Repair Briefs - Domestic and miscellany.

The following are repair briefs for various 
equipment.The infomation is directed
to technically competant repair engineers.Generic terms have 
been used to make this info less model specific,eg terms like 
replace transistor Q123 have not been used.
The equipment is , Domestic and miscellany . 
I would be interested in finding 
any other repair listings on the internet structured as i have 
done ie intended to be less model specific. For convenience using search-engines, 
use keyword divdevrep to target these files.

There is no point in contacting me about any of the following, the 
repair job may have been done 15 years ago .
I cannot clarify or enlarge on any of the following. Mains is 240V, UK.


Should the location of this file change please use the keyword "divdev7" in 
a search engine to find it again

A number of the pictures are now apparently not downloadable, because the hosts have disallowed remote linking although not saying so. To view them , you have to remove the picture file name from the picture URL and put this .htm file name in its place and scroll down to the relevant pic.

Domestic and Miscellany 

Amstrad AB800 cordless phone handset
Telescopic aerial dropped out.
As the owner in his efforts to get the handset appart so it 
looked as though it was eaten by a dog it is probably worth explaining 
how to get inside.Remove battery cover then unplug and remove battery 
and the ellusive screw is under the battery. No lock nut on the base of 
the aerial so free to unscrew so reconnected and locked in place with 
liberal dose of hot-melt glue.

Asda MDS V3 , 2008
its possible to add in a second Scart
and so feed both a TV and recorder. Undo case screw and knife 
blade at Scart to prize open. Cut out "punch-out" 
for the second scart.
Jumpered lines 1,3,4, 17,19,21 and glued in box, 
and no mismatch problems on this pair of TV and recorder.
Nice obvious on/standby LED indication on these and echoing of zapper signal
and retention of settings on power off , so can be used atached to a
reserve/second recorder, without TV, for simple recording, after initial
installation. Add an earpiece to audio compare 
with TV on same channel. One large NXP philips chip
and not much else other than memory and tuner  in these. 
power consumption 12.2W but 10.4W on standby, ignoring ps losses, so broke into  
power socket and wired in a switch. Unfortunately the channel 
that comes up at switch on is not the one at switch off 
or the "recall" channel but tends to be the same as previously 
the initial channel, but not always.
One great plus for this cheapest of digi-boxes - so far 
anyway, its immune to having the EPG remotely 
updated, outside your control, in the middle of 
the night when you are recording a film. 
With another crap one next day 20 minutes 
of blank recording while a load of graphics laden 
ads are downloaded because there is no one there 
to disrupt the default of auto downlaod.
This ASDA one works from start and does not 
try downloading the EPG crap from power up 
and consequential 20 minute lock out due to all those ads being downloaded.
Unusual zapper failure mechanism
Plasticizer or something leaching out of the flexible membrane, at the edge, dissolving the green pcb lacquer 
coating and etching lines into the pcb traces. The one that failed was actually at this line through a test pad 
circle, rather than just the width of a trace 
It may be an abrasive process. Although the buttons nearest this edge are never used, perhaps the membrane 
does move each time of usage. The "etched" line is very precisely along the line of the edge of the membrane. 
No drink ever spilt on it, very hot environmentally at the moment, maybe connected with the failure 
Loss of Mute/Vol+/Text buttons

Bath / Shower base, retrofit of anti-slip safety surface where absent for shower use of a GRP 
bath or inadequate dimpled/striped surface on a GRP shower base.
Mark a grid of points , staggered array, about 1 inch apart. Prepare with secateurs, 
cutting discs about 1/8 inch thick from a stick/s of hotmelt glue, if skewed/uneven thickness then ditch it or 
an irregular result. With a hot air gun set on a low setting warm a patch on the bath 
enough to vaguely melt the discs so the draught of hot air does not dislodge them and also assist adherence. 
Place a few of these discs and then play more low heat over them 
to melt into dome shapes.

Beko WM5120 washing machine
Inlet can be connected to warm water supply , up to 45 deg C anyway , before the 
protection shutdown. 
30 or 40 deg C Synthetics select, then push Quick Wash, then Start is shortest 
programmable wash time of 45 minutes

Belkin F9H100vukcw mains protector, 2010
checked over as used with an amp with mains drop out occassionally 
but nothing wrong found with this adaptor
Vice squashed and plectrum to separate the case but 4 "plug and socket" 
plastic fixing of the 2 halves
.1R neutral to neutral and L to L
Used with an amp with mains drop out occassionally, after an hour or so of
use but nothing found wrong with the amp  and
no reported problems with the mains.
Anyone aware of problems with these supposed surge suppressors?
or even how they work
A GDT
axial 115 deg C 5A (one-time?) thermal fuse and a small radial thermal
switch or fuse , probably one of those miniature bimetal dome resettable
combined temp + current switches
X2 yellow block and 3 green polyester caps, is all the componentry ,no
active seen other than
2x100K , 2x LED, 2x 4007 for 2 indicators
Vibrated the radial sw with engraver tool and not found susceptible. But if
a cap was going ohmic and passing excess current there could be intermittant
problem via that, but no discolouration on any cap. To get to the pcb proper
would mean destroying spot weld power lead connections.
This amp  is regularly PAT tested, whether with this adaptor in line not
known and because
pcb traces not seen, don;t know if there is a ground connection involved.
Obviously advicing the owner to obtain another one if he wishes to continue
using a surge protector, as an interim and removing the adaptor for future
PAT testing , rather than suspecting amp internal mains Tx wiring at this
stage
As they are combined current and temp trip then makes some sort of sense
even if the amp only takes 1 amp of mains . But over an hour and a bit of
contact corrosion/localised heating / orientation or something is enough to supply the
temp component .
Googling around Belkin surge protectors a reported problem is Neutral -
Ground short internally to them , which could easily be due to PAT testing ,
but confirms there must be a connection to mains ground inside them

Bicycle pedal crank (aluminium cranks on squared steel shaft) removal.
Where the Al sort of welds itself to the steel and riding around with the 
retaining nut loose will not free up this join.
The chainwheel side removed satisfactorily, with heating as well, 
with  a standard large bearing/hub-puller as the puller
tangs can settle around inside parts of the chainwheel. But the 
left hand crank is not so amenable.
Found this maybe home-made tool obviously not designed 
for bike use as the U slot was too big and needed to packed out with 
a couple of bars straddling the slot. I will describe the tool 
in case a standard tool. For bike use all dimensions except the 
screw parts could be smaller , certainly the circle ended slot reduced to 
3/4 to 1 inch wide .
2 off 1/4 inch plates 3.5 inch square. Near to each corner 4 long bolts 
3/8 inch diameter with covering 1/2 inch hollow rods 4 inch long so forming a cube shape. 
One plate having a U slot 1.5 inches width ending in circle centred 
on centre of plate. The centre of the other plate a steel block 
3/4 inch thick and 1.5 inch sides welded to this plate. Then that plate and block 
tapped with thread to take a half-inch diameter stud part of a long bolt. 
On the external part of this stud a nut was somehow fixed without 
welding so a socket wrench could act on it, leaving some exposed thread so could 
be hammered. I don't see why this nut could not be welded to the thread.
On the bike , slacken the recessed nut about one turn. 
Fit this extractor around and wind up using socket wrench. 
Keep the pedals on to apply back torque. 
The slackened nut will protect the thread and localise 
the central extractor stud. Unlikely to free even with a lot 
of force. Don't start adding scaffold tube. Heat the aluminium 
up with a butane blow lamp and at some point there 
should be  aloud crack as the seizure breaks.
Reminder: Left hand pedals use left hand thread so 'tighten' 
up to undo, if that makes sense.

Renovating vintage German 1960s? K10491 pedals
worn and so loose rotation. 
Old flat chisel and hammer to open the 2 bent tangs at the crank end, then an old flat screwdriver to 
open out more, then punch and hammer and molegrips to fully open back.
Whang the centre rivetting with a large punch and repeated small punch whanging 
around the curved disc to take back the slack. Added part rods of hot melt glue melted 
into the ends of the pedal to avoid ankle bashes

Bicycle pedal problem.
Because of formulation of 'rubber'on pedal and 
shoes there is not enough friction and consequentially 
a high risk of a foot slipping off a pedal.
Obtain a motor-cycle inner-tube and cut off a 
inch wide or so bands and stretch over each pedal.
Cheapo pedals can break in the central spine plastic tube 
(not thick enough / unreinforced) where it is bellied out for the bearings, reinforce with 
nylon cable ties and hotmelt glue.

Very high frequency squeel each turn of a bike wheel
Most noticable when going past a wall so the sound is reflected.
If you don't attend to it pronto then a snapped wheel axle is likely. 
Although the wheel is not binding on the bearings , slacken off the cone nuts a bit 
to give a bit of slack.

Replacing broken spoke on the awkward drive side of the rear wheel. Wary of removing wheel 
and not being able to remove the cassette.
Spokes were 2mm straight run and 2.2mm ,.45 mm pitch thread on old and new so could 
leave the threaded cap in place.
With 3mm (2 mm may have snagged /broken) in a Dremmel and angled to clear the spoke ends 
to enlarge the hole with a rake to take the new spoke. With small molegriips 
attached wound the threaded end through the hole, then a piece of shim metal to protect the 
thread while pushing past the remains of super60/ large cog. Put a bend in the spoke just inside of the 
thread part to assist movingh over the cog. With large molegrips on spoke , 
push and L-R rocking rotation , pushe dthe spoke through. After initial then 2 mole grips to push 
and pull , spoke ending up looking like a mattress needle. Set the swaged spoke end in place 
and decurved the spoke as best as possible and bent the end back as well as possible. 
Checked the thread was not foulded, using new cap , and while tugging with molegrips 
twisted the original cap onto new spoke. Has survived a few hundred miles now , so the bends had not 
over-weakened the metal.
Alternative fudge spoke. Large crimp eyelet terminal, minus plastic cover. Bend the spoke so it can be tied to the fixed part. Slacken 
spoke nipple. Measure gap 
to the spoke core drum. Measured piece of brake core wire soldered on end to pass through the 
hub hole, Return both to crimp core and double action crimp pliers 
to hold. Pass end of spoke through the eyelet and tie off, tighten spoke nipple. For any new brake or gear core wire, cut the core and outer using Dremmel and thin parting off disc and flux and solder the end 
to avoid fraying in normal use (will break up if bend there or compresed
 there).
Before screwing rear cog block to the hub, a smear of copper grease 
will make it easier to remove at  a lTER DATE

More bike tips.
On the cheek straps of helmets paint the inner 
surface of the straps a contrasting colour so its 
a lot easier unravelling each time of putting on.
For the simple mechanical odometer/tripmeter 
devices - for a lost activation pin that is 
fixed to a spoke - brass ground/earth terminals 
that are used in elctrical wiring are excellent. 
Just cut a slot in the barrel to slide over the  spoke.
Once a chain revolution at one point in the chain it takes up the 
set of the chainwheel, because of a tight link,
 rather than hangs loose through the derailleur 
and so makes a clatter noise through the derailleur.
No tooth jumping for it is pulled straight in the forced part of the chain.
All you need is a pair of carrier bags as gloves and a bit of chalk to mark the offending
link/s and gradually increase the amount of hand force applied each attempt.
Firmly hold the chain either side of the tight link 
and bend horizontally one way and then the other.
The chain does not collapse out of line vertically when so bending laterally.

Bicycle clips for those who cannot use hard metal or plastic. 
2 or 3 of those velcro ended cloth cable tidy wraps , daisy chained together 
for each ankle, so yarks rather than clips.

24 white LED bike lamp
Converting a basic hooked , hang anywhere , 4.5V 24 LED 
lamp to front lamp . (Back lamp with red nail varnish 
over gave pink, so use floodlight gel or similar inside the lamp 
housing). This one, no make, 220mA with 3x AA, so 1 to 2Ah batteries, 5 to 10 
hours. Find somewhere to hang with button downwards (unless you cover with 
a flexible seal ) and unlikely 
to bounce off going over a rut. File a notch near the open end of the 
hook to take an O ring or stout rubber , as a closer. Now we live in a third wrold environment 
with roads gone to pot(hole) and drain grids gone for spidge, excellent 
for spotting such hazards. Cut an inch wide ring 
of rubber from the thumb of a black kitchen latex glove. 
Seriously stretch it, to cover over the join in the 2 halves and small 
rubber O ring under each of the screws. A rubber drive band under the 
lens and some totmelt inside to close off the magnet well. 
Find suitable 
hanging point, pointing downwards. Mask off/contain a space with 
gaffer tape and fill with hotmelt glue to make a locating wedge. 
Remove and "solder" this wedge into the plastic of the lamp.
Convenient "voltmeter" indication if the light intensity drop 
is not so obvious. $ LED out and 3 low o/p corresponding to 
3.13V over the batteries with no load instead of 4.5V, no idea 
what voltage would show dropping out or dimming of  first 
LEDs and would vary with make etc 

New bike chain on old cogs.
Slack part of chain riding up over the chain wheel and slipping. 
Try holding back the derailleur arm with some stout 
bungey cord upwards and rearwards to rear carrier and keeping 
in place with a couple of cable ties. If extra tension 
on the lowermost part of the chain stops the slippage, 
keep the bungey there for a few weeks until all gets bedded in.

Tyre pressure indication , without using a pump and gauge.
I'm fine with finger pressure across tyre sidewalls 
if there is definitely a puncture but what about 
slow punctures. Is the tyre pressure just a bit less 
than it was a week ago? - I never can tell.
Bicycle bottom bracket C spanner and a 10Kg spring 
gauge. Hook the C over the tyre so the protruding nib 
engages with the middle of the side of the tyre. 
Connect the hook of the spring gauge to the other end of 
spanner and pull the nib into the tyre.
The spring reading will rise gradually to some point 
when the curve of the C hits the tyre and the force 
goes up sharply. Note the force just prior to this 
large increase.

Poor man's "puncture-proof" tyres
Tread squirm I now know to be due to insufficient wall thickness to the
tyre, it never did look right, in hindsight.
We're plagued locally by small bits of spiral stainless steel swarf on the
roads,  unknown origin (anti-pushbiker working at an engineering works ?).
Before spending out on padded tread tyres I tried an old 27x1 1/4 inch tyre
inside a 700x38 tyre that squirms,
Knifing off the rim steel bands first, set the knife at an agle to give the inner cut 
a chamfer and so a feather edge to the cut threads (so unsupported by bulk material and so won't dig 
into the inner-tube) and go with the thread orientation, sand down with sandpaper 
to lessen the chance of  the serrated cut threads  will abraid and then puncture the inner tube. 
No squirming now , how long before a
swarf spiral screws its way through 2 tyre thickness ? experiment in
progress (2 months puncture-free as of Jan 2013).
Even so the cuts of the inside tyre chafed against the inner tube and punctured 
eventually. 
Mark 2 - reinforced garden hose as liner instead.
For 700x38 guessed an oversize length of hose of 2.17m . Joined with a 3 inch length 
of hotmelt glue stick heated and squashed in a vice. Cut to size to enter the flattened ends 
of the hose. 2 holes either side to take soldering iron and hotmelt string to fix in place and 
hotmelt at the joint face. A few more holes on the outer surface to let air out. 
Initially just a simple join to place in the tyre. 
Mark 2 lines either side of the kink and measure between them and again when removed and straightened, came to 5.5cm 
differnce. So broke the join and cut off 5.5cm so length about 2.12m and redid the join properly. 
This time serioussly heat the end sections and squash in a vice. Then heat but less so 
vice width lengths and squash i na vice repeated around the liner to flatten the whole circumference. 
Cover the join with cloth tape as added fixing and reduce possibiliuty of chafing. 
Arrange the join to be away from the valve stem of the innertube. Over the months 
will guage whether the liner twists/migrates from the intended puncture-prone area 
of the tyre and whether 2.12m is the right length. Decided the tyre needed replacing , not because of being worn down 
but lack of any strength in the wall section - perhaps from being wheeled some distance with a flat tyre. 
Got a puncture from rubbing of the wall lining of the tyre against the inner tube, eventually abrading through. 
Probably the perceived failing previously with the doubled up tyre, rather than the added edge doing the cutting. 
Experiment put on hold for a while as running in the new tyre with no doubling up as this is a 
700x35 and seemingly too tight to comfortabley take in hose band , which seems to fit ok, no 
failure of the joint anyway. Note: next time don't tighten the glued join area 
so tight in the vice as it protrudes sideways more than I expected the inner tube to 
compress the remaining section of hose, so a noticeable bump in rotation and use. 
Have kept the prepared 27x1 1/4 tyre and will retry this 
on the first puncture with the new tryre firstly.
A 26x2.25 inner tube will stretch to 700 rim, half inflate and stretch overnight over 
a plank or Dexion about 1.2m long with added padding on the ends. 
Perhaps keeping new tubes inflated , off any bike rim, for a few weeks may stretch the rubber a bit.
Next version , some cheap plastic dribble garden hose, already fairly flat, holes don't matter, 
feed some kevlar rope or ordinary but squashable rope of some sort through the centre and glue the return join. 
Start with a rod , tied to some cord and then that glued to the rope or rolled up kevlar woven cloth,
 to pull through with some talc. 
To cut kevlar woven cloth , wrap into a roll, cover with cloth tape and cut through the tape 
with a sharp razor blade. Keep the tape around it , to push into the core of the dribble hose. Push the kevlar into both 
ends with  some dowel and cut a suitable length , taped over, to make up the missing eithe r
side of the hose join.
Bend the hose in the sense that goes with the curvature inside the tyre, as the sort I used had a useful "set" to it. 
Now to see if the simple plastic hose breaks up in road use. The edges ruckled up and instead of flattening out with the tube 
pressure, cut into the inner tube. So cut off these edges to avoid the ruckling. But after 30 miles of chaffing inside the tyre 
th edribbler plaxtic split in a number of places and the cut edges chaffed into the inner tube. 
Next attempt will be plain orange rubber hose, 14 mm diameter and 2mm wall thickness with the rolled 
up wven kevlar cloth pulled through.
The innertube gets trapped in a line between the rubber tube and 
the tyre, eventually chafing and puncturing.
Abondoned the rubber tube for heatshrink tube covering to the kevlar. 
Measured 2.12m but this one shrank 0.07m but was aware of that possibility and had pre-covered with a .2m bit of heatshrink, and moved it around while shrinking the main run over the kevlar, that itself 
joined as a simple butt joint and squashed while warm still. 
For cutting the kevlar , flat, wrap tape around and then razor through ta[pe and kevlar.

Bike wheel squeel
One very high pitched squeel per rev of the rear wheel. Previously hearing this ,was a prelude yo 
the rear axle snapping due to being too tight. This time moving the break pads outwards on one side, cycling , 
then stopping and pulling then repeating pulling the other way meant the noise stopped for the duration , with one way anyway. 
Due to accumulation of aluminium dust in the brake pad material and touching the rim at one spot per rev 
with slight rim bend. Removed them, scraped back and reseated 
on opposite sides

Cycling in the pitch black night
Being a city dweller I was not aware how dark the countryside can get on a
moonless night.
Despite cycling along the combination footpath/cycle path of a main road,
A35 in Hampshire. Between Lyndhurst and Ashurst of the New Forest , you come to  a
depression between 2 slight ridges, there is no extraneous light whatever for
a few minutes periods without any car headlights. Stopped to admire the
heavens.
But how to cycle safely in that situation? especially the chance of stray
bramble branches at eye height, motor cycle goggles ? Another lamp on the
handlebars pointing up to "illuminate"
space 10 foot ahead of you and at eye-height?
I thought the side spill of bicycle front lamps was for car drivers joining
a road from the side have more of a chance of spotting you. But also this
side spill illuminates the white line along the road edge and so you can
keep that distance/angle constant as well as the path ahead illuminated.
Croupier eye-shade type thing to reduce the glare of full-beam car
headlights coming towards you? and of course flourescent and
reflective-striped clothing as drivers will not dip
their beams if they do not notice you (only about half dipped even then)
Next time baseball cap flap,  old motor-cycle goggles against brambles, a second lamp pointing upwards 
from the handlebar to space about 10 foof in front at eyelevel, some glass bead 
reflective strip fixed to an 8inch circle plate fixed to the front stem may 
make car-drivers think an oncoming motorcycle and would dip for them but not a push-bike.

Schrader and Presta bike valves
If you end up with both types of innertube.
That is Schrader (car type) and Presta (captive 
lock down knurled nut) and don't want to 
cary around 2 pumps.
Assuming you have a Presta type pump then rob the 
attachement end off a car tyre pump and a Presta 
valve from an old inner tube. Hack saw off the flared 
end of the brass, release the captive nut. Cover the thread with PTFE tape  
and turn/push in half and half two pieces 
of reinforced polythene tube or similar to make 
a non return valve. Fit half a Prestra type adapter 
to one piece of tube and the car pump piece to 
the other. Cover each joint with a wrap around 
type Jubilee clip (worm drive hose clip ), not the type that leaves a 
gap under the screw. For the opposite 
ie a car type footpump then cut the presta end 
off a non-cloth covered polythene tube 
part of a hand pump and push into 
the car type connector, it may hold well 
enough when the groipping lever is rotated.

Snot filled bicycle inner tubes - whats the secret ?
I can see part of it is pumping up after puncture and riding or at least
upturning bike and rotating the wheel to spin the snot around to replace
leakage over puncture hole.
What other tips ? and when do you concede defeat (re-opening
puncture/deflation) and
know there will never be a reliable reseal ?
One rule of thumb from recent experience.
If you can hear air coming through the puncture , without having to put your
ear near any part of the tyre, then it will not form a permanent seal.
Next problem, how to avoid the snot from interfering with patching before
re-use. For puncture repair (useful for normal tubes also) 
use a cylindrical cintride burr in a Dremmel to abraid 
down the area around the hole. Whith hole uppermost, slightly stretch over a finger 
and any oozing snot will boil off, then rubber solution.

Checking for a slow "puncture" after repairing a puncture. 
Partially fill the tube with air, lay over a set of kitchen scales and puch down with 
the blunt end of a biro and note on the tube the Kg monitored before pen hits the pan.
Try agian in a week or 2 time.

Leaking Presta type screw down valve
Brand new but unused for a couple of years and 
the central plunger was seized outwards, eventually 
freeing this spindle , the seal must have broken or perished 
inside.
Cut an inch piece of hot-melt glue stick (just because it 
is deformable). Drilled a hole most way through axially 
with a 3/16 drill. Force the stick over the valve whilst 
"screwing" on and compress to the metal valve barrel 
with a small (fully wrap-around ) jubilee/hose clip

Reinforced (more a matter of  moving the inner tube away from the tyre) tyre to 
reduce the number of punctures. 
With wire brush in a drill abraid the inner central surface of the tyre. 
Mark 2 inch lines , cut thin discs from a hotmelt glue stick. With an old soldering 
iron melt a disc into the tyre at each mark. Kevlar mesh or some other mesh that will take high temp about 
3/4 wide , multi  layered , remelt the discs into the kevlar.
When you do get a puncture, a more rare event, the kevlar band will probably be still in place but unfixed from thr tyre. 
To reuse the band just restick with any old general purpose adhesive, enough adhesion to be able 
to introduce the inner tube into the tyre without dislodging the band. The band retains its curvature 
and if reintroduced the right way up sems to stay in place despite the glueing to the tyre failing at some point.

Winter time cycle helmet use
Cut a piece of bubble wrap to fit inside to 
cover the vent holes, rather than trying to squash 
a titfer between skull and rimband.

Derailleur block removing tool
Proper 12 splined/fluted removal tool one size 23.2 mm between protrusions 
and 21.6 between flutes.
Other size , corresponding measurements are 22.6 and 21mm
For this one starting with a 1/2 inch BSW bolt for the larger size. 
Ground down on a bench grinder until 20.5mm across flats  of the bolt head, 
22.8mm across 'points' which were slightly ground back to clear.
Packed out the shank of the bolt with some washers to fill up 
the recess in the block to localise better and screwed on nut 
tightly. Hacksawed off the remaining thread except 2 threads and well hammered the 
end of the bolt into the  nut. Push bolt into block recesss so 
6 of the 12 flutes are engaged and apply socket spanner to the nut 
handle extended with tube to about wheel rim radius for enough foot-pounds torque.

Replacing a pedal that will not stay screwed into the crank because 
the aluminium thread  is stripped. 
Removed pedal and took apart. 
Incidently 11 off 4mm ball bearings each end of this pedal.
With bench grinder grind down the bulk of the metal where the pedal 
spanner goes just leaving enough for a thin pedal spanner for purchase 
and grind down to a diameter a bit less than the thread diameter.
Cut back part of the innermost end of the pedal to clear the crank 
to give pedal spanner access. Screw in so that unused innermost section 
of aluminium thread is engaged and because this one happened 
to be right hand pedal screwed a small olive coloured nut off a small 
military connector on the protruding innermost thread end. 
For left side pedal presumably swage part of protruding thread 
with a centre/pin punch to lock in place
Pedal is a half inch closer to centre but not noticable in use. 

Cheapo bike pedals are weak at the plastic surrounding the bearings, they soon 
break there. 
Before use swathe hotmelt glue copiously around the bearing housings inside 
and out , rotating while cooling off.

