Well, here is another episode this time with the am/fm and amplifier panel. Since this panel is working fine there is not much to do. I explain what failed on other units and put thermal paste onto the heatsinks. This helps a lot to cool the amplifiers down. https://youtu.be/_CosOQB9Aho
Category: Unit 3
Unit #3 finally working, tape mechanism fixed
Finally unit #3 passed all tests and I used it for about a week. Even the tape mechanism is now working great. I finally got a solution for the white lever and the play/fast forward problem. All I need is to create another video explaining what exactly I have done. To ensure that the lever snaps back into its default […]
Final video for repairing the tape mechanism
Here is the second part of repairing the tape mechanism. Hopefully you find some tips and methods to get your tape back working. However, you need a lot of patience… https://youtu.be/5WmVaMAiEAA
First long time run of Unit #3 failed
A better product name than Philips-CD555 would be Philips-SMFH. SMFH as abbreviation of SoundMachine From Hell. The think drove me crazy the whole day. Whilst I was playing for hours yesterday, today morning it failed. I have to admit that after some hours there machine made a silent but hearable buzz which was not in the audio line and the […]
Soft Eject and the search for oil…
The last weeks I was and still am searching for a replacement oil for the soft eject mechanism. I have no idea what material it exactly is. It is very simple, only a rotating plastic wheel with some oil, which is similar to a glue, that slows down the rotation process. More expensive devices contain a hydraulic cylinder or similar. […]
Trying to figure out the current position of the tape
Well, one idea to figure out the current tape position was to measure the current of the motors when playing the tape. There were several devices I had in history which I can remember that did it that way. I expect a difference in the current when the tape is at the very beginning and at the end of the […]
Tape Counter Button
It took me a while to design and print a button for the new tape counter. Whilst the first approach was working it was not so stable and too thin. From four prints I was able to use two. Need to figure out the best way to add supports for a better outcome. However, I had to redesign it. I […]
CDM2 of Unit #3 repaired
After the uProc and the CD-Player keys are working it was time to have a look at the CDM2. A short test revealed that it was not able to read the TOC or to play tracks. I sometimes had the problem that the TOC failed to read but it was possible to play some tracks. Mostly above certain track the […]
A digital tape counter? Aye, a digital tape counter!
I recently recorded a tape and had to rewind and then to go back to the previous position. With the analog counter that was quite a challenge. Thus I thought by myself it would be great to set a marker and go back and forward to the desired positions. And to see minutes and seconds would be even better. Well,just […]
Fixing the microcontroller board
It was time to fix the microcontroller board. Since the display sometimes showed the correct segments it was clear that the serial bus of the CPU is working and the CPU itself might be ok. There can always be a toasted input/output but I have never seen such a failure. It was obvious that the CPU sends a command to […]