[sdiy] My frustration as a technician..

[rob hukin]

Hi All,

My impression is that a lot of manufacturers only see their product at the board level - they simply never have the components themselves, even if they would be willing to distribute them...

rob.

On 10 May 2013, at 14:45, Jean-Pierre Desrochers wrote:

> Let me share with you something I stumbled on yesterday..
> 
> A friend of mine own a TASCAM DR-2d portable digital audio recorder.
> This unit could run out of 2 x AA batteries OR a 5vdc TASCAM original supply.
> He had the bad idea to use a 'generic' adjustable
> wall wart power supply that was supposely at 4.5vdc hmmmm...
> Bad idea.. these suplies mostly comes unregulated.
> Too many volts ? bad polarity ? I'll never know.
> The result, the blown unit doesn't power up anymore.
> Ok. That's the start of the story.
> So I opened the unit to find that all the electronics
> were on 2 PCB's face to face, completely packed with
> VERY TINY surface mount parts on both sides of each boards.
> First I suspected a shorted protecting diode right
> next to the supply connector so I started looking around
> the surrounding parts.. oh man.. microscope job.. then I
> decided it would be a good idea to order the service manual
> to get the job done faster.
> TASCAM answered me the service manual was OUT OF PRINT
> but I could order it and get it by mail after a 2-3 weeks delay.
> They were not very clear about the cost and the way to pay
> for it. Finaly after around 6 emails TASCAM/TEAC California office gently emailed
> me a PDF version of the manual for free.
> So I was very anxious to check out the schematic and figure out
> where the problem could be in the circuitry.
> My reading was very short.. The service manual only contained
> - a brief list of error messages trouble shooting
>  (worthless because the unit was dead)
> - parts Exploded view
> - parts list
> - small color prints of pcb's
> (both layers on top of each other so not readable)
> That's it !
> 
> NO SCHEMATICS.
> 
> So the only thing that was left to me was to
> ask TASCAM the cost of each of the 2 main boards
> I cool swap for new ones to get the unit working.
> Here is the reply I received:
> Main board#1 $250.00US
> Main board#2 $140.00US
> Plus shipping.
> FYI a brand new unit in its box sells today for around $189.00US !!!
> So here is my frustration explained:
> For short, in the 70's in Canada (were I live) there was 2 types of electronics courses:
> - 1 year short course aimed for small home and cars appliances repairs
> - 3 years complete course (analog, digital, logic, software, development, etc..)
>  this course was VERY CLOSE to the engineer's university course
>  That's the one I chose to pickup.
> In the past 40 years (beside the elect. development I did)
> I always put my hands on repairable electronics.
> The stuff were made using tubes, transistors, IC's, etc..
> The degree I got out of my course brought me knowledge
> to analyse and fix blown circuits. I earned experience out
> of all my findings.
> Now I'm facing a world of BUY, USE THEN THROW AWAY (AFTER AROUND 5-6 YEARS OF USE).
> We came up to a point where a qualified tech is almost
> worthless. I talked to a repair store near Quebec City maybe they
> would have the TASCAM service manual on hand and the repairs man
> said to me:
> We almost stopped using service manuals on new stuff..
> The techs know what problem comes often on the electronic
> stuff we sell and they mostly replace complete boards
> without bothering what the blown part(s) were !!!!!
> Conclusion:
> Now, new stuff can be repaired (when not disposed)
> by 'REPLACE BOARDs' techs with small knowledge of electronics.
> In the next future, only:
> -repair shops that fix old repairable stuff (radios, music amps, keyboards, etc..)
> -R&D & electronic design houses
> will be the only place left for us techs who
> like to express our WIDE knowledge in our daily jobs.
> 
> Just my 3 cents !!
> J-Pierre
> Quebec City, Canada
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