Bike chain link removal / remaking
Start the pin on a link moving with a link removing tool. 
Knock through with a pin punch.
Reassembly check for right length of chain around the cogs 
but before linking back remove tension by taking off the chainwheel.
Squash the pin just the thickness of the link with parallel jaw 
pliers or engineer's clamp. Align both ends and pust home flush 
with opposite side. Then lightly hammer until evenly protruding.
Hammer each side in turn with a large metal block on the other side.
File a notch on the link for future reference.
For Sigma/ Taya "tool less" chain link that refuses to slide 
into its cup with human hand/finger force. Find 2 engineer's cramps.
Bend the closing link a bit, place over one pin 
then a small washer to pad out and then a cramp across. 
Then with a pin punch through the remaining hole in the link 
lever against a nut or something , laying against the chain. 
When shifted into place , remove cramp, twist the link to 
line up over the other pin. Refix the cramp .
Squash the link over. Likewise with washer, squash the remaining link 
but not too tight as not in the right position yet.
Using the cramps as handles, bend the chain to let the 
remaining pin drop in position. Tighten the secoind cramp fully 
and bend the chain the other way to force that end home in the slot.
Lay the cramps as near as you can get , along the chain , 
not across it.
Probably something wrong with the links, in a pack marked for 
5 or 6 gear block , for a 5 cog block. But eventually a new 
chain required. Both chains measured 7.4mm across any pin. 
The new link pins measured 7.8mm and the troublesome/tight one measured 
8mm, not 7.6 or 7.7mm which I could have expected

Another bike tip.
Useless shaft connecting cheapo rearview mirror to handlebar.
Don't know what the material property is but when twisted or 
bent into correct position it would relax/creep out of alignment.
Consisted of 2 stout wires buried in molded plastic 
which would not keep set position.
From a long wedge of wood, about 5 degree,left rough cut, saw 
some inch long pieces and drill 
holes in the middle of each section. Removed this plastic 
spine and made a loop of bungie through the wedge bits 
and around a screw retainer in the mirror end. Pulled 
tight and knotted inside the mount around a bolt in 
that area. Pack out with holed rubber washers to 
tension up or cover with bands cut from a motorcycle 
inner tube. Rotate the wedged bits individually to get the right angle and 
rotate the mirror for the other angle. If knocked then 
no damage and may even flip back into correct position.
A better result is obtain a convex mirrror from 
car bits "blind spot" mirror. Hacksaw off the mount 
leaving the mirror secured in a rim of plastic 
and hot-melt glue to the above frame after removing 
the flat mirror. The ideal mirror ,Boots the chemist do 
convex mirrors for rear view mirror of cars. 
Condensing mirror as flat is too directional, somewhere 
between 130 and 170mm radius of curvature, spherical. 
Theirs is surface 'silvered' and curvature is about right compromise between 
viewing coverage and size of approaching objects at the critical distance behind. 
Something a bit flatter maybe better.
Stainless steel oval shaped bowl of large spoon / small ladle make excellent 
convex tive, will not break in the rough and tumble of bike parking. 
Before cutting off the handle , bend in towards the concave bowl, hammer down the 
bend a bit to make a good gluing point around and to the mounting bracket piece.
Best so far is 100mm "All ride" "for outside truck mirrors" blindspot mirror. 
Curvature 7.5mm dome over 90 mm diameter

Binatone answer machine , model 3900 from 1981
Not responding , no outgoing message
Probably due to distorted drive band on OGM 
deck, deformed/perished? into a "V" at one point 
so if stopped at that point 
probably slipped. Changed all bands, cleaned relay 
and manual function change switch contacts.
2 line phone line only

Bird Scarer
Scenario - soon after dawn every morning starlings 
sqabbling and clog-dancing about the gutter and eaves - 
an infernal racket, enough to wake the dead.
Found a pocket transistor radio and a small speaker.
Wired the speaker with long wires to a 3.5mm 
earphone jack. Put a push switch in line with the 
battery. Placed the speaker in the loft, directed 
to the eaves and tuned the radio off station on the 
medium wave to give a nice hiss.
Starlings promptly disappeared , telling their 
mates "here be dragons" and found somewhere else to 
stomp. If they do manage to find a gap at the eaves to break-in. Collect 
some aluminium pie tins / kitchen foil and as awkward for humans to get to, 
push into the hole with a broom handle.

Bog flush system - retro-fitted 2 level.
After putting the bags of water in the cistern to reduce the amount 
of flushing water. Then need an over-ride to let in more water 
to flush 'big dumps'.
Seemed a neat idea for making a 2-level flush from an old simple flush
mechanism.
Pass a brass rod through the cuistern lid , located onto the ball of the
float valve.
Then add a weight to the brass to depress the float more, for more water,
until the excess weight is balanced off. Remove the weight for default cheap-skate
flush.
First requirement as a porcelain/ earthnware cistern ,  an 1/8 inch or so 
hole in the porcelain of the bog cistern.
I've used a tile-hole cutter drill-bit on tiles before with no problems.
But on cistern porcelain got through the glaze ok but no further in than
about 1/8 inch deep.
 I've not tried sharpening as it doesn't seem blunt and I've tried oil,
then, water as cutting medium but no further in. 
I made a dam from blue-tac and made a crude drill bit from the shank of an
old HSS drill bit.
Grinding two flats on the shank end to make a sort of screwdriver blade.
Repeated sharpening 3 or 4 times.
With this got down to about 1/4 inch but then got concerned about breakout
on the inside.
This cover is hollow on the edges so presumably made by all angle rotation
of slip/paste
in a mould. I doubt if the central area is hollow though.
Tried firstly finding the internal matching point by putting some bits of
magnet
in the hole and tracing with iron filings but didn't work convincingly.
Then thought I'd try a Megger and presumably because of the dam
of water it gave a resistance trace so could find minimum position.
Could even use a 30 Meg ohm DVM as order 10 to 20 Meg ohms.
Found a small rod magnet and waving that about the outside hole gave
a very clear indication in the iron fillings on the inside.
With successively smaller "lollypop" grind stones in a hand drill
gradually zeroed in from the inside. Thickness about 10mm.
A tennis ball or 2 (if dislodged won't smash things) ,made a small hole and a cut
into it to load inside with
bits of lead. Glued a locator/protector to the ball valve to take the end of
the bit of brazing rod, must be long enough so is still located when 
bottomed out and internal hole is conical so does not bind with 
changing angle of the ball valve arm.
Cut a slot in a wooden wedge and for a refinement added
a 'crapometer' scale to the top surface of the wedge. Now just a
matter of working out a  self return mechanism to the wedge to take it back
to the minimum flush setting.

Bog blockage
Flush water stops flushing away immediately, takes a 
while to drop to normal trap level. Or 
sometimes the water in the bottom of the bowl 
disappears. Alright with just basin emptying , 
showers etc but if someone releases a bath 
of water or heavy rain downpour feeds into 
the system then the manhole overflows. 
Probably a blockage at the outlet 
, downstream , side of the first inspection 
manhole. The manhole is filling and the waste pipe 
is backing up to the bog so it can act as a syphon and draw water 
out of the trap. Manhole full of crud. First make sure 
you have a way of handling overflow of this crud 
on the downhill surface level of this manhole.
Drop a garden hose down through the crud angled into 
the anticipated direction of the outflow 
pipe. Push down as far as will go and only then 
turn on the water supply. Whether this clears the 
blockage or not clean off the end of this pipe 
before turning off the water supply to avoid 
back syphonage. If not cleared then a more major problem 
requiring rodding or digging etc.

Breville SHM2 kitchen mixer, probably 2008
Nothing working , neither motor, 1Meg across mains "on or off". No obvious
water ingress, nasty smells, or burning. 24 segment armature, .2mm wire , 25
to 27 ohm across brushes for 1 rev.
Beater motor opened up, bowl motor not seen. A thin multistrand wire with
yellow sleeving , loose inside with no obvious tag remnants to the motor.
The stator has yellow high temp tape around it and picking off part of the
last turn there is a broken wire with a lot of copper carbonate corrossion.
But this wire is .15mm which seems small for a presumed 380/2 W motor , 380W
m/c total. Some sort of sense wire ? and without it the , unseen, presumed
triac control inside the handle is disabled. I find it difficult to believe
.15mm wire would be actively in a mains motor stator even if it is for the
slowest setting. 8 exposed magnet wire ends around this stator of .4, .2 and
.15 mm diameters if the broken one is included. Even if repaired how to
avoid more water/condensation damage on such fine wire ?
I think I've found where the yellow wire is broken from, it is the neutral
from the mains and is twisted to a grey wire before being soldered to a tag.
Desoldering it then it become obvious that what looked like the end of the
grey wire is the remnant multistrands of the yellow.. I'm only in delayed
contact with the owner. I suspect this wire broke on me removing the motor,
the 1M over the mains seems to be the R of a mains RC filter. There is 10
wire ends to the stator, down to .1mm which marries up to the remnant on a
tag. A .4 mm wire is soldered internally , under the yellow tape to a
probably .15mm wire that then presumably carries on to a tag with a remnant
.15 mm wire on it. Someone's idea of a fuse ? I've looked on one side of
this .4mm soldered end, under x30 and can see no sign of a break, will try
turning it to view the other side. I suspect these 5 stator wires in
parallel/series give the hi/low + boost and 1 to 5 speed ranges and no triac
control. Elsewise joining .4 to .15mm wire makes no sense. I suspect the
owner lost the .1mm low speed range some time back and then sometime the
.15mm wire broke and then  the neutral connection .
I would have expected to only see .1mm wire in a mains clock motor not a
torquey motor.
The motor at the rotor pole pieces, so about 18mm radius, requires about 100
gram to turn, Compared to drill motors this seems a bit tight. I've not
removed the nylon gears yet to check but a bit of  turning resistance might
have led to an overload of motor current
Got it running on positions 2 to 5 low to full speed with  right sort of
power draw off the mains , hi/lo works and boost works all up to full mains
but pos 1 has problems. I used a variac of course initially and pos 1 was
going in reverse at 30 percent mains, at full tilt as though on 5. At 50
percent mains for half a second, no motion, nasty buzz and mains draw of
over 1 amp. Where to go from here , I assume pos 1 is not reverse or it
would be marked R, what have I miswired ? Time to delve into the handle and
its switches
Getting inside the handle it all became obvious once you know which is the
low current, low speed lead when they are all the same size multistrand
gauge of wire going into the handle . Inside just a simple 1 to 6 pole sw
and 2x 2 position slide sw, then 2 off x2 yellow blocks, 2 blue disc ceramic
over the commutator and no electronics at all.
Looks as though this is how it failed. Not made for mixing thick mixtures at
low speed as .1mm wire for the last run of that 1 setting and over time the
wire must have brittalised+corroded from excess load current and failed at
one end where the loose tails can vibrate, break and blow out through the
housing. Continued being used but without speed 1 and at some point the
second end must have broken away and blown out, leaving just 2 tiny remnant
bits at the solder points, easily overlooked, and other break ends under the
bulk of windings , so unseen. Then the neutral connection failed and no use
after that. Will try a diode in the 1 position linked to the 2 winding
motor HD 4S/40A
White bevel gear is mains cable side. The brush on that side binding a bit compared to 
the other side. Filed down a bit with round file and tightened the torsion spring a bit 
to relieve force on th ebrush. Was about 100gm to turn the stator at a pole piece 
,down now to 50gm
Sw section , remove white plastic cover, undo 2 sc and remove eject lever , mains end shift 
the ferrite barrel and unscrew mains outlet to other motor
6 pos sw , arc is live 
1 blue, 2 bk, 3 w , 4 gy, 5 Y
Swap the doouble sleeeved wire to the brush tag and fine wire 
Motor comes apart easily and space to add turns over one side of stator, over some kaptan tape and then 
overall covering of tape
Added 70 turns of wire , should have been .15mm but used ,25mm 
Surveying a roof that cannot be viewed with binoculars from the ground 
and no other viewpoint available. So about 5R not presumably 9R of original
Use a digital camera, assuming 2 storey house. A compact camera, that not too 
great a loss if damaged, must have 10 second delay shutter timer
2 battens about 10 foot x 3/4 x 1/2 inch. Join togeter with a pair of  cable ties, 
for a bit of adjustment. A bolt through and near one end with 2 short stubs of the batten 
either side, with a nut, to make a sort of  Y shape. So camera can have wrist strap 
tied to that and also some rubber bands tying body of camera to a variable angle pivoted mount. 
Set in timer mode, press shutter and allow 6 seconds to raise the pole through 90 degrees and 
above roof level, leaving 4 second to rest against the gutter before taking photo. 
Originally thought camera shake would still be a problem , so tried at night, but flash output is 
too weak on compacts for othe rthan a bit of fill-in illumination.
Over mains lead in Hi
pos 1 72.3 (should be about 77R) 
2 68.2
3, 59.3
4, 51.2
5,43.1
42 to 43R in Boost 
Bevel gears short cylinder section to beater eject spigot
2 long sc holds bridge piece over motor
Put 2x 1N4007 in 1 line but maybe diode under heatshrink covering of one of the handle sw
With 226V mains and non boost, for  Lo and then Hi, measured over the commutator
1, 93V ac, ?
2, 95V, 199V
3, 101, 203
4 , 104, 203
5, 106, 214

Casio watch, WR50M, wave ceptor
Presumably to save battery use, radio checked only 
daily or at most twice a day.

Casio FX 451 calculator from 30 years ago
Owner would like it repairing,if at all possible, but how to get inside the plastic wallet without damaging it?
Right hand one of these 2
http://www.casio-calculator.com/Museum/Advertisement/pict%20ads/FX-115_FX-451_Big.jpg 
I had tried a probe in that area, will have to try some low-heat hot-air , as it did not want to cleave apart 
I'm amazed the plastic has not failed at the hinge, with about daily opening and closing for 30 years, its not gone rigid or split 
I'd misinterpreted how it was assembled. More like standard TV zapper but with the wallet sandwiched between the 2 parts of the hard plastic casing 

Freeview digital tuner, loss of a channel, due 
to some reclassification of channels at the transmitter 
or poor reception leading to "dialog box" 
saying "no signal" -retune , and you do so 
when reception is bad.
Assuming generally enough signal strength 
by checking on the "manual" tuning option 
for the 6 or so digital channels for your area. 
Choose a time of day/weather conditions that give 
best reception. In my case worst is when sun is low 
and nearing in-line the the rear of the Yagi.
Switch off the box at the mains
Disconnect the aerial lead.
Power up and go through the installation process to clear 
all contents of the stations.
reconnect the aerial
power on
Redo the installation process.

Broken plastic lever inside syphonic cistern.
That connects square shaft of the handle to copper 
"S" hook that lifts the syphoning piston.
Rusting of a steel bolt had weakened 
the wrap around the square shaft so it sheared there.
Find the stoutest of cable ties, and 
tie tightly around the re-assembled lever.
Push bits of wedge from traditional sprung 
clothes pegs into the mid sides until you can't 
push any more in. Wrap small ties around 
the ends so the main tie does not fall off 
and envelop in hot melt glue to bind all 
together. When back on the shaft locate in place 
with a non-ferous washer each side and 
stop movement with another small  cable tie each side.
Incidently for poor flush function , this is the 
way to make it work. If this fails then 
replacement or something probably due to excess 
water going up past the plunger rod rather than 
up over the top of the syphon tube. Hold the handle at 
its uppermost position for 2 seconds to depress 
the plunger into the syphon chamber then pull 
the handle down sharply and hold there until 
syphonic action is definitely started. 
After that, getting inside the cistern and bending the 
float arm so the water level stops at a higher 
level but below over-flow level of coarse.
Also relevant , if you want to save water consumption 
by placing minigrip polythene bags of water in the cistern 
then fair enough but don't bend the float arm to reduce the 
height of water in the cistern as its the height, 
not the volume, that controls the 
syphoning action. If the lever occassionaly fails to 
return to the normal position and the cistern-full 
level is too high you can end up with a continuous 
stream of water flowing into the pan. The critical 
level is no higher than the "weir" of the 
inverted U at the top of the syphon and of 
course lower than the overflow outlet.

Checking the run/functioning of domestic sewer run.
Use blue dyed cistern loo block totally 
disolved in a basin of water and tip down 
a sink. Time from the start to seeing 
it a manhole. Some timing for a 1890s built 
sewer, slope not known. 1.5m vertical drop over 
1.5m horizontal through kitchen sink trap and 
narrow piping at various slopes and then 15m of sewer pipe run 
was 1 minute 50 seconds for a sewer with no problems.

Bosch GSR12 cordless drill
Intermittent non function
Two torx screws holding the motor to the gearbox had loosened 
and loaded the motor causing glazing of brushes and commutator.
To refix the loose screws the fibre reinforced end plate nearest the 
motor on a part twist comes away from the rest of the gearbox (not 
obvious from inspection).For anyone who has to reassemble the 
gearbox,the sequence of sun/planet gears is from motor to chuck-3 medium 
size cogs,3 smallest cogs ,4 largest cogs.The 2 steel dowel pins nearest 
the chuck lie parallel to the commutator axis for reverse rotational locking .

Bosch PBS 60 belt sander, 2002
Grating noise and burning smell.
The main bearing was seized and the outer bearing anulus was rotating 
and melting the plastic of the casing. No longer held in place because of 
melting the drive pinion disengaged from the spur wheel.
Owner must have been sanding something 
like formica giving fine plastic dust. Must have got into this double shrouded 
24x9x7 mm bearing and also with fibrous/damp material blocked the airway leading 
from belt to motor fan. Before pulling off the bearing 
with a gear puller, measure the exact distance from end of helical pinion 
back to this bearing as it sets the position of the armature. 
Before heating/freezing on new one, pack between fan and final bearing position 
with something of correct thickness, about 10mm.
Cover old bearing with some PTFE tape and place in the case half, 
that was not melted, due to outward forces and melting of the other half housing.
Place some epoxy in the melted section, push 2 halves of case together 
and hold together with rubber band until cured, leaving remade bearing housing.
Notes , no grease on the helical spur-wheel / helical pinion gearbox and 
resistance on 240V version between L & N was about 13 ohms, 
at least one of ther studs/holding nuts for the rubber belt pulleys are 
left hand thread.

Black & Decker BD163C drill
Hammer action engaged in drill posistion
Ball race worn into the cam ring that you rotate 
to select drill or hammer, so permanently engaged.
Comes apart easy enough, 2 short 
screws near the chuck, make sure the chuck bearing section 
has the flats positioned correctly to reposistion 
in the housing on reassembly, add/move around 
the grease before closing up
Remove the T/H lever and then cam ring and made up by cutting 
and grinding an anulus from 0.35mm tinplate 
30 and 22mm diameters , slightly larger than the 
cam ring . Clamp to the rear of the ring and push the 
tinplate into the recesses to make a crinkled washer 
and place under the ring.
Now the hammer action would only engage when 
pressing very hard, perhaps .25mm shim not .35mm 
but no trace of hammer action when disengaged which 
was the useage 90 percent of the time

Black and Decker GL320 strimmer
Intermittant stopping of motor a knock on the housing would start it again.
The brush housings are made of steel which had corroded.File back 
corrosion and emery paper  the sides of the brushes to allow free 
movement of the brushes.To gain acces to motor requires removal 
of the part circular cutter cover,undo the one underside screw (pack 
with grease on reassembly) releasing the plastic peripheral catch and 
rotating 1/4 of a turn.

Braun 5584/28 shaver.
Dropped on hard floor and ceased working.
A small bifurcated contact had sprung out of the burst case.
This was the main switch contact sheared off ,reset 
in with hot-melt glue string.Couldn't sensibly repair the broken 
anchor points of the cover but owner did not mind 
a ring of 3 interconnected small cable ties tightened external 
to the case

Braun Oral B electric toothbrush , 336 base marking
Sluggish motor
Looks 1.2V , ps 2.4V and motor runs far too fast. looks as though it was a
switch problem. Running  2 to 3 amps and start 3 to 5 amps. Switch is paired
up , to take current, pair of 1mm wide prism point contacts, one being
dirty. For same reason that powering the motor from 1.2V via a pair of
croc-ended leads drops far too much power.
It is surprisingly easy to remove the base "plug" 1/8 turn 
with a steel rule on edge, then dart tip to get inside
these to prize apart against the rubber o ring, , and no wires to break, so worth a bit of time to repair. 
Make an index mark to realign on assembly, 1/8 turn back to start. 
Interesting , for those with mechanical bents, double crank and rubber mechanism creates
the motion.
Initially checking charger, with DVM Fluke 77 and 1mH small choke 
measured 0.45V ac, 9 turns of wire around the location 
spigot gave 0.1V ac,  0.6V when inside and the coil disconnected 
and laid over the spigot, 
no account made for HF not 50Hz.
Monitoring 1.2V nicad 1.24V drops to 1.16V in use.
-ve terminal to charger coil end. Coil 7.5R.
Coil about 4x 22 turns. If disconnected but placed over the charger stump 
gives 0.9V to 2.6V ac on Fluke. 4148 and LED will light well 
placed across the coil (only)
coil, thin O ring, paxolin ring then conical spring.
One motor terminal just for mounting purposes.
Good wodge of silicone grease on the active end before 
fitting back in the casing. 
Again, worth repeating, make a frame to hold any electric 
toothbrush upside down , to dry off , before mounting back 
on charger. Or preferably make a sliding yoke mount 
under a shelf , with charger upsdide down, to 
avoid spittle going into the works. Just because a 
small condom like gaiter around the active end, so better than 
rotation through, still can leak goo.
Symptom of stopping then a knock will jar it back to 
running but eventually no amount of banging will fix it.
Take apart down to remove the gearbox section. Manually turn 
the drive pinion against the blockage, reverse direction. 
Dribble light oil down the spindle and re-assemble.
Failure where just stops and no amount of banging the housing will 
dislodge the switch. Taking apart it was a seized motor. Turn around by hand 
and power up by bench ps until running freely and add a ring of molybdenum 
grease around the bearing and spin up for some time before reassembling.
Poor running , not due to bad battery, and worn outlet "bearing" 
that takes the metal shaft for the brush. Probably misalignment 
of motor and outlet shaft. Clean any crud off the shaft , Sometimes 
bending the housing in use will make better temporarily or placing 
index finger behind the brush stem and pushing will improve a bit. 
The above probably indiucates corrossion of the paired motot contacts 
, just plain steel , that make with the staggered pair of stainless steel 
switch contacts. File off the corrossion, bend out the sw contacts a bit 
and reasssemble with some graphited grease. Make sure the motor is 
pushed battery-wards to make contacts and be in correct assembly posistion.
When the flimsey paired sw contacts give out and poor/intermittant partial contact. 
Run 2 thickish wires through the body to an external sw with enough wire 
to re-assemble. Hot melt glue over exit holes and glue switch on the outside. 
Double pole toggle sw with both poles coupled and rubber cover and grommet 
packing to seal from ingress.

BT SGW 09UK 04 wallwart ps for answer machine (not seen)
leads pulled out of the modem/telephone plug 
repaired as in tips files.
With the polarising clip upwards
R,Y,-,-,B,G
T-R DC, B-G AC

BMW E30 series , dashboard battery replacement , 1989 mold mark in plastic
AW128 
9 4401 314 2? on labels
motometer, 1984 on chip dates
panal label 1 381 858
service countdown board
replacement pair of nicads , right dimensions but strip terminals , not tags
Remove old. open pcb holes a bit for some pcb spade terminals, make sure enough of 1 tang 
is cut away so as not to foul any pcb track . 
Cut off 1 tang on each and place to avoid overpassing pcb trace and pushing the xtal. 
Cover xtal with heatshrink. Same with other battery. 
Only 1 neg terminal is connected at the pcb. Fit cell to dummy pad to allow a wire 
bridge to be in place for storage and then soldered in place when commissioned.
8 edge sc and one central to remove the blue panel
For antistatic precautions use the extened small end, beyond the blue conn, of the pcb for holding.
Similar but moulding date 1988
1 381 858
992647 196 42/90 on paper label, 2003 ? chip dates
2 Lithium Manganese Dioxide cells in parallel. ?
Well nearly , the 2 negatives joined and 2 epitaxial diodes (avoiding mutual
discharge possibility) from the positives commoned and then on to the
memory, is there some circuitwise reason? Both cells are from the same batch
, so not as though "all your eggs in one basket" circumvention.
Is the chemistry of this type of cell odd? 3V cells originally , could be 20
years, but removed from the pcb and out of circuit still 3V. Put 150K across
either cell and it drops in voltage to 2.9V or so compared to just DVM
loading. Remove and immediately recovers to 3V.
Tried 5K6 over for 12 hours , dropped to 2.6V , measured a few minutes ago,
removed the R and immediately recovered to 2.9V, I expect when I get back to
it , it will be back to 3V with just DVM load
I've only ever seen a single cell or if multiple ones, then in series. On
first confronting , much confusion. Realised they were tied together but not
realised in parallel.
Each one measured 3V , in turn, but put the DVM over the other 2 ends then
near enough 0V, scatching head.
Put DVM on resistance scale and measured a varying low resistance of 20 to
60 ohms , varying slowly like across a large C capacitor , but no large
capacitors present. The approximately 0 ohms between 2 nearly equal 3V cells
was being interpreted as low ohms.
When I get replacement cell/cells? (why spend out on 2 ?) I'll try the 5K6
over night and see what effect on a known good cell , or at least new from
the supplier. These cells were 1/2AA size Sanyo CR14250SE if that is
relevant, ie not the usual PC large button cells
One Lithium cell
As found out of circuit and (DVM) o/c 3.247V
add 5K6, drops to 3.23V
90 minutes on 3.092V
remove R plus 1min 3.105
+ 5min 3.112
+13 hour 3.152V
so still a mystery 
Both batteries are tanged and would require desoldering/soldering to replace
either. If designed to allow one failure then I'd expect at least for them
to be from different batches if not different suppliers, both same make and
batch number here
3 pin and bridging link designed in , to move to ON posistion to commission battery.
3.6uA through the bridging pins fo rhte old batery.
New batteries differnt pin footprint. Bend the 2 tags in to one another and the single 
tag bend axially inwards to compensate.
New 1/2AA Li, 33uA , as paralleled and .95Ah then at that rate 2x 3.25 years , presumably 
decreases over time but still retains memory until too low a level to sustain.
A third unit, mold mark 1989 and battery dates 1991
1 381 858
this one has a daughter board carrying the 2x 1/2AA cells which neds removing 
to get to the solder . 7 pins to that pcb, one pin has a trace on the top side 
of the board that will lift on removing., so beware.
Remove the Xtal glue first. Desolder the 3 pin end first then the 4 pin end with the isolated 
pin with top trace. Clean/grind/realign pins before resoldering that pcb, cells changed as before.
Inside the housing is a "CHECK" lamp stencil that will drop out when the white plastic 
lock down widgit is removed to get to the main pcb.
35.7uA initial current draw

Cambridge Audio M1+, learning remote control
plectrum at Tx led end then down a side, directing plectrum to screen side.
8MHz 2 section, 3 pin resonator and 2 off "watch" crystals

Cat Eye Halogen Hyper bike lamp
No light output
Nothing to do with the 555 for half brightness 
setting.Due to rainwater ingress corroding one 
of the contacts (not obvious inside plastic battery 
housing) that connect the two outer batteries together.

