Finally! Opened my TeleVideo TPC-1

[Ian S. King]

More on this:

It wasn't simple to get the power supply loose to the point where I can
access its circuit board.  I had to disengage the rear section, which is
also secured to the main case (a U-shaped affair, providing the main
section of the case).  This involved three more of the plastic latches, but
realizing that they were pretty robust I felt confident using some force.
A butter knife was a useful tool, but if I did this every day I'd probably
use a putty knife of appropriate width, or perhaps fabricate a pry bar with
a small lip to pull the receiver away from the latching piece.

I don't plan to do this every day.  :-)  So I'm going to replace all of the
electrolytics, this being the most common cause I've seen for these
symptoms, then reassembling it loosely and evaluating behavior.  I'm
exciting about getting this machine working as I have a metric butt-ton of
software for it, and I want to see what it will do.  -- Ian

On Sun, May 29, 2016 at 7:06 PM, Ian S. King <isking at uw.edu> wrote:

> Hi all,
>
> A while back I asked if anyone knew how to open the case of this early
> luggable, and there were crickets. Well, I pulled it out today with the
> intention of poking and prodding, and I magically got it to open!
>
> There's a top piece that is fastened to the front bezel with two apparent
> screws. But it is also snapped in to the rear cover in a manner that is not
> readily apparent or discernable. If one removes two screws at either end of
> the rear cover, the rear piece will cantilever back ever so slightly, and
> the latching of the plastic pieces will separate without damage.
>
> The power supply assembly is fastened to the bottom of the case with a
> couple of screws that come up from below/outside, so I'd already removed
> those.  It should be relatively simple to rotate the assembly so that I can
> remove the screws holding the PCB to a backpiece, providing access to the
> PCB so I can replace the 30+ year old electrolytics.  Given the symptoms,
> this seems like the most likely root casuse.... -- Ian
>
> --
> Ian S. King, MSIS, MSCS, Ph.D. Candidate
> The Information School <http://ischool.uw.edu>
> Dissertation: "Why the Conversation Mattered: Constructing a
> Sociotechnical Narrative Through a Design Lens
>
> Archivist, Voices From the Rwanda Tribunal <http://tribunalvoices.org>
> Value Sensitive Design Research Lab <http://vsdesign.org>
>
> University of Washington
>
> There is an old Vulcan saying: "Only Nixon could go to China."
>



-- 
Ian S. King, MSIS, MSCS, Ph.D. Candidate
The Information School <http://ischool.uw.edu>
Dissertation: "Why the Conversation Mattered: Constructing a Sociotechnical
Narrative Through a Design Lens

Archivist, Voices From the Rwanda Tribunal <http://tribunalvoices.org>
Value Sensitive Design Research Lab <http://vsdesign.org>

University of Washington

There is an old Vulcan saying: "Only Nixon could go to China."