Transformer shot! (was scope SMPS/ capacitor venting)

[Cursitor Doom]

Hi all,

I've completed my tests of the main transformer and am now 99% certain
that it is the cause of all the problems I've been experiencing with this
old analogue scope. It's clear there's something very wrong with the
large, multi-tapped output winding. Here's the schematic again:

https://www.flickr.com/photos/128859641@N02/24535280896/in/dateposted-

I removed ALL connections from the transformer. ALL the other output
windings are giving exactly the outputs I would expect from a given
input; it's just the long winding on the lower right hand side that's
giving nonsense outputs. As you can see, the centre tap is grounded and
there are 3 tapping points either side of it. When injected with a 20kHz
sine wave of 50V p-p to the primary winding, the peak-to-peak outputs
from the problem secondary at each tap are as follows (from top to bottom)

13V
13V
3V
0V (gnd)
3V
1.8V
1.8V

I would have expected these voltages to be symmetrical either side of the
0V centre tap, but as you can see, this isn't the case at all. I can only
conclude from this, to use a technical term, that this tranny is fucked.
If there's something obvious I've overlooked (which I doubt) please feel
free to point it out. Otherwise I'll be opening it up to perform an
autopsy over the weekend.
Thanks again to everyone who tried to help.

 

[Cursitor Doom]

On Fri, 19 Feb 2016 22:44:08 +0100, Dimitrij Klingbeil wrote:

Are you sure that you have not mixed up the windings? Maybe the two 1.8V
windings are actually the 2 symmetrical "innermost" ones, the 3V ones
are the "medium" ones and the 15V are the "outermost" windings? Your
measured winding voltage ratios "1.8:3.0:13.0 volts" and the schematic
output voltage ratios "6.7:13.4:60.7 volts" (I've added a little
compensation for 0.7V silicon diodes) are (from a purely ratiometric
point of view) not very far away from each other. In fact they are so
close that the differences between the smaller ones can be easily
explained by your measurement errors (how accurate was that 0.8V
measurement anyway?) and the possibly intended uneven loading of the
power rails in the scope.

I follow what you're saying, Dimitrij, but for that to be the case, the
tranformer's internal wiring would have to be twisted and I can't see why
they would do that. Admittedly the ground pin is in 'real life' at the
far end of pinouts rather than the centre, but... well, I don't know. If
you're right you must be some kind of genius, that's all I can say.

So, considering the winding connections slightly rearranged, the
transformer looks just fine to me.

But once you have it out and disconnected, please make another test:
apply ca. 15V RMS to the 12.7V winding (to the one where you measured
3V) instead of to the primary. And check if any isolation looks like
breaking down. Note that the 15V value contains some compensation for
the fact that the power supply uses inductors after the rectifiers (and
therefore the normal winding voltage is higher than the normal output
voltage). That would load the transformer close to its normal condition
and any breakdown should become apparent.

OK, you're the boss! I'll carry out that investigation tomorrow and
report back. Maybe I can work out if the internal taps are out of
sequence compared to the schematic by measuring the DC resistance of the
winding at the various taps and... well you get what I mean. Intriguing
idea certainly deserves to be fully explored. Many thanks.

 

A short that would drop the voltage on that side of the winding should drop the voltage on the other side due to coupling. Recheck everything, that's what I say.

In fact if you got a power amp that can throw some current maybe inject into the winding that is giving the low voltage and see if it steps up in the other windings. Of course heavy current, but VERY low voltage.

Interestingly I just used my Phase Linear 400 Series Two as such an amp to inject a signal into, believe it or not, the SMPS transformer of a Phillips scope ! Bunch of coincidence, but of no help to you at the moment as it is a totally different model. This one kicks the voltage down to 24 VDC and then feeds the SPMS. I see no connection for a battery but I imagine it could be made to run on batteries.

Wouldn't be bad to have a scope run on like two laptop batteries...

Anyway, I learned to be very careful about condemning transformers. We learn by mistakes and some of us are pretty fart smellers. I hit 191 on an IQ test once, damn, how can I even be alive ?

Umm, I KNOW my IQ is not that high, it was the top I hit when I went on a kick to take alot of online IQ tests. In fact my average was so good out of the about 20 of them I took, I doubt their validity. It was over 135 which is 1 % of the world so really, I doubt it.

At any rate, I would take an audio amp and feed that thing until it runs. You got nothing to lose. reconnect it al and feed it from some nice maybe 100 WPC audio amp with a 10 KHz square wave or something and see what happens.. You have no current limiting now so you follow the smoke.

