I'm looking for recommendations for a test equipment repairers in the UK.
Amateur or professional.
Anyone here had a good experience with a UK based repairer?
Amateur or professional.
Anyone here had a good experience with a UK based repairer?
I think you can safely use google for that...Tere are tons of companies doing it...Just type in : "test equipment repair and callibration uk"
UKAS Calibration Services | Transmille
UKAS Calibration Services | Transmille
Hi Rayma,
I'm struggling to fix a old Iwatsu spectrum analyzer (1980's).
Unfortunately I've been unable to find a copy of the service manual anywhere. I even tried emailing Iwatsu in Japanese!
I'm struggling to fix a old Iwatsu spectrum analyzer (1980's).
Unfortunately I've been unable to find a copy of the service manual anywhere. I even tried emailing Iwatsu in Japanese!
I really tried to get help a while back for another guy looking for a schematic or UK repairer ofan old piece of electronic test equipment didn't have much luck.
Even tried Stewart of Reading their old HP SA,s with lower bandwidth aren't too dear.
Even tried Stewart of Reading their old HP SA,s with lower bandwidth aren't too dear.
It's a long story but in a nutshell:
I bought a 1980's spectrum analyser from ebay which was sold as fully working. The seller didn't pack it well and it arrived damaged. It's an ex MOD unit and of modular type design with a mainframe display section and a spectrum analyser plug-in.
The seller offered a partial refund as compensation for the damage and I decided to take a chance on keeping it and attempting a repair.
The unit had suffered quite a lot of physical damage and it had two electrical faults. 1) The trace rotation adjustment couldn't get the trace horizontal and 2) The horizontal position adjustment didn't work. Besides these two faults it seemed to work perfectly.
By this point I'd discovered that it was seemingly impossible to get hold of a copy of the service manual (believe me I've tried!). If I'd know that from the start I never would have purchased the unit but it just didn't occur to me that it would be so hard. I have an old Tek scope and the manual is widely available.
I dealt the with physical damage quite successfully and I managed to work out a fix for the trace rotation adjustment problem.
In an effort to fix the non-functional horizontal position adjustment I decided to recap the mainframe, replacing the tantalum bead capacitors and the electrolytics.
I did a partial recap of the mainframe and since doing that I've lost most functionality, so I've either made a mistake or another fault has developed whilst I've owned it.
The major hurdle is that I don't have the service manual/schematics. Probably an experienced technician who's familiar with spectrum analysers of this era would be able to deduce approximately where the fault might be.
I've emailed several repair companies and the general response has been "Sorry we can't repair that, it's too old".
Of course the other problem is that unfortunately it simply doesn't make economic sense to spend hundreds or thousands of pounds paying a professional company to attempt a fix. It would be cheaper to replace it with a old H.P. or similar. However, I hate to give up on it and send it to the scrap heap.
I bought a 1980's spectrum analyser from ebay which was sold as fully working. The seller didn't pack it well and it arrived damaged. It's an ex MOD unit and of modular type design with a mainframe display section and a spectrum analyser plug-in.
The seller offered a partial refund as compensation for the damage and I decided to take a chance on keeping it and attempting a repair.
The unit had suffered quite a lot of physical damage and it had two electrical faults. 1) The trace rotation adjustment couldn't get the trace horizontal and 2) The horizontal position adjustment didn't work. Besides these two faults it seemed to work perfectly.
By this point I'd discovered that it was seemingly impossible to get hold of a copy of the service manual (believe me I've tried!). If I'd know that from the start I never would have purchased the unit but it just didn't occur to me that it would be so hard. I have an old Tek scope and the manual is widely available.
I dealt the with physical damage quite successfully and I managed to work out a fix for the trace rotation adjustment problem.
In an effort to fix the non-functional horizontal position adjustment I decided to recap the mainframe, replacing the tantalum bead capacitors and the electrolytics.
I did a partial recap of the mainframe and since doing that I've lost most functionality, so I've either made a mistake or another fault has developed whilst I've owned it.
The major hurdle is that I don't have the service manual/schematics. Probably an experienced technician who's familiar with spectrum analysers of this era would be able to deduce approximately where the fault might be.
I've emailed several repair companies and the general response has been "Sorry we can't repair that, it's too old".
Of course the other problem is that unfortunately it simply doesn't make economic sense to spend hundreds or thousands of pounds paying a professional company to attempt a fix. It would be cheaper to replace it with a old H.P. or similar. However, I hate to give up on it and send it to the scrap heap.
