
Restoring a Soviet-era analog synthesizer - pmoriarty
http://imgur.com/a/8plOW
======
c-smile
Yeah, that's where Open Source was born - in USSR.

I do remember that each consumer device was sold there with its schematics,
assembly/disassembly and installation instructions. And that was the law.

~~~
ZenoArrow
> "I do remember that each consumer device was sold there with its schematics,
> assembly/disassembly and installation instructions. And that was the law."

That's interesting. I wonder if there's a archive of those
schematics/documents for Soviet consumer devices somewhere.

~~~
PoachedSausage
A lot of western instrumentation and test equipment used to come with full
circuit diagrams and assembly info. The understanding was that your HP
spectrum analyser or Tektronix scope cost so much money that if it broke then
you would have it repaired, and to do the repair you need the circuit diagram.

~~~
ZenoArrow
Yes, similar information used to be made available for Western electronics. In
addition to engineering equipment, consumer electronics such as TVs and
radios, and even computers had full schematics at one point.

As an example, can see hardware schematics in the Apple II Reference Manual
found here:

[http://www.applelogic.org/UserManuals.html](http://www.applelogic.org/UserManuals.html)

I'm mostly interested in the Soviet material as I'm assuming that because it
was a legal requirement the types of documented designs will be more broad,
but if you know of an archive of old Western schematics also, I would be
interested in taking a look.

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Aloha
I'd call this a servicing more than a restoration. The thing looks incredibly
well built with an eye towards serviceability over ease of assembly - pretty
much exactly what I would expect for a Soviet built appliance.

~~~
pilsetnieks
There was plenty of awful Soviet tech, too - this thing has survived because
it had some value, was well built and taken care of but you don't hear about
the thousands of pieces of tech that were shoddily made cheap crap (though
expensive for a Soviet citizen) and wouldn't last a year without repairs.

Soviet tech had to be built for serviceability - people couldn't often afford
new things and even if they had the money, there was no guarantee it was even
available. And many things just broke down constantly. It even went so far
that "a set of golden hands," meaning one could fix a lot of stuff was a
valued characteristic in males, and women sometimes may have overlooked other
personality flaws in a relationship because of it, like drinking.

My grandma had a Soviet TV well into the 90s and even early 2000s, maybe out
of sentimental attachment more than anything else. The thing broke down
constantly, every 3-4 months at least, and she'd always call a repairman. In
the end I think more money was sunk into it than a brand new 4K TV would cost
now. It was finally laid to rest when her usual TV repairman died, and the new
one found it increasingly difficult to find replacement parts, and finally
gave up, and we could at last get her a new TV.

~~~
khamisiyah
To make a counterexample, my grandmother had a Zil refrigerator she bought in
the 1950's ([http://i.imgur.com/POw7U6R.jpg](http://i.imgur.com/POw7U6R.jpg))
that worked for over 50 years until the late 2000's. It would have probably
worked another 50, if we hadn't changed it for a modern larger and more energy
efficient one.

~~~
myth_drannon
It's not only Soviet built things would last longer. US washing machines,
refrigerators made in 50-60s also last forever. The ones you buy now, the way
the are made and painted will rust in couple of years and will be thrown to
garbage in 5 years. And no, it's not because it's cheap to buy a new one, they
are just simply bad.

~~~
pilsetnieks
You can actually buy decently made appliances nowadays, it's just that the
majority of people don't want to spend that much money. A $300 washing machine
in the 50s was much better than a current washing machine at the same price
but that amount of money in the fifties is $3000 now. A $3000 modern washing
machine would probably blow the 50s one out of the water.

~~~
TheOtherHobbes
Unless you buy insane super-appliances, long-lasting appliances typically cost
2-3 times the consumer average.

I bought a Miele washing machine in 1996, and it's still being used today. It
was about twice the price of machines that I'd had to before that never seemed
to last more than a few years.

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nickt
That's a great piece of work - it's wonderful to know that old electronics are
being cared for.

If you're curious to see one in action -
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zlP5hdPVB18](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zlP5hdPVB18)

~~~
myth_drannon
Another one : [https://youtu.be/6SRYIPlt3z0](https://youtu.be/6SRYIPlt3z0)

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zokier
The upside-down mounted capacitors seem weird. They are particularly visible
in the modulator board picture[1], but are also on other boards. Anyone know
why that was done, or seen such assembly before?

[1] [http://i.imgur.com/VNEpWkS.jpg](http://i.imgur.com/VNEpWkS.jpg)

~~~
dom0
Stress relief. Thermal / moisture expansion of the PC board (and this looks
like shoddy phenolic paper) bends the leads a tiny bit and the bending forces
go through the component. By making the leads longer, they are less stiff and
require less force to accommodate, so less drift due to this.

It was a relatively common method in precision electronics.

There could be other reasons as well, e.g. if these were ceramic capacitors
they might do that to avoid cracking issues. (Because ceramic capacitors drift
a lot by themselves, a drift/precision explanation does not make sense)

~~~
rdtsc
I've taken a good amount of Soviet-era electronics apart and those capacitors
(the red ones) crack very easily. I think they are ceramic.

In fact I remember being deliberately careful around them as they were easy to
bend, when reaching in a tighter space to solder or adjust some variable
resistors or capacitors.

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stefantalpalaru
Here's the Alisa 1387 album it mentions at the beginning:
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3K9g0Kmznxc](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3K9g0Kmznxc)

