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Success Stories If you have successfully repaired or restored a piece of equipment, why not write up what you did and post details here. Particularly if it was interesting, unusual or challenging. PLEASE DO NOT POST REQUESTS FOR HELP HERE! |
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23rd Jun 2014, 7:01 pm | #21 |
Dekatron
Join Date: Apr 2012
Location: Worksop, Nottinghamshire, UK.
Posts: 5,553
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Re: "Temporary" fixes.
I have twice done a better than new bodges on washing machine door timers.
The first one was owned by my grandmother and the door latch failed three times in the first year. I eventually inherited the machine and knowing its history fitted a V5 micro-switch in the charred remains of the old switch housing and sold the machine. I kept in touch with the new owner and there was no problem and the lack of an irritating delay was welcome. Later I bought a machine that suffered the same problem after 6 months and it got the same fix and lasted until the machine was scrapped after about 6 years with a dead timer. |
23rd Jun 2014, 7:18 pm | #22 |
Dekatron
Join Date: Jun 2005
Location: Warnham, West Sussex. 10 miles south of DORKING.
Posts: 9,147
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Re: "Temporary" fixes.
Around 1970 I had a late Saturday evening call from an elderly lady customer with a PYE 11U dual standard chassis. The 173 ohm main heater dropper was O/C and I had nothing like it in my kit. I always replaced complete droppers other than in a dire emergency but a hunt down my toolbox revealed absolutely nothing suitable.
The table lamp standing on top of the TV gave me a flash of inspiration! I removed the plug top and neatly wired the terminals across the dropper section. With a 60w [I think] lamp the valve heaters looked normal brightness wise and the receiver performed correctly. After advising the customer of my temporary repair I informed her I would call on Monday evening with a dropper and complete the repair. Well it vanished from my mind and it was only a few weeks later that my forgetfulness came to light. The smashing lady called in the shop to purchase some odds and ends and casually mentioned the television. A look of horror must have flashed across my face as she quickly explained that it was working fine and there was no hurry if the parts had not arrived....... A new dropper was fitted that evening of course to everyones satisfaction. That dear old lady gave me a 1930's pale blue and black glass art deco bowl and figure that still stands on my bookcase to this day. Very Happy Days and a great generation of customers that are sadly leaving us too quickly.. John. |
23rd Jun 2014, 9:25 pm | #23 |
Dekatron
Join Date: Nov 2003
Location: Heckmondwike, West Yorkshire, UK.
Posts: 9,642
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Re: "Temporary" fixes.
Several posts removed. Gas (particularly foolhardy tampering) and automotive posts are off topic for this Forum, as has been repeatedly stated.
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23rd Jun 2014, 9:29 pm | #24 |
Dekatron
Join Date: Jan 2005
Location: Oxford, UK.
Posts: 17,843
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Re: "Temporary" fixes.
My apologies, Bill.
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30th Jun 2014, 8:41 pm | #25 |
Octode
Join Date: Nov 2010
Location: Cullompton, Devon, UK.
Posts: 1,435
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Re: "Temporary" fixes.
A friend of mine asked me to look at his DAC90A as the on off switch was intermittent as was the the rest of the set, This is two of the temporary fixes I found after replacing the usual Cs, plus all of the valve bases. Someone had poked copper wire into the valve bases as all the socket pins were broken, I was amazed the glass of the valves had not cracked, the switch on the back of the volume control had a piece of wire wrapped around to hold it together, and to crown it all a 13amp fuse in the plug, well if you are going to have a bang, you might as well make it worthwhile.
John |
30th Jun 2014, 8:45 pm | #26 |
Octode
Join Date: Nov 2010
Location: Cullompton, Devon, UK.
Posts: 1,435
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Re: "Temporary" fixes.
Just a follow up of the un temporary fix.
John |
30th Jun 2014, 11:44 pm | #27 |
Dekatron
Join Date: Feb 2007
Location: Leominster, Herefordshire, UK.
Posts: 16,535
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Re: "Temporary" fixes.
I spy some of those dodgy B8A valve bases with no location for the pip on the valve.
Would the next "temporary" bodge be the little markings added to guide valve placement?
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....__________ ....|____||__|__\_____ .=.| _---\__|__|_---_|. .........O..Chris....O |
1st Jul 2014, 12:28 am | #28 | |
Dekatron
Join Date: Jul 2008
Location: Charmouth, Dorset, UK.
Posts: 3,601
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Re: "Temporary" fixes.
Quote:
Peter |
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1st Jul 2014, 8:47 am | #29 |
Dekatron
Join Date: Jun 2013
Location: East Sussex, UK.
Posts: 3,326
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Re: "Temporary" fixes.
There is a line moulded into the base to guide you but they don't seem to be available with a short can with the guide for the pip. A great trap for the uninitiated.
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1st Jul 2014, 8:58 am | #30 |
Dekatron
Join Date: Nov 2011
Location: Surrey, UK.
Posts: 4,394
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Re: "Temporary" fixes.
I recall encountering those bases and being rather puzzled at the lack of locating skirt- I wonder if something like slit 22mm pipe offcuts could be shaped and soldered in place as keying devices?
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1st Jul 2014, 11:32 am | #31 |
Nonode
Join Date: Jan 2010
Location: North Somerset, UK.
Posts: 2,129
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Re: "Temporary" fixes.
I recall a temporary fix for an imported radio with a defective or missing line dropper cord.
