4 Nov
2009
4 Nov
'09
12:32 p.m.
Tony Duell wrote:
My story is somewhat worse than that. Some modern cars are made from
metal that becomes dangerously weakend if deformed and then pulled back
to shape. The _only_ repair proecedure is to replace the crossmember or
whatever. But a main dealer said they were going to simply use hydraulic
jacks to reshape the back of the bodyshell after a minor accident. I knew
there was a reason for buying the _official_ shop manual...
Or the manual which specifically telss you to use a special extractor
tool to remvoe the constnat velocity joint from the driveshaft. And tells
you not to grip the driveshaft in a bench vice. So what do I see at the
main dealers? A driveshaft clmaped in a vice with somebody whacking the
CV joint with a hammer. Ouch!
And the number of garage mechanics (from main
dealers) who do things that
are expressly forbidden by the workshop manual (and forbidden for a good
reason).
"'Ere, Bob, pass'us that 'ammer."
"Why, Jim?"
"Bloody oilpan bolt's stuck. Needs sum per-sa-shin!"
"A'ight then.."
*WHACK* *WHACK* *BAM* *WHACK* *CLANG* Anyway, the guy arrives and the first thing he asks:
"Have you got a copy of the service manual?"
Eek!!. I suspect my reply would be something along the lines of 'Your company
refused to sell me a proper service manaul. If you can get me one, then
I'll let you borrrow when you come to repair my printer'
There's (just) enough info in the 570 OLS Manual and Parts/Wiring
Diagram book to narrow down most faults to a given PCB. There aren't any
schematics, but you can do PCB-swaps. Better than nothing if you've got
another machine to cannibalise parts from...
To be honset, I've stopped expecting scheamtics in modern service
manuals. How detailed is the wiring diagram? Does is give signal names to
all the wires? If so, it's a great help in figuring out what's going on.
What is the point of a service engineer who
doesn't carry even basic tools?
Consuming oxygen?
I could probably do the same -- Fluke 25 DMM, spare battery, CK toolkit,
Antex 660TC soldering station, and my "cheap and made of monkey-metal"
'Pro'sKit' mini-screwdriver (good for small devices where the CK kit is
I haev all sorts of small tools. A couple of the sets that RS components
sell (which include small open-ended spanners nad nutdrivers, very useful
for taking the drive motor apart in HP desktop calculator card
readers..), and a good set of Swiss watchmaker's screwdrivers. And off
couse Torx down to TX3 (I must get the smaller ones), hex keys down to 28
thou (Yes, I have used it on a classic computer), and so on.
too big). The CK also includes a full set of
"Anti-Tamper" Torx bits
(which will screw and unscrew both common types of Torx bit), a few hex
I think Torx drivers are essential nowadays...
I alas have 'System Zero' bits for the few devices that are designed to
be really hard to take apart. I've seen them used on a modem, on the PSU
for the Pasasonic/Quasar handheld computer and on a thing called a
'Ferret' which is a combinded breakout box, protocol converter, EPROM
programmer, printer, etc
bits and some sockets (VERY useful for realigning Sky
dishes, even when
the bolts have rusted).
I usually bring an ASUS Eee 1000H netbook, Ericsson K800i (GSM triband
mobile with 3G data and USB) with me as well -- on the basis that I can
then connect to my home server (or anywhere else on t'internet for that
matter) and grab any PDFs I might need. Saves dragging reams of paper
around.
I don;t have that luxury. On the other hand, I prefer working from a
schematic on paper anyway...
Too true.
There are a lot of Olympus OM4s that are starting to suffer
from ciruitry failure (read: metering and shutter times go badly out of
I seem to remeebr you should stick to odd-numbered OM's as they're
mechanical. aperture priority metering still needs 2x SR44 coin
cells to run.
Also, the motor drive (if you have one) needs 4x AAs.
True. But those functions aren't _essential_ to take photographs (unlike
shutter timing).
Full-mechanical? A Minox maybe? Or probably a Stereo Realist (which has
been mentioned elsethread).
The Minox C is electonically-tiemd (no I don't have one). The Minox B is
entirely mechaincal apart from a ocupled exposure meter, which uses about
4 components IIRC).
There are plenty of purely mechanical cameras (I don't count flash sync
contacts!), and many more if you 'allow' built in exposure meters (which
may well not include any active devices).
-tony