How to Repair Your Laptop or Net-Book Charger

If the power supply / charger for your laptop or net-book starts to fail intermittently the chances are that it's because the insulation of the cable is broken where it connects to the power supply causing short circuits.

This is a common problem and normally starts to happen when the net-book is 3 or 4 years old.

What happens is simple, when storing the laptop in it's case most of us wrap the cable round the power supply. Over time the constant bending of the cable where it connects to the power supply takes it’s toll on the insulation and it eventually breaks.

To try and stop this from happening the manufactures reinforce the cable at the weak point. Eventually the cable breaks at the end of the reinforcement. At first this results in intermittent power failures when you move the net-book. Eventually the power supply stops working altogether.

Ideally you'd replace the cable but since the power supply is a sealed unit the simplest fix is to simply repair the broken cable. Fortunately this is an easy repair which takes around 15 minutes.

 Power Supply Repair step 1

 Cut the broken cable at the break and carefully remove the plastic which reinforces the cable to expose the inner cable and outer shielding (earth). Twist the outer metal shielding so that it becomes a second wire. Tin both wires with solder - see photo below which shows you what I mean. Be careful not to further damage the wires or insulation  when you do this (There's only about a cm of wire available and you don't want to have to cut that back any more than necessary).

 Power Supply Repair Step 2

Now we are going to prepare the cable ready to be reconnected to the charger. Carefully strip some of the insulation from the exposed wire as shown. Twist the outer shield (earth) to form a second wire as you did before and "tin" both wires with solder. This time you can take as many attempts as you like because there's plenty of cable to play with. Note how I've deliberately left the outer meatal shielding longer than the centre core. It's now been twisted to form an earth wire and tinned with solder. Its best to leave it overlength until the centre wires have been soldered together (see below)

 Power supply Repair Step 3

Cut 4cm long sections of heat shrink tubing in increasing diameters and thread them onto the cable. This step is optional, if you don't have heat shrink handy you can use insulating tape. I prefer to use heat shrink because it protects the repaired cable better.

 Power Supply Repair Step 3

 Carefully solder the inner wire to the powr supply, take care not to overheat the wire when you do this since it is imperative that you don't melt the insulation. If possible get someone else to help you with this step because you realy need 3 hands in order to hold the wire, solder and soldering iron.

 Power Supply Repair Step 4 

Wrap the soldered inner wire with insulating tape. Cut the earth wire to length if necesary and solder the outer cable. Hopefully the repair looks something like the one in the photo below.

 Power Supply Repair Step 5

Finish the repair with the 4 layers of heat shrink or Insulating tape.

Job done, if you've got a volt meter you can check that the power supply works before plugging it into your net-.book / laptop.

If you have any questions please leave a comment and I'll try and help.

How To Replace The Indicator Bulb of a Mercedes Benz MB100D Van

One of the downsides of living in a big city is petty crime. The other day when I got up to go to work I found that someone had stolen one of the indicators of my Mercedes Benz MB100D van! So today I'm going to explain step-by-step how we replace the entire indicator assembly. At the end of the post I'll also explain how to change just a blown bulb (more common).

If you are replacing a damaged indicator assembly the first step will be to remove it. Since someone has already done this for us I will just say that removal is simply a matter of reversing these steps!

Once you've removed the old/broken assembly, the next thing to do is remove the indicator bulb holder from the new assembly and connect it to the wiring loom. Copy the connections from the old indicator bulb holder (Since I didn't have anything to copy I connected the brown wires to the tip of the bulb - in fact I don't think it matters which way round you connect them).

This is easiest done before the indicator housing is replaced. The wires are easier to get at from the front of the van through the gap left by the missing indicator assembly.

Simply push the 2 spade connectors into place then gently hang the bulb holder and bulb into the wheel arch as shown. Now is a good time to check that everything is working correctly. Turn the ignition on and check that the direction indicators and the hazard lights now function correctly . There's no need to start the engine, if everything is OK the indicators should now work.

If they don't check the following:

1. That the spade connectors are connected and that they aren't short circuited.
2. That the fuse hasn't blown ( The fuses are on a board under the dash by the steering column. The indicator fuse is the fourth one down on the right hand side. If it has blown change it for a 7.5A replacement - check for short circuited connectors first)
3. That the relay isn't working. The Mercedes Benz MB100D has 2 relays related to the indicators, one for the hazard lights and one for direction indicators. They are on the fuse board under the dash and are the 2 larger relays.