Part of a series set of Christmas lights was used instead, a little trial and error being required to select the correct number of lamps. |
1st Jul 2014, 1:53 pm | #32 | |
Octode
Join Date: Nov 2010
Location: Cullompton, Devon, UK.
Posts: 1,435
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Re: "Temporary" fixes.
Quote:
John |
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1st Jul 2014, 4:41 pm | #33 |
Administrator
Join Date: Dec 2002
Location: Cardiff
Posts: 9,071
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Re: "Temporary" fixes.
Bump!
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2nd Jul 2014, 8:48 am | #34 |
Hexode
Join Date: Aug 2008
Location: Essex, UK.
Posts: 370
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Re: "Temporary" fixes.
As a kid we had a Creda 275 tumble dryer. One day this stopped working. The cause was a broken operating switch arm. From memory this consisted of an arm with a springy metallic piece on the end operating a micro switch.
At the time one of my school mates, Ian ,whose dad Les worked as a field service engineer for Ti-Creda suggested a modification that they employed until the correct part arrived...... It involved half a wooden clothes peg stuffed into the end where the springy piece of metal had broken off. Worked a treat. That dryer was only replaced in 2009 when my girlfriend suggested that we needed something more modern. (And larger) Steve.
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6.3v on my heaters is no longer enough to get me going in the morning!! |
2nd Jul 2014, 9:12 am | #35 |
Hexode
Join Date: Aug 2008
Location: Essex, UK.
Posts: 370
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Re: "Temporary" fixes.
And then there was the TCE 3500 that was experiencing cogwheel effect. All the usual (at the time) suggestions such as C631 and the core of the choke didn't provide a cure. I found that sticking a large 1ohm resistor in series with the ht supply tamed it. This remained in place heating the room until a replacement power panel became available a few years later when I re attended due to another fault. I think it was the green A1 switch leaking.
Subsequent tests located a leaky Zener in the error amp. Don't quote me as this was many years ago.
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6.3v on my heaters is no longer enough to get me going in the morning!! |
3rd Jul 2014, 2:50 pm | #36 |
Dekatron
Join Date: Jul 2008
Location: Charmouth, Dorset, UK.
Posts: 3,601
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Re: "Temporary" fixes.
The most ambitious 'temporary fix' I ever did was for a friend on mine that lived in an old cottage behind Farnborough Hospital in Kent in the '50's, long since gone by the way. He at that time had no mains supply and asked me if I could rig up some sort of TV for him.
I obtained a 9" Pye, can't remember the model but it used EF80's rather than 50's and a PL81 and PY81. I replaced all the 'P' series valves with 'E' type and series paralleled the heaters to run off 12 volts, that was the easy bit, I now had to find an HT supply. As many of you will remember there were a whole range of Ex WD rotary converters about at that time so I found one with a suitable output and a couple of 12 volt batteries, the problem now was keeping them charged. A car dynamo was used driven by a petrol engine, if my memory serves me correctly this was also ex WD a J.A.P. I believe. After managing to make a direct coupling that didn't keep breaking, I think we used a length of thick rubber hose eventually, all went well except that the dynamo got very hot, as it would in a shed with no engine fan, we probably burnt one or two out, so I devised a method of keeping it cool. Over the top of it we mounted a water tank with a tap under it to regulate the rate of flow, we laid some absorbent material over the dynamo and adjusted the flow at enough to replace the water that was evaporating. Believe it or not it all worked with a few lights indoors as well - until such time as they got an electricity supply. Peter |
17th Nov 2014, 12:39 pm | #37 |
Heptode
Join Date: Sep 2014
Location: Coventry, West Midlands, UK.
Posts: 519
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Re: "Temporary" fixes.
Years ago I had a TV, I believe a Regentone Ten 17 and the focus pin of the CRT broke off just inside the tube glass base. I pushed a dress making pin ,nicked from my aunt's work basket, through the base connector and into the end of the tube. Normal service was resumed and the TV was like that for around 5 years.
Steve |
17th Nov 2014, 1:05 pm | #38 |
Dekatron
Join Date: Apr 2012
Location: Wiltshire, UK.
Posts: 13,996
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Re: "Temporary" fixes.
My mother's Electrolux vacuum-cleaner had a push-on push-off power switch. Some time in the early-1990s this failed when the spring responsible for the latching action escaped and disappeared (probably ingested by the cleaner with all the other detritus).
I sacrificed a retractable ball-point pen for its spring, which was firmly tied in-place with a few strands of copper wire stripped from some old flex. I inherited this cleaner a couple of years back - it still works just fine and I know from the feel of the switch that it still has my spring in it. |
17th Nov 2014, 7:44 pm | #39 |
Dekatron
Join Date: Aug 2011
Location: Newcastle, Tyne and Wear, UK.
Posts: 11,553
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Re: "Temporary" fixes.
As teenagers, myself and a friend spent many days battling to make a complex kit-built Z80 computer system work (it was a Powertran SCI-COMP-80, if anyone remembers it). Quite by chance, we discovered that it would run if we had the probe of our scope on a particular IC pin. We tried every way we could to understand and fix the fault properly, but failed.
So in the end, what we did was to solder a 1M resistor and low value capacitor (20pf? 50pf?) in parallel, from the offending pin down to ground - effectively a 'scope probe simulator'. The last I heard, it was still working. |
17th Nov 2014, 8:17 pm | #40 |
Guest
Posts: n/a
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Re: "Temporary" fixes.
Probably a floating input.
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