8mm Forum: A New Hobby?

This is topic A New Hobby? in forum General Yak at 8mm Forum.

To visit this topic, use this URL:
https://8mmforum.film-tech.com/cgi-bin/ubb/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=8;t=005274

Posted by Mathew James (Member # 4581) on August 09, 2019, 09:32 AM:

Hi All,

I have always like electronic things and recently had an itch to fix an old stereo FM/AM cassette player I had in the garage that was dirty and had issues.
Then I went to a fleamarket as we often do, and found an older sanyo unit that i thought would be fun to fix. It was a real mess and after the fact i had wished i had documented my progress as it cleaned up pretty nicely compared to what it was, paint all over it, dirty, broken tape deck...
The radio works and i ordered a belt to try to fix the cassette player and clean it up more.

My son and i spent quite some time cleaning off the dreaded BLACK GOOP, yes, black goop deterioration even on these units, just like with super 8's !!! I think i found another fun pastime! I post pics once i get it working more... [Smile]

Anyone else fix these ghettoblasters/boom boxes? Some of them go for over $4000 restored!!! Super fun!

Posted by Adrian Winchester (Member # 248) on August 09, 2019, 09:52 AM:

$4,000 is astonishing! I can imagine them having a certain retro appeal, as I don't suppose anything similar has been made for a while, but I'd be curious to know why people are willing to pay that sort of sum. It makes the price of a little used GS12000 a bargain in comparison!

Posted by Mathew James (Member # 4581) on August 09, 2019, 10:40 AM:

Here is one going for $8000...

...but the shipping is FREE!

Ghetto Blaster 8G's

They look cool though. Some of these can deafen a person pretty fast [Big Grin]

Here is another real beauty!!

Sharp!

***Someone here may have a good one and not even know it!

Posted by Adrian Winchester (Member # 248) on August 09, 2019, 02:52 PM:

They look impressive, but I would have (wrongly) imagined that anyone willing to pay such a price would have wanted a CD player included, but perhaps these are closely associated with a cassette-using culture? I'm puzzled that in both cases the seller says "After full and complex prevention" as I have no idea what that means!

Posted by Janice Glesser (Member # 2758) on August 09, 2019, 04:35 PM:

Hi Matthew...sounds like your new hobby could be fun and also has the potential to be very profitable. [Smile]

Just FYI...I thought you might be interested in a fellow Canadian's YouTube channel 12voltvids.

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCRx5TQd00NOjK5D7VB6pHyA

I've been watching his repair videos for a long time and there just doesn't seem there is anything electronic that he can't fix. Just watching him troubleshoot and identify problems is amazing.I was able to repair 2 old VHS machines by just watching his vids.

Posted by Mathew James (Member # 4581) on August 12, 2019, 10:35 AM:

Thanx for the link Janice! I love watching these fix-it video's and I know you love them too!
Another GREAT one is TechMoan

TechMoan

He is from the UK and rips everything apart. Why I like him, is that he doesn't really know how to repair the product he is working on...is careful...and pulls most repairs off...just using intuition...
He uses common sense and has repaired enough to know what to try or not, you know what i mean.... Gives me hope!

Waiting for parts to come in when you want to repair something is torture... I can't wait for the cassette main drive belt to show up. [Big Grin]

Posted by Mathew James (Member # 4581) on August 14, 2019, 02:39 PM:

heard about this deoxit product today and was wondering if anyone has tried it before and how it worked out? Steve would like this stuff i bet.

Deoxit

...belt came in today so looking forward to trying it out!

Posted by Winbert Hutahaean (Member # 58) on August 14, 2019, 03:11 PM:

With the recent trend of "back to the 80s" all retro stuff now gain popularity. This makes our hobby is no longer as the expensive one.

I have just realized certain Betamax players are sought after and can reach $2000.

What is the best super 8mm projector? GS1200 or Beaulieau (some will say Fumeo, but this is so limited)... $1200 is already considered high for them.

[ August 14, 2019, 06:09 PM: Message edited by: Winbert Hutahaean ]

Posted by Janice Glesser (Member # 2758) on August 14, 2019, 03:50 PM:

I've used Deoxit Matt... seems to work well.

Posted by Mathew James (Member # 4581) on August 16, 2019, 09:07 AM:

Your right Winbert! Retro stuff has gone totally crazy lately!

Thanx Janice! I found a little bottle i must have bought of generic stuff called Ox- Gard. I didn't even remember buying anti-oxidant, i must be loosing it [Smile]

Anyways, installed the belt and it worked to fix the play issue, but there were more problems:
1. no sound from cassette
2. no fw or rw function
3. batteries not supplying power

This is fun however! After fiddling for a bit, we got the sound going again.
It was most certainly oxidizing between the switch contacts that just needed cleaning. I used wd 40 until i found the ox gard and then used that for extra cleaning. Worked great! So #1 is done.

For #2. this is a deeper issue. We have had to take much more apart to do a deeper cleaning. I think i may know the issue, and ran out to buy some o rings to try but only have gotten so far. We think some of the black goop we cleaned off was not only just the old belt, but could most likely have been a rubber around a part needed to make the gears for rw/ff to spin. Without this rubber, no contact is made, so i am trying to find the rubber that fits. Stay tuned!
#3 i have looked at yet until #2 is done.
: [Big Grin]

I have to hurry on this 'side hobby' repair because i just bought a NEW EUMIG super 8 sound machine that i know will take my attention shortly!

UBB.classic^TM 6.3.1.2