Connect the bulb holder and check the indicators work correctly before replacing the assembly

Carefully let the indicator bulb hang down inside the wheel arch

Once you've checked that everything works and the bulb is hanging inside the wheel arch you can now fit the indicator assembly in place.

This simply clicks into place and is held there by the 2 integral clamps. First you locate the tabs at the side of the headlight then push the assembly home until it if firmly seated. You will hear the 2 plastic clamps at the back of the headlight click into place but keep pushing until the 2 outer grooves locate firmly on the van bodywork. You need to push fairly hard to get it to locate totally flush with the wings. Don't be afraid, I ended up giving brisk taps on the indicator lens with the heel of my hand to get it to sit fully flush.

The 6 location points

Once the Indicator assembly is fitted you can twist the bulb holder into place. This is done from below,reaching up from the wheel arch. The good thing about older vehicles is that there's plenty of space to do this!



Twist the bulb holder into place from below

Here's a few more detailed photos that might be useful.



Spade connectors of replacement bulb holder



Replacement indicator housing showing 5 of the 6 locating points

IMPORTANT
If you're simply replacing a blown bulb then you don't need to remove the whole assembly. Simply reach up from below the wheel arch and twist the bulb holder out (quarter turn anti clockwise). Replace the bulb then twist the holder back in place.

If after doing this the indicators don't work check the fuses (panel under the dash next to the steering column) and relays as described above.

As always - If you have any questions or comments please leave a comment below and I'll try to help out if I can.



How to Repair an Ariston Oven Door

The door of my friend's 15 year old Ariston electric oven has 2 problems:

1. The oven door doesn't stay shut (old hinges with weakened springs).
2. The inner glass has come partially unstuck, this means that the door lets heat out and that it is impossible to clean the door properly since the glass will likely come away completely.

I decided to break this post down into 3 key stages:

How to Remove an Oven Door

How To Replace Oven Door Hinges

How to Replace The Door Glass of an Ariston Oven

NOTE: Since the oven is about 15 years old I wasn't surprised when my local Ariston dealer told me that the hinges are no longer available. A few minutes searching online later I sourced replacements online. When the hinges arrived they turned out to be slightly different; They have only one spring instead of 2 and are fixed by 3.5mm screws instead of 4mm. Saying that they fit perfectly and work fine (as you can see in the photo above of the repaired oven).

How to Remove an Oven Door

This post explains how to remove an oven door. We removed the door in order to replace worn out hinges and the window glass. You might also want to remove the door in order to clean the oven really thoroughly.

Oven Door Removal Step 1.

Open the door fully to reveal the small metal flap on each door hinge.

Oven Door Removal Sep 2.

Lift the metal flap using a screwdriver and rotate it to the fully open position.

Oven Door Removal Step 3.

Partially close the oven door until the Small meta flap causes the hinge to remain blocked open.

Note: The original photo taken while removing the door wasn't very good so we used a door hinge which had been removed from the door to illustrate more clearly how the hinge blocks open

Oven Door Removal Step 4.

Lift the door clear of the oven (Upwards and Outwards at 45 degrees)

Oven Door Removal Step 5

Replacing the door is the reversal of the above process. Once the door has been correctly seated on its hinges make sure that the flaps close fully.

NOTE: The illustrations show the hinges used on Ariston ovens and some other makes. There are other types of hinge but the removal method relies on a similar principle: Open the door fully then block the hinge open in order to lift the door clear of the oven.

As always, if you have any comments or questions please comment below.

How To Replace The Oven Door Glass

The inner door glass of this Ariston oven was glued in place at the factory. Unfortunately it had become partially unstuck and needed gluing back in place. To do this you nee a silicon glue which can withstand the 300ºC temperature of the oven and remain flexible to absorb the expansion and contraction of the metal door frame. I couldn't find this in my local hardware store so once again I had to buy online. Luckily there are various options available. I bought 3 tubes of glue from www.ovendoorglue.co.uk which came with a handy scraper and plastic gloves to protect your skin from the silicon glue.

PLEASE READ THE ENTIRE ARTICLE BEFORE STARTING THE REPAIR!