CLI Add on for caller line indicator
Starting with a Binatone Clip 100 Caller Line Indicator
I wished to add a home-brew to audibly indicate when the
caller has "Withheld" his number and the "Unavailable" situation
so i don't even have to break away from whatever i'm doing to view the
display let alone lift the receiver for more junk.
Unavailable - usually foreign callers .
That is using the BT FSK toneburst that precedes the
fiirst ring pulses. These units decode the info and display
the caller's telephone number (if not disabled).
I now know I'm being plagued by random tele-sales
calls generated by computer. That is bastard systems dial
out multi-lines by computer and if anyone picks-up the receiver
the system switches to a sub-'human'  for the sales-call.
If these bastards are all tied-up doing their speal then the line
goes dead when i pick it up. A growing problem in the UK
and presumably elsewhere as well.
I know i will lose a few genuine UK callers ,who for
whatever reason have disabled the ident of their phone ,but I consider
retaining my sanity of more importance. I've taken a
spare one of these CLI units apart and there are 36 finger
contacts to the multiplexed LCD display - lower row of 14 large digits
,an upper row of smaller digits for time,incrementing count ,date
and other annotations.
For display -WITHHELD-  a uniquely identifying sitiuation is
3rd digit central horiz. bar present and
4th digit absence of top horiz. bar of the alphanumeric letter W
For display -UNAVAILABLE-
1st digit present central horiz. bar is unique
The microcontroller is epoxied over so inaccessible.
Driving the LCD from an af generator about 80Hz and
about 3V pk-pk square wave. Too high a voltage and
extra segments light, too high f and too feint and
too low f then flickers. Also for determination the lines 29 to 36
on the pcb show a different DVM "diode test" value ,
back to the micro ,to
ground, compared to the 1 to 28 lines (LCD disconnected).
The LCD has 8 back-planes,
(numbering on pcb) lines 29 to 36.
33 to 36 relate to the (9 and 2 half) small digits and legends
29 to 32 the 14 large digits
For first 3 large digits and segments a to g (a at top ,then
clockwise) and an extra
double vertical segment (h) giving central segment of W.
( The double segment 5h is angled to give the right hand V
segment of unaVailable and I of wIthheld as not full alphanumeric dispaly  )
Control 'matrix' (for just lines 1 to 6 and 29 to 32 and digits 1 to 3)
**/1 ,2, 3, 4, 5, 6,
29/1d,1c,2d,2c,3d,3c
30/1e,1h,2e,2h,3e,3h
31/1b,1g,2b,2g,3b,3g
32/1f,1a,2f,2a,3f,3a
lines 7 to 28 for remaining digits 4 to 14
For the UK anyway (digits 1and 2 blank) digit 3 only shows 0 for first digit
of disclosed
numbers so segment 3g off , 3g on only for the first - of "-WITHHELD-" and
first 2 digits blank.
the 1g segment is always off except for the first - of "-UNAVAILABLE-"
As far as i can readup for multiplexed LCDs segments only 'light'
when the timed stepwise voltages between BP and segment
exceed some threshold
followed by the reverse phase of this voltage.Then relying on
persistence to maintain till the next cycle if still driven.
For all other smaller differences in drive voltages
they stay unlit. To avoid doing timing circuits would it be possible
to construct simple analogue differential amplifier
monitoring lines 31 and 2 for
'unavailable' and 31 and 6 for 'withheld'.?
Just one phase sense ,say BP greater than segment by 2.2V or whatever
(set on test),
and ignore the the reverse phase which is only there to keep
the liquid crystal happy, as far as i know.
Integrated outputs each gating one of 2 tones or patterns on a sounder,
heard between the rings of the phone.
On second thoughts i will choose 4h (pcb lines 30 and 8 )  as
the identifier of the vertical W segment
of WITHHELD (AND the 5h 'I' of 'withheld' ) ,
and 5h ( pcb lines 30 and 10) V of unaVailable
as i seem to remember,very rarely, some displayed
long mobile phone numbers use all 14 digits for the
number of the phone so a 2,3,4,5,6,8 or 9 there would
falsely register as withheld or unavailable.
Contrast is achieved by drive voltage, for 4V 
battery supply
Contrast level 8 extreme output levels 0 to 4V
level 4 ,levels 1 to 4V
level 1,levels 1.6V to 4V
	Eventually made just a cut down version.
Just decoded lines 10 and 30 to give a buzz for 
unavailable and withheld situations only.
Both lines and battery connections to an external 
box. Single rail quad op-amp, 10 and 30 lines to 2 window 
comparators, integrator and piezo driver from Hex buffer pack. 
The level shift pots may be problematic with 
battery voltage drop.

Binatone Clip 100 CLI unit
Just seconds incrimenting at top of the display after changing battery . 
Check there is standing DC from the phone line getting to the unit

Binatone Clip 100 CLI unit
Dead display and functions, just a very feint red 
glow for the LED
Crystal for clock and micro clock.
One of those tiny barrel watch-size ones. Measured 13 ohms across the pins
before and after desoldering. Could not resist grinding the end off to have
a butchers'. Heat from grinding destroyed whatever ohmic path there was.
I've never looked inside one before. Tuning fork type form with 4 complex
tapering tracks, silver looking, on each face, under a x30 microscope.
Presumably silver migration/silver mica cap disease, only a few atoms
bridging a 100 micron gap between tracks to cause failure.
Previously I've come across ceramic resonator and filter failure due to
ohmic , presumed Ag migration .
The closure end with the wires, is the barrel swaged over a tiny paxolin
disc exactly like can type electrolytic capacitor.
Certainly not the simple slab with simple silvering on each side. As the
open ends of the tuning fork look ground, on a 30x ,then perhaps literally a
tuning fork , actively tuned to frequency, and the odd trace patterning is
for modulation of capacitance. I don't suppose a 13 ohm build up of Ag over
100 micron gap would be observable, as stable at 13R via soldering/movement
doubtful it was some mechanical breakage/movement.
My 30x microscope+camera can only capture about 1mm diameter
http://home.graffiti.net/diverse:graffiti.net/quartz.jpg
overal quartz sliver is 6.5x1.5x0.3mm
White is the silvering with some illumination flare, some connected to one
pin and some connected to the other pin, similar but not the same on the
other side. G is the area of quartz ground down end and face, a bit ,
compared to the lower finger of the "tuning fork".
Area near the notch , dimension between + and + is 0.75mm , half the width.
So minimum gap between silverings about 60 micron.
Width of notch about 0.25mm
There is also silvering along some of the 0.3mm edges, so very complicated
silvering geometries
To increase contrast: long press "call back"/short press "call back" / up
other functions /repeated call back press

CFL problem. Perhaps to save money on making them or change of standards perhaps , absolute minimum 
of  pips on the bayonet contact , to make contact with sprung loaded contacts 
i nthe socket. Combined with very high switch on current rush , they fail to light. 
Adda small dome of solder to each contact on the lamp to make more reliable contact.

Cyber Home ADL5 DVD player
or model AD-L528, 2 labels
from cold , a part second, partial feint display on the fluorescent, then
nothing.
All voltages agree with legends of 3.3,5,12,-20V dc and 4.4V ac to the
display. Standby voltage of 2.1V on switching power on.
RAT5V has 5V to the display/front controls board
with a PT6311 but no bus signals to it from the main board.
Main board main chip has a bonded heatsink over it,
Winbond 130 WG , CS4955 etc, but no activity on the board.
About 60 electrolytics and no IC protectors spied and likes of basic LM1458
have correct DC.
The heatsink will twist off the main chip quite easily.
Crystal CS98010CMEP
all electros check out
27MHz oscillation at the crystal oscillator and 5V is passed through the
gatekeeper KIA70 31AP and 3.3V rail is continuous to the Crystal chip
Standard linearised graphic logo of Crystal on the main chip
Tried disconnecting the deck. The owner seemed cagey , when I
asked about any precepitatory events. 
I get the impression it is possible to download software fudges to disable
regionalisation etc. If the owner did this with some corrupted source could
that action have caused a hardware latch-up, or do manufacturer's
deliberately put a close-down function in there. ?
I can see there is a disc in the drive, but I've not dismantled to remove
it, (no mechanical functions, switch responses or display).
http://www.adl528.com/cyberhome/AD-L528---ALD5/index.htm
I wonder if it can be a software bug
That site mentions
"On occasion unit will power on with no life at all - no standby LED"
with no mention of a reason/solution.
If it means dead without even the unit's display lit and no Standby LED
then that is what is here but permanently.
I've tried the factory reset sequence mentioned there.
Further onto the main board I thought I'd found a SM  inductor on a power
rail, blown as a fuse.
Legend L on the overlay but measured 1.2K ohm, but numbers over the
"inductor" itself said 122.

Yukon 77B Metal Detector, 1976
18V supply , with all 3 battery connectors seriesed 
together there is not the 12V supply to the speaker 
amp but a low level output for checking operation.
Search coils pin 1 common 2 5.8 ohm, 3 3 ohm, 4 4 ohm, 5 11.5 ohm 
in crescent order
National Semiconductor 8 pin DIL custom? chips marked 274 0-004 and 624
0-001 I would be interested.
search coil 20V p-p "tone burst" of 12uS period 
every 3.6mS for 1.4mS duration per cycle
Probably opamps
one marked 0-004 DC on pins 1 to 8
.8,4.4,3.6 1.5V tone burst,0 , .7,.6,9.5,9.5 
with exponential sawtooth of .8V p-p
nearest markerd 0-001
7.6 neg going pulses,3.3, 3, 0 ,
6.6V 7V p-p square plus exponential, 3.6mS
6.6V 2V p-p near square, 
6 7.5V p-p square, 9.5V
other 0-001
2.8,4.8,4.5,0 , 
5.4, 5.7, .6V exponential with pulse
positive 3V pulse
17.4V

Coin Magnum metal detector,1978
18V supply , with all 3 battery connectors seriesed 
together there is not the 12V supply to the speaker 
amp but a low level output for checking operation.
Search coils Gy-Or 19 ohm, Gt-Gn 121 ohm
Anyone know what the central lump covered in vacuum
moulded cover is hiding something active 
pinning 1,2 on long side clockwise to 6
DVM measurements on desoldered lump 
pins 1 to 5 29Kohm.
o/p coils 10V p-p  ,70 KHz on 
Gy lead with 2 phase "glitches"
0.2V on Green lead to 2V with metal.
Test pins I numbered 1 to 10 going clockwise 
from top left
1 &2 &3 70K pulses, 4.5V
4 4.3 to 3.9 V on metal 
5 3.8V to 2.6V
6 2V p-p rough sawtooth
7 5 to 6.6V
8 10V p-p
9 1.6V
10 7.6V t0 .7V on metal

C-Scope TR850D,1986 metal detector
Cannot be used in the rain without a cover 
over the control bax and speaker.
Original speaker was 35R, replaced with 16R + 15R small W/W

A number of failed DCC model railway interface boards for Zimo MX640, 
made by cn co something like SanCheng for "Lionheart Trains"
Boards are 32x30mm with surface mount components , 2x4 way connector, 21 way
conn, 5 x 2way and 1x 4w connector
Marked 2395 X002 on the overlay
they are some sort of interface board, no PIC, only a 555 , one transistor
and a number of diodes and passives and all those connectors. 
Has the same main connectors as this
Bachmann E-Z Command 8 Pin To 21 Pin Adaptor
http://images.nitrosell.com/product_images/11/2621/thumb-36-559.jpg
a bit bigger board plus outlet connectors, labelled on board, for LED1,
LED2, motor, R+ L- = rail pickups ?, Spk = speaker? and Aux1 which the
output of the 555 via the transitor goes to
21 pinning seems to agree this
http://www.bobclay.co.uk/smalldcc/dcc33.jpg
21 pin connector , numbering viewed from top, 
1 to "r10" pad
pin 7 to D2 on rear
8 to D3 on rear
9 to speaker
10 to speaker
11 no pin
12 , Vcc to R8 1K
15 to 555 pin 1, firebox
16 12V dc
18 motor
19 motor
20 gnd to C3
21 track R
22 track L
others N/C
8 pin DCC1
1 to L2, 2 LED R, 3 aux 1, 4 trk R
5 to L1, 6 LED F, 7 +12V, 8 Trk L
faults 
no motor control o/c L1
no motor control , broken pin 21
no speaker pin 3 from p1 
Dcc +12V pin bad solder under
no running light D2 was actually 2K replaced with SMD GL41A 50V ,1A
no firebox glow Vcc pin of DCC21 bad solder under pin

Devil amongst the tailors/ bar skittles
Had pit on 8 pins and a ball in a charity shop. To renovate and donate to my local. 

 Devil amongst the tailors  
 Dimensions relate to the ball diameter. Pins are too long , should 
be 2.5x diameter and more tubby. Plinth spaces are 2x diameter. Gap 
between pole and nearest pin/tailor 2x diam. 
Top swivel, shown in insert, the Al scanner drum of a VCR, using a 
rod of appropriate diame and long enough to go 2 inches or more into 
the 30mm wood pole, mitre sawn cut. Clamp the scanner to the pole , so perfectly 
in line, to drill an exact axial hole. Similar wiht join between 2 pieces 
of wood pole as not long enough single piece, rod joiner. Something went wrong with alignment for that. Over drill by hand to drill out wood in the right direction. Fit steel rod in one end, cover face with PTFE, 
heat both ends of wood with hot air. Squirt hotmelt into open hole. 
With both sections aligned inside some dexion, force together. 
Diameter of scanner not enough , so a slab bolted to it , then dog lead 
chain down to ball. Just a hole in the wood ball. Used expanding 
stud wall anchor to take a screw-eye. To set up use the ball as a plumbob. 
Pole using a pub umbrella anchor. 3 wedges on a string used to pack 
out umbrella hole in the pub bench+table. Plinth used a cintride 
hollow tile cutter x9 to mark positions. Surround wall is some 
plastic door-frame threshold material, cut into 4 and fixed at the 
corners with 2 open ended compression washers. 9th pin 
made free-hand cutter movement on a machine lather from a 
piece of 30mm wood and stained brown.

Vestel badged Digihome PVR80, 2006 , PbF
80G pvr, was intermittently failing to power up , now no power up.
mohmeter reads 0.13 ohm +/- 0.01, loading the 5V rail to ground on the main
board, HD etc disconnected. Not any of the 10 electrolytics or a power 3
lead SM device. What to try next , monitoring the 0.13 ohm while flexing the
board. ? Powering with a current limited bench power supply set at 5V ? oh
for an IR camera for a piece of test gear.
I assumed the SM 3+1 lead device RGU 17-25, was a 3.3V regulator "shorted" between 0
and 5V, logo looks like ON in a circle , onsemi.
Whatever it is , I isolated one pin and it is not the cause of the loading.
No nearby L/s for it being bucky/converter.
Cold mohmeter checking probably would have worked as about 0.04 ohm across
the defective item. Only 6 diodes it would seem on this board, so i checked,
and one across 0 and 5V. I'd not thought of checking diodes , as why across
5V. So a half size 4148 looking barrel SM "diode", overlay saying D,
directly between the, scalpelled off , leaving now separated 5 and 0 rails.
What to replace it with ? 6V, 7V or 10V suppressor , what is usual?  Looking
under a 30x microscope is like seeing canals on mars, can just make out what
looks like a lower case "r" and a smudge. Not the slightest look of distress
to this item. As this pvr was previously intermittant then hopefully nothing
else would have been knocked out.
ps had only just audible click and no output, as 0-5V short
uses TOP234YN in ps , 78R12, KIA431 , G16 opto 6.8R
ribbons out are
12,0,0,5,3.3,3.3,.7
-18,-16,0 or 1 ? bad transcription, -18
2.5V on the commoned triplet of R pairs on ps

Digital Camera close up lenses for basic camera
Temporally fix a lens over the camera lens 
using rubber bands and gap padded out with 
a large rubber grommet to avoid scratching.
3 dioptre spectacles lens over the front brought 
focus to 16 inches
2 dioptre down to 11.5 inches
9 dioptre, or so, magnifying glass down to 4 inches 
in front of the lens, requiring the making of 
a "rostrum camera" mount for steadying.
From some aluminium bars cross-linked to 
make an X , with spring washer on pivot bolt for 
friction , 2 bars at right angle to 2 ends 
to make feet, covered with heatshrink to 
protect object. Then camera mounted via its 
bottom screw point and shutter release 
detailed elsewhere here, to avoid shake.

Dimplex FHS20 bathroom heater
Well i'm not proud. No output.
Built onto the frame of the heater element is 
a small thermal cut-out with a black reset button. It had been 
left switched on too long and did its job.

Dimplex WOD20
Apparently not working
This is a glorified fan heater with the neon replaced 
with 2 mes bulbs and an added motor for spinning some mirrors.
Reported as both bulbs blown (probably one failed ages ago) 
and then with the thermostat set too high then apparently 
the heater is not working.
heaters 46R, 35R, mirror motor (+ dropper ?) 30K, fan 270R
No earth bond wire between mains inlet area and the fan heater section , 
relying on plated screws for connectivity

Dremmel Mod 358, ser 5-13, minidrill
I'd not noticed before but there is a lot of axial
movement of the chuck. Normal or worn ? Went inside , needed a clean out and
lubricating if nothing else. There is a wavy thin compression spring/washer
on the axle but it is about 1mm away from the bearing, so about 2mm of
possible movement between static and active use.
Someone else with a similar model had 0.5mm of play.
Mark which way round the bearing retaining clips are mounted and 
the stator orientation before unclipping the bearings.
Note the stator wire furthest from the cable inlet goes under 
the brush mount. a nylon pad is located as axle back stop. 
The shaft is domed at the end and for some odd reason a pip on 
top of that that had worn into the pad. Turned this pad around 
and added 1mm extra padding glued behind it. But was too much 
so removed and added 0.6mm instead. To check out motor and 
using commutator bedding stone its a matter of 
taping around the chuck lock spring ring and a couple of cable 
ties around each brush mount and around 2 partially replaced body screw and through vent holes 
to operate with the commutator exposed.
Triac BT24A, 100nF 250V, 10K,4.7K, 390K , 56R 
and log pot that measured 220K max, in cct
Converting Black & Decker small Jacob's chuck for this 
Dremmel , to allow use of 0.4mm to 3.3mm shanks 
(VP940KA , RT550KA) split the chuck between the knurls 
using a pair of mole-grips. Turn down a few mm 
of diameter of the rear section. Open out corresponding 
part of the opening of the Dremmel. Perhaps use a ball 
bearing to pack out the interior channel a bit .
Main axle through the body screwthread for chucks etc is 6.97mm diameter, 40 TPI
Seemed a good idea at the time. I found a chuck that fitted the screw thread of 
the Dremmel, but it needed something at the core over the recess in the main axle 
as a reaction surface to close the jaws. A ball bearing was laying about and I thought 
it was oversize a fitted over this recess but it was interference fit and eventually 
pushed irretrevably into the recess. Only way I could think to remove it 
was grind a slot through the thread (using a basic 12V low power drill , took ages) 
to get a dartpoint under the ball to push it out. Then a PTFE plug in the hole 
, some epoxy in the gropund hole , then some PTFE tape tightened over the 
gap , taking up the thread form while curing. The drill survived to be able to use 
3-jaw fully variable , and the simple but more axially accurate jaws for drilling work.

Durabrand PSTB1 freeview receiver (also badged Pacific)
If very low signal level on a few channels but 
good level on the great majority. Try 
placing the receive in another position, including 
vertical mounting.
To open the remote control. Small screw in the battery box, squash that end in a vice to break the 
2 end closure tangs, unnecessary with ethat screw, then prize open along the length

Dyson DA 001 cyclone vacuum cleaner
I took pity on this m/c dumped and had been rained on, half a pint of water
in the lower casing.
I've seen a hose attached to these beasts but took me 5 minutes of head
scratching to discover that secret, as no external hose attachement point.
Powered for 2 seconds, sounded ok but probably too slow and an excessive chemically/
ozone smell. Then tipped upside down
to get in case and water flowed out but had not been enogh to invade the
motor. Needs Torx 10 and 15 drivers to remove casings.
Fancy looking design appearance but the motor to me looks like the same sort
of vacuum cleaner motor of 30 years ago, 1200 W.
Nothing visibly wrong with stator coils or rotor coils. Resistance
measurements across and between
segments seemed ok. Bit of a noise from the brushes once a revolution, spun
by hand.
Pulled off the spade terminals to unlock and then release the brush
housings. Then spinning the armature with a finger nail against the flow and
gradually increasing the nail angle
a point was reached where one armature segment would catch. Measuring with a
1 to 2 inch micrometer then
the diameter across the commutator was 1.185 inches and 1.192 for the errant
commutator contact strip.
Plenty of life left in the brushes but spark erroded surfaces and broken
leading brush edge.
Ground back brushes with bench grinder then a one inch 
diameter cylinder grind stone to give approximate hollow 
profile.
Inductance measurements on the commutator
wer 180mH per diameter and
2.9,1.6,.4,.4,1.6,2.9 mH ( 1000Hz ac test V ) for 3 contacts either side
of any given contact so no cold shorts anyway.
I couldn't see what physical mechanism could cause one land to be
7 thou (mil) proud of the others. Also while still in use, why the brushes
weren't ground down to nothing with that sort of irregularity.
Had localised heating caused the copper of that land to somehow permanently
expand by carbon incorporating into the copper or unstick from core and 
restick perfecly aligned but proud ?
Centred to shaft in 4 jaw and turned down the commutator, 
tieing back the motor frame. Found a piece of 
tubing to sit on the chamfered fan end of shaft to localise 
a centre cutting tool.
On checking for
bridges discovered there must be a break in one of the rotor coils.
Must have disturbed it in turning. Traced which coil and it connects
with the errant commutator segment. Found the loop nearest the
unseen break. Then scraping back a few loops and measuring found 
one nearest the break - must have left a few turns but only surface 
turns are available like this. 24 commutator segments 12 rotor coils. 
Marked axially the 2 commutator segments 'in line' with the axial 
parts of each coil - separated by 10 segments. Then the segments 
connecting to this coil were 2 segments rearward on one side and 
11 segments rearward on the other side.
Stator wires 0.028 inch diameter and rotor coil-wires 0.019 inch.
Gingerly pulled the best bared coil away from bulk, cleaned back 
some more and soldered some 0.019 wire between 
there and the relevant sement. Put som mica in place, varnished back in 
place after fixing back this loose wire.
Gradually powered clamped to bench via 6Amp variac to about 
50% mains to bed in brushes. Mounted back in housing with bottom 
removed but motor held in with 2 large cable clips and spreader piece 
of wood so start torque does not displace things. Continued bedding 
in taking variac to 100% mains.

