broken – Page 4 – Foxes Den

Sega game gear 2110-50

What the listing stated:

SEGA GAME GEAR Console FAULTY

Ebay

And that was it. Faulty. What’s faulty? I’ll not know until it arrives as i didn’t ask. Foolish perhaps, but I was looking for a challenge and something I could later mod. I think I’ve found it.

I must admit I was looking for a cheap way into a retro gaming repair and I believe this was it. Most damaged game gear units seem to be averaging around the £42GBP price but I managed to get this 2110-50 version at a lower price of £28GBP (and I may have got a game with it, let’s see what arrives!). However I don’t know what the heck is wrong with it but I suspect it’s the usual issue that has plagued these 90s retro units since their inception where the capacitors fail catastrophically.

There is probably not a single one of these units out there that has not suffered this issue or is certainly guaranteed to do so sometime in the not too distant future. Imagine how many of these units have just been discarded as junk considering that 10.62 Million units were sold up to and including its discontinuation date in April 1997….scary!

The first recommendation from anyone in the know is to change the caps before they start popping and corroding everything. I have a set of replacement caps ready in anticipation.

My hope is that this unit has not yet reached that corrosion stage….fingers crossed 🤞

Hurry along now Mr.Postman….

Both Game gear and replacement Caps have arrived. And I’m really happy as there is a game in the unit as well “Columns” Sega’s answer to Nintendos Tetris. A nice bonus.

The unit turns on, there is no sound, and only a very feint green glow when the unit is held at an angle. It’s looking very much like it is the old Capacitor problem.

The unit is in surprisingly good order with scuffs and minor scratches as you expect from a game that’s around 30yrs old. The lens scuffs aren’t an issue as a new lens is relatively cheap. But that isn’t the problem as it stands. Let’s get it working and I can worry about that later in the repair process.

There are no signs of any corrosion in the battery compartments and this pleases me. I only hope that when the unit is opened there are no obvious signs of corrosion on the boards.

Wish me luck, I’m going in….

Overall I’m happy with the condition inside, no bad corrosion, however it’s noticeable that a few capacitors have leaked. The worst seems to be C39 on the main board, it’s easy to see the residue.

This unit separates into three boards. An audio board, a power board and the main board. This is a twin asic board, I have removed the audio and power boards as these are the first and possibly the easiest for me to be working on.

The audio board has 5 capacitors that require replacing, I can see some leakage on the rear of board but not in the area of the capacitors. I suspect that this is factory flux though I could be wrong. When I remove the caps I’ll clean all the pads and use IPA to clean so this should sort that issue out.

The power board only has three Capacitors that require changing, however it’s clear to see here that C5 has been leaking.

Let’s get on with the removal and replacement of these 8 components. The other 11 are on the main board.

Well that didn’t go too bad. A few minor position changes due to the capacitor types being a different size on the board compared to the 1990s version.

It was obvious that there had been leakage on these two boards due to the fishy smell that arose when the soldering iron was used. That said, the old capacitors came off without too much problem. I used solder braid to remove the old solder and then gave a good clean of the board with IPA prior to re tinning the pads prior to putting the caps back in place.

I knew there wasn’t a big issue with the power board as this was sort of working prior to this project. This was the easiest board to solder as it had through the board components, pretty much a straight swap but for better components.

The audio board was different as I had to reposition these pots so the case could close properly and the shielding could go back into place with no issues. Again I used the same process of unsoldering, cleaning thoroughly and then tinning the pads.

These two boards are now complete. As a test I thought I’d reassemble the unit and see if there was any improvement. Power came on and the red led lit, this was a good sign that there was power and I’d not messed anything up. Secondly there was sound, we didn’t have that before so this is a definite improvement on what we originally had. Volume works with just a couple of occasional crackles so I may have to use some more contact cleaner here.

We have sound

So far, so good. No real improvement to the picture even though you can see something is trying to come through. That said I’m hoping the replacement of the caps on the main board will help this. So with no further a do, let’s get the main board finished.

Just got home from work, now time to get these last 11 caps done. All the old ones removed, all the pads wicked to remove the old solder and what a stink of old fish, these capacitors had definitely died.

All cleaned with some IPA to rid of all the debris and then fluxed and tinned the pads ready for the new capacitors to go into place, I’ve got this off to a tee now and these went on a lot quicker, easier and tidier than the last lot. I’m a lot more competent now, and feel more confident with this process.

Had a little trouble getting it all back together, a couple of the new caps had to be tweaked slightly as they were in the way of a screw post, the earth shield was also causing issues and shorting the system, again a bit of captain tape helped shield an exposed component. All this done I put the strap back on and loaded up the batteries. Switched on and red light, all looking good…

All working

Very happy with the fix, that was my first Cap replacement and I’m happy with my first attempt. Again you learn from these attempts and the reluctance I initially experienced was just nerves. I’d be more than happy to do more of these fixes, maybe using the modern surface mount components next time.

