JVC QL-Y3F restoration
I got a bit lucky with this one.
The deck came up on a well known online auction site as a non runner that looked very sorry for itself.
I have the y5f which my wife uses practically every day, I didn't need this one, I don't really need many of the collection of spinners I have, but dag nabbit I wanted it.
The JVC QL-Y range of decks don't come up very often, and when they do there are usually ones with problems or they are expensive. Or both. This one just had the problems as I wasn't willing to pay too much for it, and neither was anyone else. So I got it for not much.
This is what I was confronted with when it arrived.
The deck came up on a well known online auction site as a non runner that looked very sorry for itself.
I have the y5f which my wife uses practically every day, I didn't need this one, I don't really need many of the collection of spinners I have, but dag nabbit I wanted it.
The JVC QL-Y range of decks don't come up very often, and when they do there are usually ones with problems or they are expensive. Or both. This one just had the problems as I wasn't willing to pay too much for it, and neither was anyone else. So I got it for not much.
This is what I was confronted with when it arrived.
As you can see, it's black. It has some bad scarring and damage to the trim around the platter, the platter is corroded, the black plinth finish has bubbles in it, the arm lift is broken clean off, the arm rest catch is missing, the feet are missing, and the cartridge has no cantilever.
But. It has the original mat, the original counterweight, and the original headshell. Those original bits were why I bought it, as my Y5F is missing all of them. The headshell is very expensive to get, the platter mat and counterweight are completely unobtanium. So I figured that for what I paid, even if the deck was a basket case and not repairable, I had the bits I'd been looking for for a long time for the Y5F
The plug on it it also a European plug and the deck is a 220v version. I initially thought that the deck had had a bad paintjob as these decks are always gloss rosewood, a little research revealed that it is a German market version so the black is actually correct.
So..... Did it work?..... No. No it didn't.
So over a couple of days, the service manual was found online and it was taken apart to investigate.
The first port of call was the switch set in the control panel. The deck has a couple of latching switches to select disc size and repeat mode, and obviously the power on switch. The other switches are not latching that control the arm transport and auto functions
The power switch was the first to be taken apart, and was corroded. Duly cleaned up, the deck powered on. Did it work now? No. It went haywire, and the led panel had a life of it's own. But there were signs of life.
The arm lifter solenoid was immediately raising as soon as the power was turned on, which led me to the next port of call, the arm transport control switches. Duly taken apart and cleaned of all corrosion and detritus, the deck settled down somewhat, the LED panel started looking normal, and moving the arm set the platter spinning. No auto functions were working at this point....
I was thinking at this point that the programmable IC, IC804 which is an NEC upd554c-033 was toast. These do come up every so often, but these are programmed to do things dependent on the application, so there is no guarantee that the program flashed onto the IC is actually going to do what you want it to, which is a problem.
Then I discovered something by accident.
In the service manual it shows a sensor on the arm that detects whether the arm is up or down, but I couldn't find it. Probing about with the meter, I was surprised to find that the remains of the arm lifter were conductive. I then noticed that the little pad that is on the underside of the arm that contacts the lifter is not actually a rubber buffer, it is made of the stuff that you get on the inside of remote control buttons. So I cleaned the stubby remains of the lifter with a bit of alcohol, and the underneath of the little pad. Then pressing the start button engaged the arm lifter solenoid, the lifter contacted the pad on the arm, and the arm set off traversing. Then fell off the end of the lifter.
The lifter arm is moulded plastic painted with conductive paint. If its mucky, which it will be after all these years, and the pad on the arm is mucky, which it will be after all these years, or the paint has worn away which is a possibility after 40 years of use, the deck will display symptoms which would lead you to think that the control IC has failed. It isn't mentioned in the service manual that this is a thing, and that the arm itself acts as a switch to engage the arm transport. Potentially, there are Y3's out there which people think are bricked which actually aren't.....
So. We need a new arm lifter bar which is conductive. Over to the milling machine........
But. It has the original mat, the original counterweight, and the original headshell. Those original bits were why I bought it, as my Y5F is missing all of them. The headshell is very expensive to get, the platter mat and counterweight are completely unobtanium. So I figured that for what I paid, even if the deck was a basket case and not repairable, I had the bits I'd been looking for for a long time for the Y5F
The plug on it it also a European plug and the deck is a 220v version. I initially thought that the deck had had a bad paintjob as these decks are always gloss rosewood, a little research revealed that it is a German market version so the black is actually correct.
So..... Did it work?..... No. No it didn't.
So over a couple of days, the service manual was found online and it was taken apart to investigate.
The first port of call was the switch set in the control panel. The deck has a couple of latching switches to select disc size and repeat mode, and obviously the power on switch. The other switches are not latching that control the arm transport and auto functions
The power switch was the first to be taken apart, and was corroded. Duly cleaned up, the deck powered on. Did it work now? No. It went haywire, and the led panel had a life of it's own. But there were signs of life.
