Stephen, if it starts acting up again I will do the cleanup/re-solder when my new solder tip arrives. I'll let you know if it goes TU again.
Any recommendations on the type of grease to use on the rails? I did a fairly good job of cleaning the assembly and managed to not break anything -- but I had to wear 2 pairs of eyeglasses to see the tiny parts/screws. Yeah, I'm old and blind.
Any recommendations on the type of grease to use on the rails? I did a fairly good job of cleaning the assembly and managed to not break anything -- but I had to wear 2 pairs of eyeglasses to see the tiny parts/screws. Yeah, I'm old and blind.
I am fairly sure that the laser pickup casting is 'zinc potmetal', especially given the nature of the corrosion. I do not think anything else in the player is made of zinc, so I really doubt there will be any more such damage anywhere else in the player.
RCA made all of the cast parts for their ribbon microphone housings out of zinc potmetal, so I know zinc oxide deposits when I see them.
RCA made all of the cast parts for their ribbon microphone housings out of zinc potmetal, so I know zinc oxide deposits when I see them.
I disconnected all the ribbon cables and checked the undersides of all the boards and nothing else was corroded -- it was all clean as a whistle.
I cleaned the pickup assembly over a little box and had a nice little pile of crystals when I was done. It did seem to permanently discolor the potmetal and left tiny pits in the surface but the little circuit boards are now free of crystals.
Pots and switches seem to build up a lot of oxide in this climate from both the humidity and volcano. Even household wiring, like light switches, build up corrosion and then fail due to the heat caused by the resistance. Certain plastics build up a really weird type of powdery corrosion -- especially the clear plastic screwdriver handles. It's the weirdest damn thing I've ever seen.
The other day I pulled an old handheld cassette player out of a storage box. It was a water-resistant model that used about 3 different types of plastic and some rubberized parts as seals. The main body, a hard black plastic, was covered with the weird corrosion -- it almost looks like thick white, powdery mold but it isn't mold. The yellow plastic was in perfect condition and so were the rubberized parts. It is next to impossible to remove and leaves a damaged surface to the plastic. I've never seen anything like this in my life and I've been around a while... I've taken to sealing unused items in Daisy Seal-a-Meal bags to protect them.
I cleaned the pickup assembly over a little box and had a nice little pile of crystals when I was done. It did seem to permanently discolor the potmetal and left tiny pits in the surface but the little circuit boards are now free of crystals.
Pots and switches seem to build up a lot of oxide in this climate from both the humidity and volcano. Even household wiring, like light switches, build up corrosion and then fail due to the heat caused by the resistance. Certain plastics build up a really weird type of powdery corrosion -- especially the clear plastic screwdriver handles. It's the weirdest damn thing I've ever seen.
The other day I pulled an old handheld cassette player out of a storage box. It was a water-resistant model that used about 3 different types of plastic and some rubberized parts as seals. The main body, a hard black plastic, was covered with the weird corrosion -- it almost looks like thick white, powdery mold but it isn't mold. The yellow plastic was in perfect condition and so were the rubberized parts. It is next to impossible to remove and leaves a damaged surface to the plastic. I've never seen anything like this in my life and I've been around a while... I've taken to sealing unused items in Daisy Seal-a-Meal bags to protect them.
Okay, I got too excited. It won't record. Before I took it apart this last time, the only thing it would do was recognize CD-R's and record them. Any other disks resulted in check disc.
Today I tried to record. It recognizes all 3 types of discs just fine. It even goes through the motions of recording a CD-R, but when I try to finalize I get "Repair". The manual says that means I unplugged the unit during recording blah, blah, blah and that it needs to fix the tracking. It seems to go through the repair process and one time it even wrote the TOC when I finalized (another time it failed to write it), but the disc is not playable on anything. It does look like it was written to.
This "Repair" sounds so related to the memory cap. Stephen, are these the types of symptoms you see from PCB damage related to the nasty cap?
