Alps Pot Disassembly - AU-717

[Zekeman]

Ever wonder what a disassembled Alps pot in a Sansui AU-717 looks like? I didn't have a choice but to see what the problem was with mine. I think the last "technician" that was into this thing sprayed lithium grease in it!!

One of the sections wipers was bent back (see second pic). It still is not right (I have distortion in that channel) and may come apart again.

If anyone can recommend where to get some of those small push nuts (as seen in the third pic) please advise me.

Thanks.

 

[EMark]

Where to find...

Those push nuts are made out of spring type steel. I recall seeing them at Home Depot, in the aisle where they keep the nuts, bolts, screws etc. They are in the draws, not out on display. They may only have the ones that are capped on the end, in which case you would merely drill out an opening.

 

[roger2]

http://www.mcmaster.com/#push-nuts/=g1cohm

 

[Zekeman]

Well I ended up cleaning it and it turned out quite nicely...all copper surfaces shiny. I believe the pot is OK and that I may have a voltage issue in the left channel.

Thanks for all the input!

Z

 

[skippy124]

I Know that this is an old thread, but I thought that I would add my experience with a teardown of a 717 volume pot. This pot had scratchiness in the right channel, and occasionally would cause noise/distortion in the same channel. I forgot to take photos during some of the stages, but there are good photos earlier in this thread. Props to Mike (vigman) who gave me some tips before I attempted this.

Rear view with the spring clip removed. This was achieved by using a dremmel with a small carbide burr to break the clip in two places, bein carefull not to damage teh shaft of the pot





After the first (rearmost) section was removed



After the second section was removed



view of the third section before removal



last section prior to removal



reassembled with a new clip installed.



and the source of the clips - RS components




The most difficult part was the removal of the clip, an then the removal of the rotor sections - these tended to be very tight on the shaft. And also doing the disassembly, cleaning and reassembly without damaging the contact springs.

after cleaning and reassembly the pot is now silent.

Cheers

John

 

[bare]

Nice careful work.
You Do know ? that one can buy Cheap (16$ delivered) Alps pots from Ebay ?
Alps no longer makes the Blu Velvet pots.
Surprisingly the Chinese Clones are 95% (maybe more?) as good as the original Japanese units.

 

[skippy124]

Hi,

Thanks for the comments. Re the alps pot form china - the 717 pot has two dual sections, with each dual section having a specific resistance profile. As far as I am aware there are no current replacement for these. It would be possible to do. Specific 4 section steeped attenuator, but again I don't think that these are available anywhere.

Cheers

John

 

[Sam Cogley]

Nice careful work.
You Do know ? that one can buy Cheap (16$ delivered) Alps pots from Ebay ?
Alps no longer makes the Blu Velvet pots.
Surprisingly the Chinese Clones are 95% (maybe more?) as good as the original Japanese units.

I've also been quite surprised at the quality of those ALPS clones.

 

[RadioShaft]

My 717 arrived from eBay 2 years ago. Volume pot was bad from beginning. I finally figured it out: I peeled off the sticker on the back side of the pot, to reveal opening. I sprayed de-oxit best I could covering inside from that angle. Then I carefully set the amp on edges of two firm surfaces so I could use gravity and spray inside on the bottom of the inside of the pot and have it soak through and saturate from "top to bottom" (or bottom to top - upside-down). waited 24 hours: scratchiness is 100% gone.

 

[Zekeman]

Hello all!

I have another 717 here which has the main volume potentiometer’s shaft seized to the threaded collar!! The volume pot turns but the threaded collar spins ON the shaft. I disassembled the entire pot and it’s like the shaft/collar are welded together.


Thanks!

Zeke

 

[Zekeman]

Well I freed it up but had to employ gasoline to do so. I heated lubed twisted - you name it but there was something in there that just wouldn’t let loose so I soaked it in gasoline - then applied the Hetman lube and it’s free now.