The arm lifter solenoid was immediately raising as soon as the power was turned on, which led me to the next port of call, the arm transport control switches. Duly taken apart and cleaned of all corrosion and detritus, the deck settled down somewhat, the LED panel started looking normal, and moving the arm set the platter spinning. No auto functions were working at this point....
I was thinking at this point that the programmable IC, IC804 which is an NEC upd554c-033 was toast. These do come up every so often, but these are programmed to do things dependent on the application, so there is no guarantee that the program flashed onto the IC is actually going to do what you want it to, which is a problem.
Then I discovered something by accident.
In the service manual it shows a sensor on the arm that detects whether the arm is up or down, but I couldn't find it. Probing about with the meter, I was surprised to find that the remains of the arm lifter were conductive. I then noticed that the little pad that is on the underside of the arm that contacts the lifter is not actually a rubber buffer, it is made of the stuff that you get on the inside of remote control buttons. So I cleaned the stubby remains of the lifter with a bit of alcohol, and the underneath of the little pad. Then pressing the start button engaged the arm lifter solenoid, the lifter contacted the pad on the arm, and the arm set off traversing. Then fell off the end of the lifter.
The lifter arm is moulded plastic painted with conductive paint. If its mucky, which it will be after all these years, and the pad on the arm is mucky, which it will be after all these years, or the paint has worn away which is a possibility after 40 years of use, the deck will display symptoms which would lead you to think that the control IC has failed. It isn't mentioned in the service manual that this is a thing, and that the arm itself acts as a switch to engage the arm transport. Potentially, there are Y3's out there which people think are bricked which actually aren't.....
So. We need a new arm lifter bar which is conductive. Over to the milling machine........
I needed something conductive, so an offcut of aluminium plate was pulled out of the scrap bin. This seemed simpler and cheaper than machining one up in acetal which I had plenty of, and buying some conductive paint.
First thing was to measure how far the centreline of the broken one was from the centre of the arm post in order to get the correct curve to the lifter.
I then scribed up the outline of the part by using permanent marker instead of engineers blue because I couldn't be arsed to mix some up for one little job, and milled the replacement out using the rotary table
First thing was to measure how far the centreline of the broken one was from the centre of the arm post in order to get the correct curve to the lifter.
I then scribed up the outline of the part by using permanent marker instead of engineers blue because I couldn't be arsed to mix some up for one little job, and milled the replacement out using the rotary table
I milled it too long, trial fitted it and then trimmed it to size once I could see how long it needed to be.
This worked very well, and led to the next problem. The arm traverse kept taking the arm to where it would drop for a 7" single. So, the size selector switch had to be taken apart and cleaned. It was very badly corroded, so much so that the contacts were shot. There is a small PCB inside the switch with tracks that are contacted by spring loaded 2 pronged metal contacts, it was these that were buggered. In the end I took the repeat switch apart and took the contacts out of that as they were the same. I figured that being able to fix the auto functions was more important than having a repeat function.
I then cleaned up the arm lifter with a file and some wet and dry.
Satisfied that I now had a fully functional deck, I made some replacement feet from a bit of nylon plastic and some upside down rubber washing machine feet cups, the kind you put under the washing machine to stop it taking a walk across the kitchen as they were of a similar size to the originals on my Y5F
I then cleaned up the arm lifter with a file and some wet and dry.
Satisfied that I now had a fully functional deck, I made some replacement feet from a bit of nylon plastic and some upside down rubber washing machine feet cups, the kind you put under the washing machine to stop it taking a walk across the kitchen as they were of a similar size to the originals on my Y5F
Once this was done, I dug out a spare cart and headshell and had a listen.
Its pretty similar to the Y5F as you would expect, although the Y5F is a bit more refined sounding.
Its pretty similar to the Y5F as you would expect, although the Y5F is a bit more refined sounding.
Fast forward a couple of weeks and I had acquired a replacement stylus for the JVC Z1eb cartridge that came on the deck. I got this from Musonic, initially the elliptical stylus, but there is also a Shibata stylus available for it too. As I mentioned before, the deck was practically completely original. This cart is a nice one, quite a little smoothie. I will get hold of a Shibata stylus for it and use the elliptical as a spare for when the new one inevitably gets broken.
Next thing to do was to pull it apart again so I could do something about the cosmetic damage to the platter trim. The entire thing had to come apart to get it out, I then had to sand back the affected areas and fill the gouges with some epoxy filler. Lost the JVC script, but it now looks much better.
The jobs left to do on it are to change the EU plug for a UK one (I was using a shaving adapter), It runs fine on uk mains as it should, the transformer has the same part number as the UK one in this deck, and decide what to do with the plinth. The satin black has grown on me, but the blemishes are there. I could re veneer it as I did with the Y5F, but it is nowhere near as bad as that one was. I have half a mind to leave it as it is, battle scars and all.
Another one rescued.
Onwards!
Another one rescued.
Onwards!