Dyson DC04 , 2007 on the mains plug
Yellow and mainly grey/silver version
Mark with coloured felt-pen mating lines before removing sections, as 3D compound curve structures 
and an exercise in topology
6 torx underneath
remove cyclone
Lift and turn grey felt pad holder anulus to remove , revealing 4 screws
remove elbow inspection piece
undo both yellow plastic large circlips with long nose pliers
Relieve spring loaded black lever next to motor casing and turn brush section. 
Pull belt and pull the brush bar through to remove
To remove yellow clutch cover. 
On internal black, adjascent to the yellow user-turned cap 
protruding index line, there is a pair of Vs in the black and also 180 degrees around on other side, 
feel more than see. thin rod in a V to release yellow section of lock catch, angled so pressure to internal yellow 
part is outwards (or perhaps black section inwards) , same on diametric catch. 
This yellow cap then comes off with some pulling with large circlip pliers and then the clutch section will 
come out on undoing the screws. 
Similar for mains switch, To remove yellow knob, insert 1.5mm rod ( with 2mm long wedged ground end) in the V notch near handle 
, mark 20mm mark on this rod so know when hitting moulding recess not the ledge of the catch. Turn the rod 180 
degrees and pull the knob with large circlip pliers.
Innards of clutch. 
http://www.freepatentsonline.com/6691849.html
Cushion ratchet end of axle before removing the circlip as it is spring 
loaded , and not loose the 3 ball "percussion" slip clutch ( the part that makes the nasty noise 
if brush is jammed, like percussion drill action)
Reassembly - lay end cap upwards holding both dog-clutch shaped rings uppermost. Hold axle in housing 
and place over the end housing, turn until locked, jiggling inside with a jewellers screwdriver for 
alignment, replace the 2 screws.
Refit the circlip and clutch mechanism should work now, on turning the lever( still leave 
yellow cap cover off), check clutch action before progressing.
Belts (old , working but maybe stretched) 12x2mm x 255mm outside circumference 
and 7x2 x 262mm, 17 percent extension , doubled up) on 3kg load, gave a working machine 
after doing this  .
Cleaned and turned inside out. Glazing etc scraped off all baluster pulleys 
and motor shaft one cleaned and axially fine abraided.
Reassembly of clutch into brush section. Black lip that goes into the belt channel 
in the yellow, enter into the slot but angled, force the pair of accompanying 
shrouds either side of the yellow. Belt slot slides and clicks into place. 
Check the drive clutch works. Add the yellow cap only after motor reassembly 
and powered up 
Motor spins clockwise , viewing belt drive end, turns easily that way and a bit of motor brush noise the wrong way.
With 34V on a variac , after a few seconds getting up to speed then .91A and 103 revs per second.
At the belt end 4 retainers hold the grey ring, 2 screwdrivers one large, one small , release 
those catches, mark beforehand. Pull out rubber cover again marked. 
Motor just located by 2 plastic pillars in the other rubber disc at the other end of the axle, so 
mechanically decoupled from passing vibration to chassis
.22uF 275V cap and thermal fuse marked 
17AM026A5 -11 Undo screw to remove C and fuse , mark orientation
22 commutator lands
brushes 10.7x6.9x>=26.5mm , bend back tang near solder 
and move the plate across to remove brushes, then measuring 
2.6R across diametric commutator lands , .6R adjascent and 1.5R and 1.6R stators
Motor and Fan 1.35 Kg motor marked for 240V
YDX YV 511 1F1Z
Reassembly of motor, guide belt just over the end of the axle so the whole brush casing is loosely 
aligned with and around the motor in the central recess. Offer up both into the main body and cajole 
sections into place. Push side rings over the pivots and reclip yellow circlips. 
Check the clutch and motor works by turning the brush and should hear the motor spinning plus 
reistance to turning  with clutch in.
Replace hose to brush section
Replacing the pivoting sliding diverter duct that carries the user accessible airway 
inspection elbow. Replace the circlip and then the profiled rubber ring then just 
vaguely locates on the boss, held in place by the inspection elbow, rubber ring with thin flap part in viewed position.
If the main swivel action jams, that is jammed brush housing relative to main body , so the handle 
will not return to the vertical position. Probably the mechanism that disengages the clutch 
in that position, the user control of the clutch should rotate automatically when 
pushing the handle back to vertical and move back to engages moving the handle from vertical. 
Probably something on the wrong side of an internal lever to this clutch assembly.
Remove the exhaust filter, 2 screws in that recess, nearest handle and one 
at the diverter and slacken the remaining. Then the diverter duct/swivel cowling will drop into 
place with some joggling, replace and tighten screws. Diverter duct selects air 
inlet from brush or wand.
To save digging out a 6 amp variac, that had got buried over the years.
Without cyclone section in place but otherwise reassembled vacuum cleaner
Using for a couple of seconds with a 26R / 200W resistor in series with 2 x 24V/240W 
halogen lamps all in series with the Dyson, off 240V mains. 110V drops to about 90 V 
over the R. 
Replacing 26R with 2.8R/200W plus the 2 lamps, a bit of thermal run away on the lamps going from orange 
to just white and stopped then , V over 2.8R about 12V
Replaced with both lamps in parallel and runs stable with 12.7V over the 2.8R so 
had confidence to run straight off the mains with no droppers.
White sticker on the brush and that spins at 33 Hz/ 33 RPS with a strobe light.
If brush head fails to "stick" to floor with moving handle angle in use. Silicone grease 
on the sections of plastic that glide over one another at the sides and the slot towards 
the middle. Then the reactive back torque from the motor bands/clutch will take 
the brush head downwards. Next time grease these relative rotating side surfaces before reassembly.
Broken hose near wand handle. To remove the black core that anchors the hose. 
Some old conventional callipers with a plastic kids mosaic Hama/Perler/Pearler bead 
pushed on each tip, located over each of the small black locating lugs, 
tightened using the callipers knurled nut. Then engineers cramp to squash 
much tighter to push the plastic lugs inward enough to then push with a bar inside the 
lock end. When dislodged then push in the vacuum release button and core will pull out. 
Remove the broken end , cut the wire, until good wire and inside and outside layers of 
plastic hose. Turn one turn onto the channel in the core. 
Lock for the Al tube not working . With the hose anchor removed, 
joggle out the 2 springs and then the yellow sliding lock ring will fall away 
inside, just gummed up with dirt, so clean up sliding and mating surfaces. 

Ebac Humidifier 7, approx 1987
To remove back , remove 4 large and 2 
small sdrews. For the front requires prizing 
the bottom plastic from the wood surround 
with a driver throug the glue from underside.
Siezed bearing/s on the Magnelek motor ser 1Ga ... 
240V, .2A., 335R impedance protected 4 pole coil.
Need to flex a couple of the fan blades to remove.
Undo the fan nut and remove .
Then after releasing the 2 long bolts, bash 
the spindle breaks the motor intop 2 parts 
enough to clear gummed grease on spindle 
ends and one cup to free up.
Seting of + and maximum on controls
When working the rime builds up on the outer 
set of coils at the water drain end in about 
2 minutes, then 45 minutes before the insulation 
of the frost built up allows water to drip off, 
for room temp of 16 C.
In first hour , after switching off and 
collecting melted water , 150mL

Force field B20, 2007, electric fence ,
Wax conformal coating over SM
So quite low temperature hot air will melt it but how to remove what remains
after allowing most to drip away? tissue paper as capillary mop? or a
chemical ? . I don't know if it is a reaction with the ink on the device
markings but the wax residue/oil makes it very difficult to read even under
x30 microscope barrrel and various angles of light. Any ideas on how to
increase the contrast/readability?
8 pin SMD with blown hole in the casing. Top mark , very indistinct maybe 2
lines
0h963
0h37
maybe very stylised 4 instead of h, logo very indistinct. My first guess was
a 555 but pinning not standard
p3 ground, p8 +12V, pin 1 to a 10uF cap , other end to 0V, p5 tied to p6
goes to speed change pot with also a line from the pot to p1. No obvious
output trace.
Removed the device and internal connections between p2 and 3 presumably
fried , and also p6 and 7
Other device is a 16 pin with ident scraped off or the conformal coating
dissolved off. Could only just about read maybe
0706.MP along the bottom so probably date code
In passing , a 8x5x3 mm fuse with bo encapsulation , mainly 2 bare Al plates
with something between. Working order measures 0.18R +/-.01R, marked/punched
in the Al
100
B7L
Bourns 1 amp polyswitch
Top face 8x5mm bent down the 3 mm over the other plate to one pad
and the other smaller plate , about 6x45mm to the other pad and some thin
material in between
The main 14 pin SMD has no trace to 12V but p1 goes to this 8 pin SMD which
is connected to 12V so presumably some sort of  current or voltage control
requiring 0 and 12V and the pot connection changes the current/V, not the
speed from "Normal" setting to "Turbo" at the top of pot range, and the
output somehow chopped or something from the 12V , smoothed by the 10uF.
Those polyswitch resetable fuses may have problems in hot conditions.
Breathing on this one for 5 sec raises the 0.18R to double or so and a
soldering iron barrel switched off and cooled for 2 minutes, laid on it, is
enough to raise to kohm. Alternatively useful highly non linear thermal
sensing elements.
So far have not found a buck boost L-free version of DC to DC converter ,
step down, IC, presumably made variable via use of the pot rather than a
zener. L free version of Maxim MAX758,830,724 or 726 if anyone knows of
something that fits the bill?
This fence is stated to run on 9V as well as 12V battery so I suppose i/p 5
to 15V and output perhaps 6 to 13V or so
Kept it simple as only low [power used in the timing cct. 2 x 6.3V zeners plus 33R 
as the timing cct would only work from about 3 to 7V, so adding zeners dropped 
the supply from a range 15V down to 8V, only used on a 12V car battery. 
Maybe a 6V regulator went there, but why 8 pins?
With about 6V on the large IC assumed to be a dual monostable multivibrator
pin 1 supply and p14 gnd
pin 2 H to L on LED pulse
pin 6 0V
pin 7 complex 1V pulses
op p11 1.5KHz which when feeding to the SM powerfet gave 0.5V when rectified 
op of the first transformer .
Putting on a sig gen 60 to 65KHz peak with 400mV in and 24V out sine
DC 0.1R//10.2R
Gave up on this as I came to the conclusion the main osc should be running at about 60KHz 
not 1.5KHz. Tried variously R and C to o and Vcc for all 14 pins and could not change 
the f so assumed buggered internally

Electra/Zanussi? washing machine
Catastrophic flood
This machine so old the model number worn off. 
The rotating stainless steel drum is housed inside a static 
stove enamelled drum. This drum is secured to a ring holding 
a lump of concrete and the front hatch rubber seal. A long term 
leak had rusted the band that secures this static drum to the 
concrete section and snapped. This band is U channel formed into 
a large circle with closure/tightening made with a large nut and bolt. 
A triangular section rubber band forms the seal inside this channel ring and the 
flanges of the 2 drum sections. Spot welded  a couple of curved inch 
wide pieces of steel over the break to repair as a spare was not available 
(far too old). Cleaned the rubber seal and other surfaces. The cut ends of the 
rubber joined by a piece of studding pushed into the hollow 
interior so it would hold together around the gap area. The following is 
with hindsight the sequence to dis/reassemble. Remove the top pannel 
and the front door. "screw" the opened out (like 1 turn of a helix)
U band through the front hatch way ending with open ends at the bottom rather 
than as original at the top so the rough welded section is at the top where 
not having to retain water.
Turn the m/c over onto the front face and disconnect the 4 large drum retaining 
springs using an old large screwdriver with a small notch ground in the 
active edge. Push the screwdriver through the spring and push on the end 
of spring loop to disengage and later to reengage.Align rubber,U,and both 
drum sections and tighten the U band bolt (not much tension is required to 
form a water seal-the bolt anchors at the ends of the U were only spot welded) then reassemble.
An aside on washing machines:-as a short-term fix for sqealing/slipping 
motor V belts dust the belt with French chalk as used by sweaty-handed 
gymnasts to gain grip on rings and bars.
Getting to rear marked Zanussi CO432 and components marked 1974 inside
Zanussi so ancient it is solely electromechanical, no electronics
The low rpm wash cycle is no more, spin cycle is fine so presumably the motor start cap is ok. There was a burning smell so is the following symptoms consistent with some shorted turns in the low RPM mode?
With the top off and water in the drum , prodding the drum drive pulley with a stick will make the drum turn part of a turn and then oscillate back and forth a few times
(7 wires go to the motor, brown,pink, 3 grey and 2 blue if any use)
I worked out which contacts on the water height monitor to bridge, to activate wash cycle without the inertia of water in the drum and again just a vague kick of the motor but now prodding with a stick will spin the drum. Presumably no external fudge to the existing set up to get some sort of wash action back again without , not relevant as so old, motor replacement. The belt tightness and bearings seem what I , no washer experience, would expect 
That was easier than expected and no bloodloss.
There is a brush-commutator type noise on turning the motor by hand but I cannot see where any brushes could be. Other than generating a bit of voltage a DVM across terminals shows no variation on turning over.
With motor out and good light 7 wires plus frame ground
looming colours - internal motor wires
grey - black
dk blue - black
lt blue - red
dk pink - white/blk
dk blue - blue
lt pink - green
purple - yellow
Italian motor with 2 poli 3.5 amp and 16 poli 1.5 amp on the cover plate
black-black about 0.4 ohm and thicker wires , no connection to the other wires, presumably spin cycle
others have 10s of ohms range , all connected as a run, except yellow that shows no continuity up to 30Mohm , including waggling the wire and spinning motor around and its looming wire is not to frame ground 
Time to scrap , nice  2 stage low pressure air switch, large run cap, long bolts

Electolux heater type (ammonia ?)old domestic fridge (3 foot high) .
Not exactly repair as it is still going after 40 years or so. Assuming replacement 
heater would be obsolete the owner wanted me to measure the rating of the element. 
So switched off for 10 minutes the resistance of the element was 66 ohms and when 
plugged in (240 volt) still with the door open the continuous power use was 120 watts. 
So probably all such fridges similar.

Flat roofing repair
For a bodging repair I can recommend hot-air gun, hot-melt glue and gun and
odd patches of felt.
The problem I had was failure of multilayer felt over a few felt-nails 
and a partial split over an edge timber, so relatively
localised but has put off complete refelting, so far, for more than 3 years.
Clean affected area of stone, dirt etc, heat up with hot air gun in general
area around the problem and hot-melt glue around , then patch  plus a bit
more hot air so all well fused but only the glue fully melted, 
felt is just softened.
It is in full sun and no problem from sun-heating.
Then years later a larger piece of "flat roof " failing. Sags between the battens ( maybe failed 
underboarding , did not inspect the space below) but certainly failed layers at the 
edge where the felt is folded to near a right angle. Tide marks on the plasterboard 
indoors. Felt tip marks along the most extensive tidemark as a record. 
Should really be fully re-roofed but will see how an extension of this 
repair will last. So about 1.5 foot by 12 foot recovered with sections of  roofing felt. 
Chalk marked around intended areas and heated with hot air and hotmelt laid down. Then 
small run at a time old and new felt and hotmelt heated and squashed down. 
More hotmelt run along the seem. Lengthway seems arranged to be at the tops 
of the ridges. When cold, bitument paint laid over the seems and either side for an inch.
Sections of expanded polystyrene placed in the dips and weighted down with 
pea grit , reducing the weight of stones and rainwater in the hollows. 
Survived an inch of rainfall in a day, no new tidemarks and no dramatic change in 
test instrument readings. 
For long term monitoring 2 copper nails banged in the plasterboard , indoors, at what 
was probably the main leak point. 
DVM readings and also 1KHz ac "resistance" readings taken over time , especially 
after rain.
Confusing readings , presumably due to salts in the plasterboard.
Initially , as still wet, microamps of DC but eventually that dropped to 
less than  0.1uA. Resistance went up but probably, like DC V seems to vary with humidity 
so confusing.
AC resistance a few K initially , over a week increased to 15K and after a month seemed to 
be stable at 17.9K even during and after the period of jeavy rain

G Caddy TEDC12201, golf trolley, probably 2007
Stopped working , assumed to be worn out speed control finally 
failed but actually a motor problem.
How common is this, I've never seen a pot like this? the wiper that covers
the conductive ring is worn down to 2 disconnected stubs and the triplet one
covering the resistive track very worn and one wiper soon to break through.
Spindle/ bush is noticeably worn also. Curiously metal and conductive tracks
are scored but not worn through.
 So say 100,000 rotation limit in the pot specs. 
It's probably done about 160 rounds of 18 holes @ 3.5miles per round = 560 miles. 
5 start/stops per hole on average so 90 per round x 160 = 14400 plus 
speed adjustments between start and stop.
Original marked 5K but worn down to 7K, replaced with 20K 
one with rotaty end stop switch and 6.8K across it. 
Some rubber gland placed under the knob to try and keep 
some of the dust out.
Needs new brushes as one had cracked along half the length but not broke
away, so forming a wedge in the slideway. Along with some conglomeration of
carbon etc in that part of the slideway and beyond into the gap and
presumably into the crack , until it jammed out of contact. 
No name motor for spares. How to clean off the build
up of carbon on the commutator  and is there an equivalent , for low V high
A motors, of bedding in with bedding stone ? as no aperature available to
poke any stone in there when assembled.
Motor a bugger to get at as one retaining bolt was seized,
steel bolt into tapped aluminium, lowest one nearest puddles and wet grass 
and no cowling underneath. Al had corroded rather than the steel on
our wet links. Is there a recognised way of chemically dissolving the
aluminium oxide for the next time of doing this. Luckily I could hack into
reinforced heavy duty structural plastic to release the mount , then undo
the bolt with molegrips, Impact driver after penetrating oil would not shift
it, only deforming the bolt head. Would grinding/drilling a well under the
head of such a bolt and a few drops of battery acid in there do anything. ?
It looks as though another feature of low V / high A motors is the brushes
have copper wire tails melded into the graphite , wheras mains ones can
often get away with end of conducting phosphor-bronze spring just resting
against end of brush and no copper braid.
Some Bosch "3 137 014 131" / 32712V,250W automotive fuel pump brushes are about right, needing
cutting down half a mm W and H to fit, side entry copper wire tails as in
this use, 5.4 x 5.8 final size. Filed down then rubbed with a grindstone 
, by hand , to get approximate armature shaping and then used 
the hand drill spun up to form better. When assembled run motor on 
ps for 1 hour to bed in the brushes better, dropped from 0.6amp at 12V 
to 0.58 amp.Put the worm drive end in a hand drill 
and bearing against a large grommet pushed against the wall. 
Then spin up the commutator with firstly nail file then 
finer grade sandpaper, not emery and finall one of those brown 
soft material honing cylinders for a dremmel with abrasive flecks 
embedded in, just the bit itself no dremmel as well, gave a nice smooth finish.
Well that's 2 impossible jobs done reassembling the motor
1/ Tying back the brushes to get them over the armature and then removing
the cord when in place.
2/ How to replace the 5 inch long steel screws , without any built-in
guides, passing between 2 powerful magnets. They go where the magnets want
them, not some midway path. Obviously made scratch marks before
disassempling but required the head of the screw held in molegrips until you
can feel it is in the tapped hole, screwdriver placed in head still in the
molegrips, pushing down, while you release the molegrips.
The 2 paralelled output TO220 thyristors had their identities ground off
before insertion. 200W, 12V motor so 17 amp so would they be say 30V 8amp,
10amp or 15 amp rating each? No fuse in the control anywhere but there is a
main relay and more electronics than just for controlling speed so could
there be an overload sensing cct that drops out the relay ? While at it
there is an off board loop of 1.7mm diameter copper wire, probably just over 
the top jumper over tracks, so would not flex/bend.
Its a struggle to get the tubular framework back together. I assume when
they assemble it,  it is done under force so each corner joint keeps
everything else in place, the screws must be for show or they do not hold it
all together as far as i can see. It is made to be foldable like a folding
bike and triangular sections and one triangle locked and braced against
another.
If there is a next time I'd reverse the jaws of a sash cramp to force the
tubes apart, the 2 inches or so to release the cross tie tube. I wonder if
the chassis of those disability/mobility scooters are built the same way.
Now road tested I see how the traction works. Gearbox will spin backwards
because of course pitch and angle of the worm / spur gears, I hope there is
protection against the reverse emf generated as off on the control is not
fully off, 5volt measured just by leasurely hand spinning.. Then presumably
"spring" clutches in the wheels one L and opposite sense in the R one to
again allow for total freewheeling in one sense and somewhat braked in the
other direction.
Main swinging point for the folding action had the cable 
protected with some plastic trunking. But not the other folding 
point , leading to chafing of the cable sheathe. Luckily a loop 
of excess wire at the control point and could pull back 2 inches 
and cover the suspect area with nylon spiral cable wrap.
Remove handle grip to get the control pot section apart.
Protection diode over motor is CQ649 B20100G
TL494 , 2N551, LM358P x 2, 65C4HTM
2 paralleled Mosfets or thyristors ground off identities 
measured .44 / .98V to 1.2V diode test over power pins
1V and 0.68V from gate.
To dismantle the main motor carrying frame I removed the 
corner mount furthest from the thyistor box to free 
the wheel axle bearing. Then the central gearbox 
can move towards the thristor box (removed).
To reassemble leave the gearbox in sections to give 
some room to play with all this confrontation 
of 2 axles/tubes and thick corner braces.
Rubber gasket between gear box , rubber O ring 
around brushes plate. O ring and flatter ring eith side of gearbox
Red LED on always and green on unless battery voltage drops.
Bosses at frame junctures are actually collet knob type 
covers glued in place. Spinning wheels by hand 
will generate at least -5V from the motor.
Place the gearbox long bolt in place , furthest one 
from brushes , before reassembling axles etc as otherwise fouls on 
framework webbing.
Not down the position of all circlips , before removing, 
as easy to forget where they go.
Returned with seized speed pot as used in heavy rain. 
Pot terminals 2 and 3 used and switch
2 to gn of bk and gn lead
3 to Y
sw between R and Bk of R & Bk
Replacement pot added aluminium shell off a knob by heating to remove plastic core. 
Making hole in centre to place over pot bush and nut , tight fit to interior of a suitable 
plastic knob so could fill with high temp pastey silicone grease.

G'oodia LED lamp
retail disposal in bulk as no ratings 
on box for "horse illumination" presumbly house 
and "not easy distortion", no ratings on box or bulb
60V  dc  either way no light
About 80V ac on variac with 220R in series flashes to life.
147V on variac 6V over 220R 
230V and 3.8V over 220R
so 4W , 4 x dome covered LEDs
Front ring easily pulls off, 4+1 POL type lens cluster
desolder 2 wires and disc pulls off baking disc
prize off this disc, held to the tangs of the surrounding fluted Al heatsink/housing
small bridge rect and BP9011 controller
HK-218 on board

Garmin GPS12, 1998
Low memory battery message. The unit requires main batteries present to top 
up the memory cell but don't like to keep batteries inside something with tight chamber 
holding the batteries as a right mess if batteries leak/corrode and swell up
Case opening ignore the rubber bits, scrape into the silicone rubber filled groove with 
plectrum force plectrum in top edge  towards the resr panel. No clips etc to 
hold in place
VL1220 vanadium lithium, 3V 7mAh
if 1.836V over this cell then memory contents retained but low battery message at sw on, not known how much deeper you 
can go. 
If loose memory contents , go into SETUP and wait until the correct time appears , then 
change the other personal settings
Stuck swollen battery. Tried a cylinder of ptfe then melted end of hotmelt glue stick but did not work.
Dremmel + 0.5mm disc to cut into case and dart point to lever out.

GET DHMD  10/2 dehumidifier
As a sealed unit I suppose there is nothing other than banging the
compressor housing to reset the problem. Sometimes it will start properly so
not permanently seized. Control board fuse of 1.6 amp (240V supply) has
never blown but stall? current must be something more than 1 amp.
just 2 wires going to the compressor + grounding wire
No capacitor seen.
2 wires to the compressor and under the cowling one wire goes to what I'd
have guessed to be a bimetal thermal cutout attached to the compressor body,
any markings obscured by metalwork. The other goes to one spade of a 3 spade
terminal , at first sight looks like a 25 amp triac. 2 spades unconnected
and ohmic between all 3, also connected to the main body.
Marked QP2-22 , this being the nearest to a datasheet that I've found
http://www.hctemp.com/product_thermal_0_73.htm
2. QP2-22
Norminal resistance : 22O±2%
Max voltage:350V
Max current:8A
Tripping time: 0.3?0.8S
Reset time:<=100S
Power dissipation: <=3.5W
pic
http://t1.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcTMStB_nFYcKOiiUT6WAP5NNyjEdY7VfGwWY
kqvMokiphwHHFgn9hJi9A
I wonder what the other spades are for
I'll try monitoring this current a bit better than variac meter but it does
not seem to drop away within 1 second but 100 second reset time 
That 1.6 amp fuse is just for the fan and electronics .
I tried heating the QP thing with hot air but did not see any hint of
resistance change.
Put a .6R 20W in line to the motor and monitored the voltage over. In stall,
6amps initially and then dropping under the action of the QP and then a
click as the cutout triggers. Then a matter of waiting until it clicks back.
 1.1amp in normal running.
The other lump under the cowling , I can just make out some markings on the
other side, Klixon on some metal and 4TM on the "kettle" white plastic so a
thermal cutout
http://www.datasheetarchive.com/klixon+4tm-datasheet.html
I've now seen the owners manual , from the owner. No mention of this stall
procedure business. With the fan noise an owner would not necessarily
realise that the start sequence can repeat multiply through this stall/lock
out/ /cool/reset / start, rather than just start.
 I will monitor what voltages appear on pins 1 and 3
of the QP2 device and maybe add a suitably dropped neon (what are those
other 2 pins for normally?) , so the owner can at least monitor , at switch
on, how often the motor is stalled .
I burrowed into an older working dehumidifier I could wreck if I needed.
This is a WDH -101B with a P330MC PTC start themistor . 
PTC 32.8R cold, heat the metal clip inside with a soldering iron and initially 
drops like NTC confusingly.
There is a schematic for this in use in an LG NS30LAEG out there so I could
see how the run/start circuit works.
Unfortunately need to cut a corner off that PTC (not 3 exposed terminals , 2
others are sockets underneath for pins from the 2 coils) to expose the other
terminal for the other side of the disc thermistor that connects to the run
coil.
Not enough discrimination in voltage drop to use a neon across the PTC. But
a 240V neon from this exposed contact and the commoned feed to both coils at
least shows when the cut out is activated as 240V across then. 4V
(centrifugal switch ? so presumably induced voltage) across in normal
running of the motor and 58V across in stall so the added indicator neon is
out in those situations. At least then an owner knows that despite the fan
noise , the pump is not running as this neon would continuously cycle 3
minutes on , 10 seconds off, ...
Now to add a neon to the GET machine, that required 2 neons as not enough discrimination 
as higher voltage, 83V,  across in "off" state, in stal mode 10 seconds on , 3 min off to  cool down
Cable horn mounts are security sc. 
remove front grill and 2 sc under
to remove the top , remove rear panel enough to access fan , undo 2 nuts and 
remove the long bolts to release the rotor, waggle orientation and bend a blade or 2 a bit 
to extract and clean of compacted lubricant as was binding. 
Tried oily molybdenum grease as a lubricant. Removed 1 thin washer in case it 
was lack of throw. 
1.1 amp in use , clean off fluff from the user filter frame.
4 short dome head sc at front top of water bin area and 2 at front top panel.
Water tank full is a feather action microsw.
motor coil in circuit measured 144R over 
front grill replacement , remove the filter frame , slot the top 2 nibs in first 
and then the bottom 2 sc
lock down crimps on the control panel , need centres pushing to release.
remove R wire to disable fan
remove Bk wire to disable motor
fan only, stall current is minimal compared to the compressor motor being stalled
Klixon on metal of the starter control and 4TM on white plastic
wire to pin marked 2
1 to 2 0R
2 to 3 11R
via motor 
3 7.3R
1 to 9.5R
65 percent mains 
1/09V over 1.2 R dropper added to mains line
dropped to 1.07 and 3.8V on stall mode