And BTW, that hosting you're using SUCKS. It does not respond right to my zoom command and it also nags about my browser. I suggest a Dropbox account, AND USING THE /PUBLIC directory. What's more, on Dropbox all your stuff is private, no browsing nor web crawling can find it, you MUST give out the URL by using "Copy Public URL". I highly recommend it. No ads or anything at all. Point the browser and the picture shows up, download it and I can zoom like all hell.

The limitation is like 2GB. You can have really high res photos there. I have had full length movies in mine.

Anyway, you need better resolution to see the diode circuit symbol numbers to know which winding is which because it does not appear to have pin numbers on the transformer.

 

[Cursitor Doom]

On Fri, 19 Feb 2016 14:49:34 -0800, jurb6006 wrote:

A short that would drop the voltage on that side of the winding should
drop the voltage on the other side due to coupling. Recheck everything,
that's what I say.

In fact if you got a power amp that can throw some current maybe inject
into the winding that is giving the low voltage and see if it steps up
in the other windings. Of course heavy current, but VERY low voltage.

I must admit the fact that Zs on my most powerful (voltage-wise) sig gen
is 600 ohms was a concern. I would ideally like to have zapped the tranny
with the same voltage and current as its working conditions would expect.
There's always that nagging doubt in my mind about 'what if I'd had more
power to throw at it? Would that show up something useful?'

Umm, I KNOW my IQ is not that high, it was the top I hit when I went on
a kick to take alot of online IQ tests. In fact my average was so good
out of the about 20 of them I took, I doubt their validity. It was over
135 which is 1 % of the world so really, I doubt it.

One can train for an IQ test. A lot of people don't know that, though!

At any rate, I would take an audio amp and feed that thing until it
runs. You got nothing to lose. reconnect it al and feed it from some
nice maybe 100 WPC audio amp with a 10 KHz square wave or something and
see what happens. You have no current limiting now so you follow the
smoke.

That's a very good idea. Must admit I hadn't thought of that dodge!

> And BTW, that hosting you're using SUCKS.

Sorry to hear that. I didn't chose Flickr (or whatever it is) I inherited
it from an old Yahoo mail account. If it's that crap, I'll ditch it.

 

[Dimitrij Klingbeil]

On 19.02.2016 20:20, Cursitor Doom wrote:

Hi all,

I've completed my tests of the main transformer and am now 99%
certain that it is the cause of all the problems I've been
experiencing with this old analogue scope. It's clear there's
something very wrong with the large, multi-tapped output winding.
Here's the schematic again:

https://www.flickr.com/photos/128859641@N02/24535280896/in/dateposted-


I removed ALL connections from the transformer. ALL the other
output windings are giving exactly the outputs I would expect from a
given input; it's just the long winding on the lower right hand side
that's giving nonsense outputs. As you can see, the centre tap is
grounded and there are 3 tapping points either side of it. When
injected with a 20kHz sine wave of 50V p-p to the primary winding,
the peak-to-peak outputs from the problem secondary at each tap are
as follows (from top to bottom)

13V 13V 3V 0V (gnd) 3V 1.8V 1.8V

I would have expected these voltages to be symmetrical either side
of the 0V centre tap, but as you can see, this isn't the case at all.
I can only conclude from this, to use a technical term, that this
tranny is fucked. If there's something obvious I've overlooked
(which I doubt) please feel free to point it out. Otherwise I'll be
opening it up to perform an autopsy over the weekend. Thanks again
to everyone who tried to help.

Hi

If you had a reliable connection to the primary and all secondaries were
in fact free (either the tranny completely removed from the circuit
board or at least no diodes anywhere remaining), then that would mean
the voltages are likely screwed up... But wait:

Are you sure that you have not mixed up the windings? Maybe the two 1.8V
windings are actually the 2 symmetrical "innermost" ones, the 3V ones
are the "medium" ones and the 15V are the "outermost" windings? Your
measured winding voltage ratios "1.8:3.0:13.0 volts" and the schematic
output voltage ratios "6.7:13.4:60.7 volts" (I've added a little
compensation for 0.7V silicon diodes) are (from a purely ratiometric
point of view) not very far away from each other. In fact they are so
close that the differences between the smaller ones can be easily
explained by your measurement errors (how accurate was that 0.8V
measurement anyway?) and the possibly intended uneven loading of the
power rails in the scope.

