Help with OTARI MX80

[leonardmog]

There might be someone out there who has a similar experience and could
shed some light on a problem. Any ideas would be great.

The serial remote card- bottom right -front -has a habit of the leds intermittently flashing on and off (there are 3 : 2 reds at the bottom and a green at the top).
This causes an error 70 message in the window and stops the machine.
The card sometimes stabilises and we are ok.

I have reseated the card and sprayed contacts.
It got really bad the other day, so I sprayed and cleaned all molex connections.
of the three pcb's round the back.

This really sorted out the problem for a few days- it was rock solid.

The occasional flashing is back! I have cleaned molex connectors again.

OK I am wondering if it is a connection problem OR perhaps a dodgy cap.

Any ideas?

ok thanks

LM

[2N1305]

hi
what you did seemed like a good thing to do, although I never use any spray. I rather would take an eraser (mandatory for gold contacts) and clean the contacts, if they are edge-card types. If they are pins, then there isn't much you can do except replace them. It is quite possible that it would be a filtering cap, an electrolytic, more likely. How old is the MX80? twenty years old? Yeah, replacing caps everywhere would definitely help.

Also, it could be that the contacts are loose, and for that you'd need to re-form them. It depends on what type of contacts we're talking about. Excuse-me I am not familiar with Otari machines.

[leonardmog]

thanks I thought that might be the case.

Do you recap? Or do you know who could?
I am in the UK.

thank you

LM

[2N1305]

Originally Posted by leonardmog

thanks I thought that might be the case.

Do you recap? Or do you know who could?
I am in the UK.

thank you

LM

I'd love to do this on spare time but unfortunatley I am not in the UK...
this is really an easy job anyone with electronics experience. seriously evena local repair shop with over ten years experience can do this. You know I was expecting other people to jump in here, but maybe you should post your thread now as "Looking for OTARI recapping service in the UK" or something like this.

good luck,

Cheers,

2N

[leonardmog]

That's great thanks.

I think once the pcb's have had a check and possible cap replacement
any problems can be narrowed down further.
It's easy to get phased by a complicated machine like this.

What do you use instead of spray?

cheers
LM

[2N1305]

Well, the only thing you can really check is loose solder joints, wiggle every component to see if it's detached or almost ready to break and clean contacts. Like I said I use an eraser on any contacts, especially gold ones, because sand paper, even emery paper will scratch the gold and take it off. On male plug pins, I use a cotton swab (Q-tip) and alcohol and clean every pin. For the female sockets, well that's a bit more complicated, almost impossible...

when I clean switches, I take them completely apart and clean every contact by wiping a piece of paper between the two metal parts. Look at the paper after, you'll see what was on there!

I sugeest becoming familiar with electronics, basic soldering skills in order to do what other companies will charge you a lot for... Yes it does take time, but it's highly worth it.

Cheers,

2N

ps: take a pic of the board and post it here, I'll be able to help you out better.