Idiot attempts stereo hi-fi repairs

The victim is a Sony combo-stereo receiver/casette/cd player system HCD-H5, circa early 1990s.

The problem: the CD player doesn't work. It spins but stays on the first few minutes of track 1. The drawer has a life of its own. It opens and shuts when it feels like it and when you feed the CD, a whirring sound continues and then the player spits it out. The display when it feels like not performing will tell me there is no disc even though I've just inserted it.

I mentioned the possibility of repairing it. Repairers in their infinite wisdom tell me it's not worth it because it would cost much more than a brand new system. I'm a sentimental kind of person. I like old things. The receiver works fine, the dual casette system works fine so I wasn't going to throw it out. Plus I've dragged this system around the world...it's been in humid conditions, arid ecosystems and now it's somewhere in the southern hemisphere where there are 6 seasons in one day. So during the school holidays, I decided to repair this thing. Bad idea, because school hols means kids at home. But involve the kids.

I set myself several parameters. I am not going to touch the electricals. If the problem is mechanical, I'll attempt it. Otherwise no touch. I'm a mechanically/electronically illiterate and I thought mechanics is easier than electronics. At least there are parts that move which I can see. Electronics are creepy. The moving bits usually wind around plastic coated veins. Having set those rules, I started. But where in the internet can I find guidance?.

A quick search in google with the string of keynotes: help idiot need repair "cd player" door disobedient "no disc" returned this fabulous site: http://repairfaq.ece.drexel.edu/sam/cdfaq.htm

I read all the details, until my eyes crossed. But this much I figured: either the drawer mechanism is dirty, or the gears are clogged with grease, or the system needs a good shaking. I can do all that. Now to open up the system. This is the part repairers warn me about. It's impossible to get into the CD component. It's an all in one. All in ones don't come apart... I found me a good philips screw driver and started from the obvious... unscrew the housing starting with the screws where the arrows are pointing.
2 hours later...
Yewwww....lotsa dirt. Looking into a tower of wires, screws and a humoungous circuit board to the side of the system. The front housing where the dials and control buttons are cannot be removed. They are like stuck to more circuit boards and some plastic pads. The CD player is stuck at the bottom right underneath a thing that looks like a metallic accordion that refuses to budge. What do I do? Still powering it on, I wiped off the dirt and dust the best as I could. The advice was to use water and Q tip. 200 Q tips later, it looked cleaner. If I flicked open the drawer, I peer right into the EYE. That's the laser beam doohickey... I wasn't going to pick it up. Maybe now it'll work? I tested. System failed...same old problem. Call it a day...


Fear. If I attempt a repair, I must never fear. That was sound advice. At worst, the whole system will fail and so, I get a new one. I can always cannablise the parts and sell those on ebay. I'm sure there are idiots out there repairing a HCD-H5.
I studied the screws. Never open nothing that's not ready to be unscrewed.

The front casing which is stuck to a lot of mechanical hoo-hahs and a pasta load of wires - I'm not going to move that. I spent an hour studying the hoo-hahs and realised that the CD player is stuck on a metal floorboard... this I suppose is called the chasis. The CD player is not stuck to the hoohah. The chasis is not stuck to the hoo-hah. Great, it can be moved. I shifted the weight a little. There was a crack. Hold breath. Don't sneeze. Good...nothing's broken, I think.
I managed to loosen the front housing and the side circuit board. But I couldn't separate the CD player because some wires and cables are umbilically corded from circuit board to cd player. "Don't touch electricals". Time to have a break. I tried to lift the big circuit board and it slipped from my finger. The back of the circuit board has sharp soldering bits. Very bad handiwork. One of these bits sliced into my finger. Blood dripping onto electricals. This means war!!! But first, a break.

25 September 2004 Saturday
I've been beaten. I worked my way slowly into the labyrinth of the CD player. I managed to take it out of the chasis because I realised those broad, flat cables can actually be unplugged without much damage. But I'm not totally sure about that. Now the motor doesn't spin. The door doesn't shut. I've done more damage and when I first started. Time to read notes.

The cd player is made up of many parts. The optical pickup is actually a lens resting on a bobbin. The bobbin moves to and fro via some kind of rails and gears. This mechanism is called the sled, I presume. There is a motor under the sled, but I'm not sure if it works. There is another bobbin which turns on a motor. This is the spindle. This spins the disk. So if the disk isn't spinning, it could be the motor is dead or I have knocked out the power connection to the motor. The drawer functions on 3 gears and a rubber belt and through 2 very fragile looking switches. There is a motor under the gears. The drawer closes but it doesn't open.

So now, 3 days into the repair, I've gotten nowhere except a cleaner cd player that doesn't work. I got to figure a way to test that all the motors work without dismantling them from the optical desk chassis hoo hah...but that's going against my original rule. Don't touch the electricals.


UPDATE:
Several weeks later, I am no where closer to a decent CD player. I've put the housing back temporarily, once in a while, I got it dusted. More critically, my daughter is going to have a monster of a party out in the garden. I'm not going to put my nice CD player out to pick up the evening mist and flying hormones of 16 year olds. This CD player would have been ideal, but it's not fixed and won't be fixed in time for the party. So daughter will have to be happy with her portable. She, who wants only the best, is unhappy. The speakers are " crap!"....so I gave her a set of pretty powerful computer speakers. She threw a look to say: " You're not serious". So I turned to my old CD player and there are 2 very large sub-woofers wagging their tongues at me in anticipation. Why not? But how? Those sub-woofers don't have an independent power supply. I think they are parasitic speakers who feed off the main stereo lifeline.... The speakers have a pair of cables...one to the left and one to the right. Each pair is made up of 2 coloured strands...one black and one red. I'm sure one of these are the umbilical chords to the stereo power source. If I can separate them, I can put a jack on the audio cables and a jack on the power cables...then that minor person will have the best speakers for her freagin party. Why did I assume black is power and red is audio? I think I need to visit Dick Smith...my electronics people.