How to Replace Oven Door Glass Step 1

First we remove the door from the oven as described in this post: How to remove an oven door


How to Replace Oven Door Glass Step 2

Next we disassemble the oven door as described in this post: How to replace oven door hinges


How to Replace Oven Door Glass Step 3

We now remove the partially unstuck inner door glass from the door frame and thoroughly clean both parts with KH7 de-greaser. We scrape off the left over glue and any burnt on grease using a razor blade scraper before cleaning both parts again with the de-greaser.

How to Replace Oven Door Glass Step 4

Once both parts are thoroughly clean and grease-free we clean the glass and the metal where we are going to glue it to with alcohol. Lastly we wipe the surfaces which are going to be glued with the wipes provided with the glue. It is essential that both parts are absolutely clean and grease free otherwise the glue wont stick properly.

How to Replace Oven Door Glass Step 5

Te next step is to prepare ourselves to glue the glass back in place. We put newspaper on the kitchen table to protect it and the oven door on top. We then put the glass in place and use small strips of masking tape to mark where the glass goes. The strips of tape are both a guide for when we put the silicon glue on the frame and subsequently allow us to locate the glass correctly without having to move it and smear the glue around. We also do a dry run with the cam clamps to check that we are 100% ready before adding glue - this avoids nasty surprises when the glue is applied.

How to Replace Oven Door Glass Step 6

Apply a continuous bead of glue around the perimeter of the metal frame using the strips of masking tape as a guide.

NOTE: There is a 2mm lip around the edge of the metal frame. This means that it is essential that the bead of glue is deep enough to ensure that it comes into contact with the glass all the way round. We used 3 tubes of silicon glue.

How to Replace Oven Door Glass Step 6

Now we position the glass in the door and clamp it gently in place with 2 cam clamps (using plywood to spread the load evenly across the glass). It is important that you don't clamp it too tightly, the idea is to hold the glass in place as the glue dries, not to create "glue squeeze-out" or heaven forbid damage the glass!

How to Replace Oven Door Glass Step 7

We leave the glue to dry for 48 hours before un-clamping. Once the clamps are off we remove the strips of tape and check that the glass is glued in place correctly.

How to Replace Oven Door Glass Step 8

Finally we reassemble the door as described in the post: How to replace oven door hinges

And reattach it to the oven as described in:  How to remove an oven door


As always, if you have any comments or questions please leave a comment below.

How to Repair a Broken Rolling Window Shutter.

If you live in a house or flat with rolling shutters then you’re probably familiar with the problem of a fallen shutter that you can’t raise.

There are 2 common causes:

1. The webbing strap which raises the blind has worn and broken.
2. The blind has separated from the drum which it rolls around.

Today we are dealing with the second of these 2 causes.

This type of failure is common in old shutters.

The plastic becomes brittle with age and prone to breaking.

Here we can see that the top lamina has broken at the point of attachment to the drum.The shutter then fell shut.

This is how we go about repairing the broken shutter:

1. Drill out the pop rivets and open the exterior plastic flap. This allows you to get access to the roller mechanism/ drum.

2. Wind the drum into the “down” position. If you forget to do this you will not be able to wind the shutter back up once repaired.

3. Remove the webbing straps which connect the blind to the roller drum ( self-tapping metal screw)

4. Carefully raise the shutter in the guides until the broken lamina is free to be disconnected from the second lamina. The plastic laminas slot together and can be easily slid apart.

5. Take the broken lamina to your local hardware shop and buy a replacement cut to the same size. (In this case we didn’t buy a replacement lamina since the remaining laminas were enough to allow the shutter to close properly. When the next lamina down breaks we’ll buy 2 replacements! Sometimes when the roller blind slams shut other brittle laminas also break and need to be replaced. This is easy to do since the laminas simply slide together.)

6. The replacement lamina slides into place.

7. Slide the 2 attachment straps onto the top lamina.

8. Screw the attachment straps to the drum and wind the roller shutter up and down to make sure that everything works correctly.


9. Close the plastic flap and secure it in place either with Pop Rivets (as original) or if you don’t have a rivet gun you may prefer to use self-tapping screws (as we have here).

10. Job done!

Mildewed Bathroom ? No Problem !

