Random one, picked up two Sinclair ZX Printers for the ZX81/Spectrum! Both needed new belts but only one came with the two spring/needle - thanks to the seller for pointing out he had kept them safe as I had no idea about how the printers worked until I got them home and started to research them and take them apart.
Belts are now 3D print flexible filament types. One printer now works, the other doesn't have any spring/needles so will remain something to look at.
I've never heard of 'spark printing' until now - learning something new each day
You win some, you lose some re repairs. I bought a Game Gear on eBay a while back, usual fare, faulty, sold as seen. Received it, and sure enough, screen was very dim and no sound. Relatively straight forward repair....new cap kit, and that should be it.
I ordered a cap kit (should have thought more about this and not cheaped out), and when it arrived, it was all radial caps...crap, I remember doing this a few years ago and it's awkward to fit them in place of the old ones as they're quite a bit bigger. Did it today...
Relatively decent job on it, considering. It's a pain bending the legs to fit, and placing the caps in places they're not meant to be due to their size. Anyway, job done, took my time, few hours....put it back together, lovely crisp sound which was great....black screen however. No signs of screen life whatsoever, despite the game happily running away regardless.
Queue another hour fault finding, reflowing solder, triple checking cap values, triple checking orientation of caps, same goes for sound board and power board (all recapped today too), different batteries, using a psu....nothing. Half the day wasted, f%#k 🤬. It has to be a dodgy cap somewhere, so I'm going to just order a decent more suited cap kit, and do it all again!
Spent all weekend fixing up my arcade and pinballs, almost there with them now, but still a ways to go yet on my house of the dead and I have a atomiswave I want to strip
https://www.instagram.com/reel/Ccdcjggo7Jv/?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y=
Thank you for remembering - PM'd sir :)
Took me a while but I have it down , probably wont be free until next week , but PM me and I can arrange picking it up
Good news! Managed to solder the cap back onto the PCB and... Looks like I was worried about nothing! Board works fine! 🙂
Cheers ! Only saw this now
I'd picked up an older system on friday with a similar issue , and a lit of contact cleaner on the slider/pots seemed to fix it ,so will definitely give this a try and report back
Ahh you absolute legend thank you so much!
Based on the symptoms first thing I’d check is the volume pot, the carbon might be worn out and only making good contact at the extreme ends. If you can track down the schematic it’ll really help, if you can identify the preamp and power amp stages they can be tested separately to narrow down the problem area.
I really do wish that I could find a board schematic...
Anybody else here have a Tekken Tag board that they could check?
I have a 16v 100uf through hole cap here, if the 100 on your cap refers to microfarrad value then this one here would be fine (voltage rating is allowable to differ, provided its a higher one your fitting, not lower).
Double check the values though, dont fit anything without being sure it's OK. Let me know if this is any use to you
Ok I had a look at it under a microscope.
Looks like it says M4 100 6v?
Would that make sense?
5v 100uf?
Looks like its just a decoupling cab based on the pads its connected too and the partner smaller cap in parallel, 100uF I think. Board will probably work fine with out it but best to replace it anyway.
That would be amazing. I can't really tell from the cap itself as it's a bit scruffed... I fear that I may have walked on it at some point without realising.
Having a hard time tracking down the board schematics too.
If anybody here could tell me what kind of SMC capacitor is needed between C4 and C5 on the board I'd greatly appreciate it. 🙂
Looks like a clean break, as you say flux and desolder will fix things up nicely. What are the values of the cap itself, I may have a spare
Dangit!
I noticed what appeared to be a surface mount capacitor on my floor last night. Curious as to where it may have come from I finally realised that it must have broken off of my Tekken Tag board when it fell on the floor the other day.
Crap. Well that's going to be fun to try to fix. I hope the capacitor itself is still good. I'm not going to chance plugging the board back in until I've had a proper change to try to reattach the cap.
It's erh... all good experience I suppose?
Thankfully it doesn't look like there's any damage to the actual pads so... bit of flux and desolder wick should clean them up nicely.
Kinda hoping that this cap is ok though because it seems to have a little dent in it.
Ohh well... that's teach me to not leave unfinished board projects lying about the place when I'm not working on them! (literally all I was waiting to do was attach it to some PCB feet and mount it to some MDF. Whoops!
Grand , I'll be up in the attic in the next day or so and will dig it out .
Cheers Kerb 👍 1st thing on the list is a replacement shell....the one here has burn marks, is bowed in the middle, and is pretty beat up. After that I'll possibly need a keyboard as it's bowed too, but can't test it yet as I've no psu currently.
ah cool - it'd be great to take the dodgy one off you, happy to pay+Parcel Motel - let me know
I'm sure I'd have bits left over if I do get it, you'd be welcome to them
Hey Bob, if Kerb doesn't want that I'd be interested myself....ive a 464 here that's really badly beat up, in need of a good few spare parts
BTW anyone here know much about amps? I've been more about fixing old audio stuff lately , and I can do the basics (you'd be amazed how many dead tape decks just need a belt change , and also a thorough cleaning out of rotted belt sludge ) , but I'm working on an 80s Sony separates system , and the amp will only work for a split second sometimes if you adjust the volume, or will sometimes play at max volume but really distorted . Going to dive in and see if theres anything obvious , but just wondering if its a known issue?
Bugger , just saw this now , I have a spare you're welcome to if you still need it , (I have two one that works , and one that works but has a dodgy keyboard due to a cracked PCB , so I'll have to make sure I dont mix them up )
Not retro whatsoever, but I took my PS4 Pro apart to see what the thermal paste and thermal pads were like. The paste was quite poor, very poor contact patch, and the paste had taken on a rubbery consistency. The thermal pads seemed cheap/worn out too, so I replaced the whole lot.
The below are the second set of thermal pads, the original ones. I forgot to take pics of the new ones in place!
Back together and it seems a bit happier now, more quiet and efficient.
I'm currently trying to repair an Amstrad CPC 464 which Ciderman bequeath to me - was missing the Z80 and the AY-3-8912 sound chip. Those replaced and diag rom in...no joy...so RAM replaced...no joy :( Could well be the ULA chip.
Might anyone have an Amstrad CPC 464 or similar in some sort of dis-repair or unwanted'ness they want to part with? :D
There's even full IPS replacement screen kits out now, pricey, but they look amazing.
get a backlight and bi vert screen you wont regret it
Has anyone ever replaced a screen on a original gameboy ? Have one here spare and thinking of replacing it with a better brighter screen. Anyone have any recommendations , I see battery mods available for it too..
current screen has some vertical lines which I see can be fixed but would like to get a Better screen in it.
Yeah looks very neat, finishes it off nicely.
Installed a Fenrir mount from Laserbear.net to deal with the annoying gap when the lid is open. Not a big deal, but consoles look more complete with ODEs installed.
