Vintage DD turntables. Are we living dangerously?

So let me get this straight, in the lengthy insomnia-fueled post on page one of this thread, it was said that once some of the ICs on these 'tables broke down, that was it...doorstop.

My question is that while there are good working ICs out there isn't there some way to reverse engineer them and make clones?  Or instead of  opening them up and cloning them, maybe make a microcontroller that would mimic the functions?  

I am not an electrical engineer, so I don't know if this stuff costs millions of dollars to accomplish...

@pbnaudio
I do not know what to say, I expect to have some rest to take over the TT101 that I was given a few months ago, because almost nothing works and the engine spins fast .....display not work and it needs a great deal of restoration from me.
I hope to solve the many problems that he has


https://s2.postimg.org/440jrafnd/image.jpg

Bestgroove,

You certainly have your work cut out for you :-)  JP knows quite a bit more about these than I do.  On vinyl engine theres a complete service manual available for download. Your photo only shows the electronics in the Bezzel, they main PCB is located below the motor and its with this large semi circular one the most issues have been, mostly with cracked PCB lanes.

Once I get mine spinning correctly Ill make a Plinth for it, but because of the original design of this Ill keep it in its original "UFO" shell.  Ill make sure to post pictures once I get it built so you can atlas get some ideas of how to make yours.

Best of Luck


Peter

As regards JP and the TT101, I can only report that my TT101 had an intermittent glitch that persisted for the first 3-4 years of my ownership, even after replacing all electrolytic capacitors. (I got it cheap, because it was "broken".) The diagnosis eluded two very competent technicians over that time span, until finally I came upon JPs thread on DIYAudio, wherein he was talking about his new chip for the Technics SP10 Mk2 and Mk3. I detected that he had a deep understanding of these circuits. I contacted him and soon thereafter shipped my TT101 to him in NYC. Within two weeks or so he had localized the problem to a microscopic crack in one of the PCB tracings. Shortly thereafter, my unit was up and running, and I have had zero problems ever since, all because JP has the smarts to reason out where the problem ought to have been and then to locate it shortly thereafter. So, Bestgroove, if I were you I would waste no time in sending the TT101 to JP. My unit was the first TT101 he had ever seen in the flesh, by the way. Very impressive.

@pbnaudio @Lewn

I do not know grand master JP but, I’m sure, I can not and I do not want to send the turntable to the world; I live in Italy and would have an exorbitant cost of shipping, repairing, customs and taxes; I have to fix it and restore it completely and I have to do it yourself.
I’ve already got the service manual and I have a look at the two big mother board .... there will be a lot of work for me next winter and I hope there are no custom made ICs for this turntable.

I already have a decent experience with the Techncs SP 10 II ..... I have restored a pair with their power supplies by disassembling all screw on the screw (even the engine) I had to repair broken tachometer coil wires, and put everything completely new and two others are under construction.

All this is just for passion and because I love collecting old high-level turntables that would end up in trash because they're broken. :)



for example this is 3ad my last restoration with more photos If you are curious.......
http://forum.videohifi.com/discussion/375892/technics-sp-10-mk2-inizia-il-restauro-refurbished-e-fin...