We’re in my friend’s Brighton flat again. Anyone who’s ever lived in the city will know that the beautiful Edwardian/Victorian houses are prone to damp and that especially in the bathroom, keeping on top of mildew growth is a part of life. Part of the reason that the flats in Brighton tend to be damp is the fact that the buildings are generally built from the beach itself. This means that the walls are full of salt which draws water from the air. Add to this a total lack of damp courses and poor ventilation and you’ve got a recipe for at least mildew growth and at worst dry or wet rot.

My friend’s flat is generally pretty good in that it doesn’t suffer from rising damp. But it has been rented out for the last few years and the walls of the bathroom have a severe case of mildew growth.

Things are so bad that the paint’s starting to peel off the walls and there’s more mildew behind the peeling paint. Basically we are looking at inadequate ventilation and a total lack of maintenance (otherwise known as cleaning!)

Mildewed Bathroom Facelift Step 1

First up we’re going to wash down all surfaces with a fungicide wash using a sponge. Wear adequate protection while you do this, gloves and a facemask are essential to stop you breathing in the fungus and protect you from the fungicide.

Mildewed Bathroom Facelift Step 2

Next we remove all the old mildew stained paint from the effected walls. Large areas of paint came off when we washed down the walls so now we’re going to remove the rest of the paint using a metal scraper, sponge  and diluted fungicide solution in a spray bottle (diluted about 50/50 with water). This is unpleasant tedious work but it has to be done if you want the finished job to look good and stay looking good. Some of the paint comes off easily, some of it takes a significant amount of work. We took 2 days off and on to get the 3 affected walls completely stripped back to bare plaster.

Part way through scraping the old paint off the walls

Mildewed Bathroom Facelift Step 4

We now re-wash the stripped walls and woodwork with fungicide, clean all surfaces with water and leave everything to dry out fully (24 hours).

Our fungicide of choice !

Mildewed Bathroom Facelift Step 5

Unfortunately scraping off the old paint has revealed short sections of the galvanized steel corner strips which should be covered by plaster. The fact that they are galvanized means that they shouldn’t rust, but to be on the safe side we are going to prime the whole corner edge with universal primer. This is an oil based primer suitable for metal, wood or plaster and will stop the metal from rusting when the water based paints are applied.  Obviously water based wood primer is suitable for this job. We apply 2 coats, just along the very edge of the wall from skirting to ceiling. Each coat takes 16 hours to fully dry.

Mildewed Bathroom Facelift Step 6

While we are waiting for the universal primer to dry, we fill any blemishes in the walls and ceiling with Polyfilla. Ployfilla can be sanded flush after 2 hours and primed after 24 hours.

Mildewed Bathroom Facelift Step 7

We now paint the walls with one coat of “damp proof paint”. This is really a misnomer since the paint doesn’t really damp-proof the walls, what it does is stop the black stains left by the old treated mildew from showing through the new paint. Once the damp-proof paint has dried the mildew stains should be barely visible – if in doubt apply a second coat (in our case one was enough)

Mildewed Bathroom Facelift Step 8

The damp proof paint takes 24 hours to dry. During this time we clean the woodwork using 100 grit sandpaper and wooden sanding block and apply 2 coats of water based primer undercoat (4 hours between coats).

Mildewed Bathroom Facelift Step 9

So with the preparation done we can proceed with the fun part of redecorating. It is important that we use bathroom paint instead of normal emulsion paint. The bathroom paint resists condensation and mildew and, most importantly, can be scrubbed clean (coz with the best will in the world – Brighton bathrooms attract mildew). My preferred sequence is 2 coats on the ceiling followed by two coats on the walls and finally a gloss coat on the woodwork.  Don’t try and skimp and do just one coat, after all the effort we’ve put in to get this far it’s worth the second coat to ensure a perfect, longer lasting finish.

The redecorated bathroom

There we go, a dingy mildewed bathroom has been transformed into a pleasant place to be !

How To Replace a Broken Sash Cord

Antique sash windows look great but they often need a bit of TLC. If you live in a rented Victorian house with sash windows it’s pretty common to find that the windows don’t move properly and if they do move they either move awkwardly or just won’t stay up once open. Both these symptoms are due to broken sash cords.