So, considering the winding connections slightly rearranged, the
transformer looks just fine to me.

But once you have it out and disconnected, please make another test:
apply ca. 15V RMS to the 12.7V winding (to the one where you measured
3V) instead of to the primary. And check if any isolation looks like
breaking down. Note that the 15V value contains some compensation for
the fact that the power supply uses inductors after the rectifiers (and
therefore the normal winding voltage is higher than the normal output
voltage). That would load the transformer close to its normal condition
and any breakdown should become apparent.

Regards
Dimitrij

 

[legg]

On Fri, 19 Feb 2016 19:20:35 -0000 (UTC), Cursitor Doom
<curd@notformail.com> wrote:

Hi all,

I've completed my tests of the main transformer and am now 99% certain
that it is the cause of all the problems I've been experiencing with this
old analogue scope. It's clear there's something very wrong with the
large, multi-tapped output winding. Here's the schematic again:

https://www.flickr.com/photos/128859641@N02/24535280896/in/dateposted-

I removed ALL connections from the transformer. ALL the other output
windings are giving exactly the outputs I would expect from a given
input; it's just the long winding on the lower right hand side that's
giving nonsense outputs. As you can see, the centre tap is grounded and
there are 3 tapping points either side of it. When injected with a 20kHz
sine wave of 50V p-p to the primary winding, the peak-to-peak outputs
from the problem secondary at each tap are as follows (from top to bottom)

13V
13V
3V
0V (gnd)
3V
1.8V
1.8V

I would have expected these voltages to be symmetrical either side of the
0V centre tap, but as you can see, this isn't the case at all. I can only
conclude from this, to use a technical term, that this tranny is fucked.
If there's something obvious I've overlooked (which I doubt) please feel
free to point it out. Otherwise I'll be opening it up to perform an
autopsy over the weekend.
Thanks again to everyone who tried to help.

Well, at last there is a serious effort to actually record and report
real measurements. However, you may be misleading yourself.

Are you sure of the pin locations and their function on the
transformer? They will not likely correspond to the schematic
arrangement - which is arranged for functional clarity alone.

The transformer pin numbers are not identified on the schematic.

This is why it is much easier to make accurate winding voltage
measurements when the transformer is in-circuit, connecting to easily
identifiable schematic components and circuit nodes.

The voltages you report would be normal if the pin functions were as
listed below

13V.......60VAC
13V.......60VAC
3V........12V5
0V (gnd)
3V........12V5
1.8V......5V
1.8V......5V

The nonlinearity of the ratio is due to the increasing influence of
forward diode drop at lower voltage and the proportional loading
effects of differing currents on rectifiers, windings and output
filtering components.

Recheck pin function before jumping to conclusions.

RL

 

[Cursitor Doom]

On Sat, 20 Feb 2016 01:14:09 -0500, legg wrote:

> Are you sure of the pin locations and their function on the transformer?

Well I *was* until Dimitrij pointed out this possibility. He changed the
thread title in his follow-up so I guess you missed it. So yes, it's
something I need to further investigate and I shall report back here in
due course with my findings.....

 

[Cursitor Doom]

On Sat, 20 Feb 2016 01:14:09 -0500, legg wrote:

> Recheck pin function before jumping to conclusions.

Right; now re-checked. DC measurments proved (unsurprisingly) too close
together so I re-tested using 100khz instead. These are the impedances WRT
ground of the output taps of the long winding in the order they actually
come out of the transformer:
GND, 0.17ohms, 0.17ohms, 0.26ohms, 0.28ohms, 3.7ohms, 3.8ohms.
So this doesn't seem to tally up with the schematic. Or does it? I need a
pint of strong coffee to kick-start my head on this one. :-/
Anyway, later...

 

[Cursitor Doom]

All noted, thank you, gentlemen. I'll have to check those tips out
tomorrow or a divorce will be in the offing.
Until I report back tomorrow then, thanks...

 

[legg]

On Sat, 20 Feb 2016 12:55:19 -0000 (UTC), Cursitor Doom
<curd@notformail.com> wrote:

On Sat, 20 Feb 2016 01:14:09 -0500, legg wrote:

Recheck pin function before jumping to conclusions.

Right; now re-checked. DC measurments proved (unsurprisingly) too close
together so I re-tested using 100khz instead. These are the impedances WRT
ground of the output taps of the long winding in the order they actually
come out of the transformer:
GND, 0.17ohms, 0.17ohms, 0.26ohms, 0.28ohms, 3.7ohms, 3.8ohms.
So this doesn't seem to tally up with the schematic. Or does it? I need a
pint of strong coffee to kick-start my head on this one. :-/
Anyway, later...

