AtARI 810 first run in 35years

[SviRu]

Hi Guys. I'm about to run 810 that was not powered on in more than 30years. Is there something that I should be aware of before doing so? I will clean the drive and lubricate moving parts with silicone grease. I will also clean the head with IPA. I have measured if there are shorts on +7805 and 7812 -there seem to be none - at least not before powering on. Thought about reseating all IC in their sockets - I don't know it it is mandatory. 

Is there a know issue with capacitors or anything else? Thanks for advice. 

Edited March 18, 2023 by SviRu

[Beeblebrox]

Not an expert but with the capacitors  - especially the large ones at the back - check for the usual leaking, bulging and any solder cracks, etc.Tops of those caps I can see in the pics look ok.

 

I guess if it turns out it doesn't work then you could lift and reseat the ICs but may not be worth it iniitally.

 

Just make sure you are running the right AC psu.

Edited March 18, 2023 by Beeblebrox

[TZJB]

3 hours ago, SviRu said:

Hi Guys. I'm about to run 810 that was not powered on in more than 30years. Is there something that I should be aware of before doing so? I will clean the drive and lubricate moving parts with silicone grease. I will also clean the head with IPA. I have measured if there are shorts on +7805 and 7812 -there seem to be none - at least not before powering on. Thought about reseating all IC in their sockets - I don't know it it is mandatory. 

Is there a know issue with capacitors or anything else? Thanks for advice. 

I agree with @Beeblebrox. Generally speaking the capacitors used in most old Atari products are of good quality and over specified by voltage rating. This is good because over time the voltage rating will diminish and this can cause capacitor failure. Conversely the capacitance rating can increase which we are not so bothered about. Any obvious loss of capacitor dielectric can cause corrosion which needs to be addressed by cleaning and replacement.

 

Ultimately after initial observations, all you can initially do is to power it on and see if the head seeks to track 0. If it does that, then try to boot a 90K formatted DOS disk perhaps, followed by a diagnostic disk. You would only need to reseat chips if you could not boot a disk.

 

Saying that I turned my 810s on recently and they seemed to work fine. One has an Archiver fitted.

 

As an observation, the analog board looks remarkably clean and shiney, and is probably newer than the rest of the drive.

Edited March 18, 2023 by TZJB

[_The Doctor__]

sometimes the drive select switch need a super cleaning they can corrode internally.

Make sure all connections are made and then plug into the wall/power strip absolute last.

Not much else to say since you are already going to clean and check everything.

The only thing I do differently is a dim bulb or rheostat/variac on initial power up of old electronics, this prevents inductive kick or runaway power that can harm caps and other old electronics. It limits damage and prevents some if there is failure.

Edited March 18, 2023 by _The Doctor__

[SviRu]

18 minutes ago, TZJB said:

I agree with @Beeblebrox. Generally speaking the capacitors used in most old Atari products are of good quality and over specified by voltage rating. This is good because over time the voltage rating will diminish and this can cause capacitor failure. Conversely the capacitance rating can increase which we are not so bothered about. Any obvious loss of capacitor dielectric can cause corrosion which needs to be addressed by cleaning and replacement.

 

Ultimately after initial observations, all you can initially do is to power it on and see if the head seeks to track 0. If it does that, then try to boot a 90K formatted DOS disk perhaps, followed by a diagnostic disk. You would only need to reseat chips if you could not boot a disk.

 

Saying that I turned my 810s on recently and they seemed to work fine. One has an Archiver fitted.

 

As an observation, the analog board looks remarkably clean and shiney, and is probably newer than the rest of the drive.

Thnx. I have measured a lot of caps lately from atari etc. They all measure perfectly. Bigger the cap the better it measures. I found only one bad cap - it was in C128 PSU. It was not anything fancy - some industrial grade noname caps. Other than that this old electronics were made with quality.

 

21 minutes ago, _The Doctor__ said:

sometimes the drive select switch need a super cleaning they can corrode internally.

Make sure all connections are made and then plug into the wall/power strip absolute last.

Not much else to say since you are already going to clean and check everything.

The only thing I do differently is a dim bulb or rheostat on initial power up of old electronics, this prevents inductive kick or runaway power that can harm caps and other old electronics. It limits damage and prevents some if there is failure.

Good point I will clean this switch. What kind of bulb are we talking about? Do you plug it before PSU or after PSU on the 9v AC rail?

[TZJB]

16 minutes ago, SviRu said:

Thnx. I have measured a lot of caps lately from atari etc. They all measure perfectly. Bigger the cap the better it measures. I found only one bad cap - it was in C128 PSU. It was not anything fancy - some industrial grade noname caps. Other than that this old electronics were made with quality.

 

Good point I will clean this switch. What kind of bulb are we talking about? Do you plug it before PSU or after PSU on the 9v AC rail?

As you say, measured capacitance is normally fine. You just don't know what the voltage rating is after all this time.

 

The bulb would need to be of the incandescent type in series with the mains load, in order to limit the inrush and subsequent current.

[_The Doctor__]

51 minutes ago, _The Doctor__ said:

The only thing I do differently is a dim bulb or rheostat/variac on initial power up of old electronics, this prevents inductive kick or runaway power that can harm caps and other old electronics. It limits damage and prevents some if there is failure.

 

You can change bulbs on the first one for different limits

or go a step further below.

 

Variac/Rheostat/AutoTransformer etc.

 

Edited March 18, 2023 by _The Doctor__

[SviRu]

9 hours ago, _The Doctor__ said:

 

You can change bulbs on the first one for different limits

or go a step further below.

 

Variac/Rheostat/AutoTransformer etc.

 

Thnx! I have few questions. If I power 810 without 800 connected what would be it normal behavior? Without the disc and with a disc? Should there be any sound? Disc spinning? Etc. thnx.

[_The Doctor__]

Yes, if you power the 810 with nothing attached other than power and a disk, it should light up and post.

turn the annoying youtube music off for the first video

 

Edited March 19, 2023 by _The Doctor__

[SviRu]

9 hours ago, _The Doctor__ said:

Yes, if you power the 810 with nothing attached other than power and a disk, it should light up and post.

turn the annoying youtube music off for the first video

 

Thnx. I lubed shafts and cleaned the head. Could you tell me what to lube exactly next? I mean the motor? Spindle? Can you circle it on the photo. Thnx.

Edited March 19, 2023 by SviRu