On the plus side, it is playing pre-recorded discs just fine and all of the functions seem to work. But now I have a player and not a recorder and previously I had a recorder and not a player... The irony...
My new soldering iron and tiny tips arrived -- still waiting on the heat sinks.
Today I tried to record. It recognizes all 3 types of discs just fine. It even goes through the motions of recording a CD-R, but when I try to finalize I get "Repair". The manual says that means I unplugged the unit during recording blah, blah, blah and that it needs to fix the tracking. It seems to go through the repair process and one time it even wrote the TOC when I finalized (another time it failed to write it), but the disc is not playable on anything. It does look like it was written to.
This "Repair" sounds so related to the memory cap. Stephen, are these the types of symptoms you see from PCB damage related to the nasty cap?
On the plus side, it is playing pre-recorded discs just fine and all of the functions seem to work. But now I have a player and not a recorder and previously I had a recorder and not a player... The irony...
My new soldering iron and tiny tips arrived -- still waiting on the heat sinks.
Yes, you are experience what to me are classic signs of "didn't fix all the through-holes that needed fixing". Just do all the thru-holes that look remotely suspect. Look at them under good magnification, from top side & bottom side. Also do any that are very close to blackened areas of traces.
I've soldered before but never on a circuit board.
Do you recommend a particular type of solder to use? Any special precautions other than avoiding excess heat?
Since there was no visible corrosion, I think I'll start in a small circle around the cap area and then test the unit before proceeding further.
Thanks,
Cheryl
Do you recommend a particular type of solder to use? Any special precautions other than avoiding excess heat?
Since there was no visible corrosion, I think I'll start in a small circle around the cap area and then test the unit before proceeding further.
Thanks,
Cheryl
I always use Kester SN63, 63/37 tin/lead alloy, 0.02-0.031" gauge being easiest to work with.
The corrosion can be very sneaky from that damned Elna cap. I've seen tiny black spots on traces from it as far as 2 inches from the cap. You really need to examine with a good magnifying glass and good light.
I imagine the plastic corrosion you see in your area is due to the sulfur dioxide in the air from the volcano. Also no doubt responsible for the zinc casting corrosion. Not a contaminant that many of us are used to dealing with. I don't know if it has any reactivity with copper, but it might be a good idea in your case to re-coat any blackened traces you have to scrape clean with a brush-on lacquer of some sort to prevent copper sulfate formation.
The corrosion can be very sneaky from that damned Elna cap. I've seen tiny black spots on traces from it as far as 2 inches from the cap. You really need to examine with a good magnifying glass and good light.
I imagine the plastic corrosion you see in your area is due to the sulfur dioxide in the air from the volcano. Also no doubt responsible for the zinc casting corrosion. Not a contaminant that many of us are used to dealing with. I don't know if it has any reactivity with copper, but it might be a good idea in your case to re-coat any blackened traces you have to scrape clean with a brush-on lacquer of some sort to prevent copper sulfate formation.
All my stuff finally arrived and I did the repairs today. I felt like someone deaf, dumb, and blind performing microsurgery -- and with no training or experience -- and I figured it would never work at all again. But lo and behold, I have both a player and a recorder once again. It didn't like my only Music RW-CD but I will likely never use them anyway.
I'm stoked! Thanks for all your help guys! YAY!!!!!!!!!!!!
I'm stoked! Thanks for all your help guys! YAY!!!!!!!!!!!!
I admit that I didn't think I could do it. Those holes are so small -- and trying to hold a tiny wire in place was nuts, but I finally figured out a technique with extra wire and then clipping it off when done soldering. But the first time I touched the PCB with the iron I was pretty sure it was the end of my CD unit forever.
Now I need a big margarita to celebrate. I couldn't have done it without you!
Now I need a big margarita to celebrate. I couldn't have done it without you!
