrument had no sensing abilities.
COMPONENT MANUFACTURER:
NEL Frequency Controls (USA) are a USA based design and manufacturer of precision, highly accurate quartz crystals and related frequency control modules.
This NE-34 series crystal is one of their older products, from the 1980's ~ 1990's - take a look at their current product line, some very interesting modules there!
Offered for experimentation, perhaps as the basis for a radio equipment 100Khz "marker" oscillator or design a nice "oven", put this crystal inside and see how the frequency tolerance can be improved by having a nice stable ambient temperature surrounding the crystal (figures below are at an ambient temperatures of 25C)
NEL FREQUENCY CONTROLS CORP. (USA) - Quartz Crystal
NE-34 Series
Part # NE34-PE 100Khz
Frequency: 100Khz
Operating temperature range: -40.0 ~ +70 Deg C
Drive level rating: 0.1mW maximum
Tolerance: -0.012% ~ +0.012%
Mode of operation: Fundamental
The "cut" of the crystal is unknown, no "deeper" data could be found about this series
LARGE package
DIMENSIONS:
39.25mm length x 19mm wide x 7.6mm thickness
Radial active leads, Gold plated
Leads spaced 13.25mm apart
Third lead (at the opposite end of the case) is connected to the case and would normally be grounded (also provides physical support for this gigantic crystal!), this 3rd lead is not connected to the crystal element.
The crystal was and is intended to be positioned horizontally, not upright.
Active leads are a total of 9mm length EACH (currently bent at right angles for PCB mounting)
COSMETIC CONDITION:
USED
Removed from the 642 main board very carefully and placed onto a foam "bed" awaiting a new owner
CLEAN
Leads are clean
Casing is undamaged
The ID markings have been stamped into the metal casing, that is NOT physical damage you may be able to see in the photograph(s)
TESTING:
Prior to the KEITHLEY 642 being on the "operating table" the unit was functioning normally, albeit without the remote head! This crystal was designed to provide a stable, highly accurate frequency reference to the equipment and it was working well - no issues here.
This crystal is now on the bed of foam (mentioned above) and sealed within clear plastic to protect it from the environment and "accidents"