If the transformer is removed from the board, which seems to be the
case, you can probe the PCB for continuity between known component
leads/schematic nodes and empty PCB transformer pin lands.

Using a logical physical numbering scheme (if one is not allready
present on the actual transformer body), you can assign numbers to the
board and the schematic, for reference.

RL

 

[Dimitrij Klingbeil]

On 20.02.2016 13:55, Cursitor Doom wrote:

On Sat, 20 Feb 2016 01:14:09 -0500, legg wrote:

Recheck pin function before jumping to conclusions.

Right; now re-checked. DC measurments proved (unsurprisingly) too
close together so I re-tested using 100khz instead. These are the
impedances WRT ground of the output taps of the long winding in the
order they actually come out of the transformer: GND, 0.17ohms,
0.17ohms, 0.26ohms, 0.28ohms, 3.7ohms, 3.8ohms. So this doesn't seem
to tally up with the schematic. Or does it? I need a pint of strong
coffee to kick-start my head on this one. :-/ Anyway, later...

Inductive reactance goes up with the square of the winding's nominal
voltage, so you take the square roots of your impedance values.

If you then take into account that the lower impedance values are
strongly dominated by the DC resistance (which stays linear and does not
square) and the upper one is mostly dominated by the AC reactance (which
does square), the ratios seem to look just fine (well, so far as I can
see, within a reasonable margin of error).

But the ratios don't tell the whole story. Even if there is a winding
short, all impedances will be very low (which they sort-of are, I would
have expected higher values everywhere, but then 100 kHz is maybe too
high, try testing at 10 kHz and see...), but the ratios between the
windings would be still be mostly correct.

Try to run it on higher voltage (like 15 V applied to 12.7 V secondary),
and see if it pulls excessive current and warms up. That would indicate
damage more clearly.

Dimitrij

 

[JC]

On 2/20/2016 7:55 AM, Cursitor Doom wrote:

On Sat, 20 Feb 2016 01:14:09 -0500, legg wrote:

Recheck pin function before jumping to conclusions.

Right; now re-checked. DC measurments proved (unsurprisingly) too close
together so I re-tested using 100khz instead. These are the impedances WRT
ground of the output taps of the long winding in the order they actually
come out of the transformer:
GND, 0.17ohms, 0.17ohms, 0.26ohms, 0.28ohms, 3.7ohms, 3.8ohms.
So this doesn't seem to tally up with the schematic. Or does it? I need a
pint of strong coffee to kick-start my head on this one. :-/
Anyway, later...

The transformer secondaries go (on the left side viewed from the top of
the transformer).

1.5kV
1.0kV
Gap/no pin
HV Common
60
60
12
12
6
6
0

As others have pointed out this PSU will not run happy without a load
and I don't know what would be suitable. When I worked on these I always
just left the psu connected to the scope. Lets face it, the scopes been
turned on at some point with the psu connected so its not going to do
much more damage and at least you will know the loading is correct. The
EHT multipliers on these break down internally on these.

In one of your pictures there are a couple of diodes that look messed up
(V1809 and V1811) near the bridge. They are supposed to be BY208-1000
(1000v rectifiers), I can see "40" on one, maybe 1N4007?

 

[JC]

On 2/20/2016 11:52 AM, Cursitor Doom wrote:

All noted, thank you, gentlemen. I'll have to check those tips out
tomorrow or a divorce will be in the offing.
Until I report back tomorrow then, thanks...

I managed to find a PM3264 PSU to try out.

Unloaded it squeals as expected so I tried a makeshift load with what I
had lying around, 6 x 470R 5Watt w/w resistors.

You can pull one of the connectors out of the scope for a connection.
(See photos)

Just for fun (and I'm running this off an isolation transformer), pull
V1812 and scope T2 with T1 as probe ground. you should see a nice drive
waveform for a few seconds and you can check the frequency is 20KHz.

Incidentally the core on L1806 on this board was loose (came apart) and
also caused squealing but of a different note.

If you want me to take any readings let me know, nothing too time
consuming though

Photos of load (It gets hot so take care)

https://www.flickr.com/photos/40466580@N07/shares/H24830
https://www.flickr.com/photos/40466580@N07/shares/J18jga

 

[Cursitor Doom]

On Sat, 20 Feb 2016 09:36:18 -0500, JC wrote:

The transformer secondaries go (on the left side viewed from the top of
the transformer).