Another one saved from landfill, I wonder how many of the 10.6 million more that were made of these have suffered that very fate. Scary.

Anyway, I’m looking at using this unit to do some mods, so this is going to be my test bed for other projects.

Simple fix, great outcome, I’m happy.

Mamekara Karaoke machine

What the listing stated:

This is a handy karaoke cassette player released by Epson over 30 years ago in Japan. The item it self does not function. Recommended for retro collectors

Ebay

This video sums it up, apologies to those with sensitive hearing:

The pub singer

Anyway, enough of the frivolities, let’s see what’s wrong and try to fix it.

On initial examination, everything seems to be there, no damage to the shell. Four AA batteries inserted and I do hear some feedback from the mic.

There are some volume controls that control the tape sound versus mic sound, there is also a speech on and off switch along with a balance control, these seem to work intermittently and I suspect they might just need contacts cleaning.

The tape seems to sort of work but the play button does not stay on, the recorded sound is slow. Echo and balance buttons also seem to work but again probably need contacts cleaning. I suspect the belt of the cassette needs replacing and the tape heads will need cleaning.

Good news is that for once there is no corrosion on the battery contacts.

I will now have to open the unit up to observe closer.

Once inside there are a couple of issues that show straight away. The two drive belts are very loose and will require replacing, luckily I have a bag full of these that should do the job. There is also a wire detached that controls the motor, this will need re attaching at both ends.

I’ve reattached the wire and replaced the two drive belts. I’ve checked the board and found what looks like a burnt capacitor, but checks confirm there is no issue. Looks like the component has a small burn on it as a result of an earlier soldering attempt, probably during manufacture.

The main issue is that the play button will not engage. I spent a good 30 minutes scratching my head here until I spent some time clicking the buttons that worked and the stop button. There is a catch on the rear of the tape head that should click into the sliding stop mechanism when depressed, this was not quite making the full range of travel. A pair of pinch nose pliers and a slight adjustment of about 1mm ensured we were now working. I was worried I might over stress this catch, however it was made of steel and I had nothing to worry about. See the video below:

Loose belts and non engaging play button

There was nothing wrong with any of the volume controls or switches, so I used some contact cleaning spray and vigorously operated them for a minute or so each. This worked just fine.

I then reassembled the unit, put in some batteries and hey presto, good loud clean sound. I put a tape in and it played just fine, probably better than some of the Walkmans I’ve fixed lately.

Excuse the pub singing

I’ve put a little video up above of me singing into it, I haven’t played a tape due to copyright issues that might occur. I’ve sent the video to the family of me singing with a tape and they are suitably bemused, the unit now sits in our garden pub awaiting more customers, once I get a few Karaoke tapes to use.

The only thing I’m going to do is replace the foam mic cover, I’ve managed to source one and that should be here shortly. I’ve also found some cheap old Karaoke tapes that I’ll store in the pub for the families entertainment.

I’ve really enjoyed this little project, and once again I’ve salvaged another item that was broken from the 90s and saved it from landfill. It lives on.

Good job 👍

Canon EF lens 35-80mm

As the listing stated:

Needs opening cleaning and fixing sounds like something loose so selling as a repair project cheap.
EBay

No error code so in theory this should be an easier fix, however the fact that something is moving about inside tells me there could be more wrong with it than expected.

I now have the lens in front of me so here is what I can see.

Shake rattle and roll

Well, it certainly does rattle, something quite significant is moving about inside. When Connected to a camera you can’t focus or zoom so something in there is restricting movement. There is also fungus on the lens so this one will need to be carefully dismantled and cleaned throughout.

About 10 small screws later I am into the internal parts of the lens and the cause of all the rattling becomes apparent. A piece of the internal zoom mechanism has broken off stopping the zoom from smoothly operating through its range.

The part of the barrel that the item had snapped off was broken due to forceful action with the previous owner. There are two options here, junk the lens or see if it can be saved, I went for the latter. I mixed some epoxy resin and fixed the piece back into place also gluing it to a part of the mechanism that was not liable to hinder future movements. I left this for a couple of hours to cure.

Whilst waiting for the glue to cure I used a mixture of water and hydrogen peroxide to clean all the lens elements. I thoroughly dried them and gave a quick polish and reassembled them into the casing. The glue was dry now so I was careful to reassemble the lens not damaging any ribbon cables or contacts along the way. The lens looks lovely and clear of any fungus now.

I’ve put the lens onto a test camera and it’s fantastic. I couldn’t get focus when I unpacked the lens but now I have the full range of action and a lovely clean working lens for very little outlay and probably just 2 to 3 hrs of maintenance. Well worth it in my opinion. I wanted a good cheap lens to test my old stock and I now have one that I can easily sell on at some point, on top of that I’ve learnt a lot from working on one of these lenses. I’m certainly going to attempt working on more in the future.

Thanks for passing by. Always appreciated.

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