GHS Manchester WD1-101B , 2002 dehumidifier
no operation, fan only, low current draw
long sc outer case, 2 mid length , front of pcb holder
4 short , side & rear of control subhousing
disconnect large con, for space for fuse access
Break R-W con to motor
15.1R to R-W
Bucket usw Y,O,Bn
replaced usw as bad contact
7v ac only on R-W wire at main con, P2
no relay sound
GEETEK on pcb
IC GEETEK GE 2000-3
loose thermistor on cold coils due to corrossion of steel bracket 9.3K NTC
Looks as though 2 pin jumper had fallen off SW1 2 pin header and disappeared. 
Q1 gates through the supply to IC
11.8V on the dropped mains supply cap
7V initially on IC , bridge SW1 and drops  to 4V and motor comes on
15.4R across R-W of motor
To remove front , 2sc then lift over the mains sw knob. 
3 sc lower end & 2 sc clips, mark the fixings before removing as a bit 
ambiguous, 
Support the piping and weight of motor while moving around, gives access 
space to starter unit. P330MC , see above

GJ300R wall wart ps failed but LED on, 300mA adjustable, year 2000
1K .3W dropper to LED cooked but functioning, need to up to 1W
also .47R and 560R
8 pin IC under folded on (poor contact?)  heatsink probably failed as 18V to it but nothing much else. 
Motorola 34063AP1, CkTX = SL34063 ? DC-Dc converter
Junked

Gunson 5 , 12V battery charger.
Kid connected with battery the wrong way, nasty buzz and stopped working. 
The buzz from bimetal thermal switch in the output wire. Blown internal T0.5A 
fuse in the mains lead. Check 4x diode bridge is ok 
Tx 66.8R/<.2R of 3 wires

Gunson 12V automatic battery charger
6.1V on 100% or float
5.3V auto mode
13.7V ac over unsmoothed bridge and 11V "DC" , goes to 14.2V with 50uF over as a test
S6015L  , 600V 15A changed to TIC226D as easy to do, bolted not rivetted etc, no change .
.6/.7V only on TO92 BC547B , ohmic 500R B-C in circuit and 3K after desoldering
Replaced with BC547 and replaced the S6015 as probably adjustment required for auto mode as different output Vs
For the TIC/Teccor SCR
Auto ON 100% 14.5V/ same
	Float 13.9V/ same
Auto off 100% 15.9V / 15.2V
	Float 15.9V / 15.2V


Hayterette lawn mower, ancient , 1960s/70s?
Briggs and Stratton
92902 4stroke 3.5HP 
It had not been used for some years after it had stopped working properly.
Changed the fuel and after starting would run for about 6 seconds
with no revs to speak of ,then die. Stripped down the carburettor and
reassembled and it works fine,i suspect it was mis-aligned compound
linkage between the throttle cable anchor rotating plate,the rotating plate
attached to the throttle butterfly and the governor arm (wind vane).
from: Bob Archambault
This automatic choke responds to "manifold" vacuum (i.e. vacuum on the engine
side of the throttle valve). Vacuum is routed thru a passgeway to a chamber on the
fuel tank (under the diaphragm) to pull the choke open against spring tension. It is
not temperature-related at all. When starting the engine, the choke remains mostly
closed because the throttle is open and the engine is not yet producing much vacuum.
After the engine starts and comes up to speed, vacuum increases and pulls the choke
open. If this results in a mixture that is too lean, the engine will begin to die out - which
will result in a reduction of vacuum, and the diaphragm spring will start to close the
choke. This will richen the mixture, and the engine will pick up speed again. A balance
is thus achieved. Soon after starting, the engine is sufficiently warm so the mixture with
a fully-open choke is perfect. However, when rapidly opening the throttle, the choke will
close momentarily due to the drop in vacuum, thereby briefly enriching the mixture. This is
similar in result to having an accelerator pump. The engine will speed up smoothly, without
tending to die out.
Champion CJ-8 plug and gap 28thou, no deep plug socket for this size 
but with nipple removed  could use a "3/4" inch socket shifted axially and the T bar got 
just enough purchase. 
Magneto HT coil 2.61K, 1.57H
Poor smokey running
Very dirty spark plug, cleaned with petrol, toothbrush and toothpicks 
to get into the recess.
Broken start cord.
2 metres of replacement cord, not all required, 
as dependendent on turns on the pulley. Not 
too thin as will "upset" /jam in the pulley slot 
if too thin.
Remove top cover, remove remnants of cord.
Find a bit of bar that will locate in the pulley 
where the spline from the engine fits. Also a 
ratchet socket for this bit of bar.
With the spring wound neatly in the retaining well 
and the end located on the pulley and in 
place in the cap. Wind the pulley anticlockwise 
with bar and socket wrench. Until no more and 
back off until the hole in the pulley and 
lead out hole in the top cover are in 
line and hold in place with a G-cramp, not too tight.
Pierce the cord 1/2 inch back from an end 
to take the end of a piece of wire. Loop 
the wire around the end of cord (as faring)  and lead out 
6 inches or so. Introduce through pulley 
and guide until knot seats into the pulley. Check beforehand 
that your knot will seat in the recess.
Release G cramp and let pulley 
wind cord onto pulley, no further than 
cord exceeding space in the pulley and 
replace the handle.
Bad running, requiring the throttle to be nearly 
fully open and eventually stopping with 
sound of boiling petrol from the carburettor.
The spring between the end of Belden cable of throttle 
quatrant arm and the small lever that goes inside the 
engine block had weakened . Make sure the belden cable 
anchor on the motor top cover is replaced in correct 
position so max throttle is at maximum position of the quadrant arm.
Beware , when disconnecting HT clip from the spark plug 
for safety reasons, bend it up well clear of the spark 
plug stem. One time I forgot to reconnect it and 
the motor started normally and ran for 5 minutes before 
the HT lead dropped too far away - spark had been 
going through the air and the spark gap proper.
Run for ten minutes smokily and then die. Decided to 
check the operation of the auto-choke by running the motor 
with the air filter removed- ok. Dropped the filter 
over the flange, with motor still running, with through-bolt in place 
(so not bolt fouling on choke plate problem) 
and engine laboured smokily. 
Time to cut a replacement piece of air filter foam. 
Check on vacuum cleaner inlet that it is not closed-cell foam, 
slightly oversize except the central hole which is undersize,
and add/squeeze-in some engine oil for dust-trap. As seemed somewhat 
restrictive to air passage, cut down the thickness of this 
foam and padded (on external side) with shaped slabs 
of pan scourer as coarse filter.
If the engine dies after some minutes or if you start it with air filter removed and engine runs fine but at the 
point of placing the bolt in place the engine drops revs, check the fuel tank breather 
hole in the filler cap. The air filter bolt goes through into tank area and without it in place 
acts as  a vent for air pressure balance.
Beware the pierced base plate of the air filter chamber is very weak and can easily 
be bent and then fouls on the carburettor linkages.
Pull cord failing to retract properly, taking perhaps 10 minutes or more. Squirting 
WD40 or aerosol PTFE in that area made no difference. Reminded of the damper 
releases on the flaps of cassette players . Sets of concentric rings with grease in between but if the 
grease goes sticky then the flap takes ages to open under the spring action. 
Removed the top cover and cleaned all around with absorbent paper, including wiping the 
length of the spring. I determined how to refit the spring without loosing fingers but 
wear gloves when the spring is tensioned and not in the casing yet. 
One end of spring at the centre boss. Other end near where the pull cord comes in. 
Looking down on the upturned top cover, the spring goes from the anchor point on the cover 
anticlockwise winding into the centre. Have a clamp ready spaced to accept the 
cord drum and width of the spring metal , so can be clamped up single handed. 
With spring anchored at the centre and holding back the bank of turns , wind outwards the spring 
turn by turn until just 4 inches or so left and clamp off. There is a hole in the cord drum , 
cut a piece of lacing cord , pass through this hole and the large hole for the square shaft to the 
engine and around the spring and tie off on the "eventual" underside of the drum cord. 
Remove clamp
Add a couple more turns of the spring by feeding under this tied loop and then 
add a similar tighter loop of lacing cord. Add another length of lacing 
cord to the end of the spring and feed this cord through the profiled hole of the 
spring anchor in the casing
Place the drum in the top cover , after having fed the loose cord 
through the feed hole and pulling the spring-end cord to re-engage end of spring 
and joggle the drum under the 2 bumpers. Made a bumper out of a nylon block and glued 
over the post to hold in place better than my fixing hole crafting.
 . Squirt dry lubricant , finely powdered graphite from 
a locksmiths in and around the spring , drum and top cover . Tie off the cord to the top cover pillars for the vent area. 
Refit top cover and holding the cord with a bit of tension , cut the lacing cord. 
First pull did not fire and pull cord needed tickling in by finger  in the  vent hole and turning 
the cord back in. Second pull , engine fired up and cord half retracted. By the 
end of using the mower , graphite must hacve been well vibrated into the spring as it 
would pull and retract properly after that. 
Perhaps then routinely tip the mower on its side and squirt graphite into the spring area 
or once a season perhaps .
Cord looped around lower boss from motor spindle, probably due to loss of nylon bumper 
on one of the 2 bumper postes attached to the top cover or due to one of the spot welded 
posts failed between top cover and the very top containing the pull cord. C-shaped 
piece of steel plate to match the profile of the pillar and a hole in the plate and the cover and 
bolt and captive nut. Added graphite before 

Hitachi HMP 505 microphone
Broken on/off switch.
Remove on/off label to access screws. Undo XLR 
connector screw.
Unscrew mesh and desolder 2 wires and solder to a piece 
of wire to pull back through the hole , so can pull back 
the replacement

Honeywell 45.006.738 _003 rev E, 2003
on Halstead Ace
Unreliable on on-demand domestic hot water supply , 
going cold and clicking from the unit.
Surprising it was as reliable as it was, the main relay 
could be pulled out of the pcb by finger pressure and numerous 
other solder failures around large pins, SnPb not PbF solder. 
Probably due to being posistioned over the 22mm hotwater 
outlet pipe, perhaps cover with insulation.
Also just about to fall into the electronics a curled up 
aluminium (exposed conductive metal) sticker nearly unstuck from the cover.
HV transformer 025744 HT65021 0.2R/711R
18V 2.3W Tr 2090R/36.5R
LM339, 3x CNY17.3 , 820R,100R
(ST) 9247 ST Z55248 , 78F9116B 0235 E302
78L05 3x BT1496
Another time failure to start fan , no air pressure differential, so no progression to ignition.
Tiny brak in a pcb trace to the fan. No noticeable burn patch , just a pin sized break, probably 
a flaw in the copper layup as no heating of the conformal. 
Fan 42R, Ry1 1.56K and Ry2,270R mains on this clicking over but not maintainging 
on position.
Timer clock FM000520 70KU, comes apart easy enough. Note sequencing of cogs for reassembly. The one next to the worm drive 
will stay in on tilting of the frame. Make sure posistionof red lever is in correct position, adjust the wedge if  
falsely coming on heating system
Thermistor on flow valve manifold 10K NTC
RY101 ch pump
P1 ch thermostat
RY101 to + of C103 from Q102 npn 
-ve of C103 to pot low side temp
p27 of IC100 must go high to start ch pump
ch timer via opto  and R122 tp p2 of IC100 and to p20
p12 to LED for ch on, via dropper 
ST339 Z5S248

Honeywell S4565CF 1029 boiler controller
Gas fitter had wrong meter range when testing why 
gas valve not working.
He knocked out the 100R,1W dropper resistor, giving about 80V 
rectified ac on a DVM (ie no load), should be 
about 230V "dc", rectifiers were ok.
Original problem was intermittant 
failure of controller, due to poor solder leading 
to break at the 24V relay that supplies 
the HT to the solenoid circuit and flue fan
Uses spark generator coil 1300 ohm, .34H and about 0.2R
DT149c, LM33?, SI1 V120
18V relay hold/reset ?
Access, turn up long flap on the red part 
of housing under header pins, the grey section around 
the flame sensor and spark generator 
connectors slides out from the rest 
of the grey housing after turning back the plastic lock-tab.

Hot melt glue gun failure
Probably overheated and then the resistor block inside goes skew and blocks
the melt flow path. While molten but switched off , a rod through the nozzle
hits something solid , probably ceramic of a wire-wound. When powered,
pushing a hot-melt rod in the entry hole, little exudes from the nozzle,
requiring greater force than usual, outer housing seems to have expanded a
bit as well.
When I get a new one , this one will have a PM, but in the meantime , if
anyone has been inside one before.
Fixing a Jubilee clip, while hot, around the nose seems to have fixed it,
presumably the heater block realigned itself, but time for a new one anyway.
Anyone converted the heater block in one to a hot-air puffer for SMD work?

Interplak  Electric Toothbrush (Interplaque)
Intermittant loss of the charging light but no loss of battery charge.
The problem ,would seem to have been a defective SM LED. In the process checking 
for possible 
switch mode supply problems monitored the output but consistent OK. Used a 
33uH "1/3 Watt size" (if it was a carbon resistor) choke as a pick-up connected 
to a scope. At maximum 
coupling the induced voltage was 50KHz and about 0.4Volt. Using a standard DVM on 
AC volts range the maximum apparent signal was about 0.1V on the display. Maximum 
coupling curiously was with the choke at a 30 degree angle vertically to the base coil.
Major components in the toothbrush a tabbed power handling devce and a 4060 
presumably for the timer. The 2 halves separate by a twist and pull apart
The replaceable head converts rotary to reciprocating linear motion.At the 
active end is two racks that engage with 2 metal cogs. These drive 2 separate 
trains of plastic cogs. To gain access push small screwdriver into the 
small hole at the furthest end.
A whippy noise from the replacable head along with slowing 
to stall is due to a problem in the reciprocatory mechanism. Swap 
the mechanism from another head where the brushes are worn out.
Another mechanical problem in the rotary to reciprocal conversion section of 
the replacement head.
Gain access at the large end ,unclip inwards the 2 internal flaps in the recess,
then the only way to avoid awkward damage seems to be on the flattish side 
drill a small hole 12mm down from the driven end lip,poke a screwdriver in 
and lever off the closure . Glue over hole afterwards.  
Part of a soft plastic that almost looks like wax often buckles or breaks.
Remove this nasty plastic. Bits required flat pin idealy crimp Varelco hermaphroditic 
 the rivet part of a plastic snap rivet and matrix board pin. Cut off the insulation crimp part at 
one end of the pin and both flat ends just beyond the "crack stop" hole 
at the contact end. Flatten back the angled hold finger and cut off the 
2 tiny fingers either side of the flat. Slightly widen the U of the crimp point. 
Cut back the head of the plastic rivet down to just the central area. Mount rivet shaft in the 
crimp section and crimp closed. Cut away indruding parts in the axial slot 
wherer the "waxy" plastic was and slide into this slot. The rivet is because 
you don't want the plastic of the oval section rubbing against metal. Drill a small hole 
through the "crack stop" into the core between the X spline shaft and 
the rotary section. Push a "matrix board" thru-board pin into the hole and solder 
to the Varelco pin. Check nothing fouls the motion and reassemble with 
plenty of food grade silicon grease. Make sure the part rotating 
around the rack part does not bind when mounted back in the housing. 
I can only assume the manufacturer doesn't 
make such a modification is they want a "weak link" to fail to sell more brush heads. 
After all even if stalled the motor does not come to grief ,for short periods anyway.
Rattly noise ,slower action and frequent cut-out 
probably due to over-current monitoring cut-out.
Due to toothpaste accretion in the 'sun and planets' 
reduction gearbox. Desolder motor and batter contacts, 
bend back tinplate nibs, the gearbox just prizes off 
the front of the motor. Cleaned out thoroughly with meths 
and coated liberally with food grade silicone grease. 
The sun and planet gearbox is 6:1 reduction (1 + 45/9 )clockwise 
to clockwise rotation, sun of 9 teeth,planets of 18 and 
ring gear of 45 teeth. If wear on the 3 planet gear axles 
then pack out with some turns of cut-down plumber's PTFE.
Also for anyone who finds the replacement toothbrushes only last 3 weeks 
rather than 3 months (as per maker's instructions) before tufts
bend excessively wrap around themselves and slow the motor. 
 Solution to stiffen up (preferably while still new) 
each longer tuft at the driven end enough to stop them flexing so much. 
Push back the "clip" to release the head  containing the brushes. Need 
something like those annoying coloured plastic rings pushed onto peg 
board, then melted, for kids toy 'mosaics' ( Trade nameHama Beads ) about 5mm long and 5mm diameter. Cut 
axially and wrap around the base of each long tuft after soaking in 
epoxy glue. When cured "fettle the sprew" with a razor blade and reassemble. 
Alternatively with 150 degree C soldering iron melt the bristles together 
near the cog end. Then wrap folded plummers PTFE tape around this 
now reduced diameter section and sort of heat seal with 350 deg C 
soldering iron. The PTFE in a sense shrink wraps to grip. 
Also use to pack out when the white 
plastic housing gets worn down. To reassemble place tufts back in 
cover and place loosely over the drive section. With a needle jiggle 
the cogs to drop into the holes before pushing the cover home.
Water getting into the control area and gunge collecting under the click switch. 
Open up and clean away all gunge,the click part of the switch is only hooked under the 
pcb. Thence the following tip
Fault symptom - intermittant starting when sitting on charger or failing to 
switch on or failing to switch off finally.
Preventative action for owners of electric tothbrushes. (ALL ELECTRIC TOOTHBRUSHES)
It is asking too much of these toothbrushes to have a rotating spindle through a 
seal that should stop watery goo seeping through when the unit is placed 
on the charging base. 
Invert the charger base and fix to the underside of a shelf or 
cupboard. Make up a fork to engage with the shoulder of the brush to hold 
in place upside down. Or make  a shoe to slide the brush end in supporting 
the whole motor and brush up into the charger. 
Any liquid then drains away from the electronics area.


JVC AA-V5 Power adaptor
No  charging current
o/c thermal fuse TF2,115 degree C
In normal use .3W of heat from the
.2 ohm resistor seems a bit excessive
when insulated with a woven glass
sleeve so replaced fuse in thermal
connection with resistor but anchored the free end
of the 
assembly with "ceramic" fire cement

K'A'RCHER 510 pressure washer
Foot switch not switching off.
The mains switch is probably not man enough for 
a foot switch. The 2 part switch casing can flex and allow 
one of the internal springs to dislodge and fail to return 
the switch shaft to off postion. Also includes a thermal 
over-current cut-out. Reassembled and placed 
back in the outer plastic cover/holder and tightened 
a 10mm cable tie around central area to beef-up.

KEF concerto tweeter problem, 1960s
due to crossover failure, DN12?, Sp1004 ?. Probing with a 
dvm on ac range , no signal at the midpoint between the 
two , 6uF, 50V non-polarised caps.
Actually the input connected one failed o/c, replaced both 
with a 4.7uF, 100V polyester cap

Kemi GENF TS 830 Massager chair, 2006, Germany
nothing , not even LED display after being knocked
ps TDC power, DE 30 24D 66/9
Ts primary 48R
cracked open ps along short side
3 sizes of Allen key
To dismantle chair undo arms and slacken 3 bolts on underside of base ring 
to allow one of the lock knob interior section to come away from its housing.
The washer sections are plate with 2 indents to the sliding bar, then metal "eyelet" over 
thin washer. Inside the chair undo the 2 oversize screws that hold the thick plastic sheet 
overe the control box area. Cut 3 compound cable ties to release control box, 
little wire slack given, maybe reason of failuire or use of PbF, 
redid main solder in that box and the hand controller.
6 x 2 wire con , and if the label disappears, YW / BK/ WG/ WO/ WR order then 
RW its own latched.
4 relays ULN2003, IRF640N, 2x D1805, polyswitches ARCE and EFNJ
C815, 100R 1W. 13 pin connector wire at controller had pulled through the strain 
relief. Pull/push back and hot melt in place. Cable tie and hot melt 
around this part of the casing when reassembled.
GAL , PC817 opto, 7805
soft on/off only

Kenwood CJ66SS microwave oven, 2006
Owner put too heavy an item in the oven and the rotary drive made horrible
loud regular clatter noise after that, but cooker works still. On receiving
it was still making loud click noise of about 2 per second, very loud
disturbing noise. Security Torx screws (see tips files). By the time I'd taken it all apart and testing the
synchronous motor and 4 rev / min gear train, on mains , all apparently
working order. Turns anticlockwise.
After the pallaver of getting the casing off the oven , Torx security screws
etc. I now realise the well on  the base deliberately has 8 weak points, you
can cut and turn around the punch out, and refix with a screw as a removable
access panel. Before removing base , as one hinge needs removing, 
hold door closed with bungee and then refix hinge after removing base. 
To remove top cover slide rearwards to release top and side ledges.
Decided on PTFE washer and tightening up output spindle bearing surface as
probably worn down. Squashed 1/2 the ring of surround metal opposite 
the drive cog with mole-grips and fared off high points with needle file.
Reassembles and after a second much the same noise.
Probably misdirected by the owner it was loose mains primary 
wire on the transformer. He'd turned upside down to 
try and get to the platter motor and must have coincidently 
dislodged the wire. A wash on the priomary side of laquer.
While in their 7.1amp primary consumption at 240V , 0.9A/5KV 
secondary fuse , 1.15uF cap, diode RG606 CL01-12
"topband" pcb uses 20R and 2x 200R

Keyfob LED torch
Failed power, probably sat on and squashed
Raxor in joint line to separate.
Lithium button cell , flimsey bent contact to cell 
failing to 
make contact. Bend under the surround of the cell and bow out.

Kitchen Sink blockages
To reduce the possibility in th efirst place get in the habit of regularly pouring the last 
of the kettle hot water down the sink hole.
An ideal deblocking tool is that white covered spring net curtain rod. Squash 
one of the small fixing "cup hooks" and cut off excess and screw into the wire , so it will 
pass through a sink strainer hole. Rembering to keep turning in only the direction 
of tightening the hook , push through and around before pulling out. 

Kodak Z650 6Mp digital camera
Owner put 9V on the 3V input, is there much chance of being VTS + fuse
protection or rescuable similar or all active kaput?
7 presumably fuses found, 1.8 x 0.8mm with black letters over a white
central square
F001,S
F101 K
F102 S
103 N
104 N
105 S
106 K
104 and 106 are open,
so do the letters mean as Schurter SM fuse letter codes
0.375 Amp  E
0.5 Amp  F
0.75 Amp  G
1 Amp  H
1.25 Amp  J
1.5 Amp  K
2 Amp  N
2.5 Amp  O
3 Amp  P
4 Amp  S
At least 3 types of ZIF Kapton Polyimide ? ribbon sockets . 2 types I've
come across but the CCD one is ground planed stripline form of 34 conductors
with staggered interlaced lands at the socket so 2 lines of 17 on one side.
At the time I thought there was a moveable closure but further inspection
I'm not sure. Came out with some retaining force so not ZIF perhaps but not
fully clamped like usual ZIF ones when locked in. Under microscope it ooks
like individual pressure wedge tongues for closure force, is it a matter of
usual reinforcement with some cloth tape wrapped around ribbon  and then
forcing back in ?
Getting a white LED light into the slot and veiwing with a microscope, there
are 2 sets of curved brass contacts, I could not see the recessed set of 17
before, so low force rather than zero force. the fingers are just alignment
I think .
At the moment I'm following the heat.
Component marking
XR
5
F1
on the now accessed reverse side of the board,
looks suspicious at the moment as far as heat is concerned and 2 apparent
supplies (separate traces) at switched rail voltage? fuse voltage common
anyway. Powered up for a few seconds to 2.5 amp 2.1V Bat+ on F001 and 2.0V
on all fuses, wheras cold testing there is 0.6 V diode test between them.
Main on/off sw is inactive as far as current drain being continuous, no
change on main sw setting
The SOT235 , 5 pin SM, topcode XR 5 F1 is probably a buck boost, an inductor
connects the 3V line to another of its pins. No Exar SOT235/SOT23-5 package
buck boost data found so far. Putting a 0.5 amp limited 3V supply to the
fuses on this board only, 2 ribbons disconnected to other areas, then
current drain is 60 to 90mA. I cannot decide whether to try reconnecting all
and powering from 3V, 4 amp or tracing back to wherever the main power
switch is. Switching main sw on/off/on made no difference to the large 2V
current drain
With the 3 boards connected and some of the ribbons disconnected inc LCD and
backlight but not necessarily its inverter if inside that unit and "viewer"
n/c but CCD connected.
Gradually increased to 3V and 1.83 amp consumption on 2.5 amp limited
supply, so now check a few voltages and then reconnect everything and try
again
What maybe a motor driver chip (only a Google hint) , 52 pin M50236HP heats
up 8 degree C in 15 seconds so looks like the end . Unlikely to be a power
management IC, cannot find a datasheet onlt the usual crap www stuff. Had to
glue a SM 1N4148 to it and remote monitor via diode test, as on the wrong
side of the board. It only took a second for forward voltage to drop the
first mV.
ZIF ribbon cable closure arrangements
You have to flip up a section that
is pivotted, not at all obvious on first encountering. 0.3mm spacing of
conductors . Otherwise distinctive features are staggered lands at the
closure and a part view of a line of 0.6mm space pins along the top of the
socket making it looks as though they are a conventional slide in direction
of ribbon cable closure, but not fully closed or opened out a bit, but the
apparent closure does not slide in any direction.
This one had one of those and a variant in black . Because of the end cheeks
of the large white section having a hook/barb shaped plan view made it look
more like that section moved and was locked into the small black section,
not so. In fact the black part was pivotable along the wide axis. I realised
the brown one was pivotting closure early on, but not the black one,
thinking it was low force insertion as it had a back plane to the ribbon, so
tougher.
2 types of 0.3mm spacing of ribbon conductor ZIF sockets on a digital
camers, brown for the LCD and black for the CCD
http://home.graffiti.net/diverse:graffiti.net/ZIF33.jpg
White with brown one top and 4th images.
The black and the brown connectors require the same
0.16mm thickness at the ribbon ends, the "black" one has more metal and
seemed thicker. The brown one has cable entry nearest the brown piece and
bare lands nearest the pcb. Opposite for the "black" one , ribbon entry
farthest from the black bit and bare lands away from the pcb.
33 way conductors , on the main white section marked MX/ at one end and E2
on the other. Purple B marks where there should be the same tiny brown pivot
piece as the other end but I managed to break it off.
2nd and 5th images white with black, 35 way as 33 plus 2 outer conductors,
"A" on one end and 33 on the other end of the black section, maybe "C" on
the white section. Purple B marks where there should be a hook piece like
the other end but I thought it needed pulling outwards to release and not
made to do so, so broke off. This one is for ribbons with stripline
grounding plane so thicker construction.
Both types use 0.16mm thick ribbon at the connector 
one had back plain metal so seemed thicker.
Both just need very light pressure from a small needle to rotate upwards 1/4
turn, as shown in the bottom two images. Only an ounce or so of force is
needed to flip up either type, do not use a finger nail.
Middle image shows the distinctive ribbon land pattern on both types, but
only observable when released
In both cases the broken ends have not
affected the hinge action, just the loss of lock/latch at one end, fixed
part in one case and moving part for the other. The hinge must consist of
extented "knuckle hinge" multiple ball and cups.
100 way connector 
p10-13 BAT+, 51-57 fuses
p43 to J2A 63
AA7Q near M50 
SM devices
LA= 3 pin
=JG SOT236 pins 2,3,4,5 to gnd
Decided to disconnect line at 100 way conn pins 42 and 43. 
Desoldering them with a fibre washer in the slot but 
on removing nothing holding these 1mm dimension fingers in place.
With just the 2 main boards and this power line to the 
motor driver , could put 3V on the power input 
and only 8.3mA . Reconnecting all ribbons 
and on/off board etc much the same and gave up then 
as too much obviously blown

Kotel cell phone vibrator motors, for reuse of the tiny motor
Removing the off-centre mass. What looks like a pin is a compression point. 
Grind into that area with .5mm disc then push off using pliers cutter blade against body.
3 to 5Volt

Laser Scout metal detector, about 2002
Motion dependent detection - no beeping if head is static 
over metal.
Dust on the diverter contact on the 1/4 inch jack socket meaning the
internal speaker output was cutting out.
It looks as though the intermittant non working was due to being used in a
field with a lot of very fine red dust blowing about, everything inside was
coated with it. Removed pots and switches and cleaned up and then blocked 
holes in the case. Presumably wind blowing over the control box 
created positive pressure on one face and negative on the 
other making a nice air pump.
Using this or a similar machine when
headphones aren't plugged in, to plug a small rubber bung (tied on a bit of lacing cord) in
the socket hole. 
Also glue some light compressible  rubber cord on the ledge under the front
panel as dust or rain. Form a ledge around the curved section 
with hot melt glue moulded by replacing cover 
and then adding more melt when cooled/shaped. And block up the 
3 holes around the battery cover 
by squashing plasticine in the holes from outside and then dribbling 
hot-melt glue over it, on the inside.
This is a VLF motion discriminator design (Tesoro) probably 
circuit much like a SM cut down versiuon of the Elektor Nov 1981 
circuit as uses 4024 and 4016 but not 4046s. Has +5 dc-dc converter 
18AE,2931A,M-5.0 and somewhere a -4V source maybe the 22621,18T,A72J 
although power pinning as the dual op-amps LM358M and LM393 and 4558.

