<html><body style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space; "><div>Thanks again for the kind comments, and to Bill for the background on the Barco's appearance in the Ampex lineup.</div><div><br></div><div><div>Re: This project—We had help from Tim Stoffel and Ken Zin. </div><div><br></div><div>Since the system will be used to digitize tapes at a university library by a new to 1" user, I wanted to make sure my customer had a machine that wasn't going to be a problem child.</div><div><br></div><div>I'd originally planned to provide a machine that was one of the trio in the original cabinets.</div><div><br></div><div>As a backup, I had another, newer VPR-80 that has had always performed well... my first VPR-80 and my first Ampex 1" in the collection.</div><div><br></div><div>Tim came down from Reno and we began going through the three older machines to see which seemed like the best candidate for service. One had power supply problems and didn't seem like a good candidate when a PS from another machine was subbed.</div><div><br></div><div>Of the other two, one had an Athan refurbed scanner assembly apparently not long before the machines were taken out of regular service.</div><div><br></div><div>This scanner had good head life left, and the machine itself <i>seemed</i> to be in pretty good shape for a 1984 model.</div><div><br></div><div><img height="215" width="324" apple-width="yes" apple-height="yes" src="cid:CB65C4EF-933C-426F-9C7E-3C0819776281"></div><div><br></div><div>Tim did the PM on the scanner and capstan motors, and back in they went.</div><div><img height="215" width="324" apple-width="yes" apple-height="yes" src="cid:D05548A1-9989-428F-8555-A31BEF60BC7A"></div><div><br></div><div>Brushes on both motors were in good shape, so we didn't install the new Athan units I'd purchased for the project.</div><div><img height="215" width="324" apple-width="yes" apple-height="yes" src="cid:CCBDC197-006F-442E-88FA-B4268F4CEC0F"></div><div><br></div><div>In the course of dealing with other PM stuff, we found that the machine had some idiosyncrasies, possibly related to the AST servo. Dealing with them took longer than Tim had time to spend in Marysville, so I asked Ken to get involved.</div><div><br></div><div>Ken checked out both the intended and the backup machines, and did further testing and tweaking on the older unit. It was working acceptably after assembling the package to test before delivery. </div><div><br></div><div>Like a lot of older gear, it works well for a time—especially when the engineer is watching—but may not on alternate Monday's ending in Y, or at random times when the moon is full, humidity is high, etc.</div><div><br></div><div>During the course of continued operation Sunday into early Monday morning, the deck went from nice playback to exhibiting some of the same issues Tim and I experienced.</div><div><br></div><div>Playback becomes a bit unstable, the scanner <i>sounds</i> as though there's a bearing going out—may not actually be the case—and AST servo errors are reported.</div><div><br></div><div>After a number of hours of investigating whether the issues were tape specific, related to environment in my workshop or something else I decided to go with the backup machine. </div><div><br></div><div>After swapping machines, the B machine worked just fine.</div><div><br></div><div>I left the Plan B machine powered up while I caught a short nap and then resumed testing. No problems : ) A slight vertical jitter in the Barco also disappeared with continued application of power to the monitor.</div><div><br></div><div>We packed things as you've seen, and off we went. </div><div><br></div><div>Unloading and re-assembly took less than two hours (including parking the car in a garage several blocks away) and we had power up and E-to-E bars before my client had to leave for the day. </div><div><br></div><div>A followup visit is planned for two weeks from now. If you have any VPR-80 operating advice I should pass along, please post.</div><div><br></div><div>A side note on moving machines this size by yourself: I've successfully pressed a stool-height adjustable chair into service.</div><div><br></div><div>Take the back off and it's possible to ease the deck onto or off of the chair seat. The pneumatic column makes it possible to raise or lower the height so that it's close to the needed elevation then ease the deck on or off the chair seat and onto the next platform. That's worked well for sliding decks in and out of the cabinets, the Mountaineer and the trailer.</div><div><br></div><div>I have been thinking about getting an engine sling, though : ) It might be apropos since a lot of the folks who work on old VTR's might otherwise be restoring vintage cars. In fact there's at least one person on the list who does!</div><div><br></div><div>If other folks on the list have refurb stories—especially re: Quad—please share. </div><div><br></div><div>The message size limit is 1MB, but you can break the story into several parts so the total size with pictures wont send the message to the moderation folder for review.</div><div><br></div><div>Ted</div><div><br></div><div><div style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space; font-size: 14px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: none; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; "><div style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: none; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; "><div style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: none; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; "><div><font class="Apple-style-span" size="3"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 12px; ">Ted Langdell</span></font></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 12px; ">Secretary</span></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" size="3"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 12px; ">Skype: <span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre; "> </span>TedLangdell</span></font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" size="3"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 12px; ">e-mail:<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre; "> </span><a href="mailto:ted@quadvideotapegroup.com">ted@quadvideotapegroup.com</a></span></font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" size="3"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 12px; "><br></span></font></div></span></div></span></div></span></div></div><div><br><div></div></div></div></body></html>