Experimenting with desoldering techniques in this video – hoping to solicit some feedback on how to do it better and more consistently!

This time around I’m building a Tauntek Logic IC tester, which should be useful for testing 74 series logic IC’s I reclaim from old equipment, and also some 4000 series IC’s. There are other testers out there, like the Retro Chip Tester Pro (which is good for testing RAM/ROM in particular), and in time I’ll probably acquire & build one of those too :-)

In this video I take a look at the Spectravideo SV-601 super expander, and come across a few surprises along the way!

This time around we’re repairing a Commodore 1084S-P1 monitor (originally made by Philips). For those wondering about the doubled up insulator on the heatsink – I checked after running the monitor for 30+ minutes and the heatsink was the same temperature as the transistor (approx 35 degrees C), so the thermal conductivity doesn’t appear to be compromised.

This time around I put the Vectorio back together. There’s no real surprises here – it all bolts back together about the way you’d expect. Next time around I hope to have a working composite monitor that I can plug into it (my modern Sony LCD workshop TV doesn’t like the composite output from many retro machines).

Another tip shop find – this time a Macray CCTV switcher thing. Not entirely sure what this is supposed to do, other than switch video in a CCTV system. It’s pretty basic, with a PSU and a bunch of relay boards. I bought it for the Euro card enclosure.

This time around we take a look at a monochrome 9″ Apple ][ monitor, and make a start on rectifying its issues. This will be part 1 of at least 2 as I’m still waiting on some of the replacement parts to arrive (some I had in stock, but many I didn’t). You’ll see what a PITA this thing is to get apart, and next time I expect you’ll see what a PITA it is to put back together!...

Another tip shop find – this time a PACOM 3170 video “thing”. I realised after I made the video that the identification overlay that I think this produces would require a video source to generate that, and the video cards don’t have that, and it’s unlikely the microprocessor is bit-banging the video. BUT, I missed the obvious – there’s provision for a daughtercard on each video card, with pins labelled “VSYNC, HSYNC, ID VIDEO” amongst others on one side, and the other side has serial in/out, ID0-3 pins (device select?...

In this video I clean and re-assemble the Vectorio keyboard that I took apart quite some time ago. In doing so I noticed another area where this machine differs from the genuine Apple ][+, so I explore that a little before giving the keyboard a test. AND IT DIDN’T WORK PROPERLY! But it wasn’t a huge issue, and the fix was pretty straightforward if not slightly fiddly.

A while back now I picked up an Apple II clone on eBay – listed as “unknown condition – parts only”, or words to that effect. Back then I popped it open, checked the power supply for obvious issues, checked the output voltages, and was able to successfully power up the machine. BUT, the machine was a bit of a mess – the case is very yellowed for one, and it needed a good overall clean....