Laser Scout metal detector
Dead machine.
Headphone lead had been wrenched presumably so 
plastic bush of socket was part broken and 
the innermost switched element was loose 
after the plastic retaining lug of the socket 
was cracked.

Leader "plug top" smps 12V, 1A
ITE MU12-2120100, RoHS , 2005
Squash in vice across o/p wire to crack there and then along long sides in vice. Marginal 
catch along whole sides, mainly superglued in place
U3 KA431ZA TO92 shunt regulator easily 2 R changed
U2 opto T C9 P??
U1 SMD 6 pin EN?9CP topmark Tx driver ?
400V , 33uF

LED torch, simple multi-LED, failed latching sw.
Button cover has a central rubber cylinder under that is too 
soft and squirms to the side, melt some hot melt into the 
ring gap 

Lucas K2F magneto coil rewind
http://www.diversed.fsnet.co.uk//K2F.jpg
laying on cm/mm graph paper.
Orangey section is the laquered coil.
C area is the contact patch (supplying 2 HT leads in turn) moulded into the
surrounding paxolin? insulation, continued out to the boss marked P, but
otherwise looking like the tarnished brass sections in colour , marked B.
The curve above the C is the shape of one end of this contact section, not a
trick of the light.
A is aluminium housing for the contact breaker
As received by me, the secondary measured 22K ohm, now reads 6.3K , at this
stage, presumably shorted turns rather than a break for this one.
Every time I touch this armature the secondary ohms varies, 45K and 27K on
the last 2 occasions, so at least cannot make matters worse.
I can now see how to remove the coil assembly but not how that leadout is
connected into the paxolin drum. I can see me using glass tape being used
instead of cloth for outer protection, for anti-hygroscopic reasons.
From the Lucas pdf , under fig 6
http://www.bolsover.com/lucas/sectionL5partA.pdf
"Fit the new slip ring moulding on the shaft, taking care that the wire
enters the hole in the slip ring boss , and that it goes fully home without
bending. Seal the wire into the bosss with varnish"
Sounds a bit odd and don't know what it means yet, pushfit and varnish?.
The contact breaker housing comes off by slackening the central holding bolt
a bit and lightly tapping the bolt head to release a keyed bushing.
The capacitor, sorry, condenser measures 0.36uF which is presumably about
right value but as resistance was about 400K then no use for anything. 
To remove the condenser as US and avoid use of a large soldering 
iron. Thin screwdriver wedge action oart the hold-down 
arm from the capacitor and similarly break 
the hold on the screws.
A matter of removing the ballrace and underlying steel rings
and spacer from the brass section marked BR on
http://www.diversed.fsnet.co.uk//K2F_b.jpg
requiring making up an extractor as standard pullers have no ledge to
purchase on. Some soft iron rod formed into a ring 
and let into the groove of the bearing surface. Mole-grips 
gripping that diametrically and wedges and padding 
under the pivot section of the molegrips, 
shifted that sleeve off. HT lead emerges between the non-diagonal 
pair of locating pins opposite 
side to the thru' hole in the steel pole pieces for the wire 
connecting to the points. 
The 2 long screws go the length of the steel pieces like an electric drill
housing. Marked the orientation before removing the end cap. Yes the HT wire
marked W just pushes into the boss of the paxolin pulley shown in the third
pic. An excellent site for damp ingress , via capillary action, into the
body of the coil (my excavations exploring how deep the cloth covering was).
Green corrosion on the HT wire is more obvious in the original high
resolution pic, evidencing dampness at the end of the HT sleeving.
http://www.diversed.fsnet.co.uk//K2F_c.jpg
the capacitor is the square lump covered in greasy mess in the end cap
http://www.diversed.fsnet.co.uk//K2F_d.jpg
the paxolin pulley-like section that goes on the brass axis at W position.
Before excavating further decided to take a pic of the now obvious ingress
of damp down the HT wire. Lovely green copper carbonate staining.
http://www.diversed.fsnet.co.uk//K2F_e.jpg
net/diverse:graffiti.net/K2F_c.jpg
and the other cap interior where the contact breaker connection is from the
centre fixing , insulated under and around , by what looks like a black  RF
coil former. Release the axial bolt a bit and tap 
to free that section. The locating pins , 
2 diafgonal ones for the condenser end and 2 
to one side for the HT bobbin end.
http://www.diversed.fsnet.co.uk//K2F_f.jpg
Unwinding and counting off the secondary under a 
low setting hot air gun. The break was near the 
outer end and 4 layers, 751 turns in the ohmage was 5.12K 
so for 45SWG and 3.9 ohm/yd then full secondary 
should be about 5.5K , 1417 yards, 1.61 oz
Primary about 171 turns as 3x37 and 2x30.
Check the metal sections go back in place without gaps, 
before winding. Enginner blue the steel ends before squashing on the 
brass ends , to find any high points and then grind down.
If you take apart the contact breaker, as I did, not realising 
you just unscrew the central bolt/conductor. Its no good 
fixing the other adjustment screw in mid-position 
for checking out. You have to align the HT segment 
of the bobbin with the cam at point of opening with the 
the contacts actually opening. 
Just a 3 inch piece of wood bolted to the tapered 
drive shaft and turning by finger at about 1 rev / 
second should show sparks on the plugs. To test 
before reassembly just a 1.2V nicad touched between 
ground and capacitor line, or when assembled 
put some card in the contact gap and do the same.
some other useful info
http:/www.brufnut.de/WORKSHOP/LUCAS/lucas.htm
Before inserting the armature, checked magnetism. 
2.5 inch long, 1.5mm diameter sewing needle on thread. 
Grabbed by the magnet on one side, through 
the Al, 2.5 inches away and 3 inches on the othe rside.
With a 1.2V nicad checked for spark , no cap required , 
then with a small neon 100Meg resistance was fine but 300M was poor
After fully installing and turning around by hand 500M fine but 400M 
was poor discharge.

Lucas 1930s "King of the Road" bike light.
Conversion to insulated electrics so it could be used with a dyno-hub.
The top on/off switch has a brass spindle that passes and touches through 
the casing and so the switch contacts are in electrical contact with the casing.
Open out the bush housing in the casing so some PTFE tape can be wrapped 
around the switch spindle. Incidently why the small red lens on port/left side of the 
casing and green on starboard/right side. 

Magnifying lamp
Anglepoise/Luxo type with 5 inch lens and 8 inch fluourescent lamp.
Long term problem of the lamp clips dislodging and immediate problem of 
the lens falling out. Anular tube held in place by 3 copper strips sprung 
into the top cover but they work loose. Replaced with bits of 10 inch cable ties,
curled round and heated on low setting of hot air gun . Wedged and glued into the housing. 
Uncurl the tie to replace the lamp. One of the 2 plastic lens retaining lugs had broken .
Replaced with large plastic cable clip for 1/2 inch cable. Squash the "free" part of 
the clip with parallel jaw pliers and heat to soften with low heat setting hot air gun 
forming an angled flap .
Remove the fixing nail and screw up into this hole through a hole in the lamp cover 
and for good measure glue in place.

 Makita DC18RA charger / ZNR transient suppressors /
T8A fuse o/c , 58R across R101 of 470K due to burnt VDR
Topside C/R/Ds seem ok
as does 2SK3528
on reverse 2x1M lead to bipolar SMD marked LF and FET/Digital? topmark G23
IC101 M07C13?, main uC NEC D78F05U, matsuchita MIP2F2, TSM104A1W
L50/VC, Z14L22/
In what circumstances do they fail open versus low ohmic
Specifically panasonic ZNR V10 241U
A Yankee in Limeyland with a Makita fast battery charger
misreads 110V~240W as 110V~240V and connects to 240V mains and a fatal sizzle. The transient suppressor , in there to suppress transients not sustained overvoltage, seems to have protected the electronics by going ohmic and blowing the 8amp internal fuse and part shattering itself in the process. But >8 amps seems to be a tall ask for such a small device, was he just lucky? 
T5A fuse will be going back in there. Owner will be using with his 1500W autotransformer. I'm assuming that variable demand is usual for these sorts of charger, monitoring current draw at 240V, before stepdown Tx, 1.3amp for 7 seconds, .3amps for 2 seconds, (2.6A/.6A at 110V) while the battery is well beolow 80% charge. I'll monitor the timings as the charging progresses but so far seems ok 
original , assuming www  info as to identity was coreect, ZNR ... 241U remained on the component = ZNRV10D241U , then 150 sustained max V and 2mS energy of 30J, replaced with larger 140V max, 40J and T5A fuse.
More headroom should he do the same but no guarantee that the transient suppressor would not go open.
Monitoring 240V mains during charging (double for 110V into the charger)
approx .1amp (L), .3amp(M), 1.3 amp(H)
first few minutes in region 5-6 sec M, 2-3 sec H
5 minutes in few seconds L, 5-7s M, 1-2s H
8 minutes in 2s L, 17 s M, never H from then on to 12 minutes and L , saying 100% charge.
When I first measured the batt voltage, as received, I thought it was 1.5V for this Lion 18V, 1.5Ah, perhaps I made an error with the DVM probes/reading. Or can li-ions be driven that low and recover (well no bad batt yellow LED at any time on the charger)
After intial minute or so of try out with battery, was 18.1V and after charge 20.1V , all with no load 
original , assuming www  info as to identity was coreect, ZNR ... 241U remained on the component = ZNRV10D241U , then 150 sustained max V and 2mS energy of 30J, replaced with larger 140V max, 40J and T5A fuse.
More headroom should he do the same but no guarantee that the transient suppressor would not go open.
Monitoring 240V mains during charging (double for 110V into the charger)
approx .1amp (L), .3amp(M), 1.3 amp(H)
first few minutes in region 5-6 sec M, 2-3 sec H
5 minutes in few seconds L, 5-7s M, 1-2s H
8 minutes in 2s L, 17 s M, never H from then on to 12 minutes and L , saying 100% charge.
Temporary cover over the h/s for fan air 
When I first measured the batt voltage, as received, I thought it was 1.5V for this Lion 18V, 1.5Ah, perhaps I made an error with the DVM probes/reading. Or can li-ions be driven that low and recover (well no bad batt yellow LED at any time on the charger)
After intial minute or so of try out with battery, was 18.1V and after charge 20.1V , all with no load 
Beware of loosing spring under batt con
Batt BL1815, 18V 1.5Ah

Anglepoise/ Luxo magnifier  inspection lamp problem, Ledu type 271
Heavy glass lens, circular fluorescent lamp etc on 2 off 18 inch long sets
of arms with springs. However much you tighten up the central clamp the top
arm sags down in use, especially when you rotate the whole lamp or the angle
of the head.
Place a dense rubber tap washer under the nut of this clamp. Changing the
angle of the arms is then stiffer but I prefer that, to sagging in use.
In effect stretching the springs a bit, I chopped off a
bit of 12 mm hard/high temp hotmelt glue stick and cable-tied in place, a
tie around a loop of each spring. Pen barrel was not big enough.
All that agro over the years, just for the want of 1.5 inches of hotmelt
glue stick, 2 cable ties and a tap washer. It now lives up to the name
anglepoise.

Made in China basic metal detector , Model 3005, GC 1015, 2002
170mm search coil, says waterproof on that but control box 
certainly not, needs a plastic bag over in rain.
Dismantling, leave the screw nearest the searcg coil but remove 
all the others. PCB marked 63-3015
wires or,gn,be,y
search coil wires gn+bk,be,y,r
to 0V unsoldered 4.9R,6.4R,8.1R
.4,.32,.54mH
uses 4070,4069,lm324,s9015,3xs9014,s9013 and 3 pin TO92 IC 
with all this written on it immediately prior to the meter
7150A-1   A407C0042
 voltage regulator Holtek HT7150A-1 ?
If it walks like a duck and quacks like a duck, then....
Now it is working (wire or wiring solder problem) this IC gives a 5V supply
Red 20KHz 4V pk-pk, Y 260mV, third wire 30mV with search head in free space 
and at 0.

Mains wiring problem
Main 5 amp lighting fuse blew not associated with bulb failure.
Replacement fuse wire also blew.
Isolating the mains there was something like 16Kohms , slightly 
varying, between Live and Neutral. How to trace where the bridge/problem 
was, single handed.?  Connected one side of one of the dual pots of a 
basic Wien bridge test gear oscillator out to the wiring in parallel.
Fed the oscillator output to a ghetto blaster and started tugging at the 
wires entering each of the ceiling roses until pitch change. Found one line and 
repeated in the loft, found to be squirrel had gnawed through to the 
live wire but had lived to move elsewhere.

Mastic Gun , badged PERIMETER
Looked robust but only as strong as the weakest point, faced with some past its prime mastic.
The acttive latch is cast , something non-ferrous, split.
From the storage pot of old misplaced keys, a steel one, with right size of keyring hole 
to take the steel pin of the gun. Just needed the end of the keyway cutting backj a bit. 
The original thickness not required

Motorola Talkabout T5100 , 465MHz band walkie-talkie, 2001
Sometimes , particularly at pressing "press to talk" would go into repeated 
POST-type routine about once a second, ie LED , beep and all LCD segments activate. 
Unclip botom clasp. Undo Torx screws, beware of short LCD ribbon that is fitted in place. 
Corrossion at the battery + spring contact to the pcb pad. Cleaned away disrupted 
conformal coating etc and bent the spring to make eadge contact in an unaffected 
part of the pad.

Munro RC82 universal remote control
Adding a visible LED need an npn and 1K and 47R dropper with the LED 
, like the existing drive, not 
just a matter of placing in series with the IR one

Multi Aerial Distributors 1520 UHF amp 
Slide the cover off , mains transformer 4K

Nail fungus treatment.
Tripped up stubbing foot in open footware. Toe nail bent back in a diagonal line, but as it returned back automatically (with a crease line though) thought nothing of it. Then over a year or 2 it became apparent there was nail fungus in operation. It is easy to convince yourself the 
situation is improving, as a long process, next time take some pics perhaps to convince one way or the other. Part of nail leading edge about 6mm back from where it should be and soft or white (delaminated?) or brown nail on and behind rest of leading edge of nail.
Get some nail varnish, acetone based remover and some copper sulphate (agricultural supplier , used against foul pest etc).
2 pots of light pink varnish, one brown (assuming you are caucasian) 
and some clear. Grind the copper sulphate in pestle and mortar and add to one of the pink bottles until its an obvious blue/green colour. 
Go cautiously , at first to check for any allergy or skin irritation etc. 
Apply some of this coppered varnish to some skin for a couple of hours 
and remove, then repeat overnight. Then try on the affected area , underlying toe skin and over the nail,for a few hours, then overnight, then 2 days , then a week , then 2 weeks by which time you should know you are safe from any reaction. Initially 
apply to whole affected nail, then over time about a year, just the 
leading edge section.
If concerned about the blue/green appearance, let it dry and then overcoat it 
with a colour matched varnish, adding drops of brown to the other 
light pink bottle until a reasonable colour match. Will survive numerous showers before needing replacement, bathing effect on durability is  unknown. Every few weeks remove with acetone remover , nail clipping 
and filing to remove any delaminated sections etc. The copper of the 
copper sulphate counters the fungus and the nail varnish hinders 
the delamination and reinforces the thin/absent areas of nail , so 
less likely to catch on clothing etc and break more of the nail off.
Towards the end of treatment , just a small dot of the coppered varnish 
at the worst spot and clear mixed into it while liquid, spread over the 
leading edge. Reading up around this, it seems keeping oxygen away 
from the fungus, helps. So the varnish , not only reinforcing, is keeping oxygen away. If a similar foot stubbing occurance then just clear or colour matched varnish over the affected nail, and the leading edge, sealing around the edges, may stop the fungus developing in the first place.
Similarly a foot powder for general fungal deterence. Again go 
cautiously at first to check for any skin allergy / irritation, for a few hours , only,  intitially . 
A bottle of ordinary talcum powder/talc. Decant enough into a bowl 
to then transfer to an ex-footpowder plastic dusting bottle.
Grind some copper sulphate in pestle and mortar 
and add to the talc and mix until the colour is just obsevably grey 
side of white compared to the original white, not purple or obvious grey colour, so about 1 to 5 percent, and transfer to the foot-powder bottle. 

Novatech SX 410Z3 digital camera
No work with new batteries, too much surrounding plastic on the + terminals. 
Dart point to move the contacts farther from the plastic body

A One for All URC 3445 universal remote control almost full fix
Will do almost all on-screen menu functions as well
as transport functions, but 
No explicit "OK" or "Select" button on this remote, the Mute button at the
centre of the 4 arrow keys is supposed to double as OK according to the
instructions.
This button works in TV mode as mute etc but no send LED when pushed in VCR
mode. For a Goodmans VN9500 vcr anyway, don't know if a genearal problem/fix.
In close succession to pressing Menu or arrow keys it will function as "OK".
So its possible to change preset channels, set clock etc by letting the
selection stand and closing the menu down back to normal function.
eg to change modulator RF out channel it is a matter of pushing in rapid
succession Menu/Down/Down/Mute/Down/Mute to get to the relevant selection ,
press 33 for channel 33 and then exit by pressing Menu.
But in timed/programmme record setting
it is necessary to go back to a previous menu to store and Mute will not
function then, exiting Menu directly loses the values. Anyone any ideas ?
To open, plecrum mid body seem 5mm from top, directed to the back, open 
up around the pointy end,
8M Hz 2 element resonator

Orpat 3862-2L telephone
The LED that flashes with unanswered call, stays flashing, usually cancelled by 
pressing the down button a couple of times, stays on.
Maybe indicates something not right with the phone line, but cancelled by lifting 
]the receiver
For BT line-1, outer pins active, correxspond to the inner pair of yellow and black 
of the USA type one and the inner pair there
Lift receiver and press ARD/Back to cancel LED or lift receiver and press CONF

Overdrive inhibitor sensor from a Land Rover
Inhibits engaging overdrive if too slow a gear wheel or in this case broken
wires to the sensor. Looks as though transmission fluid makes the wiring
sleeving go hard and brittle then vibration completes the job. No I don't
know what its from , built into a 3/8 UNF stud though so localises it a bit
I suppose, 32 mm long.
Is the system passive or active.? Magnet as a pole piece inside a coil
probably, 330 ohm, 60nH. Spinning a steel cog in a drill , passive output is
about 10mV sineish pk-pk 5mm from gear and about 100mV if 3mm from the gear.
But also a lot of EMI from the drill motor so are these things used actively ?
I hope gearboxes make good Faraday screens against ignition EMI, there is no
braid screening around the signal wires though.


Pact KLT 800, 7 day electro-mechanical timer
Excessively noisy rattle.
Before removing the final plate that holds the gears 
in place, mark the cogs for order and up/downness.
I can see its not
the anti-counter-rotation kicker moving about
The final fastener is recessed and needs prizing off 
which can dislodge the cogs.
5.1K coil actually requiring 30V from the 56K dropper
There was oil in there and I added some more, noise pattern has changed ,
and reduced level of noise, so much better than it was.
Seems to be shaded pole motor type , with small magnetised disk on a spindle
but the 2 poles from the coil are not coplanar and the functioning seems to
require axial movement of the disk, something to do with this non-planarity
? so not possible to take up axial wear, assuming basically a wear problem.
Probably circumferential wear in the end bearing surfaces allowing a complex
oscillatory movement to happen.
Powering the motor outside the housing, holding in my
fingers, it made no observable noise but you could feel vibration, but lay
it on a surface of some sort and the noise was obvious. I doubt the
vibration conducted through the drive pinion would be much.
Thought about wrapping the motor in rubber but 
it is only held by 2 pips as it is. Perhaps next time 
try replacing the hard plastic pips with bits of rubber 
and wiring-in rather than the clipped in coil rods.

Panasonic KX-T3716 cordless phone.
Intermittant failure of handset.
Replace the worn membrane type push to talk switch
with a standard small click switch,Remove 2 of the
four pins (diagonally) and solder in diagonally to 
match centres with the key pad button.

Panasonic SD 251 bread-maker
Schematic not in the service manual , well not the one on
http://servicemanuals.pro/servicemanuals/index.php?find=http%3A%2F%2Fdisk.ka
relia.pro%2Fg%2Fgenard%2Fservice_manuals%2Fpanasonic%2Fhome_appliance%2Fkad0
105444c3.zip
I've never used one so am unfamiliar. Is the motor function separate from
the heater function - I assume so, both are failing to operate it would
seem. Unit was working fine and then failed to start one time. LCD and
option selections work fine, press Start , the red LED goes on but then no
motor or heater and no Err in the LCD display.
Fuses and wiring ok, seems to have 2 control lines through the interboard
ribbon , one to a relay for the heater and one variable one to a triac for
the motor. All associated minor components seem fine testing cold (no
isolation Tx here , everything hanging off the mains), no hot spots. Solder
to main 64p SMD seems ok. Not full of cooking grime
2 pipped security torx m/c sc underneath, remove along with ordinary pk  
top and bottom and remove innard throiugh the top , beware not much 
then holds the control section to the lid section
Ribbon connector on power pcb is push to pcb to release. 
Blue CN1 to 32K NTC thermistor on heater drum. 
5.6V on ZD1 and ZD2 on power board
Triac for motor control NEC AC03F, 600V 3A
22R, 2x200R 
Heater 98R, relay controlled
Motor 
R-W 164R
Be-W 192R
Be-R 356 R
Motor cap 3uF
CN7 
p1 to Q1
p3 to relay driver, to p60 of main 64 p chip via 8K2
5 to triac gate, to Q5 & Q4 to p4 of IC1 on control
7 ?
9 to Q1
p2 blue CN1
p4 1M3 to Bk cable
p6 1M3 to W cable
p8  to orange cable
Q1 for the sounder?
Looks like it was corrossion on the ribbon connector or another connector,
the rest is probably RTFM.
Supercap is connected to p51 and p54 of the 64 pinner so probably retains
memory for a maximum of 10 minutes of power outage.
Then from the manual there is a "Resting" stage where the heater comes on
for a second  twice a minute unless you warm the bucket temp sensor with hot
air. Similarly selecting "Dough" the oven has to be up to some temperature
something like 25 deg C before the motor/kneding action starts.
Default setting press start. Relay clicks and heater comes on for a second then off for 30 seconds 
repeating until up to some temp , perhaps about 25 deg C. Or defeat this "Rest" process with 
a blast of hot air over the thermistor. 
3V over supecap. sounder works. Supercap to C17p1 and 150K to C17 p4
p8 to C9 neg and ZD1 cat and ZD3 cat.
C17p1 to p51 of 64pinner
C17p4 to P54 " "
To reset program need to wait 10 minutes or discharge the supercap.
If "rested" and select DOUGH the motor will start
long m/c sc holds power pcb cradle in place and shouldered sc for rubber  feet.
Clear tape over the control panel butons with instruction to owner not to use fingernails

PDF reading problem
Would not read (Foxit or Acrobat) would not read a pdf downloaded the day before 
and readable then. Message saying parsing error , cannot repair.
Changed system clock back a day and it woould read.