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Can anyone explain why on the Fostex CR300 the RF Processor chip (IC103) run extremely hot. This is with only the power supply cable hooked up to the main board. Have two of these machines right now and both have the same problem of not recognizing media. both boards have caps removed and thru holes repaired. This chip gets hot in a hurry!
hot chips
My HHb unit has a hot chip also. I cannot find a matching number on the board, this is a surface mount square chip off the sled flat ribbon. It works, but it sure gets warm.
Note for all forum readers:
The Fostex and HHb versions of the Pioneer burner differ in that they have a balanced audio board with XLR connectors. This board is above the main board at the rear. This makes servicing the main board more difficult. Also my memory capacitor is built like two button batteries, not a vertical can (it leaked and was removed). Fostex has a service manual (free) for the CR300, and hifiengine has a service manual (free) for the Pioneer.
My HHb unit has a hot chip also. I cannot find a matching number on the board, this is a surface mount square chip off the sled flat ribbon. It works, but it sure gets warm.
Note for all forum readers:
The Fostex and HHb versions of the Pioneer burner differ in that they have a balanced audio board with XLR connectors. This board is above the main board at the rear. This makes servicing the main board more difficult. Also my memory capacitor is built like two button batteries, not a vertical can (it leaked and was removed). Fostex has a service manual (free) for the CR300, and hifiengine has a service manual (free) for the Pioneer.
So much previous talk about the useless backup capacitor, but is it not also importantly required to store the four parameters as per pages 52-54 of the 555 service manual? (Focus Offset / M-S Mix Ratio / Tracking Offset / Focus Bias). With no high-value backup cap in place in a machine unused for a long period of time, the rail will eventually fall to zero. Are not the calibration adjustments lost under those circumstances? Incidentally, my RF chip also runs hot, but cools again quickly after power-off. Perhaps it's normal. Any comments from the experts please.
Hello everybody, nice and interesting thread.
I bought a faulty 555, and after inspected it seems to have 2 problems:
1-It plays cd; but wont recognize blank cd-r, never tried with cdrw. If this is caused by elna cap, it seem to be good, do I need to cut it anyway?
2-Furthermore, by un/replugging cord sometimes it works, when I tried to record it stops after few minutes with "repair" error.
Looking at the burned cd, I can see very very light burned area, the player wont play and (if recognized) says it is a blank media.
About this it seems that I have few laser power. As I bought the unit as faulty, maybe somebody has already turned pots, and maybe they have left them in a random position.
Somebody have an idea or a pic of approximate pot positioning?
I bought a faulty 555, and after inspected it seems to have 2 problems:
1-It plays cd; but wont recognize blank cd-r, never tried with cdrw. If this is caused by elna cap, it seem to be good, do I need to cut it anyway?
2-Furthermore, by un/replugging cord sometimes it works, when I tried to record it stops after few minutes with "repair" error.
Looking at the burned cd, I can see very very light burned area, the player wont play and (if recognized) says it is a blank media.
About this it seems that I have few laser power. As I bought the unit as faulty, maybe somebody has already turned pots, and maybe they have left them in a random position.
Somebody have an idea or a pic of approximate pot positioning?
Yeah, I take out the servo digital assy, and B side is squirted by that crappy cap.
Incredible, side A of the pcb is good, no damage!!!
OK, the most difficult is to clean all circuit .............cleaned with circuit spray (the protective enamel is gone away...) then clean again with alcool then gently brushed away all dried dirt. Holes are almost impossible to clean. When finished I tested every dark trace and all is good.
Reassemble all, turned all power pots 1/32 cw. going to test.
Incredible, side A of the pcb is good, no damage!!!
OK, the most difficult is to clean all circuit .............cleaned with circuit spray (the protective enamel is gone away...) then clean again with alcool then gently brushed away all dried dirt. Holes are almost impossible to clean. When finished I tested every dark trace and all is good.
Reassemble all, turned all power pots 1/32 cw. going to test.