Remex Tape Reader - Pre-power up advice?

[Pete Lancashire]

In equipment that has regulators, increasing the line voltage can have its
own issues.

I have a very fast acting adjustable solid state circuit breaker.

If the running current is under say 100 W, a incandescent lamp in series is
a poor mans current limiter.

I has been a long time but a couple other things coming into focus is I'd
pull the lamp before powering
up and measuring the voltage across its terminals, and check if say a power
supply went crazy would
it damage the optical to electrical parts.

25 years ago I could have handed you a optical pickup for free, but all my
Remex spares are now history.




On Sun, Apr 16, 2017 at 2:45 PM, Anders Nelson <anders.k.nelson at gmail.com>
wrote:

> Thanks for the tips, I think I'll replace the caps first as I don't own a
> variac. I'd rather not damage anything in case the foil in those caps have
> shorted upon application of full power.
>
> =]
>
> --
> Anders Nelson
>
> +1 (517) 775-6129 <(517)%20775-6129>
>
> www.erogear.com
>
> On Sun, Apr 16, 2017 at 12:02 PM, Pete Lancashire <pete at petelancashire.com
> > wrote:
>
>> I would first be more concerned with the ones I've circled
>>
>> https://goo.gl/photos/jweLs4meE2to3mom8
>>
>> Guessing this guy was built > 30-40 years ago. If it was mine I would
>> replace all the smaller ones.
>>
>> Get it over and done with.
>>
>> The ones that have screws, you can take the chance of putting a scope
>> across them (watch out if they are floating !!) and look at the ripple, I
>> any over say 2%, they are more than likely bad, but you can see if the
>> reform or not. More then a couple % and you can damage things.
>>
>> Other things I do
>>
>> Check the voltages quickly
>>
>> Check the thermal grease on all the heat sinks.
>>
>> -pete
>>
>> PS keep your eyes open from replacement lamps.
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> On Sun, Apr 16, 2017 at 11:28 AM, Anders Nelson via cctalk <
>> cctalk at classiccmp.org> wrote:
>>
>>> Hi guys,
>>>
>>> I recently impulse-bought a paper tape reader from eBay, a Remex
>>> RRS6500BE1/660/DRB/U901
>>>
>>> Link: http://www.ebay.com/itm/292050475397
>>>
>>> Pictures: https://goo.gl/photos/Wa3W7mtTwwuTczUV7
>>>
>>> It has several enormous capacitors in it and I want to do my due
>>> diligence
>>> before powering it up. Does anyone have advice in this regard? I'm
>>> competent in soldering and rework of all sorts but definitely more in
>>> digital than analog.
>>>
>>> Also the spindles squeak very slightly - are they oilable?
>>>
>>> In general it looks to be in pristine condition; no dust and no
>>> magic-smoke
>>> smell. The only repair item I can find is a sticking tape roller and
>>> gentle
>>> bending oughta solve that.
>>>
>>> I await your thoughts!
>>> --
>>> Anders Nelson
>>>
>>> +1 (517) 775-6129
>>>
>>> www.erogear.com
>>>
>>>
>>
>