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Thumposaurus
Jul 24, 2007

This is a bit of a cross post from the musical forum but I figured it was more appropriate here.
Original post:

https://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=2212134&pagenumber=579&perpage=40#post498615928

Thumposaurus posted:

Man people throw away the strangest poo poo sometimes.





Found it in a dumpster.
It looks top be in excellent shape mechanically.
I haven't had a chance to get it plugged in and fired up to see if anything is wrong electronically yet. Hopefully it's just something stupid and easy if anything is in fact wrong like a broken solder joint or bad fuse.

I might make a thread about the inspection and restoration process (if any is needed)

Thumposaurus fucked around with this message at 21:23 on Sep 27, 2019

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Jaded Burnout
Jul 10, 2004


:confused:

Edit: ah there we are

Jaded Burnout fucked around with this message at 21:24 on Sep 27, 2019

Thumposaurus
Jul 24, 2007

First things first there's a fuse holder on the back I checked it and it was blown. Great maybe an easy fix?
Replaced the blown fuse and now the power switch lights up but still no sound

Opened her up and there's a 2nd fuse also blown I had to order it.

While opened up I'm taking a look at the rest of the guts.
There's a few suspect looking capacitors


Full gut shot:

It'll be easy enough to service the whole keyboard is hinged and all the PCB boards are socketed. While it's opened up I'll hit them all with some contact cleaner for good measure.

Thumposaurus fucked around with this message at 21:44 on Sep 27, 2019

Wark Say
Feb 22, 2013

by Fluffdaddy
gently caress YEAH :krad:

It's happening!

Thumposaurus
Jul 24, 2007


There's an inspection label inside looks like it passed final inspection in January of 1975.

It looks pretty good inside for being 44 years old.

There's nothing obviously burnt or blown up looking.
The power switch and the volume pedal both light up(it's some kind of optical volume pedal) so it's getting some power.
I'm waiting on the other fuse to come in the mail my local place didn't have one on hand. I actually really miss RadioShack for this type of thing. The hardware stores sizes of small fuses are pretty slim pickings.

Mr. Dick
Aug 9, 2019

by Cyrano4747
Does that thing has a voice board for every key?

Thumposaurus
Jul 24, 2007

Yes and each board has a socket to fit into:hawaaaafap:

Krustic
Mar 28, 2010

Everything I say draws controversy. It's kinda like the abortion issue.
That circuitry looks intimidating. It reminds me of a Baldwin fun machine that my cousin moved to my place and it stopped working. I opened it up and nope’d so hard. Godspeed and best of luck to you. The stuff you find in the trash is pretty astounding.

Mr. Dick
Aug 9, 2019

by Cyrano4747

Nice that there's already a smily for you removing and repeatedly reseating every single one.

If it's not too much trouble, could you put up a photo of one of the voices?

Thumposaurus
Jul 24, 2007

I have a buddy that had a Fun Machine too he would cart it around to shows they played and never had a problem with it.

The stuff I find astounds me too. I'm always amazed they don't even try to do it appropriately. Like if they had thrown this up on craigslist or whatever even non functioning somebody would have bought it but nope right in the trash.

Here's a picture of the lowest keys PCB.


As it goes up through the keyboard they look pretty much the same just some of the capacitors values change.

30 TO 50 FERAL HOG
Mar 2, 2005



Those electrolytics might not be dried out. Some of that older stuff was sealed up pretty well.

I'd probably start by testing the power supply a bit more in depth, you would expect some negative voltage rails for the amp circuitry.

I dont suppose there's a schematic or service manual anywhere?

30 TO 50 FERAL HOG
Mar 2, 2005



http://www-personal.umich.edu/~damont/ElkaRhapsody490schematic.pdf

http://manuals.fdiskc.com/flat/Elka%20Rhapsody%20610%20Schematic.pdf

Depends on the model number of the exact unit obviously, but I'm willing to bet power supplies were shared or at least based off of previous/other models. That second link looks like the one though:



That trim pot is probably disintegrated.

30 TO 50 FERAL HOG fucked around with this message at 02:24 on Sep 28, 2019

Thumposaurus
Jul 24, 2007

I found a pdf of the service manual with all the expected voltages it's an Elka Rhapsody 610.
I can't trouble shoot it further until I get that other blown fuse replaced.
Then I can go through it with the multimeter and check it out.

The 2nd link is the exact same one I found I'll be printing it out and check off each section as I check through it.

Thumposaurus fucked around with this message at 02:26 on Sep 28, 2019

Mr. Dick
Aug 9, 2019

by Cyrano4747
A fixed frequency oscillator and an amp/eg with 3 transistors. That is some elegance.

30 TO 50 FERAL HOG
Mar 2, 2005



Yeah man that poo poo was expensive back in the day. You pay attention to your BoM when each transistor is $10

Thumposaurus
Jul 24, 2007

It's alive!
The 2nd fuse got it playing.

I'll do some sound recordings tomorrow when I get home from work

Sliders and everything still could use a good cleaning some are pretty scratchy sounding.


My supervisor was on my rear end about it.

Thumposaurus fucked around with this message at 01:50 on Sep 29, 2019

Dang It Bhabhi!
May 27, 2004



ASK ME ABOUT
BEING
ESCULA GRIND'S
#1 SIMP

A minor concern is that whatever caused the fuse to blow in the first place may still be present.

Thumposaurus
Jul 24, 2007

Yeah I have the service manual with a block diagram listing what the expected voltages for each section is supposed to be. I'll be going through all of that and if anything is out of spec determin what is causing it and why.

Wark Say
Feb 22, 2013

by Fluffdaddy
I cannot loving wait to hear it. :dance:

Also tell your Supervisor to stop giving you guff. :shobon:

30 TO 50 FERAL HOG
Mar 2, 2005



Dang It Bhabhi! posted:

A minor concern is that whatever caused the fuse to blow in the first place may still be present.

Dude a 40 year old slow blow could be toast for any number of reasons.

Check the voltages. Clean all the contacts. If you’re feeling frisky replace the electrolytics with modern low ESR caps and be done with it.

Thumposaurus
Jul 24, 2007

It's like if it ain't broke or breaking again better to leave it alone.


Wark Say posted:

Also tell your Supervisor to stop giving you guff. :shobon:

I told him he yelled at me and made me clean up his poop. Then he went and got high:catdrugs:

Thumposaurus
Jul 24, 2007

Real quick video.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NcWGqNV16O0

I'll do more of an overview and show off some of the different features soon.

This is just plugged straight into an Acoustic 140 into an Ampeg 1x15.

Wark Say
Feb 22, 2013

by Fluffdaddy
By jove it sounds so good already. :swoon:

Thumposaurus
Jul 24, 2007



A new challenger approaches!

It turns on and makes some sound but only out of the headphone jack and very quiet.
Some of the buttons work some don't I'm hoping the front panel being smooshed in a bit is the cause of that.
Once I get it opened up I'll see what's up.

Thumposaurus
Jul 24, 2007

Got more than 5 mins to screw around with it.
Turns out the regular out put jack is fine I was just using a small practice amp and it wasn't loud enough.
I hooked it up to my big bass amp and went through the sounds all of them seem to be working fine the 3 highest keys are sticky from the end cap being smashed in.
Some of the buttons still aren't functional good news is if it needs replacement parts I found that the syntaur web site has plenty of replacement parts/boards.

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nitsuga
Jan 1, 2007

They both look great. I guess I should do more dumpster diving!

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