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Just be mindful that the (mostly) same background elevator music might not be the best to binge 😊

​​​​@@atkelarPerhaps lower the volume or change the music to have variety? Not sure on that part. I found your channel randomly because I too am into the repair hobbyist community and super glad I found one that focus on retro tech. If you know any channels to learn from or a discord group to follow please let me know. I am also thinking to maybe start a repair business, but I'm not sure if I can pull it off as of yet, so this channel will help me a lot learning this trade. Your cat puppetry in your thumbnail did made me curious to explore your channel, very unique approach, I like it. Very charming, it adds character or a brand to your channel. Is like watching a puppet show focus on electronic repair in a retro 80s style, excellent, as I said you checked all my boxes to follow your work.

It was an experiment. Results may vary, but it's worth a try at least!

Sorry... it's hard to get fitting music that isn't causing copyright problems. In my defense: I was really surprised to find people are binging my videos; I might have looked for alternate tracks sooner. 😊

@@atkelar I had a roommate that played Neil Young over and over. Nothing against Neil Young, but to this day I have had enough. You have good material..but one song ? Thats how they break people's minds in interrogation.

The plastic part of it indeed; but the center is a sticker and I didn't dare to use any peroxide with that in place; it might damage the print on that sticker. Slightly yellow but clean is better, I think, over a completely whiped version.

I wore gloves and had the fume extractor on while there was stuff left in it.

Again, hopefully Google translate was doing a good job; as for your first item, The tape running a bit slow can have three reasons: first, the motor might need a bit of tuning to get the right RPM again. It's a DC motor that has a potentiometer inside the shell and over time that "sweet spot" might move. Second, there could be just too much drag in the mechanism, so the motor doesn't quite get up to enough speed. This is much harder to fix, but if it is the cause, it should be addressed. A very, very tiny amount of oil, like a needle dipped in sewing machine oil, put at the right location between axles and gears would do the trick. But careful, as there are lots of places where oil would make things too slippery: the winding mechanism has slip clutches and they need some drag. And third it could be that the drive belt is too loose or doesn't have enough grip anymore. Replacement would be in order in that case. As for the lights in the VU-Meters: these two light bulbs are for some reason in series. So if one is blown out, both won't light up. They can be replaced, but one has to get to them first. In my video, I replaced them with LEDs, which might be overkill, but it would give an idea where they are.

@@atkelar Ciao Atkelar. M'accorgo ora che ho sempre sbagliato a scrivere Alkelar al posto di Atkelar. Chiedo scusa. Come sempre sei gentilissimo. Grazie di cuore per la risposta. Può esserci un'altra causa a non far accendere la/e luce/i dei VU-Meter ? (non sapevo che si chiamavano così 🙂). Col tester si può verificare se la/e luce/i sono buone o rotte? Ti prego di sopportare la mia scarsissima competenza. Buona giornata. Antonio

No worries; The lights in the meters are directly connected to the power supply, the very same voltage that drives the entire thing. So if the deck plays and the needles move, the bulbs are the only reasonable source of the problem; They should light up with the power, there is no additional switch or fuse involved, just the same power switch and fuse that is for the entire unit. It is possible, but very unlikely that a wire might have come loose; but that would be a one in a million fault, compared to a broken light bulb. Especially since if one of the two is broken, neither will work. If you have a meter with a continuity tester, a good light bulb should be a short and a broken one should be open; but either way, getting to them is the tricky part: they are nested between the front panel cover and the chassis part on the inside.

@@atkelar Ciao Atkelar. Grazie. Le luci da sostituire si trovano in commercio ? Sai quale è il loro Voltaggio / Amperaggio ? Buona giornata da una persona che ti stima molto per la serietà e la professionalità che dimostri. Antonio

Difficult; I have replaced mine with LEDs, so I'm not sure about the model. Since they run in series over about 9V, they should be 4.5V ones. Low watt/amp rating, because they need to light up the displays only, so 100 to 200mA max I'd say, but that is a guess. The form factor might be different in your model, I'm sure that these components get changed all the time, but mine looked like glass fuses. I think those here might be close, but again, this is from memory and estimations: www.ebay.at/itm/115329633276

Indeed, many newer devices have these things built in as an extra... I wouldn't be surprised if there's a single chip solution out there somewhere. But this is a nice retro machine that does the trick, so a nice addition to my collection.

