Hello everyone, I'm trying to restore my old EX660 to its former glory. Belt apart (I'm waiting for the Marian's belts delivery) this little chap has a couple of more issues. One of these issues is the battery door which has the lock mechanism broken. It's the little indentation that locks the door when closed. Maybe I'll try to mend it with plastic sheet and glue but I'm not sure it will last long... In fact I used to close it with a piece of tape to keep the door locked. In the worst case scenario I'll resume the tape fix. The other and more serious issue is a collapsed tactile button, as shown in the picture below It is the upper left button that has collapsed and as far I can remember the button still worked albeit not "clicking". I still haven't tested it yet because I'm waiting for a new battery, charger and external battery compartment which I have all lost during the storage years. In the meantime I looked for some replacement buttons and I found these ones: https://www.ebay.it/itm/10X-PULSANT...-micro-mini-switch-button-PCB-SM/252413385775 i don't know if they'll fit (they seem a little smaller and with different contacts) but being so cheap I'll give them a try. To be also seen if I'll be able to desolder and surface solder the new one or maybe to let do it to some specialist. Anyone knows if these specific switches are anywhere to be found? Well, so many words for basically nothing. I'll update the thread when I'll get something to work/play with.
The battery has just arrived so I've been able to test the device. Clearly there is something wrong with the button because it is always fast forwarding when turned on. Replacing the button is inevitable... On the bright side the belt is still working but I'm going to replace it anyway just because it's on delivery.
Well, the restoration went better and quicker than expected! Thanks to a doner walkman I was able to get the intact battery door, the charger, the external battery pack and even the remote headphones! Now I have a complete set as it was when I bought it in my teens. I think I'm missing a black bag to carry it around but I'll live without that. About the non working button I fixed it without crazy small desoldering because the "clicking cap" is attached to the base of the switch with a piece of transparent adhesive tape. So after removing the cap from the base I was left with the bent metal circle in my hands. All I did was to reshape it to its intended convexity (or concavity If you like it). I did it by pressing the spherical end of a pen onto the piece against a rubber surface, like a hard mousepad, so that it could let go a little and follow the shape of the pen. I didn't take photos of the process while doing it but I'm mocking it in the following photos to give an idea. Just imagine the little piece of metal pressed under the pen. Well apparently that just worked because after that treatment the tiny sheet of metal started to behave the way it was intended to. I placed it back in its place onto the pcb and fixed it i position with a tiny strip of transparent tape, just in case. In the meantime I replaced the belt that was very elongated and did not have enough grip to spin the wheels. Now my trusty EX660 is back on track and I'm enjoying some old mixtapes. All beaten up by my teenager self but still doing his job.
Hi AlbySpace, I too am impressed with how you fixed that domed FF button - good job! I have an earlier EX510, that someone gave away on a local "craigslist". It was well worn and needed a thorough clean-up, a few drops of lube and a new belt to put it back in working order. It has turned into my favorite player for listening to old mixtapes on the go - small and light weight, with some very handy extra features onboard. The sound is not quite up there with my D6C or DC2s, but still surprisingly good. I was so happy with it that I went ahead and bought two more on ebay for back up. One is minty and works a treat. The other one turned out to be a total wreck. It has both the play and stop button domes collapsed and I gave up fixing it after spending many hours on it with little success. It has some additional issues: the transport is still erratic, after a thorough clean up and a new belt - plus it outputs only in mono with a very thin "telephone sound". I haven't worked up enough courage to desolder the main PCB to get access to the guts of it yet, but reading about your repair here is very inspiring and I might give it try after all. Cheers!
Thanks Boodokhan and Jørn, it was my first attempt at these kind of repairs and my experience as a scale model enthusiast helped. I have no experience on the venerated DDs or DCs, on how they sound I mean. I started with my old gear because it was my own device and I liked the AMS feature that made a CD like approach in skipping tracks. I'll figure out the way to record a good quality cassette and play it back on the 660 to try it out properly. After a couple of days using it I noticed that if the player is held or squeezed in some way while playing the cassette stops and then it plays back again in ff and rev (with the head engaged so it sounds like it's playing the Chipmunks) and then it stops. I'll try to do some troubleshooting when I'll have enough time but I hope it is something with the capstans rollers and nothing electronic.
I use this: https://www.ebay.com/itm/SWISS-MADE...129814?hash=item3aabd77ed6:g:yVAAAOSwAYtWM58r When listening on the go, with the player in my pocket, I routinely use the 'hold' function to avoid activating buttons accidentally.
I bought the same oil and seems to work very well but boy, it is expensive! At 5£/ml it goes to 5000£ a liter! Imagine changing the car oil with the Moebius, it will cost more than the car itself
Yes, and the crazy shipping price doesn't help either. IIRC I found a better shipping price when I bought mine, but was not able to find that listing again when I linked to Moebius here - sorry!. The good news: this little bottle will last you a long while though, if all you need it for is keeping a few Walkmans running smoothly. A few drops go a long way. Following your example and technique I was able to recone the Play and Stop buttons on my wrecked EX510 and they now work as they should. Thanks for your tip! Still haven't been able to fix the poor sound on that player, but guess I will get it sorted eventually.
