My neighbor has an Audio Research SP3 to drive his Mcintosh MC2100 which drives a pair of Acoustic Research LST's.
And a Dual 701 for his...... records.
2007 Grand Vitara.
Replaced EGR, starter and turbo.
It cranked and started. After a test drive, the starter fuse blew.
Had to remove the cat to get to the starter and discover that the heat shield below the turbo created a short circuit on one of the starter solenoid terminals. 🙄
The starter on this car is hidden below the turbo behind the cat. It's a pita to get to.
Replaced EGR, starter and turbo.
It cranked and started. After a test drive, the starter fuse blew.
Had to remove the cat to get to the starter and discover that the heat shield below the turbo created a short circuit on one of the starter solenoid terminals. 🙄
The starter on this car is hidden below the turbo behind the cat. It's a pita to get to.
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I still have the SP3 I built when Audio Amateur published the schematic. Later I got the full manual from AR. I was never able to acqire the AR LST's or their smaller version. The voltage regulator of the SP3 used a Delco power transistor and a string of zeners such was "state of the art" 45 years ago.
What I fixed today -- got a used Lincoln about 5 years ago and w COVID etc. did not run it for a year, relying on the Expedition instead. Battery completely dead and wouldn't take a charge. In frustration probing around the dead battery the tell-tale sign of copper oxidation! With a clean-up it charged up.
My neighbor's SP3, when I first saw it, turned me off.
The front panel and knobs look so cheap, like a kit, although Heathkit put more into their front facades.
It's an interesting design, but not my cup of tea.
Built an amp... Wouldn't bias up properly.
Long story short, I made an error on the PCB and swapped screen and suppressor.
No wonder it needed 0V bias to make sound!
Long story short, I made an error on the PCB and swapped screen and suppressor.
No wonder it needed 0V bias to make sound!
A friend of mine who is a singer owns an old AKG phantom powered condenser micro (or should I better write capacitor micro?😀). It still works flawless - except the fact that the shaft is "sticky". Assuming some Gaffa Tape residuals I checked petrol and orange cleaner, but to no avail. It is an old plastic shell with that sticky softener emanating. There is no way to remove that really. So I ordered some 4cm wide transparent heat shrinking tube and shrinked that over the shaft. Looks nice and feels good now😉
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A sink faucet.
A weird story: I had installed a top quality faucet, a Grohe from Germany at a place I rent.
Five years later, it was found with not enough flow.
Unbeleivable for a Grohe, the very best in Europe.
I was away, so sent my plumber who confirmed, the low flow, then changed it for another brand that has good reputation.
Then, 8 months later I found this one was leaky, too much for honestly re rent.
Fortunately I had ask to keep the Grohe, that I was expecting to fix.
I re installed it and it works perfectly right.
Job done.
And once again, I am better when doing all by myself.
A weird story: I had installed a top quality faucet, a Grohe from Germany at a place I rent.
Five years later, it was found with not enough flow.
Unbeleivable for a Grohe, the very best in Europe.
I was away, so sent my plumber who confirmed, the low flow, then changed it for another brand that has good reputation.
Then, 8 months later I found this one was leaky, too much for honestly re rent.
Fortunately I had ask to keep the Grohe, that I was expecting to fix.
I re installed it and it works perfectly right.
Job done.
And once again, I am better when doing all by myself.
Pass DIY Addict
Joined 2000
Paid Member
I seem to reach the conclusion that doing things myself is better almost every time I pay someone to do the job instead…
Depends on who you get. I've been finding good people lately, and there are many things I can't do any more.
The trouble is, everybody aging, I am finding more and more not so good people.
I stuck it out until I turned 65, but after 45 hectic years of fixing people's broken stuff I had to retire and enjoy what's left.
What did I last repair? Unfortunately it was a large perf board project that contains 20 microprocessors, 19 encoders, lots of LEDS, and a touch screen. I built it over the last two weeks, and was measuring it for a temporary wood case when I dropped it. It took me most of the day to fix the broken stuff, and I had to replace the display. Fortunately, I had a spare, but it is slated for another project, so I ordered a new one.
I lasted almost 5 years fixing people's broken stuff. I got a part time job fixing TV sets and other consumer electronics at the age of 16. The shop owner was batting a perfect zero with that new fangled transistor stuff. After a couple years at the TV shop I left and took over the service department of the #1 (in sales $) Olson's Electronics store in the country, primarily due to it's location, next to the University of Miami.
