Thank you Erik. I was going to pull out my old spool of lacing cord to lace up the cables going to the transport, but I just didn't feel like it when the tie wraps were so close.Right now it's playing Tibi's test CD in Repeat mode to give it a good running.
If you can provide any guidance on the grounding scheme I'd appreciate it.
Hi
In the beginning I tried out a lot of different grounding schemes...all I could say about it is that it kept introducing new errors...and on the other hand I could not detect an improvement soundwise.
Nowadays I have stopped completely with grounding (besides the safety-grounding I use a lot of copper ).
Yepp and furthermore the outside parts of my PiTbull are made safe to the touch....and I make use of a fuse as well (althought that can/does bring a little bit of detoriation to the sound but safety first).
Tibi, what is my course of action here? Also, based on dimkasta's reporting, is your source for the mechanism's preferred over what is available via eBay? I know you can't really answer that, but I guess I'm wondering if you're getting them from a place there's a better sense of what we're getting.
What's the odds of having 4 bad transports? Very low, so I spent a little more time on researching the specs. Here are what I found maybe helpful to others:
- If you haven't, download the transport specs sheet from Tibi's site. That's what I used to come to my solution.
- There are 4 possible motor and 2 laser pickup manufacturers, plus other parts suppliers. Looking at my transport stocks (3 from Tibi, 1 from US, 1 from UK, 2 oriignal JVS EZ31), all of them are a little different from the others. I believe the quality of them are very close.
- From manufacturer, there table height are actually within the specs: 19.25mm - 19.60mm. IMHO, try adjusting the table up and down increases the chance of bending th4 spindle is greater.
- This is the most important that got all my transport to work. When you look at the laser pickup with the 16 pin connector facing you, there is a pot at the lower right corner. It is a VR that connects the pins 11 and 12. It is used to adjust the laser. In my first try, I turned this clockwise 180 degree, and the transport started reading a pressed CD toc but not a CDR. I turned the pot 90 degress more, still no dice to the CDR. I then turned the port counter clockwise 180 degress (net effect was 90% clockwise). The CDR's toc was also displayed. If your transport has the right table height and not reading anything, give this a try.
- They are all made in China, just kidding to see you read this far
Hi Tony,
3 of the transports were from Tibi (set #1), one was from a US ebay seller (set #2), and 2 3-balls from UK seller (set #3). If I added the 2 JVC mechanism, there are a total of 6 different motors/laser pickup combos!! No kidding, even the 2 original shiga mechanisms have different motors.
From your previous post, one of yours seemed to be not working at all. So, give it a try, there is nothing to lose, but do adjust the table height back to the range. I think the lens focal length is designed for this height.
Good luck!!
3 of the transports were from Tibi (set #1), one was from a US ebay seller (set #2), and 2 3-balls from UK seller (set #3). If I added the 2 JVC mechanism, there are a total of 6 different motors/laser pickup combos!! No kidding, even the 2 original shiga mechanisms have different motors.
From your previous post, one of yours seemed to be not working at all. So, give it a try, there is nothing to lose, but do adjust the table height back to the range. I think the lens focal length is designed for this height.
Good luck!!
All these mechanics are made by various Chinese manufacturers.
It is very hard to tell which one is the best.
Have a look in the mechanic datasheet and you´ll see that there are various options for optics and motors on the same manufacturer.
http://www.vicol-audio.ro/docs/DA11VZ.pdf
For spindle/sled motor you may have one of these:
MABUCHI MOTOR Co., Ltd.
RF-310TC
MABUCHI MOTOR Co., Ltd.
2418OPA
SANYO Seimitsu Co., Ltd.
KRF-310TA-11400-38L
SHENZHEN BAOAN
KAIDA MICRO-MOTOR
For laser you may have:
SANYO DL-3150-101
ROHM RLD78MYA1
For pin diodes you may have:
NEC: PH901
MITSUMI: MM1597XB
KODENSHI: PIC–6710
Capella: CM1286
and I bet there are few more options as well.
Regards,
Tibi
...
Now all my transports are working!!
- This is the most important that got all my transport to work. When you look at the laser pickup with the 16 pin connector facing you, there is a pot at the lower right corner. It is a VR that connects the pins 11 and 12. It is used to adjust the laser. In my first try, I turned this clockwise 180 degree, and the transport started reading a pressed CD toc but not a CDR. I turned the pot 90 degress more, still no dice to the CDR. I then turned the port counter clockwise 180 degress (net effect was 90% clockwise). The CDR's toc was also displayed. If your transport has the right table height and not reading anything, give this a try.
- They are all made in China, just kidding to see you read this far
The best way to adjust that pot, is to look at eye pattern with an oscilloscope.
LA9242M pin 41 and rotate the pot till you get a very clean eye pattern.
Regards,
Tibi
Okay, but I guess I'm not sure if I should be asking for a replacement for this one that doesn't seem to work.
Yep, this is eye pattern and looks very good.
Regards,
Tibi
Whew! But that looks good? I thought it looked a little fuzzy (my scope traces are normally very clean). I'd love to see what bad looks like!
Sigh. I was afraid of this.
So, uncle_leon, if there are more of us crazy enough to want to buy those Invisistors, have you setlled on the optimal configuration and values?
uncle_leon, if you're out there please advise. Now that I'm building the enclosure for my first Shiga I'm completing the collection of parts for my custom. Would like to get your Invisistor analysis so I know what to buy.
No problem, please send me a mail and I´ll send you another one at shipping cost.
Regards,
Tibi
The wave-shape must clear and clean.
The more favourable the output characteristics are, the clearer and better the wave-shape is.
For example a jittery one
An externally hosted image should be here but it was not working when we last tested it.
Regards,
Tibi
I wish I had a o-scope
So, it was a bit of small turn/trial and error kind of tweak, but it still beats the 00 no TOC big time Last night, I played over 5 different CDR's. All read to the end. I did put a mark on pot and the pcb to indicate where I started. So I will be dialing back until it stops reading in the days to come. At the moment, I would rather enjoy listening than continue to tweak
Thanks for the support!!