Hi everyone, I am restoring an old Amstrad CPC 464. Unfortunately my parents gave away ours when I was in my mid teens so my boyfriend bought me one for 99p about seven years ago.
Unfortunately there were issues with loading tapes, it was VERY temperamental. Also, it would not fast forward tapes and the counter wouldn't move at all, it was stuck in the reset position.
Anyway, I have since pulled it apart, cleaned all the keys, keyboard membrane, motherboard and tape deck.
The issue appears to be the actual counter itself. The bands are in place and rotating as they should, however the counter is not rotating at all. After removing it and trying to rotate it myself it is really stiff and will only rotate correctly when done with pliers!
I have temporarily removed the band and wheel for rotating the counter and all is working brilliantly.
I really would like to get it working though but can't find anywhere that sells just the counter. I would have thought it would be available like resistors, capacitors and other electronic components?
Any advice would be much appreciated and thanks for reading!
So excited to have found this forum!
There are also some games that I need to hunt down as my parents also gave those away all those years ago too :'(
Thanks
Perhaps you could spray some WD40 into the mechanism, leave it for 24 hours to do it's job, then gently try to get the mechanism turning.
Damn, I've put the whole lot back together again! :laugh: Will give the WD40 a go thanks!
I'm just glad the whole thing hasn't broken from toying with it :)
Using WD40 on a CPC is like fixing an egg with a hammer. :'(
It needs lubrication, but WD40 isn't a good idea on old plastic. That stuff is pretty agressive. It's meant for steel against steel in engines, not delicate plastic cogs. I'd recommend disassembling the parts and using vaseline or fine oil on the shafts.
Bryce.
Thanks Bryce, I'm not sure how to grease the shaft part of the counter though, will give it a go tomorrow.
Dont suppose anyone is willing to sell me a 1st revision cpc 464 in good cosmetic condition? Mine is a Rev 1 and has cosmetic damage, its evident its been messed around with inside too. Would love an untouched original or at least a nice looking one.
Thanks
Wouldn't WD40 cause other problems down the line, too?
You can even try warming it up; heat up some water and place it for a few minutes, see if it's easier to move...
You can try placing an ad in the relevant section of the forum, though as always eBay is your best bet. Lots of stuff on there, and maybe you can even find something near you for local pick-up - those are usually cheap.
Oh, and welcome :)
The problem is, people think that WD40 is just a lubricant. IT'S NOT. It's a penetrating oil and water displacement spray. ie: It's full of chemicals that help disolve rust / prevent corrosion etc on steel. If you can't loosen the nuts on a car wheel, it's great. If a big motor shaft has seized it's good for that too. If you have a tiny, slightly stiff stainless steel pin encased in 30 year old plastic, it's definitely not what you want to be spraying on it. It does contain lubricants too of course, but the other stuff has the potential to destroy your CPC: Half of it is made up of stoddard solvents (White spirits / turpentine), which will probably destroy the plastic (pretty quickly too). Most of the rest of it is made up of liquified petroleum gas and lubricants. The LPG and lubricants probably wouldn't damage the CPC, but I wouldn't want to take the chance.
Gryzors suggestion of putting it in warm water is good, I'd probably add some washing-up liquid too. Then grease it afterwards with vaseline or fine oil.
Bryce.
Thank you!
I hope I haven't damaged it by cleaning the mobo and tape deck with Isopropyl alcohol !?
Isopropyl alcohol is safe on plastics as long as you rinse it afterwards. It's fine on the PCB too. I use it to clean PCBs sometimes. I'd try to avoid spraying it on the drive-belt or tape-belt though.
Bryce.
Hi Bryce, its not a spray but a liquid that I dab a cotton pad to clean PCB and tape deck.
They keyboard membrane I just used a damp cloth.
The rest of the parts which were plastic like the keys and case I washed with warm water and fairy liquid (my favourite solution to cleaning, good thing I didnt use this to clean the mobo). Cleaned each key individually, glad I had taken a photo of the keyboard before taking it apart :laugh:
Thanks
I actually meant splash and not spray.
Your cleaning methods all sound safe enough. Hopefully a good clean will get the counter working again too.
Bryce.
You're doing quite a thorough job! So, any success with the counter?
@Bryce: all that talk about WD40, does that mean you've got its formula? Because last time I checked it was still a big industry secret :)
The exact formula is a big secret, but the general ingredients are on the Wikipedia page.
Bryce.
Cool! Let's get a-cooking!
now i know why mad head is mashed all that wd40 sniffing lol
Apparently WD40 was the 40th attempt at concocting a solvent with all the customary applications we associate with WD40. We could start cooking up an open source version but we might hit the right ratios at the 29th batch so we would have to call it WD29 or if we were really unfortunate WD40,000,000. I'm pretty sure though that they can't have trade marked to infinity so we should be ok.
I have seen WD40 dissolve rubber gaskets within an hour so I would definitely say it could cause all kinds of trouble inside a CPC. I know one thing for sure, it's responsible for about 90% of the grazed knuckles I have suffered when attempting to undo seized nuts and bolts on my cars!
I think WD stands for Water Displacement (since that's was the original use - to repel water from the surface of the Atlas missiles).
