Time to Get Electrical

[330]

Does anyone else like taking apart and repairing electrical things . I do ! Here is my work bench and some other tools not related to electronics.

 

[Rodafina]

I’m better at destruction than construction at the moment, but I love pretty tools!

That magnifying glass is awesome.

 

[Yeshuasdaughter]

Yes. Before I got sick, if something broke, I would enjoy taking the thing apart to see what it looked like on the inside, and I would try to figure out how it worked. But I don't know how to repair electrical things. It is fascinating.

I don't like digital items, for one of the reason being, that if I took it apart, I couldn't see how it worked. There are no mechanisms.

 

[330]

May favorite thing to work on , it is a 1968 Wurlitzer 200a . Also my favorite instrument to play In bands .It requires maintenance and repairs from time to time. Because it is so old .

It is all mechanical portable piano . All real wood and capacitors and transistors. No digital components.

 

[Rodafina]

May favorite thing to work on , it is a 1968 Wurlitzer 200a . Also my favorite instrument to play In bands .It requires maintenance and repairs from time to time. Because it is so old .

It is all mechanical portable piano . All real wood and capacitors and transistors. No digital components. View attachment 91273

Is the fidget spinner a 1968 original or is that a component you added more recently?

Seriously, a beautiful piece of equipment. How did you learn to maintain it?

 

[Aspychata]

Reminds me of my father who would blow a electrical fuse if his borrowed tool wasn't put precisely back on the section on the very neatly organized peg board. My brain just blipped when l saw your board.

 

[330]

Yes. Before I got sick, if something broke, I would enjoy taking the thing apart to see what it looked like on the inside, and I would try to figure out how it worked. But I don't know how to repair electrical things. It is fascinating.

I agree that’s what I did with lots of toys as a kid , really made my parents upset buying me stuff and me taking it apart instead of playing with it . As an adult now I understand their frustration better now.
Before you were sick ? I hope you are ok now?

I don't like digital items, for one of the reason being, that if I took it apart, I couldn't see how it worked. There are no mechanisms.

Yeah digital it real tricky . I am not very computer savvy. I can visualize electrons move through the circuit boards. But I have no idea about the process how computer programmers program the digital language, and all that stuff. Seems complicated to me.

 

[330]

Is the fidget spinner a 1968 original or is that a component you added more recently?

Haha that’s my stim machine for band practice. Must always keep one handy . I believe the fidget spinner is from 2020 ,

Seriously, a beautiful piece of equipment. How did you learn to maintain it?

Thank you ! Just by taking the lid off and studying the mechanical movement of it . And if it is something I can’t figure . Thank goodness for YouTube . Actually there is a repair shop in New Jersey that specialize in repairing and restoring those exact ones that I have.
They repair, for famous musicians like Stevie Wonder

 

[330]

I’m better at destruction than construction at the moment, but I love pretty tools!

That magnifying glass is awesome.

Without the destructors, there’s no point to have me around

 

[330]

Reminds me of my father who would blow a electrical fuse if his borrowed tool wasn't put precisely back on the section on the very neatly organized peg board. My brain just blipped when l saw your board.

That sounds very much like me !

 

[Angular Chap]

Ahh electronics! I'm more the smaller, delicate IT side of things. Arduinos, Raspberry Pis, soldering serial port headers into routers and modems, that kind of thing. Got a breadboard and jumper wires right next to my arm as I type this.

I'm really jealous of your workbench, @Moogwizard I have to keep all my stuff in boxes, otherwise my desk gets too cluttered. Your a musician, right? ever done anything with circuit bending or crystal earpieces? That stuff fascinates me. I've used guitar pickup coils to find sources of RF interference for radio. I've also heard that all the cheap, rubbishy switch mode power supplies on the go these days can play havoc with electric guitars and other audio kit. I've heard musicians these days get wound up almost as much as the HAM radio guys with all the RF noise. Bad time of year with all the Christmas lights on the go.

 

[330]

Ahh electronics! I'm more the smaller, delicate IT side of things. Arduinos, Raspberry Pis, soldering serial port headers into routers and modems, that kind of thing. Got a breadboard and jumper wires right next to my arm as I type this.

