If you are looking for a good and cost effective alternative CAD application to the all powerful AutoCAD by Autodesk then nanoCAD is maybe the app for you. They give away version 5 for nothing! All you have to do is register once a year but it is simple and costs nothing. Version 5 is a few years old but it has everything you could need for most architectural or engineering drawing. It is fully functional so far as I can tell and uses the .dwg file format although it will only open and save drawing files up to the 2013 version. If you are familiar with AutoCAD then it won’t be much of a learning curve to get productive on nanoCAD. I am not affiliated with the creator of this app, I discovered it myself after getting frustrated with the AutoCAD Web app (which costs £12 per month, Autodesk must be making a mint! Their AutoCAD LT Light version is currently £60 per month). I don’t know if my computer is too slow or what but I found AutoCAD Web unuseable. nanoCAD is great for anyone like me who very occasionally needs to put together a few drawings and doesn’t want to shell out £60 every time. nanoCAD also sell a .dwg 2018 format compatible up to date version which is much cheaper than it’s big rival.

I initally had a problem with the graphics crawling to a halt on the layout tabs with the mouse cross-hairs being very very slow to update. I found out it was an OpenGL compatibility problem with my crappy Intel HD 3000 video bios. If you go to Tools->Options->Graphic Settings->OpenGL Settings and tick Improved compatibility mode it will fix everything. Using DirectX also works but text looks poor when zoomed out so I preferred staying with OpenGL.

• In this episode, on top of a whole list of ridiculously unbelievable human feats, there is a glaring scientific Inaccuracy that I have to document on the net. When Penny, bogus Dr Smith, Vijay and the teacher escape the jettisoned section of the Resolute in a large hermetically sealed and insulated sample container they are in space for a matter of minutes but are depicted as being in the later stages of hypothermia by the time they get to the Jupiter ship. This is totally wrong. Yes, deep  space is on average around 3 Kelvin or -270 °C but space has such a low density that heat transfer by conduction from the box would be negligible. The predominant method of heat loss would be electromagnetic radiation which would cause them to freeze eventually but not within a few minutes.
• You may think it doesn’t really matter, they’re just bending the truth for the sake of an exciting plot but I say it does matter and is completely unnecessary. Nature and the laws of the universe  can create jeopardy enough in our human lives without making stuff up. It just shows a lack of imagination on the part of the script writers.

This is one of the more interesting jobs I’ve had. The Q-Chord Omnichord which is actually made by the Suzuki Corporation. The current owner of this one took a gamble on buying it in a broken state. It looked as if a previous owner had not noticed all the screws that hold the covers together and had tried to prise it apart with a screwdriver. The PCB inside had a big crack in it and the DC power input jack was mashed. I did manage to get it all working in the end though you had to press quite hard on some of the chord buttons on one row to get them to sound. They use a conductive rubber pad under the button sheet to make contact. I cleaned the pads as best I could and guessed that with use they might improve. This model has a rhythm section. The plinky plonky tune (in a key to match the chord button currently playing) that is created by touching the touch sensitive strip to the right is quite delightful.

Here is a photo of another one I have just been working on: The Omnichord OM-84.

I use a thermionic valve (or vacuum tube) tester based on the excellent  uTracer 3 circuit board designed and supplied as a kit by the Dutch wife and husband partnership Marie-José den Brok and Ronald Dekker. See https://www.dos4ever.com/uTracer3/uTracer3_pag0.html

Trace Elliot manufacturing, what were you thinking?! Expensive looking collet knobs on splined potentiometer shafts. They didn’t even put little shims in the slots as I have seen some manufacturers do so the slot closes up. The knobs just go on wonky and come loose so you would be paying for this lazy solution when the warranty claims start rolling in.

By the way folks. Don’t ever try to prise the slot apart, the metal breaks so easily and you end up paying for a new potentiometer. The only technique I found to get them to stay on was to give them a really good tighten with a good driver and hope for the best.

The laney TT100 service manual does not give a simple layout diagram to show which valve is which and what it does so I have posted one here. Click image for bigger picture. For the schematics see here: laney_tt100_sch

I had to repair a Gibson Les Paul boost circuit and drew out the diagram which does not seem to be available on the net so I thought I’d share. The 47k trimmer sets the boost gain. The 4.7pF caps are an educated guess. I think they are just there to avoid RF interference. It was odd but the source terminal of the J202 FET was connected to the 22k load resistor R3. I guess they are interchangeable.

Gibson Les Paul Boost Circuit

I had a Fender Rhodes 54 key electric piano in for repair last month. They use guitar type magnetic pickups wired together. If one pickup fails, every key goes silent. It is still easy to get spare parts for these so they can be brought back to top condition. The 73 or 88 key versions are more popular than this 1980 vintage 54 key instrument. I repaired or replaced 17 pickups on this one, re-adjusted the hammer action and individual note volume and re-tuned. Call me if you have one needs some attention.

I think this is the most powerful tube bass amp on the market at the moment with eight Svetlana Winged C 6550 power tubes. This one belongs to Den Davis owner of MCC Global Entertainments studio in Mottram.

Most modern small venue mixers are constructed onto a single printed circuit board (PCB). To do any work on them I have to remove every knob and nut (Too many knobs and nuts, like a gay night club). That’s an hours labour before I even get to find the fault and fix it.

Kam mixer dissassembled