mending things

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...

I'm delighted to receive messages from readers who have found my Pioneer PL12D blog of use. I recently received this article from a correspondent - Dirk Sipes, and wanted to share it. His approach is that of an engineer, rather than my amateur efforts, and there are some very interesting  details around things like bearing material and the nature of the suspension springs. He has also owned the deck for 40 years since new, which speaks volumes about both their quality and his care. Here it is : About me: Readers be aware that I have tried to use names for parts as they appear on the service schematics for the PL-12D that are available on VinylEngine.com, thus bushings referenced in the blog are what I call cushions, etc.   Also, I have provided some locations where products that I used can be obtained.   Those businesses do not even know I list them, and my use does not necessarily represent an endorsement, although I have found them to reputable.   My tha...

A feature of many of these blogs is my interest in vinyl records and turntables. Over the years I've acquired and restored a number of decks, all of which came with a cartridge, but were they worth keeping ? Well my  friend , and fellow fan, Clive,  has created a wonderful resource with a great deal of invaluable detail about a wider range of cartridges, and reviewed in classic decks like the PL12D, Rega Planar 2 and the Technics SL1200. Well worth visiting for the insight and detail around things such as optimal capacitive loading , for example PHONO CARTRIDGE REVIEWS

Some months back, I did a silly thing and blew one of the drivers in my speakers. I think while fumbling with the wires between my pre and power amps I may have run a tape monitor into the power. Anyway, there was a loud noise and after that one of the Dalesford drivers in my RAM 200 speakers was damaged. It still worked but sounded wrong, and applying gentle inward pressure revealed it was rubbing on the voice coil. Basically the wiring had over heated. I looked around for a replacement but my challenge was that the Dalesford drivers are no longer made, and the RAM 200 used a special large magnet version of the driver. Some KEF drivers were considered a drop in replacement, but again, it would  require buying a second pair of speakers to cannibalise for parts, which also seemed wrong. I wondered if the speaker driver could be repaired, though I realised this was beyond anything I could do. I found a few places on the internet that could do the work, though some seemed to ta...

A good friend recently spotted this turntable, being sold on ebay, buy it now at a reasonable price , and very close to where I live. We had both commented  in the past that the Harmon Kardon T40 was a nice looking deck, with it's deep platter and champagne colour, so it was impossible to resist. Not that well known in the UK, and advertised as not working, with a hinge missing and a burn on the lid. I bid, won and collected it from the seller, who was very helpful , and it was exactly as described. Upon inspection the main problem with the deck not starting was due to the belt having petrified  and broken into small pieces. the motor worked as I lifted the arm across the platter and appeared to correctly eject the arm at the end of side position. The motor turned fine. As well as the drive belt, the 4 rubber feet had also aged badly. As you can see from the picture ,all that remained was the 4 springs and parts of the rubber cup. I think there would...