1.5kV 1.0kV Gap/no pin HV Common 60 60 12 12 6
6
0

Well on that basis there may be nothing wrong after all.

As others have pointed out this PSU will not run happy without a load
and I don't know what would be suitable. When I worked on these I always
just left the psu connected to the scope. Lets face it, the scopes been
turned on at some point with the psu connected so its not going to do
much more damage and at least you will know the loading is correct. The
EHT multipliers on these break down internally on these.

It's not possible to test this board with it connected to the scope. On
this model, it slots inside the two main signal boards which make access
under proper, full working conditions impossible. Just *another* obstacle
I've faced with this repair.
The EHT multiplier has been totally disconnected all through my tests
except where explicitly stated otherwise.

In one of your pictures there are a couple of diodes that look messed up
(V1809 and V1811) near the bridge. They are supposed to be BY208-1000
(1000v rectifiers), I can see "40" on one, maybe 1N4007?

I like your thinking! But no, the one nearest the bridge is a BY208-1000
alright, the other one to the side of it is a BY134. They both tested
fine out of circuit.

 

[Cursitor Doom]

On Sat, 20 Feb 2016 09:10:13 -0500, legg wrote:

On Sat, 20 Feb 2016 12:55:19 -0000 (UTC), Cursitor Doom
curd@notformail.com> wrote:

On Sat, 20 Feb 2016 01:14:09 -0500, legg wrote:

Recheck pin function before jumping to conclusions.

Right; now re-checked. DC measurments proved (unsurprisingly) too close
together so I re-tested using 100khz instead. These are the impedances
WRT ground of the output taps of the long winding in the order they
actually come out of the transformer:
GND, 0.17ohms, 0.17ohms, 0.26ohms, 0.28ohms, 3.7ohms, 3.8ohms.
So this doesn't seem to tally up with the schematic. Or does it? I need
a pint of strong coffee to kick-start my head on this one. :-/
Anyway, later...
If the transformer is removed from the board, which seems to be the
case, you can probe the PCB for continuity between known component
leads/schematic nodes and empty PCB transformer pin lands.

Using a logical physical numbering scheme (if one is not allready
present on the actual transformer body), you can assign numbers to the
board and the schematic, for reference.

RL

I was really struggling trying to match up the pins to their particular
outputs; fortunately JC has has posted the pin-outs for this transformer
and saved me some brain cells (I can't afford to lose any more). Seems
the voltages I'm getting are not far off what they should be after all.

 

[Cursitor Doom]

On Fri, 19 Feb 2016 22:44:08 +0100, Dimitrij Klingbeil wrote:

But once you have it out and disconnected, please make another test:
apply ca. 15V RMS to the 12.7V winding (to the one where you measured
3V) instead of to the primary. And check if any isolation looks like
breaking down. Note that the 15V value contains some compensation for
the fact that the power supply uses inductors after the rectifiers (and
therefore the normal winding voltage is higher than the normal output
voltage). That would load the transformer close to its normal condition
and any breakdown should become apparent.

I did just try this a moment ago, Dimitrij, but doing this just flattens
the output from the sig gen, I'm sorry to say. Hardly surprising since
it's a 600ohm unit and the 12.7V tappings are 0.52ohms 'apart'! To
perform this test properly I'd have to adopt the work-around suggested by
another chap here who said use an audio amp to get the current up. I may
well have to do this if it comes to it. The other problem is, my
oscilloscope current probe is lacking a termination unit so it's readings
will be meaningless and I can't use the true RMS current range on my DVM
because it's probably going to be out of its bandwidth at this frequency
range.

 

[Cursitor Doom]

On Sat, 20 Feb 2016 15:45:34 -0500, JC wrote:

Have you posted this before on another thread related to this? Either you
have or it's deja vu. Sorry if you did, I didn't note it properly.

I managed to find a PM3264 PSU to try out.

Unloaded it squeals as expected so I tried a makeshift load with what I
had lying around, 6 x 470R 5Watt w/w resistors.

You can pull one of the connectors out of the scope for a connection.
(See photos)

Yeah, those Stocko connectors. On another Philips manual I have for a
different scope, they actually publish the proper values for a dummy load
which would be really helpful to have on the current problem I face.

Just for fun (and I'm running this off an isolation transformer), pull
V1812 and scope T2 with T1 as probe ground. you should see a nice drive
waveform for a few seconds and you can check the frequency is 20KHz.

