[vcf-midatlantic] Jan 30/31 Workshop location update & what's everyone working on?

[william degnan]

On Thu, Jan 28, 2016 at 8:29 AM, Steven Toth via vcf-midatlantic <
vcf-midatlantic at lists.vintagecomputerfederation.org> wrote:

> >> Me: Commodore 64 and Commodore 1541 repair. Various broken 1541, at
> least 2
> >> working 1541, soldering iron, 1541 speed controller, and if I can find a
> >> disk cleaner kit.
> >>
> >> You: ?
> >>
> >
> > I will bring 1541 focus things.  I have some good useful gear for this
> > topic.
> > b
>
> Bringing various tools, soldering iron / meters / part supplies /
> scope / resocketing tools etc.
>
> I've never dived into 1541's, or done any alignment, will want to get
> involved in some of that.
>
> So, I'll bring a mix of working vs non-working stuff.
>
> - Steve
>

As far as 1541's go, what I will start with is a few working drives.  I
want to set up some measuring equipment so we can take baseline readings of
the electrical characteristics of the drives.  Then with this info we can
play doctor 1541 to diagnose non-working drives.  We can line 10 drives up
at a time, probe targeted points and determine which are the best
candidates for repair.  We can also swap parts, etc.  I have an
oscilloscope but if anyone wants to bring a better one, please advise and I
will leave mine at home.

I am also planning on bringing a few DEC power supplies to test out.
 h742a's.  These are 115V and can be tested from a regular outlet.  I have
restored one from the grave, I hope to be able to bring up at least two
more (I have 4 to be restored).  Restoring the supply was a great learning
experience for me, I was totally clueless about DEC repairs before I
started.  I know VCF has at least one h742a power supply in the store room
we can take a look at, maybe diagnose the condition of VCFs pdp 11/40 power
supply.

Bill