It does seem like the most plausible explanation... but since I don't know where the unit was used, I wouldn't declare it official 😅 - It certainly had most of the tiny specs on the front panel, so the lid was off during "paint use". Quite hard to remove without scratching up the panel.

I was looking at optinos for replacing the display indeed. But there is no single one that is the right size and resolution. Either half the size and same resolution or around full HD for the same size; including RGB and complicated controlling at 3.3V... so level shifter, homebrew controller... it adds up quickly.

that's why it took so long... I had to assemble the driver boards, solder it back together and run it on the device... What made it slightly easier was that it is either a row or a column missing; actual individual pixel errors would be inside the glass, so not fixable.

Usually, I hold the screw into the camera view for reference, unless it is very clear where they go. The filming helps during assembly. Mind you, some washers seem to be very random to begin with, so those usually are what is left over 😸

Yes, he was so kind and let me have a go at it. It's certainly a very nice meter!

Interesting. Thanks for the tip! Since I was pressing down as hard as I dared (without bending the tips) It might be a cleaning issue. I didn't show it, but I used some sandpaper to roughen up the surface a tad before welding, so I would get rid of any ox but just brushed off the dust.

Probably the dust then or the surface roughness? You really want intimate contact. It is pretty to watch the sparks though, not gonna lie 😂 But yeah, do a sacrificial pull test (perhaps on the dead batteries) to ensure you're getting a good weld. (Like it's probably totally fine as it is, just suggestions if you want to for next time.)

The case (and battery compartment) is hermetically seald and these get warm during charging. The metal bars and heat sink are a way of getting the heat out without air ducts.

Just persistant cleaning of the contacts really. I had to resort to the glass fiber pen with the line driver connection (the flat flex cable) - the reason there is no earlier "success" shot is mostly me, misplacing the picture; I am sure I had one but all I found when editing was the "completely assembled" one and that would have been out of order quite badly.

Being staff at a con means: lots of time spent backstage... I used most of my "public time" for this little fun video short idea.

@@atkelar yeah right you do the suit photoshoot and stuff. I don't have a suit yet so I wasn't at those events... emphasis on yet

Interesting idea... I'll remember that for the next project where I need that stuff!

Thanks! I'm aware that many newer instruments are more versatile and probably more accurate too, but to me, it's the "hey, look at what this old piece of equipment can do" just as much as the restoration and video making.

Well, it's some "rubber like stuff" - I'm calling it rubber because I have no better name for it. But it is basically the stuff that I think most pinch rollers and similar stuff is made of. And the tool was sharp enough to really cut the stuff, it didn't smell too bad at all.

I would love to replace my NiCd cells with NiMH ones, as they are more readily available... but I keep reading mixed reports about compatibilty with regards to charging. From: "No problem", to: "your device might catch fire!" I have seen everything. So unless there's an easy fix for that somewhere, I keep the originals when possible.

​​​@@atkelar from experience: it depends, both is possible depending on the charger. The technologies have similar enough characteristics that it can work without any issue. It can also mean that the NiMH cells can overheat within minutes of charging and potentially cause fire. Because it's a hit-and-miss type of situation I very much prefer to use the same battery technology wherever possible.

Most NiCd charging circuits I see are just some current limiting elements. Typically just a resistor in series with the incoming power supply, and the more fancy ones have a transistor as a constant current source. Neither has a cutoff, which seems to be required for NiMH?

@@atkelar NiCd should ideally have a cutoff as well as they don't like to be trickle charged for longer periods of time. NiCd is a bit more forgiving than NiMH, those _really_ don't like it. Some laptops I worked on (like a Toshiba T1600 a couple years back) have some smarts in their NiMH charger and switch in more current limiting resistors when the batteries near full charge. I've seen this on some NiCd based chargers as well (e.g. Toshiba T1000). The NiMH packs do contain some form of thermal protection to prevent overheating whereas the NiCD ones don't.

@@atkelar Would it be possible to trace the charging circuit in the unit?

A 3D print might indeed work, but I never tried flexible materials before (I have a sample but didn't get around to it yet) - this rubber stuff I got was mainly intended for replacing pinch wheels in record players or similar applications. And I think it will work a treat for that. I'm still surprised at how well it machined, well, compared to the expectations at least :D

@@atkelar yes your route was much better than 3D printing for sure. TPU is a bit more like flexible plastic and may not have enough grip to it.