Not sure why you say pull V1812, but here's the waveform I got between
those two points when I did this test a few weeks ago:

https://www.flickr.com/photos/128859641@N02/24538703002/in/photostream/

But then it goes downhill. Here's V1812's C/E junction:

https://www.flickr.com/photos/128859641@N02/24020257733/in/photostream/

And the B/E junction of the main chopper transistor:

https://www.flickr.com/photos/128859641@N02/24538689342/in/photostream/

Not surprising it doesn't work properly with control voltages like that!!!

 

[Cursitor Doom]

On Sun, 21 Feb 2016 09:46:52 -0500, JC wrote:

That might be one problem, the sine voltage around T1801 is 800v, your
BY134 is a 600V diode. Also HV diodes can go reverse leaky, try a high
ohmsmeter on it (10-20 meg range). Shouldn't be any reverse leakage.

Will a DVM suffice or should I do this with my faithful old analogue AVO?

I guess you saw my next post on this? Try a load on the board before you
do any more work. It will tell you if the PSU runs silent or not under
load. The one I tried was screaming like heck then silent with a load.

You're a late-comer to this party, so you will be unaware that even when
tested under full working conditions with all the loads plugged in, this
twitcher/switcher still hisses and the 20 Ohm power resistor R1814 (just
below right from the chopper transistor on the schematic) quickly starts
to burn up.

I take your point on the dummy load, though. I must rig one up before
doing any more live testing.

 

[JC]

On 2/21/2016 8:36 AM, Cursitor Doom wrote:

On Sat, 20 Feb 2016 09:36:18 -0500, JC wrote:


It's not possible to test this board with it connected to the scope. On
this model, it slots inside the two main signal boards which make access
under proper, full working conditions impossible. Just *another* obstacle
I've faced with this repair.
The EHT multiplier has been totally disconnected all through my tests
except where explicitly stated otherwise.

Hi, Its been some time since I worked on these but I'm pretty sure we
ran these with the board out, turned round so you can get the connectors
on and I guess without the HT connected. Alternately put a suitable load
on the PSU.

In one of your pictures there are a couple of diodes that look messed up
(V1809 and V1811) near the bridge. They are supposed to be BY208-1000
(1000v rectifiers), I can see "40" on one, maybe 1N4007?

I like your thinking! But no, the one nearest the bridge is a BY208-1000
alright, the other one to the side of it is a BY134. They both tested
fine out of circuit.

That might be one problem, the sine voltage around T1801 is 800v, your
BY134 is a 600V diode. Also HV diodes can go reverse leaky, try a high
ohmsmeter on it (10-20 meg range). Shouldn't be any reverse leakage.

I guess you saw my next post on this? Try a load on the board before you
do any more work. It will tell you if the PSU runs silent or not under
load. The one I tried was screaming like heck then silent with a load.

 

[JC]

On 2/21/2016 9:34 AM, Cursitor Doom wrote:

On Sat, 20 Feb 2016 15:45:34 -0500, JC wrote:

Have you posted this before on another thread related to this? Either you
have or it's deja vu. Sorry if you did, I didn't note it properly.

I managed to find a PM3264 PSU to try out.

Unloaded it squeals as expected so I tried a makeshift load with what I
had lying around, 6 x 470R 5Watt w/w resistors.

You can pull one of the connectors out of the scope for a connection.
(See photos)

Yeah, those Stocko connectors. On another Philips manual I have for a
different scope, they actually publish the proper values for a dummy load
which would be really helpful to have on the current problem I face.

Just for fun (and I'm running this off an isolation transformer), pull
V1812 and scope T2 with T1 as probe ground. you should see a nice drive
waveform for a few seconds and you can check the frequency is 20KHz.

Not sure why you say pull V1812, but here's the waveform I got between
those two points when I did this test a few weeks ago:

https://www.flickr.com/photos/128859641@N02/24538703002/in/photostream/

But then it goes downhill. Here's V1812's C/E junction:

https://www.flickr.com/photos/128859641@N02/24020257733/in/photostream/

And the B/E junction of the main chopper transistor:

https://www.flickr.com/photos/128859641@N02/24538689342/in/photostream/

Not surprising it doesn't work properly with control voltages like that!!!

Pulling V1812 lets you see the clean output from the driver chip without
all the crap feedback from the transformers. Your frequency looks good.

I got the same crap and ringing/distortion on my PSU without a load. Put
a load on it. switchers don't work off load.