Basket-case repair requests

[tutor_turtle]

I have been at this hobby, part time, for some 50+ years.
Doing repairs for friends and family and, and as time allows, working on my own stuff.
As of the last five years, it is my now my full-time retirement "hobby".

Every once and awhile I get a basket-case.
A request will come in where something has gone wrong, the owner attempts a repair, makes it worse, it ends up on my bench, with a box of (some) parts.
Last week, I got two, from the same person.
A fairly beat-up Onkyo 200watt Power Amplifier and a road-wary Sansui 7070 that looks like it spent the last 30 years in an unheated garage.

Onkyo:
The paperwork says: "Intermittent".
Observation: This thing has probably not worked right since it got monkeyed with.

A little background: It came from overseas, someone didn't know you could re-strap most power transformers for 220v.
Solution:
add another transformer in series. twist the wires together, seal the bare wires with masking tape (for safety, of course) don't secure it down, throw the cover back on, call it good.
After coming to America, discover it doesn't work so well at 120V, then, not at all.

The "extra" transformer has flopped around and snapped the paddle board off the factory transformer.
Well at least all the parts are here (plus some extra).

Yes, I was able to rescue it.

Sansui:
"When I got to America, I set it to 100V. Right?"
After a few months: Now she won't Click.

What he didn't say was once he took it all apart, had no idea what he was looking at.
Put (most of) the parts in a box, and send it to me.

Confirmed. Yup. She won't click.
Why is the transformer unbolted? Where are the mounting brackets?
Is this all the parts?
Lots of discolored parts and capacitors with shrunken covers.

Is that coca-cola spilled on the main board?
Oh this is going to be lots of fun.

To be continued... stay tuned.

 

[cason]

You can always take up fishing.

 

[Watthour]

It might have seen a little condensation over the years.

 

[Lux Man]

After reading your post and reviewing the pictures I can confirm that "yes" we are on the same planet - not much new under the sun... fun stuff.

 

[Doug G.]

When shipping heavy equipment, do NOT use packing material. The equipment needs room to breathe.

Doug

 

[tutor_turtle]

You can always take up fishing.

Been there, done that.

 

[Sansuiman]

The question is whether you can get paid enough to make jobs like these worth your while. Most customers who want service for stuff like this typically don't want to pay what it'll take to get them done right. I don't take work from others, but do much of my own repair work. I've had people ask, and the only way I've taken on a project from someone else is if they sold it to me cheap, outright. Or gave it to me. That way I can work on it at my leisure with no time constraints.

 

[tutor_turtle]

I try to strike a balance.

On one hand, I'm type A, I need the challenge, I need to stay busy.
I'm retired from many decades of R&D, the last 35 for the DoD.
The extra cash helps a fixed income.
Besides, I've been doing this as a side job since high school. (I worked in a TV repair shop in the early 70's)

On the other, I have a source of customers from an old school hifi shop who know I am choosy about the jobs I take on.
Vintage only, no digital, no SMD, no class D, no mechanical (tape, cd, phono), no sub woofers. The older, the better. Love tube types.
I take most of the summer off, 2 weeks in the winter. I randomly fall off the radar for weeks, without notice.

The owner often chides me for undercharging.
I take my time. It takes as long as it takes.
I let people know up front, I'm a one man shop, I'm old, it's a side job, I don't have to do this.
If you're in a rush, take it somewhere else.

But, as you probably well know, the techs who know how to fix stuff (any stuff) are a dying breed, very few youngsters are following in our wake.
Demand is high, resources are limited. The future is far from certain. Will anybody be around to fix old tech once we're gone?

To make a short story long, yeah, I'm not getting rich. When it gets to be a burden, I'll dial back. (or more likely, just hang up my probes.)

 

[gadget73]

Stuff like this is definitely done for the satisfaction, not the cash. Yours is about the only situation where something heavily damaged has a chance. Its a loser for a regular hourly rate shop. Too much time invested and it would probably cost the customer more than they want to pay, or it will eat a ton of bench time and annoy another customer instead.

 

[John3655]

Look on the bright side at least all the secondaries are intact, you've got a spare resistor and capacitor and some masking tape for the next time you decorate!

 

[ernieb1536]

I try to strike a balance.

On one hand, I'm type A, I need the challenge, I need to stay busy.
I'm retired from many decades of R&D, the last 35 for the DoD.
The extra cash helps a fixed income.
Besides, I've been doing this as a side job since high school. (I worked in a TV repair shop in the early 70's)

On the other, I have a source of customers from an old school hifi shop who know I am choosy about the jobs I take on.
Vintage only, no digital, no SMD, no class D, no mechanical (tape, cd, phono), no sub woofers. The older, the better. Love tube types.
I take most of the summer off, 2 weeks in the winter. I randomly fall off the radar for weeks, without notice.

The owner often chides me for undercharging.
I take my time. It takes as long as it takes.
I let people know up front, I'm a one man shop, I'm old, it's a side job, I don't have to do this.
If you're in a rush, take it somewhere else.

But, as you probably well know, the techs who know how to fix stuff (any stuff) are a dying breed, very few youngsters are following in our wake.
Demand is high, resources are limited. The future is far from certain. Will anybody be around to fix old tech once we're gone?

