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423

Thank you Misters Hewlett and Packard for engineering stuff that can be repaired, even 60 years after it was made.

Thank you Misters Hewlett and Packard for engineering stuff that can be repaired, even 60 years after it was made.

(post is archived)

[–] • 1 pt

I have done this kind of stuff before on old arcade PCBs that were acting up. SOLDER EVERYTHING

[–] • 0 pt

HP didn't mask their boards on some things, so they got solder coated as they were waved. This one just has a lot of replacement work done to it, and this is just one of the cards in the unit.

The really good boards in their equipment was all gold plate.

[–] • 1 pt

Can you spot the dry solder joint?

[–] • 1 pt

There's about 15 joints that need to be hit before any troubleshooting starts. Some of what looks like cold joints are just corroded from age. The device sat in a not-wet-but-not-dry place for some of it's life, evidenced by the corrosion on some of the other parts.

[–] • 1 pt

lol I was fucking with you.

[–] • 1 pt

Nah, you're good, there are some bad looking joints on that board. In all fairness, if this wasn't purchased for a parts unit I'd probably hit every joint on there with fresh solder, and then clean the board.

Right now, it's more of a "Can I make it work?" thing. Not necessary, but yeah, if it works, why not?

[–] • 1 pt

May have asked this before, but you ever try making instruments out of random electronic, circuit bending?

[–] • 0 pt

I have. Last one I did was something to drive an eye tube. Type 80 in a socket hanging off a clip with a broken piece of an audio preamp as the drive and various parts from other devices cobbled together to make the eye light.

[–] • 1 pt

Sweet. Got video? I tried doing it without much success. Don't think I had the right size solder?

[–] • 0 pt

No, unfortunately. It was just something I was tinkering with and had to clear off the bench quickly.

[–] • 0 pt

What is this for?

[–] • 1 pt

It's an HP3440 NIXIE DVM. This is part of the power supply for the unit. It's working, the problem is the device no longer has any ramp for the bridge/counter assembly. That card has components lifted like someone was doing troubleshooting and set it aside.

It's all germanium, so getting parts isn't the easiest thing unless you buy bulk parts from vendors in Ukraine, and getting those right now isn't easy.