As for the trade mark, I'm sorry to disappoint you; precisely in order to prevent from their application from ending, they never filed for a patent. They thought, 'well, if anyone finds out how to do it, let them". Safer that way :D
They probably registered the trademark. That has nothing to do with whether they patented it or not.
I dry my Atlas rockets with a lint-free cloth :)
Bryce.
No it doesn't, but I was too bored to make the distinction so I started with the TM and moved over to the patent issue, which is what I think Badstarr originally meant :)
You pedantic know-all...
Quote from: Gryzor on 14:07, 24 January 13
You pedantic know-all...
Ooo, you really know how to compliment me :)
Bryce.
Masochist: "-Please hurt me!"
Sadist: "-No."
Forum mod: "you're all off-topic".
lynwen - I have a 464 that works but half of the tape drive is actually missing and the case itself is very badly damaged.
However, the tape counter is present and you can have it if you want it and don't get yours fixed - though I don't know if it works. PM me and I'll post it to you.
Hi lynwen & Munchausen...depending on what happens with your tape counters, I would be very interested in grabbing one from either of you, in particular I am after the reset button. So it does not matter if the tape counter works or not.
I recently purchased a CPC472 from Spain, but when it arrived the tape counter reset button was broken.
Please keep me informed of what happens then maybe I can work something out if you are OK whith it.
Cheers,
Shane
Hey 00Wrex, if lynwen doesn't want the counter or if she doesn't actually need the reset button then I would be happy to send you the button. Though I may need to get postage costs back, depending on if they are significant or not to Spain (I presume to Spain anyhow?), if that is ok. Other than that you can have it - it is yours - there is no need for any payment except postage, I mean.
Though please note that I am away from home (and my CPCs/CPC parts) for the next 2 weeks at least, so will not be able to post it before then - and then when I am home I will have to take time to go to the post office, so will have to fit this in to my schedule. So I mean that I cannot guarantee delivery by a certain time, I can only say that I will be able to post it in the next few weeks.
Hi Munchausen, thanks for the reply & offer.
That sounds great. As you mention, yes we should let lynwen reply and see what they would like to do first.
The idea of getting the part from a damaged CPC is ideal though as I would not take this part from a pefectly fine machine.
I am actually loacted in Australia (I purchased the 472 from Spain). And yes of course I will cover any costs.
Thanks again.
Cheers,
Shane
Quote from: Gryzor on 11:30, 22 January 13
You can even try warming it up; heat up some water and place it for a few minutes, see if it's easier to move...
NYYYAAAH! You are amazing 8) used some warm water and twizzled gently its now back in the machine and it works!!!
Thanks for all the replies ;D
oh gosh I am awful at this, there is a 2nd page I had totally missed!!!
Youre all so kind!
Thank you so much of the offer of your counter Munchausen thats very kind of you, I see someone else has asked for it and being as mine now works I dont need it but thank you so much for the offer :-*
Quote from: Munchausen on 18:21, 24 January 13
However, the tape counter is present and you can have it if you want it and don't get yours fixed - though I don't know if it works. PM me and I'll post it to you.
Now I can actually use tapes with multiple games on !
Nice result :)
Munchausen I will PM you
Cheers,
Shane
Damn bloody counter broke again >:(
This time I have ripped the actual counter itself to bits, removed the offending component, which is all metal, and soaked in wd40 - it appears to be covered in rust
Quote from: lynwen on 18:47, 27 January 13
This time I have ripped the actual counter itself to bits, removed the offending component, which is all metal, and soaked in wd40 - it appears to be covered in rust
Ah, an Irish model :laugh: Our lovely wet weather gets into everything for that authentic rusted look ;) You know it's like brass antiques, if you clean it you devalue it... :D
WD40 will do the job in this case, assuming it hasn't completely turned into rust and it's only on the surface... But, wait, didn't you find one (or am I confusing threads)?
Quote from: Gryzor on 08:23, 28 January 13
But, wait, didn't you find one (or am I confusing threads)?
Someone offered however I fixed the problem so I believe someone else wanted the counter?
Well, it WAS fixed, its starting to play up again. Had it out again to look at and it appears that the tiny cogs are misbehaving even after greasing with vassaline. The left number roll doesn't line up correctly even after resetting and sometimes refuses to rotate.
Oh and the last time I tried to fix it the power LED wires snapped off. Need to strip them and re solder onto the pcb but need to check where they need soldering to.
Not sure I even own a soldering iron since we moved house
Im not happy to put it on ebay until it is fully working, it would only pee someone else off that the counter misbehaves
Gah :(
Put a post in classifieds
Wanted: Working CPC tape counter please (http://www.cpcwiki.eu/forum/classifieds/wanted-working-cpc-tape-counter-please/)
So, full circle, 101 messages later you're asking for the exact same thing you came here for! Here's a Like for you ;)
I'm such a scatter brain.
Oh, and that dirty cpc I was cleaning.... decided to practice on it and put vassaline on the cogs, now the tape deck wont work!
doh.
Define "wont work".
Bryce.
I'll do anoher one of my a amazing videos haha
Typing. On my phone fat finger syndrome
She probably means that vazeline is so thick it won't turn because of it?Kind of extreme though, I don't think it's so thick as to do that...