I remember reading on one of the boombox forums recently that someone commented that they quite liked a boombox "Battle Scarred" as long as it's all complete.............I now understand what he meant!!
Now most folk know that I like a minty boombox - Who doesn't?
So back to April & I bought this big & heavy Panasonic harking from around 1979/1980 - I remember it well from the Panny brochures back then, just another stereo simply couldn't have afforded back then (Or for a long time to come it transpired)
The listing said it had a couple of problems......No shite! lol this poor old soldier had been worked hard for many years no question & as well as a fair few dings & marks on it's casing, it had some major issues internally too!!
I chose to buy it for just £20 as I just love working on this era of Panny's - They were built to a ridiculously high standard using components of such high quality & even the cabinets, loudspeakers & power supplies were top notch - I think we just didn't know how good we had it back in 1980...........
So, what do we have here??
A tuner that worked in mono & only on FM & a tape mechanism that had at some point completely seized up making any push buttons impossible to move - they were solidly locked where they were & the tape mechanism was, of course half stuck in play mode.........
All the audio sliders were very poorly & gummed up with an unknown substance making them difficult to slide in either direction........
It was clear that this wasn't going to be easy sailing at all & in fact, I was looking at a completely different fish in the kettle to what I first anticipated..........
I decided that the whole shooting game would have to be dismantled & at that point wondered will I ever overtake the even keels with this poor patient!!
Some time later the same day, I had the complete cassette deck in front of me - & what an amazing engineering feat it is.........
I was able to determine two "Key" areas that were causing the "Core" problems with this beautiful deck - Dried grease on all of the steel plates that are meant to move sideways with ease & dried to the point of seizure...........
The second problem was a small copper "Spring" that returns all the plates to their correct positions had just about "Petered Out" & was no longer doing it's job, it wasn't broken though which I thought was a godsend as I couldn't of repaired it!
Time for the degreaser & surgical spirit treatment (Don't get either of these on the silver cabinet finish - they both strip paint in seconds) By the end of the afternoon, we had a completely clean set of plates ready to re-grease without removing any of them from the mechanism..............Did I say earlier that I love working on this era of Panny?? What was I thinking..........
I used a fine blade to slip a generous amount of grease between each plate & spread it as best I could! Now it was time to remove that pesky copper return tensioner & gently reform it's shape! Amazing! this component hadn't lost any of it's strengh & a careful few minutes saw this part restored with plenty of tension which was great news..........
So time to refit the tensioner & test the operation of the transport keys manually - It took a few run throughs of all modes to get the plates moving freely again, but all this trouble was worth it!!
So we now have a working transport mechanism, just belts & pinch roller to replace & a drop of machine oil on the capstan shaft - A doodle on these decks, one flat belt is all it uses & a counter belt which as so often happens was in perfect shape & a nice brand new pinch roller completed the deck restore!
The rest was pretty mundane & straightforward - clean every switch pot & contact over & over until they all moving with ease - I just hoped & prayed that the sound board sliders were not as worn out as my ex-wife - I wouldn't know until the reassembly process.........
Now this model is not the easiest to put back together, add to that a ton of wiring & very well made reusable cable clamps that must be in the correct place before you can close the case up fully & of course the selector & mode switches that protrude through the top edge of the case! Add to that the many pluggable connectors that must go in the right place to avoid certain disaster & damage to the stero & it's quite a balacing act to achieve :O
I write this up today as I have had so much else to deal with lately, not least a very naughty little Orange Cat! I have to keep stopping typing & keep him entertained fed & watered etc - He is so naughty but who cares? I adore him
This afternoon was the time to conclude the restore & about time too! By now I was completely caught up with the tentyhooks as I hadn't tested anything stage by stage at all!!
Cue: "All Gleaming Horns & Trumpets" Everything was spot on with no further adjustments or bits to do - Everything works & it sings once again & every single function works as it should!!
Now I don't know if you're aware of this, but this stereo is LOUD!!!
Lots of real power on tap & even at low volumes, it's loud!! Look at the two volume sliders to the right of the bass & treble ones - in the three videos, this beast was overloading my 4K camera's A.l.c. circuits & knocking the audio limiter hard!! & it's really in yer face loud! :O :O
But remember: These Panasonics were really like that in the golden age & thank f**k we had such beasts back then!
It goes without saying that this goes deafeningly loud should you wish it to!!
A very happy owner here - An outstandingly stable cassette deck with decent heads feed a rich powerful amplifier & very heavy spokers - Did I mention that the tuner now works on all four bands & in stereo on FM!
My Battle scarred but still very nice to own.........
Just a few images here - Both forums seem to have stopped multiple uploads & I am not going to upload them one at a time!! Link to Hi-Res Images Below!!
Et Voila:
https://onedrive.live.com/?id=BEA218B70F2B18D1!33254&cid=BEA218B70F2B18D1
https://youtu.be/DaEpuwokmTo
https://youtu.be/UzuFzPEDBAI
https://youtu.be/M-3j4le2TRY
Now most folk know that I like a minty boombox - Who doesn't?
