|
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! |
|
Thread Tools |
1st Apr 2009, 11:09 pm | #1 |
Dekatron
Join Date: Sep 2003
Location: Bolton, Greater Manchester, UK.
Posts: 6,644
|
Junior Corder Model 3 - Tinkerbell's tantrum.
The day started early for Tiny Tim. Tinkerbell works nights, you see, and sometimes wants to watch a DVD before she gets to bed. So, at 6.00 AM, Tiny Tim was woken by a loud crash and some shouting from Tinkerbell.
'What's wrong', muttered Tiny Tim as he shuffled, bleary eyed, into the Front Room. The DVD player, the thing that gets Digital TV and the SCART leads were on the floor. Tinkerbell looked very unhappy and she said, suitably translated because Tim couldn't understand the naughty words, that the DVD player didn't work and she thought I was an Engineer. He got another DVD player and wired this up, but he realised that some more leads were needed. With Tinkerbell's comments ringing in his ears, he went back to bed. He had forgotten that there were two 6 o'clocks in a day. So he was sat at his bench later on wondering what to do next. The Junior Corder was next on his list. It was a kids tape recorder and it was Japanese. Tiny Tim didn't like Japanese things as a rule, as they are so small and fiddly. But, the box and book were still with it, and were in good condition. And the book contained the circuit. So he fitted batteries and tried it out. It made an awful noise and was very slow. He took this machine apart and cleaned up the works a bit and gave the head a clean. The noise was now better, but the Volume Control didn't vary the volume. He gave it a spray of servisol and this was cleared. The circuit was mostly OK because it played well, and it appeared to have been used as a dictaphone. The mike was in good nick as was the earpiece, but switched to record it still played. The switch on this machine is four way - Rewind, Stop, Play and Record. He cleaned the switch and looked closely. There were two banks of switches and somehow two were pushed together. Tidied this up and switched to record and then rewind. The music on the tape where he switched to record had gone. A little more servisol on the sockets and we tried the microphone. Bit low, because of muck on the mike. Took the mike apart and cleaned it out. It was now OK on record too. It's not exactly good on music, but easily good enough as a dictaphone. He recorded a message and played it back for fun..... 'Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to put the TV back together again before Tinkerbell gets up. This tape will self destruct in 5 seconds...' Tiny Tim hated SCART plugs. They were always the wrong way round. Cheers, Steve P.
__________________
If we've always had it, why is the Car Boot open? You're not sneaking another Old TV in are you...? |
2nd Apr 2009, 7:58 am | #2 |
Nonode
Join Date: May 2006
Location: St Albans, Herts, UK.
Posts: 2,193
|
Re: Junior Corder Model 3 - Tinkerbell's tantrum.
I like these Tiny Tim stories
Thanks Steve, All the very best, Tas |
2nd Apr 2009, 8:18 am | #3 |
Nonode
Join Date: Aug 2007
Location: South Bradford, West Yorkshire, UK.
Posts: 2,571
|
Re: Junior Corder Model 3 - Tinkerbell's tantrum.
The spirit of Les Lawry-Johns lives on.
Nice one Steve. Keith |
3rd Apr 2009, 9:37 pm | #4 |
Dekatron
Join Date: Apr 2005
Location: Bewdley, Worcestershire, UK.
Posts: 4,736
|
Re: Junior Corder Model 3 - Tinkerbell's tantrum.
I had a similar model for a few days, bought by mail order as a birthday present when I was about 11. Its performance was so awful that it was sent back to the supplier for a refund! Nonetheless, another interesting artifact from the history of the development of domestic tape recording has been saved for posterity; well done Steve!
__________________
Phil Optimist [n]: One who is not in possession of the full facts |