Hello ! Nice I really want to get into wiring circuits some day. I need to get a breadboard to start practicing. But I have to many special interests at the time .and not enough time in the day . But someday I will get there

I'm really jealous of your workbench, @Moogwizard I have to keep all my stuff in boxes, otherwise my desk gets too cluttered. Your a musician, right? ever done anything with circuit bending or crystal earpieces? That stuff fascinates me. I've used guitar pickup coils to find sources of RF interference for radio. I've also heard that all the cheap, rubbishy switch mode power supplies on the go these days can play havoc with electric guitars and other audio kit. I've heard musicians these days get wound up almost as much as the HAM radio guys with all the RF noise. Bad time of year with all the Christmas lights on the go.

Thanks - I have to stay very organized or I get flustered finding stuff . And it burns me out quick . Yeah I am a musician as well.
Are you ?
No I have not done anything with circuit bending , I have to see what that is .
Oh yes RF signals ! I was playing guitar at practice one time and my guitar picked up a radio station from Mexico while I was playing . It was a very “Spinal Tap” moment .

Yes it is true !

 

[Angular Chap]

Yeah I am a musician as well.
Are you ?

Nope, really sorry to disappoint you! Music is very much not my strong point. I've built, maintained, modified and refurbished audio kit, but I'm definitely not a music guy. I can build amplifier circuits, I can tell you about standing waves along DMX lines, but I very much do NOT have the co-ordination to play in instrument!

No I have not done anything with circuit bending , I have to see what that is .

You're in for a treat if it turns out to be your cup of tea. I have a battery charger that makes music by itself, wherever I go in the house my shortwave radios pick it up. If I had any musical talent whatsoever, I would exploit this kind of thing.

Oh yes RF signals ! I was playing guitar at practice one time and my guitar picked up a radio station from Mexico while I was playing . It was a very “Spinal Tap” moment .

Yes it is true !

Amazing. And I thought the neighbors' TV interfering over an old 80s cassette recorder, making my retro computer programs break was funny...

 

[Judge]

Let's just say that it's not so much that I like doing that sort of thing.

More a case that I'm driven to do such things.

 

[Slime_Punk]

What a killer workbench you've got there!

Mostly I'm only good at repairing computers, but I really want to get into circuit bending in the future if that counts! I'm obsessed with tinkering though, so Arduino and Raspberry Pi have always intrigued me as well

 

[Ken]

Ooohh Yeaaaa. Now that is exactly what I'm talking about!

I like your avatar.

 

[Angular Chap]

Arduino and Raspberry Pi have always intrigued me as well

2 of the greatest inventions of recent years, in my opinion. Some would say we have been spoiled by microcontrollers and that discrete logic is the way to go. A valid point, but when a small surface mount 8 pin microcontroller has serial ports, SPI busses, I2C busses, analog I/O, digital I/O, analog to digital converters, internal oscillators and so on, that's the way to go for me.

However, I take the side of the discrete logic folk when a commercial product is using a microcontroller just to flash an LED...

 

[Nitro]

Does anyone else like taking apart and repairing electrical things . I do ! Here is my work bench and some other tools not related to electronics.View attachment 91256View attachment 91258

Looks very nice, a place for everything and everything in it's place.
Years ago, I hired on highschool aged guys to do grunt work in the shop.
They started losing my (expensive)tools.
The fix was a pegboard that we first arranged the tools on, then spray painted everything black.
There was essentially no way to cheat it . Here, not to one up your thread, but how does my holiday themed one look ?

 

[Nitro]

Seriously, considering that I'm always hands on with a lot of mechanical details, these are pictures of a wall in the mudroom area.

Everything I might need on one side or the other of the door.

 

[Nitro]

Progress on a recent restoration:

The bearing support, arbor, pulley and cast iron drive nuts were a little goobered, but I performed my magic on 'em

5mm width v-pulley I chewed out of aluminum on my lathe.
All of this will be mounted on a hardwood platform for out at the Steam Gas and Horse Association shop I play with here and again.