To make a short story long, yeah, I'm not getting rich. When it gets to be a burden, I'll dial back. (or more likely, just hang up my probes.)

Looks like a good boat anchor !

 

[tutor_turtle]

Stuff like this is definitely done for the satisfaction, not the cash. Yours is about the only situation where something heavily damaged has a chance. Its a loser for a regular hourly rate shop. Too much time invested and it would probably cost the customer more than they want to pay, or it will eat a ton of bench time and annoy another customer instead.

Where I live, we have a transfer station to dispose of everything from household waste to trees/brush and large appliances.
We have a free swap shop where people can drop off unwanted, but working house goods. including the occasional stereo.
I have picked up a few gems there.

But the best is the electronic recycling bin. I've picked up dozens of sweet pieces that needed minimal work.
Most of the time I give them to friends and family who have few resources to afford the small luxuries.

I have sold my fair share on Craigslist and FacePlant market place.
Anyone need a Bose Wave table radio?

The shocker is how many cheapo printers end up in that bin. (5' X 5' X 5')
It is full to the brim every Friday.

But some silly goose put a new-in-the-box HP InkJet out for recycling (it wouldn't print black) without calling the factory first.
I did, it still had a year left on the warranty. They sent me a brand new printer for $1! WahHoo!

Someone else left a office quality HP LaserJet Pro that needed nothing.
It fired up with a puff of dust and works like a champ.
The hint I knew it worked, they didn't toss it in the bin, they left it off to the side.
I know about office grade HP's, they last forever.
I bought a 1200 series 35 years ago. If the wife didn't drop it going down the stairs, it would still be working today.

 

[tutor_turtle]

Happy Easter all.

 

[cason]

^^^
Now that right there is funny!

 

[Mr Boochie]

Every once and awhile I get a basket-case.
A request will come in where something has gone wrong, the owner attempts a repair, makes it worse, it ends up on my bench, with a box of (some) parts.

I have stopped taking any of these "I think all the parts are all in the box" projects.

In my experience, about 1 out of 20 gets fixed to a reliable working order. And to top it off, sometimes there is a lot of over-the-top owner angst.

 

[gadget73]

Last one I did was a Sunn solid state bass head, the parts were mostly inside the amp but it came with a box that had about half of another amp in it. The power transformer was totally MIA though. It actually mostly worked once it had a transformer installed but lots of gremlins and broken solder and other issues that kept me chasing problems for a good while. I could tell lots of people had been inside of that one. I did my best and it left here working but I haven't heard from the owner since. Not sure if that means no problems or if he's mad at me.

I don't take on outside work often but usually it does end up being the basket case stuff that sane people have given up on.

 

[tutor_turtle]

I have stopped taking any of these "I think all the parts are all in the box" projects.

In my experience, about 1 out of 20 gets fixed to a reliable working order. And to top it off, sometimes there is a lot of over-the-top owner angst.

I totally agree, I truly believe this is one of those cases.

The owner keeps asking for an estimate without providing the rest of the parts (Transformer brackets, being key).
I just have a bad gut feeling about this one.

Being run at the 100 volt setting for months on end likely caused all manner of over-stressed components.

It's a shame too, an otherwise ok (average) 7070 non-db.

I'm going to suggest he offer it up on flea-Bay as a parts unit.

 

[Mr Boochie]

I totally agree, I truly believe this is one of those cases.

The owner keeps asking for an estimate without providing the rest of the parts (Transformer brackets, being key).
I just have a bad gut feeling about this one.

Being run at the 100 volt setting for months on end likely caused all manner of over-stressed components.

It's a shame too, an otherwise ok (average) 7070 non-db.

I'm going to suggest he offer it up on flea-Bay as a parts unit.

I've learned that once you start to fix the thing, the owner dissolves himself of all fault, and you become married to the monster. To top it off, you get email after email demanding updates. Even worse, "I talked to my Guru, and he thinks you should be doing this, not that." Always the Stupid Guru Of The Day! Who, of course, is not a tech or is too busy fixing some Hollywood VIP's equipment.

It's best not to cross the River Rubicon, if you know what I mean.

 

[gadget73]

What makes me laugh is when people ask you what it needs, you give an answer, and they disagree. Why even ask if they already know the answer?

 

[Sansuiman]

What makes me laugh is when people ask you what it needs, you give an answer, and they disagree. Why even ask if they already know the answer?

As a plumber, I get this with some regularity. Some people want to argue about what needs to be done, and counter my "diagnosis" and planned repair. Nearly 100% of the time this is because they know the needed repair I've outlined is going to be costly, and they want an easy out that's going to cost them less. Now, it is a point of great personal pride for me to have the reputation as an honest straight shooter when it comes to doing my job, and I don't overstate a problem (or jazz up the solution) just to put extra $ in my pocket.

Usually those second guessing me are new customers who haven't dealt with me before, but I do periodically get a long time customer who acts this way because they are sweating the cost. I get that, but it still irritates me because these are people who already know I won't BS them, and at a fundamental level it makes no sense to call me in as any expert if you're just going to argue with me.