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Re: [xl7] Emulator II Prices
2015-04-25 by lanrosta@...
With capacitors, all you need to do is identify the ones that are leaking or bulging (usually at the top or bottom of the cap) and replace those first with like parts (look at each one to find it's voltage and its capacitance, then get the parts from digikey, mouser, or local supplier, etc). Retest and repeat on other suspecting caps until it is either fixed, or all the caps are replaced (and for accuracy, tested after replacing each one with a digital volt meter DVM) if necessary. Yout toal cost for caps will range from $5 to maybe $30.
In addition to the caps, you will also need a solder remover (ebay has those soldering irons with the vacuum tube clicker on it for like $20. Way better than using both an iron and an individual plastic-tip solder sucker tube that requires both hands) This requires only one hand and does a nice fast removal of the solder. This makes removing the caps from the main board really, really simple. Change the tip and its a normal soldering iron to put in the new caps.
Get some thin gauge solder, and maybe a magnifying glass to read the cap labels and their polarity (+/-) so you can find suitable replacement caps and insert the new cap pins in the same polarity as the originals were in. That's about $30- $50 total (most of which are tool costs, which you get to keep and use for other solder/removal and electronics projects) and maybe 2-4 hours time.
A Digital Volt Meter (DVM) about $20 to $30 more will also help you test the circuit before and after the cap circuit. This takes patience and a steady hand to test the cap leads while the machine is apart, but plugged in and turned on. It's delicate work because you could shock yourself or damage the board with a sever voltage short. But neither are likely to happen often or cause too much harm. depends though. Which brings me to this...
Disclaimer and Warning - Capacitors CAN and DO hold a charge even after the unit has been turned off and even after several minutes. BE ABSOLUTELY CAREFUL and DO NOT TOUCH or remove any caps unless the unit has been unplugged for at least an 30 minutes to an hour first. Also, You take full responsibility for your own handy work. I am NOT liable for any mistake, damage, injury, bobloblaw you cause to yourself or machine).
Or, you could just buy another machine used on ebay or wherever. Then do the work on the bad caps board. That way if you screw it up, you still have a working one. Or, you could buy a replacement board. ebay has them occassionally, but not often. Again, usually best to find another unit secondhand and keep the current one to explore the internals without fear.