What are sash cords exactly ? Sash windows slide up and down in their frames and should stay in which ever position you choose -  seemingly by magic. Actually there’s no magic involved, each part of the window has a cord attached to each side of its frame which runs up and over a pulley and is connected to a cast iron counter weight. That’s 4 in total for a typical window.

On this window, in my friend’s flat in Brighton UK, one of the sash cords for the lower panel has broken. This is how we fix it.

Sash Window Repair Step 1

First we remove the decorative strip which holds the lower window panel in place. We use a hammer and chisel to do this. The trim strip splits as we remove it, which is pretty normal, so we will replace it with new wood.

Sash Window Repair Step 2

We can now disconnect the panel from its weights and lift it out of the window frame. Obviously in this case since one cord is already broken we only need to disconnect the other one.

Sash Window Repair Step 3

Next we disconnect the cord from the lower panel and lower the iron counterweight down inside the window frame.  Then we prize out the 2 pieces of wood which cover the space containing the weights  (one either side) see photo.

Sash Window Repair Step 4

Now we carefully lift out the counterweight and detach the broken cord.  We thread the new replacement cord through the pulley and tie it to the cast iron counterweight which we place back in the window frame.

Sash Window Repair Step 5

If, like me, you damaged the trim strips when you removed them now’s the time to cut new ones to fit.

Sash Window Repair 6

Replace the Wooden panels which cover the space where the counterweights are.

Sash Window Repair Step 7

Next we replace the window panel in the frame, attach the sash cords each side of the panel and replace the decorative strips. Remember to make sure you knock the nails in so that they are below the surface of the wood. You then fill the small hole with polyfilla, by doing this you ensure that the nail head won’t rust and stain the paintwork later (see handy hints post)

Sash Window repair step 8

The final step is to that the window slides up and down in the frame correctly.  Luckily all is well so we now proceed to make good and prime the window frame ready for redecorating.

How to Repair a Leaking Toilet Seal

This month we’re back in the bathroom with a leaky toilet. This time it’s an external leak (meaning that there's water on the bathroom floor) which, as we saw in the previous leak detection post, gives 2 basic possibilities:

1.       Leaks from the cistern – the toilet leaks and refills continuously causing an ever increasing amount of water on the bathroom floor.

2.       Leaks from the bowl or outlet – the toilet leaks during or after the flush leaving a small puddle on the floor. The quantity of water is limited since the cistern doesn’t refill.

The possible sources of these types of leak are:

1.       Leaks from the cistern

a.       Cracked or damaged cistern

b.      Leaky seal between the cistern and the pan

2.       Leaks from the bowl or outlet

a.       Cracked bowl

b.      Leaky toilet seal or flange

Cracked cisterns or toilet bowls can be repaired with an epoxy filler or repair-all type putty.

Damaged seals or flanges need to be replaced

Sometimes a good seal leaks because the cistern or bowl isn’t firmly fixed in place leak because of movement.  Check the bolts which hold the cistern to the bowl and the bowl to the floor are correctly tightened.  A toilet or cistern which rocks will often leak.

Visual inspection will show which of the causes mentioned above are to blame.

In this case we find drips coming from the toilet pan outlet seal. Closer inspection reveals that the rubber is perished and cracked. The solution is to replace the seal with a new one.

How to Replace a Leaky Toilet Seal

Toilet Repair Step 1

Fill a bucket, the sink and the kettle with water. We’re going to turn off the water at the main stopcock so we’ll need water to clean up, wash our hands (believe me you’re going to want to wash your hands several times during this process!) and of course make a cup of tea!

Toilet Repair Step 2

Turn off the water at the stopcock – there may be a small tap mounted on the wall at the inlet to the cistern, but in my experience these valves frequently leak. It’s always best to turn the water off at the stopcock.

Step 3

Flush the toilet to empty the cistern, undo the two plastic wing-nuts which connect it to the toilet bowl and lift the cistern clear (empty any residual water into the bath or the toilet and put the cistern carefully to one side)

Step 4

Remove the seal between the cistern and the toilet bowl. Depending on its condition you can either re-use it or replace it with a new one (Even thou the existing seal didn’t leak I decided that it would be a good idea to replace it with a new one when reassembling everything – preventive maintenance)

Step 5

Unbolt the pan from the floor. The are two bolts which fix the pan to the floor. We use a 10mm spanner to remove the cap-nuts. It’s possible that the nuts have corroded onto the bolts in which case the bolt will most likely release from the rawlplugs in the floor. If by a stroke of bad luck they don’t release easily from the rawlbolts in the floor then you may need to cut the nuts off using a dremel (or similar tool) and mini cut-off disk.