Back in the '80's there must have been people capable of repairing it. Where are they now? Until a few years ago it was still being looked after in the MOD. There are the initials of a service engineer scribbled inside dated 2017. God I wish I could track him down!
I thought I recognised your name Mike --March 3rd --Iwatsu TS-8123--didn't I try to help you but didn't have any luck ?
You don't seem very lucky buying electronic goods online --if you don't mind me saying so ?
Old Iwatsu schematics are practically unobtainable even trying their own website --got new ones but not old stuff.
You might not be keen on Stewart of Reading but all the stuff I bought from him worked and still does and he packed it well .
I remember a well known companies in "Yorkshire " ? way back had a giant electronic surplus business sold off a lot to another company who no longer exists used to advertise all the time in electronic magazines.
You don't seem very lucky buying electronic goods online --if you don't mind me saying so ?
Old Iwatsu schematics are practically unobtainable even trying their own website --got new ones but not old stuff.
You might not be keen on Stewart of Reading but all the stuff I bought from him worked and still does and he packed it well .
I remember a well known companies in "Yorkshire " ? way back had a giant electronic surplus business sold off a lot to another company who no longer exists used to advertise all the time in electronic magazines.
I didn't buy a TS-8123, I was only enquiring about that model because it looks like it shares the same mainframe with my SS-8120. I couldn't find a manual for the SS-8120 so I widened my search to include the TS-8123.
I did email Stuart of Reading ( I bought my Tek scope from them) but I don't think they replied, or they said they couldn't help. I might try calling them.
I've emailed numerous repair companies and trying to track down the service manual and have even tried emailing Iwatsu in Japanese! I got no response from Iwatsu.
I bet there are old repair shops in Japan that have the service manual and the MOD must have it.
On a more positive note, to cheer myself up, I just bought a 465B.
Edit: No response from Stewart of Reading.
I did email Stuart of Reading ( I bought my Tek scope from them) but I don't think they replied, or they said they couldn't help. I might try calling them.
I've emailed numerous repair companies and trying to track down the service manual and have even tried emailing Iwatsu in Japanese! I got no response from Iwatsu.
I bet there are old repair shops in Japan that have the service manual and the MOD must have it.
On a more positive note, to cheer myself up, I just bought a 465B.
Edit: No response from Stewart of Reading.
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As I owned one for a long time I think you made the right choice.
Last time I looked SoR didn't do Iwatsu ,he buys ex-government stuff and has a special permit to buy at their auctions usually USA stuff as that's what was used by UK military as you know the UK "shut up shop " sold off any good UK electronics company and the companies that bought them over closed them down and transferred business abroad .
Last time I looked SoR didn't do Iwatsu ,he buys ex-government stuff and has a special permit to buy at their auctions usually USA stuff as that's what was used by UK military as you know the UK "shut up shop " sold off any good UK electronics company and the companies that bought them over closed them down and transferred business abroad .
Update.
It's alive, it's alive!! 😀
Last night I took it all apart again to check the work I've done so far (mainly replacement of the electrolytics and tantalums in the mainframe) I checked and double checked everything but couldn't find anything wrong.
This morning with fresh eyes and better light in the room I looked again and found this:
20210322_090246 by Michael Pickwell, on Flickr
See the unintentional tiny solder bridge between diode and the thick ground trace?
I put it all back together ultra carefully cross-checking everything against my notes and photos.
and....
It's *working* again!
20210322_132023 by Michael Pickwell, on Flickr
I still have one more fault to fix, which is that the horizontal position control doesn't seem to work, so that might still be faulty or it could just be user error on my part. In any case, for my purposes it's useable without the horizontal position control and so I'll just leave it at that for now. If I do eventually get hold of the manual I might look at it again.
It's alive, it's alive!! 😀
Last night I took it all apart again to check the work I've done so far (mainly replacement of the electrolytics and tantalums in the mainframe) I checked and double checked everything but couldn't find anything wrong.
This morning with fresh eyes and better light in the room I looked again and found this:
20210322_090246 by Michael Pickwell, on FlickrSee the unintentional tiny solder bridge between diode and the thick ground trace?
I put it all back together ultra carefully cross-checking everything against my notes and photos.
and....
It's *working* again!
20210322_132023 by Michael Pickwell, on FlickrI still have one more fault to fix, which is that the horizontal position control doesn't seem to work, so that might still be faulty or it could just be user error on my part. In any case, for my purposes it's useable without the horizontal position control and so I'll just leave it at that for now. If I do eventually get hold of the manual I might look at it again.