It has been sitting on the floor of my lab/work room for a while now and I if I actually do what I intend to do today I am about to give it a good cleaning over. I can't stand dirty main cables... But it is rather clean as it is but I think that given how long this will be within my ownership I might as well open it up, cleaning the enclosure thoroughly while also discovering the state of the transformer and find out what it really consists of.
One question though, even if the transformer would appear to be in good condition(this question is centred around the unit I will go through today but I generally wonder about this sort of transformer), is there any maintenance that could be a good idea to subject it to?
Like some oil(or lubricant) or some other "treatment" that wouldn't hurt to perform in order to ensure that I really take care of it in the long run, that you are aware of?
About the quality of the transformer, neglecting the effects of the previous users usage of it, the company which produced it appears to be a very old very well respected company selling high-quality transformers and large coils/chokes.
So I think it is safe to say given what you all have written that this was indeed a good deal
I'm not sure if I would ever have realized the after the fact pretty obvious usage as a large inductor...
I will use my Mastech MS5308 LCR-meter to measure the L and R of the winding(s), I think I have asked this somewhere in some thread about something else before but I never managed to figure out the affect of measuring the winding inductance of an transformer while shorting/not shorting the other winding(in a two-winding transformer) or that situation in general, or for that matter what if I have some kind of SMPS transformer with possible core reset windings and what not, is there some general accepted rule such as "short every other winding except the one to be measured" or does the difference in inductance of winding #1 while winding #2 is shorted and not shorted reveal any information of value or interest(interest as out of curiosity)?