Step 6

The Toilet pan can now be lifted clear of the 2 fixing bolts and pulled away from the waste pipe.

Step 7

Tip the water from the toilet bowl into the bath.

Step 8

Remove the damaged toilet seal and (in order to ensure that the new seal seals) clean up both the outlet from the pan and the entrance to the waste pipe. Believe me, you will want to wash your hands after doing this!

Step 9

Remove the bolts from the floor; this is best done with mole grips. Take care not to damage the threads when doing this.

Step 10

Fit the new seal to the waste pipe and slide the toilet bowl into place, taking care to make sure the seal seats correctly against both the waste pipe and the exit from the toilet bowl.

Step 11

Replace the nuts and bolts which hold the toilet pan in place. Tighten down each side bit-by –bit to make sure that the toilet is correctly aligned and firmly seated.

Step 12

Empty the bucket of water into the toilet to perform a test flush and ensure that the new seal doesn’t leak. If it leaks, it will be necessary to disconnect the bowl again and re-seat the seal.

Step 13

If the toilet doesn’t leak then we proceed to re-connect the cistern and open the stopcock.

Step 14

Perform a test flush to make sure that everything works correctly and that there are no leaks.

Step 15

Clean up any mess and wash your hands!

Alternative Types of Toilet Seal

The rubber seal shown in the photos is very common. You may also encounter more elaborate seals or the old fashioned wax seal. In the case old the wax seal we simply cut the donut into two pieces, insert the two parts into the gap between the toilet and the waste pipe. We then use the heat from our hands to mold the wax into place until a hermetic seal is formed. The other plastic seal is simply inserted into the drain pipe and the toilet is slotted into place. Another possibility is that the toilet sits on-top of the waste pipe and there is a seal in a flange which is fitted into the floor below the toilet. These types of seal are similar to those which we have seen and the symptoms and replacement process are basically the same as described above.

Repairing a Peavey Bandit 112 Guitar Amp

Today were going to look at a fairly common and easily performed amplifier repair.

The amp in question is a 1980's vintage Peavey Bandit 112 Soloist Series 100W guitar combo and belongs to the singer/rhythm guitarist in my band. Unfortunately at some point between our latest gig and its arrival back at our practice room the control knob for the lead channel level has been snapped off. This is an unfortunate but not too uncommon occurrence which can be attributed to careless handling or bad loading of the van after the gig. On these occasions tiredness / the euphoria after a successful show / overzealous helpers and perhaps a small quantity of alcohol can lead to these sorts of careless mishaps !

So now on to the repair.

Peavey Bandit repair - Step 1: Remove the Amp chassis from the Combo.

IMPORTANT - Before working on the amplifier we double check that it is disconnected from the mains electricity supply ! (ie. Make sure you've unplugged the amp from the wall!)

Next we remove the back of the combo ( undo the 4 screws ) to allow the amp chassis to slide easily out.

Then  we undo and remove the power cord retaining clip and unplug the cables that connect to the speaker and the reverb unit (making note of how they need to be reconnected to avoid any errors later on).

Now the combo is laid face down and the 4 screws which attach the amplifier to the speaker housing are removed and the amp chassis is lifted out. All screws are put to one side to avoid misplacing them.

Peavey Bandit repair - Step 2: Remove the circuit board from the amplifier chassis

Next we remove the plastic control knobs from all the potentiometers and remove the black retaining nuts (11 in total)

We also remove the retaining nuts and washers from the 4 input/output jacks on the front panel.

We then unplug the connecting cables which run between the metal housing and the circuit board (4 connectors in total) taking note of the correct positions for reconnecting later.

Once this has been done the 6 black screws which attach the back cover to the amplifier chassis are undone and the circuit board can be slid out.

Peavey Bandit repair - Step 3: Remove the faulty potentiometer.

As can be seen in the photo below the potentiometers are mounted directly on the circuit board and are supported by a small metal bracket which is also soldered to the circuit board. This is so that the circuit board can be assembled as a whole in the factory then easily mounted in the chassis as a single unit.