After two and a half years of dealing with rich kids in fancy cars living on daddy's money, I left the "fixing stuff" game for a life as a tech on the assembly line at Motorola.....fixing stuff again, newly made radios fresh off the line, only 1 in 10 actually worked the first time it saw power.
When fixing consumer electronics, it can usually be assumed that it worked at one time. This was not the case here when wrong parts, no parts, transistors in backwards, missing or too much solder, or any one of a zillion other things could be wrong. Two years of that, and I had enough.
I got a job in the cal lab.....fixing stuff, this time, the factory itself. I kinda liked that one, and stayed for 10 years but the writing was on the wall. The factory was on its way out, leaving for the other side of the planet, bit by bit. Time to move on.
I had impressed several engineers with my ability to make stuff work, and fixed engineering design problems in products a couple times, but it was my Camaro belt buckle that got me out of the factory, and into engineering. No more fixing stuff, with a few exceptions dealing with large customers like the city of Miami and the then new microprocessor controlled radio equipment.
That's when the factory had left the country years ago, and now engineering was following them. Life became like one of those reality shows on TV where they vote someone off the island every week. Our advanced research department had shrunk from over 100 people to under 50 when I got the letter from the CEO. I was part of a "target group", older people who had been there for a long time, (41 years). They offered me a bucket full of money to go quietly, so I took it at age 62 and moved 1200 miles north.....yeah most people move TO Florida when they retire.
I lasted almost 5 years fixing people's broken stuff. I got a part time job fixing TV sets and other consumer electronics at the age of 16. The shop owner was batting a perfect zero with that new fangled transistor stuff. After a couple years at the TV shop I left and took over the service department of the #1 (in sales $) Olson's Electronics store in the country, primarily due to it's location, next to the University of Miami.
After two and a half years of dealing with rich kids in fancy cars living on daddy's money, I left the "fixing stuff" game for a life as a tech on the assembly line at Motorola.....fixing stuff again, newly made radios fresh off the line, only 1 in 10 actually worked the first time it saw power.
When fixing consumer electronics, it can usually be assumed that it worked at one time. This was not the case here when wrong parts, no parts, transistors in backwards, missing or too much solder, or any one of a zillion other things could be wrong. Two years of that, and I had enough.
I got a job in the cal lab.....fixing stuff, this time, the factory itself. I kinda liked that one, and stayed for 10 years but the writing was on the wall. The factory was on its way out, leaving for the other side of the planet, bit by bit. Time to move on.
I had impressed several engineers with my ability to make stuff work, and fixed engineering design problems in products a couple times, but it was my Camaro belt buckle that got me out of the factory, and into engineering. No more fixing stuff, with a few exceptions dealing with large customers like the city of Miami and the then new microprocessor controlled radio equipment.
That's when the factory had left the country years ago, and now engineering was following them. Life became like one of those reality shows on TV where they vote someone off the island every week. Our advanced research department had shrunk from over 100 people to under 50 when I got the letter from the CEO. I was part of a "target group", older people who had been there for a long time, (41 years). They offered me a bucket full of money to go quietly, so I took it at age 62 and moved 1200 miles north.....yeah most people move TO Florida when they retire.
I started in my Uncle's TV shop at 12 testing tubes. By the time I was 18 I was pretty damn good at it, and got a job with Packard Bell (Electronics, not Computers) in '73. I stayed there until '96 when I switched to IT. I'm about to mostly retire from IT, and you can guess what I am going to do in 'retirement".... Tubes are involved.
Retirement to me is knowing when to start focusing on yourself more, and less on other peoples wants demands and such.
Oh, don't get me wrong, I'm not dead yet, nor am I completely cut off from electronics - now it's more of a "when I damn well please to do some servicing".
I'm enjoying this time by pleasing myself more than others.
And I enjoy going out to my garage on occasion and doing some woodworking, designing, coming up with some "built from scratch, one-of-a-kind" audio stuff.
I've posted some of it on here in other threads.
Currently, there's a 200W amp in the works, and a mid-century styled mini stereo consolette for records/aux audio.
But the damn wood shortage is holding me up from building the cabinets.
I want 3/4" clean smooth pine, not that knotty crap currently at Lowes/Home Depot.
I "retired" in 1998 when the market stalled and died. So I sold my shop, 6,000 sq ft. and got into the telephone system installation and repair business with a company that sold ITT systems, then Cortelco and Avaya. That was fun, but someone decided to run into me in 2005 at 100 km/hr without hitting the brakes. Retired again. Today I work on audio equipment at my own pace while also designing some of it.
Retirement? What's that?
Retirement? What's that?