Playmaster 40/40 amp

Way way back in 197x (Not sure of the exact year), I built a amp from (I assume) a Dick Smith kit.  This was a 40W RMS class AB amp as I recall.  It had turn table preamps.  Many years later, I re purposed the turn table pre amps to mic amps and wired them in so that the microphones could be used to talk or sing in the case of karaoke over then music selected by the input selection switch.  The mic volume controls are the two pots at the back of the amp (Top left of the photo).  At a later time the whole amp was as the fold back amp for the bush band.  Then it sat unused for a year or so in the church shed before someone found it and suggested it be used to drive the speakers in the meeting room at church.

Inside, some of the wires had been cut off the selector switch.  I assume I did that for some illogical reason.  There also seemed to be no wires providing an input to the power amplifier part of the board.

I soldered the wires back onto the selector switch and through to the volume pot and then to the circuit board. 

Powered it up.  No smoke -> for my non technical friends, that is good because once the smoke leaks out it stops working. Measured the output voltage with no speakers attached and that was only a few millivolts.  Connected a couple of speakers that I could afford to loose.  The risk being that the amp if faulty could send out a high and or DC voltage and burn out the speaker coil.  Youtube via a PC provided some a musical source. 

One channel was fine but the other is noticeably distorted. I swapped the speakers over and the fault stayed with the channel.  I swapped the input from the PC over and the fault stayed with the channel.  I cut off the connection where the mic amps are mixed in and the  fault remained. 

Conclusion - There is something wrong with one of the channels.  A component level issue.  I'm not really motivated to fix it right now.

ADSL Modem hangs

The ADSL modem hangs a lot.  So frustrating.  Trying firmware upgrade.

Firmware Version:0.6.0 1.10 v0021.0 Build 141215 Rel.41342n

Hardware Version:TD-W9980 v1 00000000

New is

Firmware Version:0.6.0 1.13 v0021.0 Build 160125 Rel.52064n

Hardware Version:TD-W9980 v1 00000001

 

Main water pipe break & repair

Walkin along the garden path on a sunny day and whooo.  Wetness.  Sogginess.

Dug a hole and exposed the pipe.  Turned the water back on and a fountain.

Dug back a bit further and decided that digging was really really hard work.  Figured we needed a quick fix to get the water back on while we ponder options.   Connecting to the copper using a standard poly joiner worked.  A couple of threaded adapters to get from 20 to 25m poly.  Connecting to the rusty old mains pipe proved difficult.  

Tried
25mm poly joiner
25mm "Pressure" pipe joiner.
Clear PVC sleeve and 4 hose clamps - blew up like a baloon and still leaked.
Black PVC sleeve and 4 hose clamps
They all leaked on the rusty pipe side.

Mon AM went to super cheap auto and do some radiator hose of the correct diameter.  This seems to do the job but not sure if it can withstand the pressure but it's not leaking and now it's raining.  So good enough to leave for another day or call a plumber.

Blanco Oven Door dismantle Repair

1.  F%$k

2.  Remove the door
It seems that oven doors are designed to be removed.  Easily!.  Amazing.  Thank you youtube
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AMBSYzKVHYk

Dismantle.
In my opinion Blanco have done good mechanical design that makes it easy to dismantle & reassemble. 

All screws use a TORX  (5mm I think)

These screws get removed.
Note no need to remove the screws that hold the hinge.

This is the handle and the screw.

Inside the door

There are 3 pieces of glass between the human and the hot inside.  There is the glass fascia and two inner ones.  This is the middle piece of glass.

Another good design feature is little metal pieces that ensure that you cant put it back together the wrong way.