To remove the pot from the circuit board we carefully desolder the 7 tabs using a soldering iron and a solder sucking pump. The pot can then be lifted off the circuit board.

Once the level pot has been removed from the circuit board we confirm that it is a 10K linear pot.

Peavey Bandit repair - Step 4: Buy a replacement potentiometer.

Unfortunately my local electronics store didn't have the exact replacement part.  Normally I'd purchase the original replacement part online if available. But in this case the amplifier needs to be fixed before our next practice session so there isn't time to wait for delivery. This leaves the alternative of buying a standard potentiometer of the same value, size and type and mount it directly on the amplifier chassis with 3 wires connecting it to the circuit board. As can be seen in the photo we also need to cut the shaft down to size. It's a little bit more work but saves waiting, a little money and will be not be noticeable once the amp is reassembled. Obviously we have to use a pot of the same value otherwise the amp's performance will be affected !

Peavey Bandit repair - Step 5: Connect the replacement potentiometer to the circuit board
First we solder three short, insulated wires to the connections on the circuit board. As you can see in  the photo I've used different coloured wires to avoid confusion when connecting them to the replacement pot. I've also made sure that the wires aren't overly long , they just need to be long enough so that the pot can be fitted to the amp chassis in such a way that the connecting tags won't touch any other components or the metal chassis itself. I then solder the coloured wires to the corresponding tabs on the pot.

Peavey Bandit repair - Step 6: Mount the Circuit board in the metal amplifier chassis.

This is just the reverse of the removal sequence with one additional stage which is to connect the new potentiometer to the metal housing. Care must be taken to ensure that the pot doesn't turn while the retaining nut is being tightened. The photo below shows how the final repair looks - all neat and tidy on the inside and totally invisible once the amp is reassembled.

Peavey Bandit repair - Step 7: Re-fit the amplifier into the speaker housing.

Once again this is just a case of reversing the removal process, taking care that everything is reconnected correctly.


Peavey Bandit repair - Step 7: Check that everything works OK.

Once everything is back together and we are happy that all the parts are connected as they should be we plug the amp in, connect a guitar (in this case a Fender Telecaster) and make sure that the amp works as before its accident.

Fixing up a cheap electric guitar so it plays like a more expensive one !

A friend of mine called me up last week to ask if I’d take a look at a guitar for him. Apparently his girlfriend had bought him a cheap Stratocaster copy online for his birthday but the guitar was totally unplayable. He was pretty stressed because he didn’t want to tell his girlfriend that she’d wasted her money!!

To be honest I was surprised how bad the guitar was! I understand that it was very cheap, but it was truly unplayable. I was especially surprised since it is a Yamaha guitar, albeit their most budget model. I’ve played several Yamaha guitars over the years and they’ve always been good instruments. In fact I have an old Yamaha Pacifica as a reserve electric guitar. Actually this guitar was so bad that I suspect that is probably a factory second or a knock –off copy or such being sold online by an unscrupulous dealer.

Whatever, in the end it only took a couple of hours work to get it playing pretty well (in fact once I’d finished with it I had it pretty much set up to the same specs that Fender set their guitars up to when they leave their factory !) Anyway, here’s how we fixed her up.

First of all I tuned the guitar to pitch and tried to play her. Terrible, even with the strings set pretty high from the fret-board it buzzed and rattled and at some frets totally fretted out.

My first step was to try and straighten the neck using the truss-rod. I was pleasantly surprised to find that the truss-rod worked and that I could get the neck almost totaly straight under string tension. In fact you never really want a totally straight neck on a guitar, a slight relief is necessary to allow for the curve of the vibrating string. Most importantly, the neck wasn't twisted ( a twisted neck can often be fixed , but its a lot more work).

So now with the neck acceptably straight I proceeded to check the frets to see if they were level. A quick check with my Stew Mac fret gauge showed that the frets had never been levelled or dressed in the factory. (Note: This is hardly a surprise with such a cheap guitar; even fairly expensive guitars need to be taken to a Luthier to have the frets dressed if they are to play at their best.) It also showed up the reason why the guitar was unplayable: Frets 2 and 19 where ridiculously high, to the extent that I thought that maybe they weren’t correctly seated, they where. Actually I suspect that the other frets had been inserted with too much pressure and for some reason these 2 frets had stayed high.

