From cyborg0@midwest.net Mon Jun 16 10:27:26 1997 by hyperreal.com (8.8.5/8.8.5) with ESMTP id KAA05545 for ; Mon, 16 Jun 1997 10:27:25 -0700 (PDT) 16 Jun 97 13:22:37 -0500 15 Jun 97 21:02:13 -0500 From: "Rob01" Subject: X0X: Pot repair 101 Date: Sun, 15 Jun 1997 20:04:26 -0500 X-MSMail-Priority: Normal X-Priority: 3 MIME-Version: 1.0 Oh, heres a little known secret for repairing pots, this might esp. be helpful to those of you with pots that are no longer available for machines such as the 303.. I had a pot go bad the other day, for which i had no replacement, so heres what i did.. I checked the continuity between the two outer leads. These should read a value equal to the pot value (ie. if the pot is 10k, you should read 10k between the outer leads) Well, it didnt read 10k.. It read infinity.. uh oh.. Well, i carefully pried up the little metal tabs on the case and opened the pot to see what was the problem, since destroying the pot wouldnt really matter, cuz it didnt work at all in its present state, so what the hell.. Well, i found that there was a spot on the carbon wiper trace inside that was pretty wore down. hmmm... carbon.. So, i thought, HOW the HELL will i get CARBON BACK on the trace?? I thought about soldering a little dab of solder on there.. nope, i figgered it wouldnt hold to the carbon trace.. I thought, well, a pencil is carbon...unless its that crappy plastic lead.. Well, lo and behold, i checked for resistance,and the carbon (lead) of the PENCIL was a pretty good conductor! So i scribbled pencil on the worn carbon trace inside the pot, and BAM!!! it worked like a charm!! I was getting the 10k ohm resistance between the outer leads! YEHA!! Then, i carefully put it back together, and it WORKED!! So then i started to check out other pots that were crackly and acting up, and i tried it a few more times, and it really helped out.. It was almost like refurbishing a pot. I would use this only as a last resort for units that you cannot freely get pots for, for other stuff, it would be easier to just solder in a new pot.. So, do you think the ppl who make pots just have a guy who scribbles on the PCB of the pot? just kiddin.. Rob01 Zeros & Ones The Mind Controls the Machine The Machine Controls the Body --------------------------------------------------------------------------- ** To UNSUBSCRIBE from x0x, send a message with "UNSUBSCRIBE" in the message ** body to x0x-request@synthcom.com. Please direct other questions, comments, ** or problems to neil@synthcom.com.