Pentax Optio 60, pre-2001 USB-7 lead wrong for 
this camera. physical inswerion sw? activated to kill the 
LCD display but no active USB triggering. Needed the 
"square " corners of the micro USB grinding back to similar to 
the chamfered corners , to insert the wrong way round, because the 
centre nib is offset the other way , but the u=internal pinning must 
be wrong.
With camera in a padded bag it is still too easy to start power-up 
and hence graunch the lens drive system. LED clip closing ring 
cut to half its depth and glued around the button 
in the mode sw. Just enough pictogram to tell the mode , and now needing little fingernail to start power up

Piezo gas lighter
Self inflicted breakage. They are not made for the damp UK. I thought this
new one (basic one not butane) I'd winterize before any use proper . Easy to
take apart , in fact dropped apart, after removing from the steel frame. 2
separate peizo rods in a plastic open ended cylinder. Central copper disc
between the rods leads out to the HT tip and steel frame for the return and
contact at both ends of the rods, one via the steel pressure cam. Added a
couple of activated silica gel crystals and placed hotmelt glue in each end
before reinserting the steel disc protector pads at each end. Unfortunately
I was not thinking about polarity and replaced them back to back and no
output at all. Redid and working hopefully for a few damp UK years without
need of replacing. I forgot to note where the ratchetting action comes from,
when inside. When reassembled wrongly there was no ratchetting, is it a
relaxation effect within the piezo elements, I saw no obvious toothing in
the metalwork.
If discherge to couling then open out , if week discharge 
then bend th edischarge tang further away to give more pronounced spark

Plug top SMPS, 5V, 1 amp
To add a mains sw.
on overlay marked 
FY FJC-106
uses THX202H controller, CT152 opto and SOT23 marked 
431 = TL431? shunt regulator, 4700R and 5110R V programming 
resistors.
Just about space inside for a standard 1 pole toggle sw with 
mica sheet either side of it and cap/Tx and terminals ground 
down to stubs. Use LED off pcb as a guide on 
outside of main casing to mark sw posistion
2sc and lever apart. makes sure wires to UK plug are on 
the mains side before replacing cover

Plasma Sphere, no makers name, 2000
Glass sphere on truncated black plastic pyramid with 
12V (1A ac ) socket, Lo-Hi pot, on/off switch.
Intermittant failure.
To open remove slider knob, remove 4 screws, open enough 
to prize on/off knob off (in on position) , pull LOPT wire out of double 
sphere interconnect tube.
Uses 555, TIP122 driver and electret to peak to Hi 
setting when pot set to a lower level.
FR157 (high speed 1.5A, 1KV diode connected to the LOPT ) 
heated sufficiently to char pcb and desolder 
pcb connections. Extended the diode on pin pillars 
away from the board.

Powakaddy 2 Golfing powered trolley.
No speed control.
Replaced all 5 paralled powerFETs BUZ71 and
added across the motor not in original design) a back-emf
protection diode for the FETs.

PowaKaddy Classic golf club trolley.
No function just a slight buzz from the control box.
Failed TIC126 thyristor,no gate function. The IRFZ48N 
mosfet was OK.Remounted the PCB and Ali heatsink with 
2 bolts and captive nuts rather than as original pop 
(blind ) rivets.

Praktica MTL3 35mm camera
Not a repair job - was after a pentaprism
How to dismantle and may be similar to other cameras
To remove the top section
Remove the four obvious screws.
Force out the thin spring plate of the hot shoe 
to expose 3 screws.
Remove central disc on lever winder and undo  
the 2 internal securers
Remove disc with shutter speeds around it 
and undo the 2 internal securers.
Cassette release pull and undo the exposed bush nut.

Proaction BH fitness bike , infiniti, Chang Yow
Nothing on LCD, bad rivet on battery connector midway contact 
plus corrosion problem on a solder joint.

Proaction vacuum cleaner, CJ8955-140
dead
Broken slider pot track 470K in series with 150R 1W ceramic probably bad design for 
gate triac current going through this last bit of track.
Security screw under a wheel furthest from mains plug. 3mm gap ground in the end of an 
old 5mm bladed screwdriver for that. 
BTA12-600B
Stray black chimney piece, fell out when dismantling , and not noted from where. 
The square hole goes over the mains lead. 
To increase lead tension. pull out drum and put in a few turns. 
Loose castellated gasket goes next to this cable drum

Precision mitre saw
Top tensioning rod anchor failure on one side of the fork sheared off.
Pierced metal, used a stainless steel sink strainer , cut to a strip, 
bent to a U , central hole enlarged to take the threaded rod and 
long bolt and nut replacing the rivet.
Loose swivel plate, requires undoing the 4 bolts of the wooden 
base, steel into Al, soak in WD40 overnight, and the 2 bolts that tighten 
#th epivot. 

Pump up garden type pressure spray. 
Perished rubber parts.
1/ the non-return valve that is under the liquid.
Cut some bicycle innertube rubber. If too large a diameter 
, fold 2 or 3 times until small enough.
The cup shaped rubber on the piston. 
Assuming you can find a tap washer of the right 
diameter. With Dremmel and 1/8 inch ball mill mill 
out a ring , leaving as narrow a wall as you dare to form 
the rim. Then also mill away the external shoulder 
of where this rim meets the main disc so the rim will flex 
out of the way on the return stroke.

Remote Control car
Mechanical damage to front suspension after banging into wall
Bonded the cantilever suspension arm back to the chassis 
with hot melt "soldering" (see tips files) melted under and around reinforcement 
all round with aluminium expanded mesh (from car spares shops 
for GRP patching to car bodies(multi-sliitted aluminium sheet 
that is then stretched to form a grid of rhombic holes)

Response 200 answer machine 1993
Failure to recognise active phone line.
Should show alternately "HO" or "00" on pressing one of the buttons , just
beeps and 2 character
display stays at "o" and no activation to ring pulses.
Phone and tape sections working order.I'm assuming for the moment that the relay that connects
the standing DC on the phone line through to the other side
should be active when there is power to the machine and
switched to answer machine mode and active phone line
is connected so it can register an active line.
This relay and driver works if i drive it but 0 level on the only line
that connects back to the main micro so presumably an output.
The keyboard controller is signalling this main micro
when changing operational status but no drive to the relay.
Pins 21 and 39 on the TMP47c micro have signals 
from keyboard but no output change.
Failed to discover the other control function or whatever 
causing the problem.

Rewinding a petrol motor magneto coil.
Unlikely you will be able to count-off the number of turns on the old coil.
At least get an idea of the weight of secondary wire and an accurate
measurement of the SWG.
Also try and count the number of turns on one layer and count the number of
layers.
The one i rewound had a charred area buried in the centre of the secondary
windings.
After setting up the coil winder for a traverse rate that was at the bottom
of the scale and back-tension by fingers because that was below the bottom setting on the
winder.
For the actual winding it took only about 3/4 hour to do 24,000 turns if i
remember correctly.
And that included some paper salvaged from a high voltage electrolytic to go
over each winding-run before traversing back the other way.
For inter-layer insulation I just unwound a old type
valve/tube electrolytic capacitor 600V or so rating. Strip away
the aluminium foil to leave the shellac?ed paper.
After rewinding and before sealing, place in a low oven to make sure there
is no water vapour trapped inside.

Replacing domestic tap washer.
Or rather getting to the stage where you can replace a washer.
First run off some water in a container for a cup of tea & 
hand washing. Switch off the boiler so no chance of 
coming on with no water in the cylinder.
Turn off the mains under sink or wherever, preferably 
than at the company mains point outside as any stuck then 
fractured stop-cock there would be expensive to sort out.
Run all water out of all taps to drain hot tank and header 
tank, assuming the problem tap is a hot tap.
Put plug in basin to catch any odd 
grub screw or similar and protect porcelain 
with old towels in case of dropped hammer or spanner. 
For traditional cross handle tap with shaft it should not 
be necessary to remove the small screw that holds 
the handle to the shaft - just as well as is small brass and easily 
fouled up.
Two types of covers one with a shaft that a cover slides 
up and down on or type where cover is the handle as well.
With second type undo as normal and then try undoing 
the collar that hides the guts of the tap. Assuming 
this is not finger tight wrap a nylon cable tie around the collar 
'teeth' inwards to protect the finnish and wrench off with small 
'Stilsons' acting over the nylon of the cable tie. 
Older traditional type - slacken the cover in same manner. 
If a large amount of force is required then it is important 
to balance off this force the other way by holding back the 
body of the tap. More likely required in the following.
Removing the main section of the tap. Assuming 
you can now get a 7/16 Whitworth spanner or 
whatever under the cover. To apply balancing 
torque to prevent 'collateral damage' to joints 
etc in the pipework / tap-joint use a long T bar 
box spanner large enough to go over spout and 
similar length as the spanner ( or piece of piping with 
a hole drilled in it at same length as the spanner). 
Protect the finnish by sliding 
some bicycle inner tube over the spout first. 
If hand force is not enogh then make a Spannish windlass.
Through the T bar hole and the other end of the 
open ended spanner pass about 5 turns of stout 
string and tie tightly. Tie back the spanner to the 
body of the tap in case it decides to move off the nut. 
Use some safety spectacles yourself just in case. 
Don't have your fingers in the gap beween 
spanner and box spanner.
With a long shaft screwdriver pass through the loops 
of string and wind up the tension, anchor off by 
sliding up the screwdriver shaft and tie it off 
just in case. 
Then again using back force to counter the blows 
whack the spanner with a mallet. For some odd 
reason ( type of shock waves or something ) heavy blow 
from wood on steel rather than steel on steel is 
better at shifting metal on metal bound threads.
If that doesn't work then I suppose its a matter 
of heating up with a hot air gun around the seized thread 
then Spannish Winlass - not had to try that so far.
Undo small nut holding down the worn washer by 
gripping the metal disc part in 'Mole Grips ' 
or prize off around the central pip if that type. Feel / inspect 
the seating for any scoring as this could be the 
reason for drips, if scored then acquire a re-seating tool. 
One of those tools with some superb understated design. 
A conical outer thread that will engage enough to localise 
with any tap size. But mainly the choice of the thread that 
the middle and outer sections engage. That is pitch and 
form just right so that as the back torque releases from 
the central rotating cutting section the middle segment 
turns of its own accord top take up the slack - I suppose 
some, anonymous to history, millright or similar dreamt 
up such a self-adjusting mechanism.
Should the tap at closure have a 'hard' action at point of 
closure or more importantly minimum drip then the washer 
may need packing out with a fibre washer between washer 
and brass back plate as probably reahed end of tap 
shaft thread travel.
Replace at this time the fibre washer that seals off the main 
thread section.
If leaking tap but cannot remove the top cap so can only replace the rubber washer by 
prizing off the locating pip, rather than replacing rubber and brass section. 
Clean up the brass backing plate of the rubber , using a 
sand paper nail file. If there is a spiral pattern or "chattering" indentations, 
continue sandpapering back, trying to keep as flat a disc as possible but 
continue until there is no continuous and so leaky spiral path.
Before re-assembling smear petroleum jelly on the 
threads in theory to make it easier to remove next time. 
Have a cup of tea.

More plumbing.
Replacing an immersion heater or any action that requires 
draining the hot water cylinder.
With hindsight it is easy to end up with an airlock in the 
system and no "hot water" flow on filling up again.
It would seem logical to drain the system fastest 
by opening the taps but if you only drain via the drain 
cock of the cylinder then water is retained in the hot 
water piping and less likelihood of forming an airlock.
If you do end up with an airlock then a matter of 
connecting a hose to the lowest point of the hot 
water pipe run and connecting the other end to 
mains pressure water tap and blowing the airlock air away 
with mains pressure. Initially with all taps open and then as water 
flows in each in turn upwards/along then turn that one off and 
then finally last bubbles in the cylinder.

Parkside Electronics 7.5 inch guage 12V, 60A locomotive, 1997.
Marked Dr13a on the hand unit pcb , uses 4013
Forward to reverse and vice versa, you have to pass through off.
Initially user ran over the controller cable with the steel wheels and then managed 
to solder red and green wires together inside the plastic hand unit, burning out 
trace between batt+ and red line to hand unit. Replaced with silicone sleeved 
2.2R fusible R/
pot Y,Be,Gn
W/Bk at toggle sw for/rev, Gn central, Y on/off switched 12V via 22R
7 way din con pins as viewed 
Bk,Y,W,Gn, R,Be,-,
die cat power unit
2x BUZ271 , 4x BUK455
LM339 , 3 relays
2 bolts to the casing have insulating washers so Al bar is isolated from case, 
connected to  Bn 100 amp ratingwire.
8 way terminal block 
Gn,Bk,Be,Y,-,R,W,P (gn batt -, R batt +)
internal din wiring Bk,Be,R,G,W,Y,P
(1)Relay near 100 amp R terminal is active On
2 mid relay Rev
3 other relay in Forward
Active 3 until isolated from batt
With only 7.2Ah batt
50mA at first 
1/4 setting of knob 2.6A and with loco on side then about 1 rps or about .7 mph , 
wheels about 13 inch circumference
1/2 setting 7 amp
3/4 setting 11A
then .13A until isolated
with 3/8 setting then about 3 rps or 2 mph
Replaced 6 way cable
Added some waterproofing to both hand and power unit, gasket and 
hotmelt inside

Reon GU10 45W lamp
290 lumens, 6500K
RLSMD05 GU10-65_W
trying bench ps 10.3V over LED panel, 10mA current, so triple banked

Rolf Harris Stylophone
Nothing or just an odd beep.
The phosphor-bronze on the switches had relieved their 
spring action and no longer making contact. 
To gain access ,remove back cover ,2 screws ,and prize the protruding 
3.5 mm socket past the end of the case.
To remove the switch parts hold one edge of the spring washer 
with a fingernail and file down the rim on other side until 
it can break away. When rebuilding replace with any old washer 
held down against the phosphor-bronze spring action while 
a dab of hot-melt glue solidifies. That way an easy job 
to cut away at any point in the future

Ross SD satellite kit , rebadged Fortec?
2230GKT-R 20.1 and Ross DVB-S 5010 set top box
Can switch off totally at the mains with data retention.
Things they don't say in the instructions 
No red button functions , EPG or teletext  all part of Freesat , not these Frr to Air Rx. 
Seems no auto aspect ratio adjustment. No timer for channel change for recorder use.
Main one is the bracket here is marked on the A scale for a polar mount , not fixed mount. 
So cheese angle or wedge angle of about 7 degrees has to be taken off the elevation before 
setting on the scale , so for here 17 degrees  not 24 degrees. This angle varies from 7 to 8 
degrees over the UK. 
At the top of the vertical mast mark an index mark and then from the (G) difference between wall angle and 
the satellite azimuth angle set a mark to give initial positioning. 
eg circumference 105mm then a mark G/360 *105 
Check the edge of the dish does not foul on the wall in chosen position. 
Assembe and lay on a flat floor . If the top of the mast is not level to the floor bend the stays which are 
very flimsey , until level.
Final setting of azimuth having found angle of wall from OS map or Google earth. Could not use 
compass as too much iron around the site. 
Drop a string with a loop on lower end, from the LNB anchor hole. 
And another one from the centre of the bracket at rear of dish. Sling a thin long rod between them . 
With a draugtsmans settable protractor align with the wall.
No mention of setting polarisation angle. 
minus sign means viewing the dish front from the satellite the LNB is rotated 
clockwise from the straight on posistion.
Other useful info due south is sun shadow at noon GMT or 1 pm BST. 
Open out with Hellerman sleeve pliers to get the LNB boot over the downlead F conn. 
Set top box easily affected by other IR R/c . Its receiver is between red LED anbd the 
units 7 sement. Found a matt black rubber cable inlet sleeve and cut an angle 
and glued angled over the Rx , so have to hold the IR Tx high and angled down to change ch .
End January 2012 lost channel 5. Retuning or factory reset made no difference. 
The transponder frequency not in the bank of frequencies in the firmware.
In Dish Setting , Edit (2)
Find a transponder listed but white signal & quality bands , no green
Edit (2) change settings to 
f 10965/H/2200
changing the underscored numbers up or down.
When retuned brought in c5, ch+1, 5*, 5*+1, 5USA , 5USA+1
Then lter on and RTFM.
Probably should have used atellite Search/ Scan Mode/ Blind for when TP info is not in 
the built-in firmware
Another time, 21:00 04 Feb 2013 if relating to the satellite signal.
Comes on for 1 second of picture then goes to OFF state , info mode shows good strength and 0 
quality. Returned to functioning 12 hours later after being disconnected from the 
mains

Samsung SC4570 vacuum cleaner  
Runs for half a second , smell and smoke and blows 13 amp fuse
Remove the dust hopper, then 4 screws but what holds the cover in place at
the other end, hidden screws/secret clips? 
You
can just make out something by shining a torch through the heavy smoked
plastic in that area. The wheels come off by delatching one of the 4 clips
and then turning the wheel while pulling axially outwards, no clips under
them.
The way in was staring me in the face all the time. To the rear of the
switch cap is what looks like a slightly recessed molding mark. A plastic
disc of  exactly the same size and shade of blue is gummy glued over this
and hides a deeply recessed screw. Before finding that had removed the
switch cap , requires 3 blades pushed down 20mm from the lip on the front
and 2 sides and then a third lever to the rear to prize the cap upwards. But
now having got the main cover off it is much easier to remove the cap from
inside delatching. The smoked cover does not come off until 2 screws undone
from inside the main blue cover.
Well I assume BER,  resistance of about 40 ohms between 2 commutator lands of a
2KW tated motor means a rotor coil is open circuit , not to mention a few
sputtered copper/graphite  shorts between some other lands and maybe shorted
windings. To remove fan nut , heat with hot air, hold fan with gloved hand 
and then socket spanner turned for LEFT HAND thread.
Undo the cross plate that holds the forward bearing . Support the frame , clear of this 
brace plate and punch through the rear boss to shift the rear bearing. 
Rotor only 38mm x 25.3 iron pole pieces and 22.1mm dia 22 land commutator for 2KW rated motor .
Klixon 17 AM thermal switch , 029A5 so 110 deg C, 9 amp
rotor wire .35mm and stator wire .8mm 
BTA16-600B triac
Motor VCM-M1DBV
DR 240V , 50/60Hz
Class F  83F2201637


Select bass boost headphones
Cut lead and broken pivot on headset
Broken plastic mount for the partial pivot of the earshell mount.
Wrap around break area with a cable tie and melt in 
with hot-melt string.The litz wire is solderable to repair cut,on each 
phone there is signal and ground and the third lead is for the mono-
fashion bass signal supply on right lead and return via left lead 
with join in the headset.

Set up screens (this one Akura AMCDVD-1883)
Drunken owner of DVD player managed to go into the set-up and change
setup language to German and NTSC for the UK (English and PAL) 
which destroyed any semblance of a picture.
Not only that but he'd set full brightness and minimum contrast
Pressing PS/IS (progrssive/interlaced )button on the remote got some 
sort of image.
With a B&W image now on a UK TV, only line-locked, and about 3 overlayed
images and because of the contrast/luminance could not 
distinguish the yellow highlight from the white on the set up screen.
Turning  TV to full contrast and low brightness, which only just
showed a vague difference between yellow and white, 
and could proceed to alter the setup.
More generally perhaps
Unplug from the mains. Wait 30 minutes.  Hold down the
power button on the machine (NOT remote). Connect to mains.  On many
machines, this will force a general reset to the factory defaults 
, hopefully not German and NTSC.  If
it doesn't work, Google the machine and see if there is a general
reset key-press sequence on the remote.

Signalex , 10 in 1 , Universal Remote Control
Error in instructions 
search mode , step 3 press SET and then Power and hold both for 3 seconds , then release both together.
To read out the code as blink code
Press relevant Select, then while pressing SET, press in turn buttons 1,2,3,4 counting the blinks
In search mode about 35 setttings per minute
TV 12 mins, VCR 3 min, CAB 7 min, SAT 7 min, AUX 5 min
resonator 3.58M Hz

Signalex sound amplifier, hearing aid
1.5V battery +ve uppermost. 
Not switching off , sw action not via phones lead, loose dial on pot. 
Tighten and superglue

South Western Bell FF895 Freedom Phone
Two of the number keys non-functional.
There was a dry joint on one of the 390K bank of limiting resitors in the 
keypad multiplex lines.

Spectacles-Broken - well the owner thought I could solder them back again.
Lens dropped out with broken retaining channel band. Broken at the point where 
the "eyelet" end of the retaining band is screwed to close and tension 
this band. Not enough material to make any sort of solder repair.
Smallest brass eyelet using the solder hole end and cutting off the business end.
Bent rightangles and small hole drilled to match a drilled hole at the broken end 
of the band. Also to get the tightness of right angle relieved some of the metal 
on the inside of the bend to give space for the head of the retaining screw. 
Used a pcb pin as a rivet to anchor eyelet to band all soldered in .
Ground back the edge of the lens to clear the protruding part of the "rivet" into 
the retaining band.
Filed / ground back any excess brass,solder,pcb pin. Mount the lens and screw the 
eyelet to the body of the glasses. Colour and varnish the bracing to match the 
rest of the specs.

Sunrise Medical disabled charriot charger 24V,4 amp
Apparently no output. Yet again one of these that monitor 
battery voltage. If seriously discharged/shorted cells then 
no output from the charger,as battery voltage rises the 
charging current is reduced to intermittant .5 amp 
when charged.

Spin drier for woolen jumpers.
Requirements a nylon carrot sack or similar and a 
pair of stout gloves. Place the wet wool jumper 
in the sack , put on the gloves and whirl around 
in the back garden.

Stanley Bridges ? AEG ? drill repair
 The aluminium stick on labels are broken
off or worn with wear.
Must be 20 to 30 years old or even more , 1/2 inch chuck of make Rohm.
Made in W Germany, distinctive colours of yellow handle and armature
section, then boxy black section with gearbozx and hammer section. I find
the reverse , anticlockwise drive direction option useful. The levers are
orange.
Not so much for the drill has how to repair 
a small motor stator coil
Stanley Bridges /AEG? drill 
Got a bit tired of electronics and as my old hand drill, i only use for
counter-clockwise left-hand drilling, was playing up so I decided to give it
a birthday present of a new coil. It was supposed to be for 240V but running
off 110V via a variac was ok for my purposes, but now the part-bad coil was
causing too much variation and excess current/contact arcing for the ammeter
on the variac.
If run it on reduced voltage with monitor lines added or probes to
the stators then the bad one will be substantially lower volts than the
other one. The hot coil may well be the ok one, being forced to take more
current along with the armature, i didn't think to check that and too late
now. The original drill on 100V 
had 26 to 33V on the "top" bad stator and 60 to 74V 
on the other good and about .7 amps
Repaired , again on 100V , then 25V on the replacement 
and 31V on the original
I removed the relatively blackened coil , that putting a meter over that
coil , in use, confirmed bad in comparison to the other. Cut through the
hank, butchering the hanks out of the slots, dousing with 
paint stripper didn't seem to soften (trying to avoid breaking 
the plastic faring bits) and counted turns , weighed the copper to 30.5 gm and measured the wire
diameter to about 14/15 thou and resistance of 7 ohm for both original stators 
so prblems only when powered.
Does anyone know a formula for a better guide for setting up a  former with the right dimensions, to wind a replacement before
squashing and placing in the channels with "gummed" 
high temperature silicone tape and then swathing in lacquer. 
Found a useful table in a 70 year old book.
Wire qauges one way and columns of wires/turns per sq in packing, weight per 1000
yards and ohms per 1000 yds. 
29swg 4350 T/sq in , 1.68 lbs/1000 yds, 165.27 ohms/1000yds
30swg 5200 T/sq in , 1.397 lbs/1000 yds, 198.8 ohms/1000yds
I'd not realised that being W German make then 
probably some metric gauge of wire on the original.
Making up a former was easier than I thought.
coil former 
The former shown was just a flywheel from some old piece of 
audio kit then 2 layers of motorcycle inner tube 
stretched over to give the right diameter and ease removal afterwards, 
and 2 large o rings to give some sort of width limit 
combined with the turns of lacing cord - incidently 
use wax covered as 1/2 a reef knot will bind while 
you knot the second part. The coil winder described 
elsewhere on this file.
The first thing to lay down is some loose loops of lacing cord, about 8
loops diametrically , 45 apart, around the former  before winding the turns,
then cutting the cord into indivuidual loops and tying off after wire
winding and before removing. So the exact shape of the bulking of the wires
into a hank does not matter that much as the tying-off of the lacing cords
while still on the mandrel would form the cross-secion of the hank into a
circle. Repeated later, off the former, gives a better job.
Dimensions , from the originals /core. 
Axial slots in core 0.22 inches wide, axial length of core 
40mm, gap across rotor area between lips of the 
axial slots 0.9 in.
diameter of rotor 32mm. Hank in core on extreme width 1.8 in, 
extreme length 2.55 in and bend at ends approx .9 in.
To avoid catching the silicone tape laid in the slots 
when introducing the hank. Lay down a strip of 
parcel vinyl tape either side of the edges , one fixed 
back to the rotor area and the other to the wall of the 
core, repeat on the other slot and remove the vinyl when 
finished but before lacquering. Keeps the slots open.
I thought that ovalling the axial parts to squash in the slots in the motor
core would be a problem but all went fine, though 7mm diameter when squashed
to a circle, rather than original about 6mm. The hank resistance of 7.1 ohm
compared to 7 ohm was good. I could not decide if the original was 29 or 30
swg but looks as though it was nearer 30 swg.
A rifenement is to lay a dowel or rod axial and outside the core to tie the
hank back to while pushing the axial sections into the core slots.
coil hanks The first and second hanks, too large and too small badly focused, with foot ruler motor core 
Background paper mm and cm.
The overall circumference was too long so the ends of the hank overhanged at the
open ends too much. I recalculate for 30 swg and had another go. There
was space in the housing to try out my first effort so did have a go assembling
and running without lacquering in, and it worked fine.
I originally thought the hank lay up would have to be over a 2 part former
like a pulley split in two, the awkward way, but with a semicircular laying
up section. Then having to manually lay-up (as the auto traverse flip is
only per item , not per layer) something like 4 turns,6,9,12,14,16,17,18 and
down again to 3 for 192 turns. But I know now that a complicated former and
intricate lay-up is totally unnecessary.
My second hank was too small and the third attempt was Goldilocks.
First calculations for 29 swg  gave 201.7mm / turn 
average length, 64mm diameter. Giving inside diameter 
with ideal packing factor of 58mm. The former I chose for that 
was actually 59.5mm but the result was far too big 
,more so than 58 to 59.5mm
Second attempt, as if for 30swg 
but using 29 swg gave 53.4mm av diameter and former 
diameter of 48mm  - too small, 5.4 ohm.
Choosing 64 mm former was about right in the end 
and retaining 192 turns gave 6.1 ohm and the coil I ended 
up lacquering in and using. Perhaps should have gone 
to 30swg and changed the number of turns a bit.
The final used coild had a dc resistance of 6 ohm 
and when drill powered from 100V, used .65 amp 
and the stators dropped 24V and 21V.
Does anyone know formulae for these calculations 
for the range of swg/awg wire gauges and other dimensions.?

