mending things

When travelling I use an IBM Thinkpad X.41 from 2005 ,the model is described  here The original spec was : Processor: Intel Pentium M LV 758 (1.50GHz, 90nm technology, 2MB L2 Cache, 400MHz FSB) Wireless: Intel PRO 2200BG or 2915ABG, Bluetooth optional OS: Windows XP Home/Pro Screen: 12.1″ TFT XGA (1024 x 768) RAM: 256MB or 512MB PC-4200 DDR-2 SDRAM (Upgradeable to 1536MB Max) Hard Drive: 1.8″ 20GB, 30GB, 40GB or 60GB @ 4200RPM Battery: 2.5 hr (4-cell) 5.7 hr (8-cell) (extended-life battery option adds 3 – 4 hours of life on top of quoted numbers for each respective battery) Ports: 2 USB 2.0 (1 IBM Powered USB 2.0), Infrared, expansion bus (for optional ThinkPad X4 Ultra Base Doc); external display; AC adapter; RJ-11 modem port;RJ-45 ethernet port; audio: headphone/line-out, external microphone. Slots: 1 PCMCIA card slot, 1 Secure Digital card slot Dimensions: 10.5″ x 8.3″ x 1.06″ (w x d x h) (with 8-cell battery it’s 10.5″ x 9.3″ x 1.06″) Weight: 2.7lb with 4-cell battery, 3.2lb wi...

I'm ashamed to say that recently I noticed rust developing at the base of the microwave interior glass door panel, and the paint flaking. Cooking items like potatoes releases a lot of moisture , which probably should be wiped away immediately to avoid this, but when you are preparing a meal and everything you forget (or I do at least). The Microwave is a Bosch and has a face plate so it fits into a recess in our fitted kitchen. I looked into replacing the door but Bosch do not supply this as a spare, not could I find a donor oven online. A whole new oven would be around £300, which seemed a lot for a problem that might be fixable.  I read online about Rusty Microwave ovens, and advice ranged from " It'll be fine " through to " immediately remove the oven and place in a lead lined container at the bottom of the sea " type of response. Filtering the informed advice from the hysterical took a while. In the USA you can purchase Microwave oven pain...

Well a few weeks ago my Dyson DC14 stopped . The motor stopped working and there was a bit of a burning smell. I left it for a while, thinking it might be a cut out due to overheating and would restart, but after a day, it was still dead. I've had this Dyson for over 10 years and its been pretty good, have repaired a few things and replaced the odd part, but its still in good shape. I sort of assumed that if the motor had failed this was akin to the engine in a car and likely to be expensive to repair, so was pondering getting a new cleaner. However looking on ebay I found that replacement motors were about £16, so not much at all. So I got one, and also figure I needed a new filter for the motor. this is the purple and white filter unit which fits below the dirt container, and is accessed via a hatch. The old filter was black with what I assume was fine carbon dust, perhaps from the motor brushes ? Before I started I watched this video on YouTube, which is excellent and cl...

 I got back into vinyl records about 18 months ago, and have collected a few hundred albums, mostly second hand. I have a number of turntables (NAD 5120, Ariston QDeck, Pioneer PL12D ) which I got also second hand. I keep a few, some end up passed onto friends, some that are too far gone are kept for spares. In most cases they have required a little work to get them running again. Last week I was lucky enough to get a Pioneer PL-12D turntable from freecycle. The lady who offered it, said that she in turn had received it from freecycle , and had replaced the belt but couldn't get on with the springiness of it, and had got a modern USB turntable. I have previously worked on one of these decks, and know what she means about the suspension system used. While this blog is specifically about this particular model of deck, many of the concepts are similar to others from this vintage. Many Japanese belt drive decks throughout the  1970's shared very similar construction, so this m...