So back to April & I bought this big & heavy Panasonic harking from around 1979/1980 - I remember it well from the Panny brochures back then, just another stereo simply couldn't have afforded back then (Or for a long time to come it transpired)
The listing said it had a couple of problems......No shite! lol this poor old soldier had been worked hard for many years no question & as well as a fair few dings & marks on it's casing, it had some major issues internally too!!
I chose to buy it for just £20 as I just love working on this era of Panny's - They were built to a ridiculously high standard using components of such high quality & even the cabinets, loudspeakers & power supplies were top notch - I think we just didn't know how good we had it back in 1980...........
So, what do we have here??
A tuner that worked in mono & only on FM & a tape mechanism that had at some point completely seized up making any push buttons impossible to move - they were solidly locked where they were & the tape mechanism was, of course half stuck in play mode.........
All the audio sliders were very poorly & gummed up with an unknown substance making them difficult to slide in either direction........
It was clear that this wasn't going to be easy sailing at all & in fact, I was looking at a completely different fish in the kettle to what I first anticipated..........
I decided that the whole shooting game would have to be dismantled & at that point wondered will I ever overtake the even keels with this poor patient!!
Some time later the same day, I had the complete cassette deck in front of me - & what an amazing engineering feat it is.........
I was able to determine two "Key" areas that were causing the "Core" problems with this beautiful deck - Dried grease on all of the steel plates that are meant to move sideways with ease & dried to the point of seizure...........
The second problem was a small copper "Spring" that returns all the plates to their correct positions had just about "Petered Out" & was no longer doing it's job, it wasn't broken though which I thought was a godsend as I couldn't of repaired it!
Time for the degreaser & surgical spirit treatment (Don't get either of these on the silver cabinet finish - they both strip paint in seconds) By the end of the afternoon, we had a completely clean set of plates ready to re-grease without removing any of them from the mechanism..............Did I say earlier that I love working on this era of Panny?? What was I thinking..........
I used a fine blade to slip a generous amount of grease between each plate & spread it as best I could! Now it was time to remove that pesky copper return tensioner & gently reform it's shape! Amazing! this component hadn't lost any of it's strengh & a careful few minutes saw this part restored with plenty of tension which was great news..........
So time to refit the tensioner & test the operation of the transport keys manually - It took a few run throughs of all modes to get the plates moving freely again, but all this trouble was worth it!!
So we now have a working transport mechanism, just belts & pinch roller to replace & a drop of machine oil on the capstan shaft - A doodle on these decks, one flat belt is all it uses & a counter belt which as so often happens was in perfect shape & a nice brand new pinch roller completed the deck restore!
The rest was pretty mundane & straightforward - clean every switch pot & contact over & over until they all moving with ease - I just hoped & prayed that the sound board sliders were not as worn out as my ex-wife - I wouldn't know until the reassembly process.........
Now this model is not the easiest to put back together, add to that a ton of wiring & very well made reusable cable clamps that must be in the correct place before you can close the case up fully & of course the selector & mode switches that protrude through the top edge of the case! Add to that the many pluggable connectors that must go in the right place to avoid certain disaster & damage to the stero & it's quite a balacing act to achieve :O
I write this up today as I have had so much else to deal with lately, not least a very naughty little Orange Cat! I have to keep stopping typing & keep him entertained fed & watered etc - He is so naughty but who cares? I adore him
This afternoon was the time to conclude the restore & about time too! By now I was completely caught up with the tentyhooks as I hadn't tested anything stage by stage at all!!
Cue: "All Gleaming Horns & Trumpets" Everything was spot on with no further adjustments or bits to do - Everything works & it sings once again & every single function works as it should!!
Now I don't know if you're aware of this, but this stereo is LOUD!!!
Lots of real power on tap & even at low volumes, it's loud!! Look at the two volume sliders to the right of the bass & treble ones - in the three videos, this beast was overloading my 4K camera's A.l.c. circuits & knocking the audio limiter hard!! & it's really in yer face loud! :O :O
But remember: These Panasonics were really like that in the golden age & thank f**k we had such beasts back then!
It goes without saying that this goes deafeningly loud should you wish it to!!
A very happy owner here - An outstandingly stable cassette deck with decent heads feed a rich powerful amplifier & very heavy spokers - Did I mention that the tuner now works on all four bands & in stereo on FM!
My Battle scarred but still very nice to own.........
Just a few images here - Both forums seem to have stopped multiple uploads & I am not going to upload them one at a time!! Link to Hi-Res Images Below!!
Et Voila:
https://onedrive.live.com/?id=BEA218B70F2B18D1!33254&cid=BEA218B70F2B18D1
https://youtu.be/DaEpuwokmTo
https://youtu.be/UzuFzPEDBAI
https://youtu.be/M-3j4le2TRY
