Anyone aware of any pitfalls for the unwary renovator? Its been in an
English garden shed for 40 years. But all mechanicals seem to be ok
,despite patchy rust and grime. Spool bearings and sprung tri-ball retainers
function, "winch-winding" head up and down mechanism works, motor turns by
hand, "capstan" cylinder rotates, and deck slides across on piano key
activation.
All rubber parts perished. One electrolytic has its aluminium case corroded
to dust.
I intend getting just the mechanicals in working order , hook the play head
up to a modern tape recorder amplifier to hear what is on the wire drums,
before looking at the electronics proper. All 3 peanut valves and all the
rest of the electronics seem to be present. At least the previous owner
removed and discarded the 3 batteries 40 years ago.
There is one brand new Protona set of spools with security tape around the
outside of its case but also yellow thread with Protona logo stamped lead
seal on this thread linking the spools. What is that security aspect about ,
I cannot find a www reference to that.

much prettier looking one
http://vintage-technics.ru/Eng-Minifon_P55.htm
anyone know of a www higher resolution version of the schematic on the last
of the second page?

user manual
http://www.cryptomuseum.com/covert/m...p55_manual.pdf