Hacker, tinkerer, fixer, radio amateur & technology enthusiast
I’ve been collecting vintage computers and other interesting technology on and off for years now, and in recent times I’ve become more and more interested in early portable computers. Back in the 80s and 90s I was fascinated by this area, and used to daydream about all sorts of ways of computing on the move. … Continue reading Repairing a Tandy 102 – Part 1 →
It’s now just over a year ago since I wrote a post about repairing a Lakeland Dry:Soon clothes airer as part of the Repair Cafe which I’ve started in my church. The response to this post has been nothing short of amazing – through an initial post on Mumsnet and then writing about it on … Continue reading Lakeland Dry:Soon Airer repairs… a year on →
As I’ve mentioned on here before I’ve started running a Repair Cafe, and we have seen all sorts of interesting stuff come through the door. The more I have seen the more I’ve been able to learn and this has given me more confidence in tackling them. I’ve also learned a lot about common failure … Continue reading A Tale of Repairing Three Steam Generator Irons – Philips, Hinari and Morphy Richards…
Through the Repair Cafe project I’ve been running I’ve been asked about all sorts of things which has led to some interesting projects. Just recently, a friend brought me a Honeywell CM927 central heating controller which had been causing trouble. This appears to be a very commonly installed device, with a battery-powered wireless control unit … Continue reading Repairing a Honeywell CM927…
At the most recent Repair Cafe a friend asked me about a wireless subwoofer for a soundbar which was not working. It was completely dead with no signs of life. On closer inspection it proved to be a Sony HT-CT290 soundbar (which was working fine) and a separate SA-WCT290 subwoofer. It’s common especially when things … Continue reading Repairing a Sony HT-CT290 / SA-WCT290 →
Update (Nov ’25) – the response to this post has been amazing, and as as you will see there are loads of comments reporting successful repairs of these airers. This article should tell you everything you need to repair one yourself, but if this isn’t something you’d like to tackle I’m offering a postal service … Continue reading Repairing a Lakeland Dry:Soon Clothes Airer →
So the next thing to do was the strip the unit down and look for the culprit. As stated above service manuals are readily available these days (I found mine here) and I was able to find the right one on archive.org. Service manuals are strange things – having seen quite a few now they … Continue reading The ‘Special Forces’ Cassette Player – Sony TCS-2000 – Part 2: Repair →
I was at the ‘Retro Tech UK’ fair recently (which I would highly recommend) and on my third time round the room my eye was caught by what appeared to another variant on the ‘slimline’ design but was a little more expensive than the usual few pounds, and also had some odd looking controls. The … Continue reading The ‘Special Forces’ Cassette Player – Sony TCS-2000 – Part 1 →
Over the last year or so I have really got into cassette players. It started with my interest in 8 bit computers many of which needed a domestic cassette player to get started. The fancier ones (eg the BBC Micro, Atari 400 / 800 etc) had officially branded (and no doubt very expensive) units but … Continue reading The Joy of the Slimline Cassette Player →
As I’ve written about before I am interested in old technology, primarily computers from the 8-bit era but also other things more generally. Lately I’ve rekindled an interest in old audio gear as well, particularly cassette recorders but also other things too. Cassettes seem to have experienced something of a renaissance lately, not on the … Continue reading Retro finds, repairs and preservation →