lørdag den 20. oktober 2007

Replacing push buttons

I ordered 19 tactile (Omron B3F-4000) from a local store.
Also I bought a desoldering-iron -which is very handy when desoldering the old contacts.

I was very happy to discover that the new contacts was a perfect replacement for the old Alps.


The original Alps are on the left and Omron B3F-4000 on the right






Ready to do the job....

The picture shows my new desoldering iron, replacement contacts and the board.






Desoldered the first button.

The button actually consists of two parts: the tactile contact and the button containg the LED.

The actual button is held to the board by the legs of the LED.
The contact has 4 legs.


I desoldered all legs (6) and removed the whole unit. Then I carefully seperated the two components (contact and button). Then I carefully inserted the new contact into the button and finally I soldered the 6 legs to the board again.

This was repeated 19 times.

Now the buttons are all working perfect and needs only to be pressed lightly.
unit

Installing new battery

As I removed the old battery and resistor R91 in advance, I'll cut directly to the installation...
When installing the new battery I used OldCrows procedure.
The following parts where needed for this step:
  • 1N4148 diode
  • CR-2032 battery
  • batteryholder for CR-2032 (max 20mm)

First I had to remove the KLM-367 board from the synth.

The batteryholder didn't fit the soldering holes, so I had to extend and bend the legs on the
holder.
The 1N4148 diode is also seen on the picture, right next to the batteryholder.







I used some hot glue to secure the holder.


Now I just had to pop in the new CR-2032 and the job was done.

fredag den 5. oktober 2007

Ordering parts

Yesterday I ordered 19 tact contacts from a local internetstore Vejle-rc.
Thanks to Dave Magnuson I was able to order contacts with the correct specifications.

Also I got in contact with Gil from Israel. He offered me the 11 keys I need plus a cordholder.
We "sealed the deal" late last night, so hopefully I'll recieve the goods soon (depends on danish customs).

Gil also gave me the link for his PolySix story -good reading and nice pics.

Last but not least I joined the PolySix Yahoo group.

onsdag den 3. oktober 2007

Introduction

My name is Peter Hjulskov. I work as a consultant (java-programmer).

In my sparetime I like to mess around synths -mainly analog stuff.

I'm not good at playing, but I love making noises and listening to the warm filters of an analog synth.

In school I took an electronics-course, which comes in handy when fooling around with old synths.

My current(*) and past gear :
  • Roland U-20 (yeah it's not analog -mistake)
  • 2 Korg Poly-800
  • 3 Roland Alpha Juno 1*
  • Roland Alpha Juno 2
  • 2 Roland PG-300* (Programmer for Juno1+2)
  • Kawai K1 (another digital synth)
  • Korg Mono/Poly
  • 2 Korg PolySix* (both restored by me -one being restored)
  • SCI SixTrak
  • Roland SH-09
  • Roland Juno-106
  • Boss DR-110 (analog drummachine)
  • Oberheim Matrix1000
  • Casio CZ-101* (in pretty bad shape, it's actually dying...)
  • Korg EX-800* (with Moogslayer mod, FM-mod and VCF Ext-in -done by myself)
  • Korg DW-8000*
  • Roland R-5* (digital drummachine)
  • Yamaha TX-7* (tabletop Dx-7)
  • Yamaha A-3000 Professional Sampler*
Anyway this blog is about the Korg PolySix I've just bought.
It's pretty beaten-up and need a lot of TLC....




First thing I did was checking if the backup-battery had leaked. My first PolySix was a very bad case of leaking batteryacid -so it was with a litte fear I opened the case...



Phew!... -no acid! :-)


Just a litte corrision on the battery.












Time to remove the old battery (before it explodes).
I used a Dreml tool to cut the battery from the board. On second thought I wouldn't recommend using a Dreml due to the danger of leaking battery.







Cleaning the board, using a q-tip and alcohol.








Now I can relax, knowing that the guts of my PolySix are quite healty.

The issues to fix on my PolySix so far is
Next thing to do is ording parts...