Tascam M520 Story...

[evm1024]

Very nice

OK that moves my offer up to $101

Looks nice. Those meter lamps are in series as I recall. This means that you have 2 bad bulbs out of the 4 (and 10 that will burn out soon).

Order up a full set from tascam and when you are ready replace them in sets.

-Ethan

PS Did I say very nice yet?

 

[sweetbeats]

Ethan

OK that moves my offer up to $101

Hmm...mmmm...well...ah...nnnn...no.

Looks nice. Those meter lamps are in series as I recall. This means that you have 2 bad bulbs out of the 4 (and 10 that will burn out soon).

Order up a full set from tascam and when you are ready replace them in sets.

I hope they still have them......so I could easily test if that is the issue then right? By testing the continuity of those four bulbs, and if there are two good ones put them together and see if I have 10 lit meters instead of 8 yes? Am I getting it?

Yo Beats,
My friend is building that cable for me right now. I have a call out to him to ask him what types of wires he is using. You'll be the first one to hear about it when he gets back to me. Any specific questions you want me to ask him?

Any word from your friend?

Umbilical cable project:

Now that this thing is alive it is becoming more crucial to get an umbilical cable made as the console will not fit in my studio if the PS has to sit right behind it.

I looked at the internal hookup cable that goes from the multipin connector inside the PS-520...the wire gauge is printed on it...it is...24AWG!! So is it safe to assume that they used 24AWG wire in the umbilical and I'd be fine with 22AWG??

EVERY/ANYBODY,
Any critique on my plan to go channel by channel with the deoxit and treat the pots, switches and connections?

 

[evm1024]

Yup RE the lights.

22 gauge is fine.... the fuse should blow long before any wires melt.

-Ethan

 

[ethyrvalve]

congrats cory!
RE the lights: The first two lights were out on mine, but the ol' Arthur Fonzarelli technique revived them. it goes without sayin': YMMV

 

[sweetbeats]

congrats cory!
RE the lights: The first two lights were out on mine, but the ol' Arthur Fonzarelli technique revived them. it goes without sayin': YMMV

That's hilarious!

Dunno if you watched the video, but I instinctually did that in the video...gave the top of the meter bridge a couple of firm pats before I thought "hmm...maybe that's not a good idea". Its the hammer mechanic in me...whenever the engine is hot on my tractor, if I shut it off I can't get it started again because the pinion gear sticks on the starter and won't engage the flywheel...beat on it with a hammer...works.

My favorite hammer mechanic scene is from the movie Never Cry Wolf taken from the autobiographical novel of the same name by Farley Mowat. One of my favorites. Soundtrack by Mark Isham. Brian Dennehey plays a bush pilot in the Northwest Territory, and he's taking an unprepared biologist named Tyler played by Charles Martin Smith for an extended stay into the middle of nowhere in the middle of winter to find out why the caribou are dying. The rickity single engine plane they are traveling in dies at altitude. Brian Dennehey's character tells Tyler that the thing to worry about most in the wild isn't the wolves or starvation or freezing to death, its the boredom..."Bored to death...", and with a maniacle look he steps out of the plane onto the wing strut and up onto the wing to beat on the frozen fuel line with a monkey wrench. Needless to say, he gets the plane going again just in time to correct the flight path over a mountain ridge. "Boredom, Tyler."

Hammer mechanic...yup.

We now return to our topic.

Ethan, thank you. I'm going to get some of that 22AWG 20-conductor stuff that is local to me. Now I just need to find the connector for the mixer end of that cable!

 

[kimo]

Cory,
No word from my friend yet, he helps run a festival Jul 4,5,6 so he's been MIA and probably won't surface till next week. I know this isn't what you want to hear, but the guy who gave me the console bought the connectors from tascam a while back, sorry I'm no help there. I'll let you know as soon as I hear back from my friend though about the cable gauges.

 

[sweetbeats]

Okay. Thank you. Frowny face but I really appreciate the help. It may not be the answer but it hones my direction which is good.

Thanks, Kimo!

 

[sweetbeats]

Just talked to a technical specialist at Digi Key, and they don't even have the 34-pin Hirose Sumicon 1600 connectors, much less the 20-pin connectors for the umbilical.

I looked further through the Sumicon 1600 catalog I downloaded from Hirose and found the terminal position diagrams. It is definitely it, but the sad news is that they are probably obsolete.

The part numbers I need are:

S-1620A(09) female 20-pin connector
P-1620A-CA(20) shell for 20-pin connector
P-1620A-STA(01) locking bracket for 20-pin connector

 

[sweetbeats]

Maybe???

Since I finally determined the proper part numbers for the connector I need (and the accessories) I googled that and came up with a bunch of stuff...mainly wholesale distributors, lotsa dead ends, but I did send several emails to places overseas...even filled out a Japanese support request form...hope I got the right info in the right spots!

In the end, I sent a bunch of RFQ's and inquiries out to places that show the parts listed, and even placed an order at a place in the UK that lists the parts as discontinued but possibly available. So I placed an order. We'll see. They didn't show the locking plate or the male connector, just the hoods and the female connector. The one I ordered from Tascam (the male one and hood) had the locking plate pre-installed in the hood so??? We'll see. Probably in the next day or so I'll have confirmation once the order is processed for picking in the warehouse. I ordered two hoods and two female connectors...if the order goes through I'll try to get another male set from Tascam So I can maybe make another cable someday for somebody.

