Lest you think all is smooth sailing through The Straights of Pioneer, let me assure you it isn't.
In the case of this thing:
We ran smack into Halsey's Typhoon. It fought me Every Step Of The Way. Fix one thing, something else pops up. Fix that, and then you have to fix a brittle plastic part that broke while you were fixing the first item. Or a teeny, tiny part gets away from you, and goes sailing off into oblivion. The bent chassis was straightened so all mechanical assemblies were in proper alignment and dry-fit perfectly. The tape transport mechanism was taken apart and cleaned FOUR times. New drive belts, idler wheels, and pinch rollers were fitted. The last cleaning would have done a Class 1000 clean room proud. Use of lubricants was strongly discouraged, and highly controlled.
And STILL it doesn't work with front panel attached. It plays, records, and fast forwards 100% with the panel removed. Rewind is a bit flaky, so something is still amiss in the tape transport. It might be something subtle I'm missing, but I'm all out of speed, altitude, and ideas on this one. I went 10 rounds with this thing, and I'm battered, bruised, and bloodied. I'm "ahead on points", but I just don't have another round left in me, so I'm throwing in the towel, cutting my losses, and making a strategic withdrawal.
Nest stop in The Journey, The Bay of Nakamichi, where I hear the natives are friendly.
We should be pulling into port Monday afternoon.....
I hate running out of airspeed, altitude and ideas at the same time. The last time that happened to me I found myself doing a 2-minute engine cooldown in a Bell 47 with a broken tail rotor. It could have been worse.
ReplyDeleteThe first time I "went aloft" was in a 47G. A friend of my Dad's used to fly powerline/pipeline inspections, and he took me along many times.
DeleteAh, the venerable 47 series. The one I had a hard landing in was a Carson supercharged Bell 47G3B2 whose primary mission (other than training) was to do external lifting of loads on a cable beneath the aircraft. At one time, I had an external load endorsement for class A,B and C. Good old days . . .
DeleteJust like Chuck and P.T. did!
DeleteNakamichi was the cat's meow back in the day.
ReplyDeleteYep, like TEAC was in reel-to-reel!
DeleteOh, I remember Nakascreechi. Good equipment. I have a TEAC cassette deck that needs at least new belts (big O rings really) and probably some capacitors replaced.
ReplyDeletePower supply caps, or something in the audio path?
DeleteI don't know yet. I am just making that determination based on it being over 30 years old and unused for maybe 15 years. At least the power supply caps just in case.
DeleteI have some other "classic" equipment that when I get it down here to South Central Texas, I am going to get it back in working order. One is the Acoustic Research Stereo Amplifier from the late 1960s that I know needs the power supply caps.
The TEAC is also going to need new belts, idlers, and possibly pinch rollers....
Delete