Tamiya remote control car
No response on car
Corrosion on the recessed battery terminal (+ve) in enclosed section 
not obvious even on removing part cover.

Tesoro Tejon metal detector , search coil
One of those jobs I now wish I hadn't taken on.
Intermittant problem with angle of the search coil, cable sheath cracked at
the entry point to the search coil housing , so assumed broken wire within.
No, now having Dremmel plus ball-mill excavated down through the epoxy, the
copper wire of the search coil going to the green wire exposed and the same
for the red, continuity to the multistrand wires from each of those.
But no continuity between the exposed copper wires, even with an RLC meter ,
just in case a C in there.
500 GBP cost so worth spending some more time on it 
and replacement coil 135GBP.
At least there is plenty of talc filler in the epoxy, so easy to excavate.
Looks as though it is 2 hanks of 3x6 turns of 0.02 inch wire.
Laid out as 2x D shapes with the flat parts bowed a bit and overlapping at
the junctions of the straight and curved parts of the D and the join has
failed between them.

Toolbox / Poundland epoxy, double plunger 
Does not say remove the bit of plastic between the plungers , stirer? otherwise anti plunger 
action device, before using. Also colour mark one tube and its side of the end cap before 
cutting off , as too easy to try replacing cap the wrong way round and so setting off the polymerizing 
in the tubes 
Identifying which is resin , which hardener.
Known R and H of Araldite or something, 2 dots of each, then marked 1 and 2 tubes of Toolbox stuff 
mixed in , one pair cured, other pair turned a bit, so not fully compatible araldite resin with toolbox hardener.
So R and H as marked on the label, in the order on the label although label on 
one tube only, Resin looks a bit yellower/cloudier than the other, viewing against white card

Torch , 24 LED no-name with magnet to the rear
Intermittant light. The latching swi ok, 15 to 20mV across in use. 
Bad battery holder, pack out with card behind each +ve terminal

Toy automata  x2- well it makes a change from VCRs etc 
and kept an automata / mechanical toy nut happy.
Both mainly use metal cog trains like clockwork but instead 
of coil spring use DC motors.
1) Clown on a truck  (RF Alps,Japan) with bellows"horn"and front bumper 
activates a latch to initiate a different set of actions: no drive
First plastic drive cog broken. Not the size and pitch of cog used 
in VCRs /cassettes. Found a metal ex-clock 
cog with grub screw. Drilled out to 2mm and fixed to motor 
with glue on grub-screw. Tooth pitch and diameter not 
quite right but powered up on bench supply and filed 
down in situ first 2 cogs - well its only tin-plate engineering to start with 
and quiet gear trains are not a factor.
2) Drunk panda on a barrel (Iwaya Corporation RVT 3309 GZK)
Water transfers via tube through shoulders between the cup and 
bottle when arms raise.
Dead motor.
Black gunk on the commutator insulated from contacts.
Remove back plate to remove motor. Remove end cover of 
motor and extract armature to clean.
Before total failure the action would jam activating the 
clicking weak link/slip clutch . Filed back the abrupt 
faces of the cams which was stopping at this point and replaced the 
arm return springs with a lighter guage springs.
Dismantling -remove the barrel from the rest of the automata .
Peal back "fur " to expose fixing screws.
Two parts of the body shell will come away around each arm 
after removing the head which needs 
one screw removed to reveal the pin and extract.
The eye rolling linkage is easily bent and fouls the head rolling 
linkage at the neck joggles.

Tipex, usual dried out solvent , plenty of white left.
About 50/50 mix of petrol and acetone nail varnish as solvent.

Traveler USB microscope
Extend useage to macro scale , place a small diverging lens over the 
front.
Bad LED light at objective , loose internal contact, you can 
see the 2 metal strips thru the smoked plastic, 2 contacts in there.
1 sc at the cover and lever against the body , bending the 2 plastic 
 nibs to remove.
Similarly nibbed main casing halves, remove 2 sc near the 
objective cap and slacken middle 2.
2x2 nibs hold the cap in the 2 body cylinders ,need deforming a bit 
by leverage to remove the cap. Bend back the contacts. 
Snaps back on reassembly of cap.
Cover the objective area with a glass microscope slide if doing soldering/desoldering under such a USB microscope

Treadmill Icon Health PETL5902, 2003
No DC motor control
15V and Sig LEDs on but no Gate or HV bus LED.
Bit of a chicken and egg situation.
5V supply also ok
Mains side uses a pair of SCRs driven by a triac opto that has its driving internal LED biased off, to provide the power DC as distinct from minor supply that is present.
Main control is some custom uC.
DC side uses a powerFET to control  the motor .
It seems that if there is no gate signal to the MOC opto so there is not any rectified HV dc for the powerFET , or could the Power|FET be non functional to some low power test setup and the uC locks out.
Will remove the powerFET and check out of circuit , but at this stage that seems the limit of any further fault finding. Even applying some sort DC I asume the uC will lock out anyway, or the uC is corrupt of course, either way no further forward 
Surely if exercise machines were designed properly, the person using them would be powering the electronics 
removed the powerFET and solid 25 ohm gate to s/d , tried a lower rating one but the driving sense amplier may have been knocked out, other than 14V supply to it, no further forward, at least referenced to 0V so scopeable , but I suspect the uC has "fingers" in all directions 
too far gone to repair as control IC 
probably knocked out
2x D8020L, 2x S8020L
IRFP32N60K
HFA 15PB60
MCP602 , ATMEL uP
MOC3052
With no manual pot in place 
15V and SPD signal LED on 
No gate LED , no HV , no volts on main cap,blown main powerFET and replacing with a 
low power test one , no function still

Tripp wheeled , extendable handle, small suitcase
Seemed worth repairing as quite well made with stainless steel rivets etc, 
for the sake of  wobbly wheel from use of worn? mild steel inner part of the ball race 
or duff balls. To remove the 2 rivets for wheel housing insert. Grind 2 slots in the head with 
Dremmel and ,6mm disc , then old screwdriver open the slots to give angled access 
to grind off each quarter. Undo the 2 screws.
Cut a hole in the plastic over the belled out pin end to be able to push out that way , 
as too covered to grind off. Grind off the head end. With a dart point open out 
the cover to a bearing , lay in a hole in a steel plate to punch through to release. 
Maybe reusable with new bearings , but decided to replace with new standard ball races 
that would take a 5mm bolt through instead of the original steel and st/st 
arrangement. Used 5mm nylon bolt initially to check for any rubbing , 
before cutting down a steel bolt . Add nut , which requires 
forcing over the case unfortunately on reassembly. 
2 Dexion nuts and bolts to replace the rivets. PTFE lubricant.

Truma Mover SE, caravan manoeverer , 2007/2008?
4x F1404S IR751P
BCP54, RE740
TA6661
ATMEGA168V x2
2x HC4006, 2x ULN2003A, LMV524
4x IRF2804
2A whickman ok
both relay types, coils 88R
8M and 16M xtals
rf r/c tx/rx nRF 905, B type
with no power 2 of the high power diodes are shorted by the closed drive motor 
relay contacts
.45 x.1mm trace burnt so perhaps about 3A rupture current , 1 of the 1amp diodes 
s/c near the safety relay line and its relay
no functions but red LED flashes fast on use of the R/c, .19A from 12V supply when safety 
line link is made, single safety relay current.
Missing 2 pin device , mechanically bust off the pcb from something falling on the case, 
in line withthe reset sw. 43A SMR measured 274R alrady in line ,tried a diode but 
no proper function, tried 330R and unit would complete Sync routine ending up with 
long beep and long green LED of a sec or so on the r/c.
Remove 12V and the r/c beeps and flashes to warn 
Somehow the 3 contacts of the safety relay are all touching , more shock damage?
 desoldered, opened up and bent back , contacts not pitted or welded or any signs of overcurrent
Replaced relay, run a wire instead of trace and included 2A fuse, replaced the 1A SM diode.
RE7405V,0,3.3V supply
BCP54 5.6,12,5V  for 5V supply
6 pin header nearest Rx/Tx TMEGA p1 (as ICs) ground (as is other 6way) p5 is SCK serial clock
p6 is serial signal, p4 main reset (or other way round , confused notetaking)
Tried  2x55 W loads on swivel outputs but no change in lack of function
ULN2003A nearest drive relays to the drive relays , other one for th eswivel
RF end relay from RF end 2003 p9 and p14 and control from ATMEGA(2) p32
Rx check use nRF905 as scope external trigger , p3 probably turned off internally, 
p10 pulse train shows slowly varying pulse posistioning when r/c active
Brief burst of life in derial link between the 2 Atmega , so resoldered the Rx/Tx end one but whatever 
was wrong inside it got terminal , no xtal osc, so perhaps cracked die from the original shock impact

Universal remote control BD512
Ceramic resonator is 4MHz

UG01A universal regulated plug in ps
2 sc only on the diagonal , one had failed due to casing breaking, on normal 
ps removal from mains socket.
2 catches only on the other diagonal. Rebuild missing fixing and reinforce 
ouside by 2x2 daisy chained cable ties , after making recessed slots at the 
corners to locate the cable ties , from slipping

Uplighter installation.
Ceramic type, firstly the mounting holes are punched 
through the clay before being fired so no standard 
fixing point separation.
Concerning these key-hole shaped holes - you cannot 
screw up tight steel screws to ceramic so nothing 
except self-weight stopping the bowls being dislodged 
on cleaning - push a TWISTED WIRE JOINT "hi-scale" cone 
(high temp plastic or bakelite) in th elarge hole to 
wedge into position.

Urmet communal door entry system-6 flats plus tradesmans
No de-latch trigger.
Broken front panel switch broke probably because 
switches mounted in pattress but buttons on top pannel.
Handyman swapped the spare unused switch to the broken 
tradesman's switch position not realising this switch  
is isolated and all others are commoned. DC for intercom 
6,5V ps and 12V ac ,schematic inside embossed on cover of interior box.

Verbatim PinStripe USB drive
This amazing technology of 8G of storage let down by the most basic of flaws.
No way of stopping pocket crap getting inside the USB connector 
nor stopping the unlockable cover sliding back.
Small flexable boot for covering small connector or crocodile clip, that will 
stretch over the USB connector. With that in place push the pathetic cover , up as far as 
will go against the boot and carefully grind off the end of the cover plastic with a 
Dremmel and .5mm thick grinding disc. Fettle the cut end . 
Will now go over the boot while in place. The metal of the USB is designed to 
be a bit loose. With boots in mind some black shoe lace , stop knot on 
one end to lay inside the boot and before anchoring off on the keyring loop . 
Find a piece of booklet binding spine, simple channel form, and cut a 12mm long 
piece and make 2 holes in its spine to pass the bootlace through. 
This then clips into and over the gap in the outer sections of the thumbstick. 
Bootlace length enough slack to allow  the spine clip to be removed and also 
keep the boot end bent over a bit when boot is in place. Also keeps all those fiddly 
bits in place. Then to make it less likely , leaving the thumbstick in a 
shared public envirinment pc. A piece of cord tied to a pocket and a small metal Karabena 
on the other end to take the data stick. Unclip for use leaving the Karabena 
dangling outside the pocket hopefully as a reminder when you walk off.
Small Karabena robbed off posket torch or penknife or similar.
The rubber boot slid off in use , did not loose the thumbstick as the karebena was smaller than 
the bits of binder , but fluff got in the USB.
So Mark 2. PTFE temporary over the USB end , a piece of narrow binder spine a bit wider than 
the USB. Let some hotmelt glue in the ends to fill up , to make a cap. 
The Clip part I hadn't noticed a pair of interior spines that could click into slots when 
slight matching troughs were ground out either side of the middle of the thumbstick body with a small 
ball mill. Then the bootlace glued onto the middle clip and set into one edge of the USB cover.
So now all mutually held in place. The middle clip locked onto the body, bootlace between it and cap 
keeps the cap in place and the middle clip keeps the original sliding "cover" in place over my dustcap 
and the piece of slack (to place/remove the central clip) bootlace to the hole in the body gives the loop to take the Karabena clip.

Vessa Inter Med disabled batricart charger.
Apparent failure of charger
Not exactly a repair job but the owner was considering 
spending 200UKP erroneously on a new charger.Output should 
be of the order 36V at 5A.The instructions on the charger failed to say that at 
least 30V had to be monitored on the leads 
going to the 3x12V batteries.Any voltage less than this (ie one or more 
defunct batteries) meant the charger never kicked into life.The low battery 
would have to be isolated and charged with a 12V car charger or replaced.

Water leak in mains pipe.
Trying to trace a leak of only 1/4 Lt / min but very noticeable 
if metered supply.
There was 4 brassy stubs 
protruding from under the dial section of the water meter 
and continuity to that point was 3.4 Megs. Tried injecting about 6MHz 
from RF generator and sniffing with a small hand held SW reciver to 
trace the pipe run. But as water piping was connected to gas 
piping and both having similar runs I got better discrimination 
by feeding 1KHz or so square wave in and tracing with small 
medium wave receiver. Connecting to the metal pipe a DVM 
and pushing a rod into soil parallel to the pipe a foot away is 
no good - whether a few hundred ohms or hundreds of K did 
not identify the area of leak. 
Made a listening stick from some steel rod and a wooden cupboard/ 
drawer knob  and excavated down mid way. Sound loudest at mid point 
and excavated at 2 other points. Could not tell which point the noise 
was loudest. No longer have access to an octave band audio analyser. 
It is just possible that bassy rumbly noise is heard at a distance of 10s 
of feet and hissy noise only becomes prominent within last 
10 feet or so of the leak.
Apparently plumbers often put peppermint essence in smoke, so that if it can't be
seen, there is a very good chance it can be smelled, presumably by 
turning off the supply , pumping air back through the system and then 
somehow connecting a container with activated smoke bomb into the piping.
Decided to freeze the pipe to zero in. If water stops at tap then 
it is frozen. If meter dial stops rotating and leak noise stops then 
the leak is down-stream of the freezing point.
From 2 off 2 pint plastic milk bottles fashioned a trough with the 
screw caps at each end , hotmelt glued in the middle and 
about a foot long. Open area at top and cut along into each 
of the screw cap sections so can be opened and mounted around the pipe after  
wrapping turns of rubber cord tied at top around 
the pipe where each cap end is and finally tied tight with a cable tie 
at each end. Added gummy tape around gaps as well
From crushed ice from freezer and cooking salt 
about 500 g to 0.5 Lt made up freezing solution and placed in the trough.
Monitoring with thermometer the pipe froze up in about 
30 to 45 minutes at about -15 degree C. 
Before getting the water board to install a water meter. 
Make up a listening rod as above. Turn the in the house 
supply stop cock off and company pavement stop cock 
on. If on holding the listening rod to your pipework 
you hear a rumble or hiss it is likely you have a leak 
somewhere on your side and responsibility. On the 
other hand because of lorries and cars over the years 
moving over pavements it is quite possible 
that the leak you hear as a rumble rather than a hiss 
under the kitchen sink pipework could well be a leak 
in the first few feet of company property/responsibility 
pipe work. In such circumstances, with no other knowledge 
 I would suggest the 
first pipe-freezing/ isolation should be the pipe run 
immediately inside your property/ground boundary.

Water meter pavement inspection cover
Or the ones Southern Water put in anyway
Circular cover set in a square.
A rubber band is all that keeps the cover in place. If it breaks the ring can float 
around in the square surround and tip up, jam cocked-up etc , looking as though the underlaying 
supports have failed. but its just due to no rubber band. About 3/16 inch minor diameter and large diameter requiring to 
stretch over. If the retaining structural plastic ring is broken from all this 
abuse  then perhaps a run of hot 
melt glue would do the job to centralise the cover in the recess. Maybe a ring of rubber 
cut on the "flat" of a lorry innertube 1/4 inch wide of diameter a bit less than the cover.

WFS LIAI military compass
6605-99-531-251 
57 8696 / 77
toping up the liquid. Glycerine from a chemist and syringe and coarse needle (as viscous). 
Remove the screw at the hinge and introduce the needle well into the chamber before 
forcing in the glycerine.

Whatever next 
Bridge/partial denture/removable partial.
That is a cosmetic replacement for a missing tooth 
not fully functional as far as eating is concerned.
A weird and wonderful use for a different property 
of hot-melt glue - its translucency.
Using the translucent rather than white type. 
Firstly assume the missing tooth is a gap 
with parallel or tapering open sides rather than 
tapering together - for that situation probably 
two part initial mould and transverse fit final "tooth".
With children's plasticene/modelling clay in two 
parts one inside and one outside press into the gap 
from both sides to make an impression. Carefully 
slide out and use to make a plug.
First coat with silicon oil then epoxy or polyester resin. 
Not too thickly so can flex to remove from the impression 
and later the final piece.
Then dribble hot melt glue from the gun to form the 
final "tooth". When cold cut back to leave ledges  
to outer face on either side 
to engage with adjascent teeth ,cut level 
"biting edge" and leave plenty on inside mating surface 
to the gums. Remelt cut surfaces by holding near a soldering 
iron to gloss up the surface. Make the tooth more ivory 
looking by melting white and mustard child's wax crayon 
into the melt to colour match or use wood type hot melt sticks.
Modified toothbrush for those people that the idea of 
flossing is a joke , as teeth are jammed together.
For receeding gums along with ordinary brushing. 
Start with a conventional toothbrush, 
remove all bristles except the leading row , using pliers to 
pull out. Fill the holes with hot-melt glue. 
Hacksaw a slot behind this row of tufts.
Hold near a soldering iron to soften the plastic remaining 
at the cut and open out the slot by bending between two 
sets of pliers. Fill the gap with some glue. Leaving a 
brush with a line of bristles angled about 45 degrees. 
If the bristles are not stiff enough drape some 
epoxy around the base of them , wrap some thread 
around and then some more epoxy.
At this angle the bristles are more likely to get 
up/down into the otherwise untouched gum area inside and out, 
using a stipple action.
My dentist originally told me to form something similar 
by bunching the brush bristles together between fingers 
and using. I invented this cut and modified brush, 
which is nuch easier to use, 
told him about it, and now he advises others to do same. 
To make TePe interdental "flossing" brushes last longer (obviously 
the makers could do this if they wanted reduced sales). Melt a blob 
of soft formulation hot melt around the join between handle plastic 
and the wire to reinforce the usual breaking point.
A simple tip from another dentist - if you use fluoride 
toothpaste don't swill your mouth around with water 
after brushing - greater chance of flouride-binding.
False teeth
I thought of one use for a 3D printer. Making false teeth. Taking dental cast, multi-scan and stitch to get a 3D computer model, patch in via copying sections for missing teeth, take negative mathematical casts wherever necessary. Break such a set of false teeth then easy to generate a replacement from the mathematecal model. Unfortunately a 3D printer cannot do what is so easy with a 2D printer, colour up the resulting false teeth to colour match. 
As a 3D printer is about the cost of a set of false teeth, I can see walk-in High Street agencies producing false teeth almost while you wait, perhaps in the next 5 years. Perhaps a secondary melt-mixing stage to add pc controlled dyestuffs to the melt to colour up the teeth/plate at the generation stage 
I watched a utube 
www.youtube.com/watch?v=KV_tCpfnh5w 
of them making false teeth the traditional way, no wonder with so many intermediary stages , they are so expensive.
With such a mark-up I can see 3D printing come in there with a wallop, like the 2 bucks reading glasses that started coming in 10 or 15 years ago, wheras previously there was only expensive opticians scripped reading glasses 

Wickes DE44GY dehumidifier, 2001
Compressor worked but no fan
The fan mount had vibrated loose. Refixed with 
star washers and glue dabs.
As only platic the rotation axis of the fan 
was not true, tried propping over, and filling 
the recess around the fan retainer clip with hot
 melt glue to re-align.
On reassembly fix the 2 screws at the top of 
the condensor radiator to hold the front white 
cover on, firstly.

Window glass replacement.
Ever noticed how glass breaks of its own accord rather 
than something thrown through it cracks where those 
little brads are. Although headless they are still stress points 
so thermal or dampness changes to the wood can start a 
crack there. Use the smallest of C cable clips - plastic C 
with a nail through and bury in putty/mastic - no metal 
touching glass then. While at it remember to measure 
the diagonals before getting the glass cut.

Woolworths badged STB256 set top box
DVB-T M3101 R/C , ALI25C01, SKU NO 270C7840
Mains hard-off switch, standard toggle, mid-set, in front facia ,placed 2 inches in from the soft-off button 
and wired in , protected from heat of ps and ribbon.
Poor response from R/c , autostepping through channels , poor soft 
on/off response due to bad connection of main ribbon at main pcb, 
placed a set on every other pin

Wrist watch old electro-mechanical (solenoid escapement)
Failed battery with no known source of replacement.
Battery probably 4.5V in tubular form so no space to put in button cells.
The owner only wanted it in working order for special occasions and 
didn't mind an access hole made in the back cover of the watch. 
Ground and filed a small hole in the back to take atiny 2 way connector. 
Inside a 1N4148 between it and the original battery and link to the other terminal.
Then made a simple charger from a 9V power supply , 
a series R to drop current to less than 1mA and a 5.6V zener on the output 
to limit otherwise if voltage goes up over the batttery the escapement ran slow .
 The watch would work for 
at least 6 hours disconnected from the charger. If this battery fails will consider some SM 
high C capacitors and voltage limiter instead of the original battery.

Workzone WCT135 / Aldi drill
pages and pages of elfin safety guff , missing absolute basic safety device.
Far too easy to flip the rocker switch to on , in normal handling. Needs a
half shroud gluing around the "on" half of the rocker.
Good speed variation and good chuck axial centring , mounting thread not
compatible with Dremel for anyone with a Jacobs? type chuck for their Dremel, 
7.37mm od , 0.75mm thread. Glued half a slider knob, hollowed out around the OB side of the sw.
Beware that vibration of the body of this drill will easily shake the speed adjustment pot 
to maximum ,so a highly dangerous situation can develop , glued a bit of  cable tie to the body with 
the stem lodging in the recesses of the knob.

Xpelair window mounted extractor fan
Broken ball chain (bath plug chain)that holds the flap closed 
and fan switched off.
The problem is this chain goes through a joggle 
inside the surround and you can't just push 
a wire through attached to a new chain. With 
new length of ball chain held (a few balls from the end 
and loose end curved upwards) with 
thin nose pliers or forceps it is possible 
to introduce one end into the small aperture 
from the outside and gingerly let the self 
weight of the chain drop vertically past 
the "key-hole" anchor slot buried inside. 
Then fix each end ,one to flap and other 
to a ring. Or doubled back piece of copper wire 
from inside to out , tie some thread and then 
tie the ball chain to the other end.
If the motor fails to switch off due to the flap 
distorting with age then fix a small 
stainless steel bolt through the flap opposite
the trigger switch to pad out. 
A squirt of WD40 for sticky switches.

Dealing with the procreation of remote controls particularly with set top boxes these days
If a suitable cloth type sofa and an area of the back that is not leant on. A couple of pieces 
of  hook-side velcro stuck to the back of each zapper. Added advantage is they 
do not migrate under the cushions. For smooth sofa  finishes then a piece 
of cloth draped over the sofa.
Or get a learning type of "universal" remote control and shine eah of the remotes into it
Diverse Devices,Southampton,England
Telephone number - the same number as it has been since 1988 but email is now the preferred method of contact so number deliberately not placed here.
I devote time each day to replying to emails.
(obscure/obsolete components,second hand test equipment, schematics etc) Postal: 66 Ivy Rd,St Denys,Southampton,England SO17 2JN There is no point in contacting me about any of the above, the repair job may have been done 15 years ago . I cannot clarify or enlarge on any of the above.

e-mail

ncook246@gmail.co.....m email address

A reserve email account is diverse9(commercial at)fastmail.fm. Please make emails plain text only , no more than 5KByte or 500 words. Anyone sending larger texts or attachments such as digital signatures, pictures etc will have them automatically deleted on the server. I will be totally unaware of this - sorry, again blame the spammers.
More hints & tips and repair briefs on homepage http://home.graffiti.net/diverse:graffiti.net/
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