The total price? 0.60GBP. The parts are on closeout (and again may not be available at all). That of course does not include "carriage", VAT, etc. That will all add up. I'll keep you all posted.

 

[cjacek]

Cory .... I'm so happy the beast is alive! BEAUTIFUL!! [spoken with tear of joy in eye]

I know you'll get it all sorted out. BTW, have you tried contacting my good friends over at http://www.openreel.net/index_e.html for possible parts or even leads? Either they may have it or they will contact TEAC JAPAN on your behalf.

--

 

[sweetbeats]

oooooo!

Daniel!

I totally didn't think about that! I've seen you reference them many times and yet haven't ever even been to the site! Thanks for referencing that...I will definitely follow up with them.

Thank you! And thanks for the encouragement on the mixer...it was seriously nerve-wracking to punch that power switch the first time...I had to stand behind the mixer to do it, so all I could do right at first was watch and listen for sizzling sounds or smoke or sparks... When there was no drama presented I felt comfortable taking my hand away from the power switch and moving around front and there were those VU's (at least 8 of them ) quietly and calmly glowing...gave the console sort of a stately dignified look. Like it would have said "Well good evening sir...Shall we get to work?" if it could have talked...

I need to be realistic and assume that there will be problems, even some I can't fix. If I can get my heart set on that it will be easier to let those issues go when they come up...its 20 years old after all...its been around the block a time or two...but I am hoping that putting deoxit all over the right spots and working it in will help to minimize all the little things, and that hopefully if there are big things I will be able to address those with my collection of spares. Used some already to swap out a routing switch PCB that had a stuck switch on it, and then borrowed a spring and retaining clip from the replaced unit for a switch that was missing those pieces...that sort of thing.

Anyway, gotta keep it from taking my attention from the 58...its really close now...I keep having music form in my head that I'd like to print to test it out...its time...

 

[sweetbeats]

Ethan strikes AGAIN!!

He knows, folks...He knows!

I pulled the master VU meters out of the meter bridge, pulled all the bulbs and sure enough, two were bad...one from each set of meters. I swapped bulbs around and now there are only two non-function meter lights!

Thanks, Ethan!

I'll be ordering a set of bulbs as you advised.

 

[Richard King]

That is a thing of beauty. If you really want to have some fun you should replace the meter lamps with LED's. I read SOMEWHERE about someone doing this a while back.

 

[sweetbeats]

You know what, Richard? That thought actually crossed my mind...but that might require modding the bulb holders and the power supply for them right? I'm not ready to trick it out yet...even if there was a drop-in replacement I'm not sure I'd do it...it would look too...digital. There is something nice about anlog VU's with incandescent bulbs...it makes them more...analog-ey...

If there comes a day when I do any modding it will be internal improvements.

 

[evm1024]

Someday

Someday I'm thinking I need to get the right combo of led to look like the meter lamps. The color of those lamps is something that works where the monochromatic LED just are not the same.

No need to mod the PS in any case.

Regards, Ethan

 

[sweetbeats]

Okay, so the PSU doesn't have to be modded, but what about the bulb holders in the meters?

 

[evm1024]

Okay, so the PSU doesn't have to be modded, but what about the bulb holders in the meters?

Just have to mod the dead bulbs....

The meters I have (like on the 38) have soldered in bulbs. What do these look like? Being a bulb with a socket base they should have a number on them and perhaps be available fromm souurces other than Tascam.

-E

 

[A Reel Person]

Those...

Those meters would typically have an 8V fuse-type incandescant bulb. Clips in on either end like a fuse & is roughly the same size. Pretty specialized and not a typical off-the-shelf item.

 

[sweetbeats]

The bulb

The VU bulbs in the M520 do indeed sit in a pseudo-fuse-kinda-lookin'-holder-thingy. The bulbs look like this (I was too lazy to pull the meter bridge off again to get the VU out and post a picture of the holder ):

 

[sweetbeats]

So just some general updates

I'm still working through and cleaning connections/pots/switches/exercising stuff etc.

I'm going one channel module at a time, flipping it over, disconnecting each multi-pin connector on the channel PCB's, rubbing the contacts with a deoxit-soaked cotton swab, and then using an orthodontic irrigation syringe to dribble a little deoxit down each contact hole on the connector (it comes out of the spray can too fast 'n' furious). I then wipe the excess and then connect and disconnect each connector several times...I'm doing a similar treatment with each LED bulb.

The syringe works great for the latching switches as I can stick the end of the syringe into the switch spring and get a drop of deoxit to go right down the switch shaft into the switch. I then cut a piece of wood that I can use as a plunger to exercise at least 4 switches at a time.

Power umbilical connector update:

Its crazy...that place I found over in the UK that had the Hirose connectors on their website was Canford. They did get back to me and they have the female 20-pin Hirose connectors and hoods for the power umbilical in stock on closeout... They don't have the male connectors, and the rectangular latching plate that goes in the hood, well, we'll just have to see on that. Hirose shows it as a separate part, but Canford didn't have it listed and the hood that I got from Tascam already had the latching plate in the hood so I'm hoping the parts coming from the UK already have the plate installed in the hood. The parts are being shipped via post so it will take a little bit for them to get here, but they gave me a break on the shipping because it is such a small order...again, . So all in all it will cost me less than $15USD for the two connectors and hoods shipped! I'm holding my breath and keeping my fingers crossed blah blah blah and all that. I'll definitely let you all know what I actually ordered when it gets here.

If it looks good, then hopefully I can get one more male connector from Tascam with a hood and have spares to make a second cable.