This photo shows how we check the frets for level, we test 3 frets at a time - if the middle fret is high then the guage rocks, if not it stays firm. Please note that this photo is taken on a different guitar and with the strings removed.

Step 1 – Level the frets.



Since this guitar ( as is the case with most Stratocaster copies) has a screw on neck. The first thing to do is remove the neck (actually the first step is to remove the strings then the neck). Next we remove the plastic nut and re-straighten the neck sighting down the fingerboard with a straight edge. (Note: we want the neck as straight as possible at this stage). Guitar fret-boards are normally made of a hardwood like maple, rosewood or ebony. In this case I noticed that the fret-board was made of a softer wood dyed black to look like ebony. This is probably why the frets were so bad.

Once the neck is removed and straight I tape off the fingerboard with masking tape to protect it while I level the frets. Many luthiers use a metal file mounted on a wooden handle like the one in the photo below to do this. I find I get better results more quickly using a metal spirit level with sandpaper stuck to it. This has the advantage that it is almost as long as the guitar neck so it helps prevent you from sanding more in one place.

First I concentrate on numbers 2 and 19 (always working in the direction of the strings line and checking for level and profile) to quickly bring the two high frets down. Once the 2 rogue frets are about the right height I ink up all the frets with a marker pen and then work very carefully to maintain the correct profile. If you work carefully you should just need to keep sanding until the ink has just started to be removed from the lowest fret . At this point all the frets should be at the same height. We check with the straight edge, until we are totally happy that the frets are levelled.



Step 2 – Re profile the frets



Guitar frets are a half moon section. But the levelling process will have caused them to be flattened off. Flat frets rattle and play out of tune. So the next step is to round the frets off using a special small file with a rounded face (see photo). Whilst doing this you should keep checking that you maintain the correct fret-board radius using the plastic radius gauges (mine came off e-bay). Once the frets have been rounded off you should polish them up using different grades of emery cloth, wire wool and finally metal polish.





Step 3 – Neck back on



Once we’re happy with the fret job, we remove the masking tape, replace the nut and bolt the neck back on to the guitar. At this step I check the neck angle using the straight edge and find that it’s not as it should be. This is easy to fix on this type of guitar using card shims in the neck joint.



Step 4 – Final setup



Next we string the guitar up with a new set of strings ( I prefer ernie ball 10 guage) and bring them up to pitch. She’s already starting to play better, no buzzing or choking strings. But the action is still high, so we adjust the neck relief with the truss rod and the individual saddle heights using Allen keys.



Step 5 – Play and enjoy



Considering how cheap this guitar was, I was very pleased with how it played once we’d fixed it up. If the guitar were mine I’d probably have made a new nut for it too which would have seen yet more improvement.

Fixing a Tabou Freestyle Windsurf fin

Last week I bought a new (to me) windsurf board - A 2007 Tabou Freestyle 100

Its a great board and in good condition with just a few of the cosmetic scuffs which are typical of boards that have been used a bit.

The fin with its old rusty lug

The fin (which has been cut down to 21cm) is missing its retaining screw and also the lug which runs in the finbox must have been lost at some point and the previous owner had replaced it with a bit of steel tube which has all but rusted away !

The retaining nut and bolt can be easily bought at either the local windsurf shop for €5 or at Decathlon for €1.99 - no prizes for guessing where I bought mine !!

Unfortunatley the stainless steel lug which goes at the other side of the fin seem to be unobtainable - at leat I couldn't find any. So a trip to the hardware shop was in order. The options here were either buy a length of stainless steel rod - which they would have to order and which would cost a few €uros or buy the longest 5mm diameter stainless steel bolt that they had, which had a long enough unthreaded section to make 2 replacement stainless steel lugs. Total cost 30 cents and a few minutes work to cut the screw down, file the lugs to size and round off the sharp edges - 15 cents each , not bad.

Cut the stainless steel screw into 3 pieces

Then File smooth and check for length

It was then necessary to carefully drill out the reusted in remains of the previous replacement, insert the shiny new lug in the fin , add a drop of superglue to stop it from slipping back out again and hey presto ready to go windsurfing !

The finished article

Some windsurf fins ( wave and custom freestyle)

Now we just need a bit of wind to try this thing out !