The killing machine

This about sums up our year.

Few hours away from leaving for wife's family for xmas...

And the washing machine quit on us,

clothes marinating in the soapy broth.

This old Kenmore washing machine is predigital,

it had to be something simple.

The lid switch had broken off.

Hmmm.

Here's a "how to" - fix a washing machine...

The quick fix.

A short jumper bypassing the connection.

A little safety tape 

and we were good to go.

Holey Chit now it's a killing machine.

TP

Tomahawk Cruise Missile computer

Ahh,

1977...

A time before the digital age...

When engineers could figure out the failure rate

of Tomahawk Missiles with a cardboard slide rule...

...and 6 small pages of instructions!

In English!

Who needs all those newfangled computers!?

Not General Dynamics!

I'm sure this was just as accurate.

I'm sure there's a guy on the other side still using one of these...

TP

little feet

After over a year the reconditioned sound cards finally arrived from Terry DeWick.
I also scored some big filter caps from a friend Sean.
Crazy how big they are.

McIntosh MC2300 

The MC2300 amp had been sitting like this for such a long time,
it's become a fixture in the house.
Like a sculpture.

no sound cards

Here's a picture of the reconditioned cards.
I'm figuring if the McIntosh Master says they're good to go,
than they are good to go.

reconditioned McIntosh MC2300 sound/driver cards

Then the typical happened.
I propped up the amp to do some swapping around,
and holey chit there's way too many wires and pieces.
The amp has a relatively simple layout,
but it is one of those all or nothing deals.
The living room isn't a place to spread out a bunch of parts,
and hope that they won't be accidentally kicked around.
More importantly I'll forget how everything goes back together.

operating table

So I did what comes naturally.
If there is something to cut, drill, weld or machine,
I'll find it.

mcintosh feet

The little rubberish feet had been ground down to nubs,
two were already missing.
A chunk of scrap ABS plastic was lying around,
and a couple rudimentary replacements were whittled out.

replacement mcintosh mc2300 amplifier feet

Not exact replacements,
but who's gonna see them other than you guys.
I should make a set or two to sling.

little feet

Another issue was the broken light mount.
There are studs on the meters that hold on the light.
Mine had broken off,
and someone had soldered on a crude sheetmetal tab.
Now it was time for my hack work.

light mount

A couple tabs were hammered and punched,
and JB Weld was used to glue them in place.
Please work...
Good thing I saw the ripped out wire that powers that light bar.
A quick solder job and fingers crossed that it was the right spot!

clamped

The amp was now ready to go.
The filter capacitors would wait for a later time.
Let's see if it works.

McIntosh MC2300

The lights lit and there were no pops.
Whew...
The sound was clean but still no power.
Maybe its cause there's no preamp hooked up?

I've suspected something more major than the driver boards,
that is why the new filter capacitors.
Most likely it is a transistor/resistor problem,
there are 24!
Since the heat sinks need to be removed to swap out the caps,
it was my excuse to not start that job until I scrounged up a transistor set.

test

The good thing so far is the amp isn't overheating like it was.
A couple of the heat sinks would get so hot,
and the heat would trade sides when the sound cards were switched around.
So maybe the cards burnt some transistors?
Looks like I'll be visiting Sean soon!

TP

ultimate kitchen accessory

What new piece of technology could create this much amazement?
Check out the awe in the kids faces.

jaxon & jakob perich - 2013

Searching for old electronic stuff had dwindled.
Not from lack of interest,
more from necessity.
As of last week it seemed like 4 complete stereo systems was enough.
After using the wifes blue-ball-ic ipod charger/player down at the yard,
a new quest had begun.
All I needed was a lo-fi system to use with some bookshelf speakers.

kenwood kr-2400 receiver

On craigslist everyone wants $50-80 for a $20 stereo.
A couple weeks ago I found a $20 60's kenwood tk-140,
and it was a bust.
Then this little jewel was posted up,
and after a few messages and emails the guy finally replied.

kenwood kr-2400

Here's a tip -
never go barefoot to a craigslist seller's house.
The guy was super nice and a deadhead/rocker,
but he had the typical single older dude house.
This little receiver was rescued from his sticky kitchen.
Thankfully he didn't have a dog or cat,
but I'm still not sure why his floor was so wet.
He had it hooked up and it sounded clean and equal...
the deal was struck.

kenwood kr-2400 nudie

As soon as it arrived at the house I had to wipe it down.
The stickiness carried the pungent smokey sent.
Lucky that the inside was pristine.
A couple minutes later and it was a new machine,
no scratchiness and all the lights worked.
Score!

technics SL-1401 turntable

At 17 watts per channel,
this was made to push little speakers.
For some reason I thought of my stashed turntable,
and all of a sudden it turned into a bitchin little tabletop player.

amazing

The kids were seriously amazed at seeing the record player in action.
They had never seen one actually work.
How can the needle read that groove?
It only took a couple tries to learn how to work the arm and hold a record.
They loved the scratchy phonograph sound,
even the periodic skips or the fact they couldn't stomp on the floor.

kitchen wall of sound

They both had such a fun time,
I had to clean up the back table,
hoping the wife wouldn't notice the new digs.

partial record collection

And maybe she won't see these either.
What better reason to organize or at least rearrange?
Our record collection isn't very extensive,
but the kids dug up a few that made me proud to see their interest.
They played some dead, gorillaz, wes montgomery, santana, led zeppelin...
Now they have something to search for - uhoh record hunters!
******************************************************

If you've got 50 minutes to spare,
maybe a long drive, some cleaning, work...
Give this album a try - SANTANA CARAVANSERAI
I love it,
must have heard it a million times.
It's reads as 11 songs but it's really one long groovy ride.
Pure 1972 goodness.
I'll make you a bet,
play it 3 times and if you still don't like it,
well I'll give you another suggestion!
******************************************************

Kenwood kr-2400 receiver + technics sl-1401 turntable

Anyway now I'm in trouble.
It's so convenient to have a kitchen stereo system.
There's no need to crank the living room systems to get decent sound.
Guess the hunt will continue...

TP

perich toy shop - 1989

I found a couple boxes of pictures the other day,

and man did it bring back some memories.

Now that I've figured out how to use our scanner,

you guys are gonna get all kindsa throwbacks from the predigital age!

uncle steve's garage - 1989

This one will be a quickee,

but it is chock full of goodies.

Take a breather and gather it all in.

This is my Uncle Steve's garage around 1989.

Yeah I still call him Uncle Steve even though I'm in my 40's!

Here we've got my old '64 VW baja bug,

an early cut down not a fiberglass kit.

Than there is the most perfect '30/31 ford coupe project.

Check out the gasser chromed front axle.

Wonder if that's on the road now?

Last but not least is the stripped down shovelhead.

That was a family friends bagger bike,

that turned into a cool semi-chopper,

then ended up as a pile of melted steel and aluminum.

I'll tell that story when I find the better picture!

Anyway expect some periodic blasts from the past!

TP