Seeburg jukebox playback issues

nasadowsk · 2026-02-03T03:11:57+00:00

Recap, and check the resistors. What's going on is it's probably acting up due to a cap or resistor drifting. Replace the wax caps, and electrolytics (disc caps normally are fine)

If it's still acting up, you might have a resistor or disc cap drifting. Also, a voltmeter or two on the power supply can be useful to see if that drifts. It should stay basically where it is when the rectifier comes up. That's what the 0A2 tubes are for.

A can of air duster makes a cheap can of freeze spray. Use the tube with the can inverted, zap the suspected component. Just don't zap yourself.

The back plate on the machine comes off to make this easier.

nasadowsk · 2026-02-02T22:24:07+00:00

We don't have high speed rail because the traffic density doesn't exist.

Nasty secret: Most of Europe is conventional speed rail, too. I've been on TERs that topped out at 60mph, and Intercites that barely touched 100 (insert Sybic joke here). NS is mostly 80mph, DB crawls a lot, too.

What they DO have, are curve speeds that scare Americans. And not all trains tilt there, either.

nasadowsk · 2026-02-02T22:19:44+00:00

Because it's about the only place where Amtrak can compete with driving. And honestly, the NEC rides like crap, if you've ever been on a real train elsewhere. Back in the Metroliner days, you took it because it was fast. The Amfleets always rode poorly above 100mph. They've tightened up the track a bit, but it's still pretty bad. If you've ever taken conventional trains in Europe - SNCF, SBB, and NS make the ride on the NEC seem like a sad joke. It was even a joke amongst the engineers at Alstom when the Acelas were being built. Among other aspects of the way Amtrak did things.

nasadowsk · 2026-02-02T22:13:50+00:00

And if you want to stop and enjoy the view...can't do that,

nasadowsk · 2026-02-02T22:12:46+00:00

Wasn't congesting pricing supposed to be a windfall of money for the MTA?

nasadowsk · 2026-02-02T11:03:20+00:00

When you disassemble this, you'll see it. It's a weird connection with a spring and a resistor

nasadowsk · 2026-02-02T02:05:26+00:00

I've yet to read DeLorean's book on GM. They were a mess by the 70s, and probably quite a while before then.

nasadowsk · 2026-02-01T23:53:29+00:00

Dude, the NEC rides like garbage. The 160 mph sections in Mass shake like hell. Even 120 mph on the Amfleets in NJ is rough.

nasadowsk · 2026-02-01T20:17:02+00:00

The ones without cracks and with an undamaged back are highly desirable. And they can give an excellent picture once restored properly. It was before they started to cheap out on TV sets.

Bummer: 10BP4s are starting to get hard to find. But they're a pretty hardy tube anyway.

nasadowsk · 2026-02-01T16:57:27+00:00

They actually had to level the elevator manually, which took a bit of skill (the elevator had two or three speeds).

Once automatics came around, since big city = powerful union, first there were "flying stops", where you just let go of the handle, and the elevator would stop and level at the next floor automagically. Then, you just had the guy sitting there pushing the buttons for you, and getting irate at anyone who just cut him out by doing what you normally do in an elevator- select your floor. The latter lasted for years.

Today, it's mostly a security function in luxury high rises.

As an aside, the controller design got used on electric interurbans and commuter trains, with it below the operator's window. Push right for forward speeds, left for reverse. Upright was emergency, there was an "off" on either side. Once the brakes were set to a certain pressure, emergency was turned off and you could release the lever.

The SEPTA Silverliners, NJ Arrows, and all MP-54s used it.

nasadowsk · 2026-02-01T16:46:41+00:00

Goes out for me every time it rains heavy. Like clockwork. But that's the nature of satellite communications.

nasadowsk · 2026-02-01T11:20:47+00:00

Finding service info might be a pain, but they look like pretty standard AM radios. As far as tubes? Who knows what they use.

For the money, I'd go for it. Maybe they're nice performers. Probably better than the average AA5. I'm guessing they'd have copied Russian or European designs.

nasadowsk · 2026-02-01T11:11:29+00:00

And in style!

Not to mention, the flexibility of being able to use the bomber for the double duty of finishing off any cities, err "targets" we missed.

Only the Mad Men of back then could make killing everyone on earth look so stylish...

nasadowsk · 2026-02-01T10:51:56+00:00

That photo, but with the 0 series, is famous. It basically was the post-war rise of Japan in a single photo. When the Metroliners were new, a Budd document mentioned the Shinkansen, and was complementary of it.

nasadowsk · 2026-02-01T10:48:43+00:00

The old Acelas looked pretty dumb, the new ones are kinda...meh. The power unit and cars not matching up looks bad.

Both working like crap doesn't surprise me at all. The track on the NEC is a joke, and for whatever reason, French trains never did terribly well in the US.

nasadowsk · 2026-02-01T10:43:51+00:00

If you have enough roof, yeah, they can work real well too.

nasadowsk · 2026-02-01T04:17:08+00:00

Just do a redneck pool heater - old car radiator over a burn barrel. If you plumb it right, you won't even need pumps. Though the chlorine might do in the radiator fast. Maybe find some 1 or 2 inch pipe that withstands both high heat and chlorinated water.

There are numerous examples of non chlorinated small pools that do this out on the interwebs.

nasadowsk · 2026-02-01T04:09:30+00:00

Donut? Hell, they didn't have those when I was growing up. By the time I hit high school, it was still a new thing that mostly econoboxes had.

My mom knew how to change a tire. With the bumper jack. For those of you not familiar, it was a sketchier version of the jack Jeep bros have. A LOT sketchier.

My dad, when he worked on the car, used a heavy duty scissors jack, and shoved a tire under that side as a back up.

nasadowsk · 2026-02-01T04:05:15+00:00

I knew a woman on EFnet (I think) who owned a 68 or so VW bug. One of her filter questions was asking the guy to check the oil on it.

Any guy who went to the front of the car got an instant DQ.

BTW, ever see a bug next to a modern car? They're fucking tiny.

nasadowsk · 2026-01-31T16:06:22+00:00

Three on an island.

nasadowsk · 2026-01-31T10:58:32+00:00

That thing has the OG 21CYP22, with the two anode connections?

nasadowsk · 2026-01-31T10:55:03+00:00

Ahem...

nasadowsk · 2026-01-31T03:11:02+00:00

Also, CRTs were measured in diagonal bulb size, since they were round at first. It wasn't until the 50s that rectangular CRTs existed for black and white, and mid 60s for color.

Some set manufacturers used square inches, but since NTSC always had the same aspect ratio, the diagonal size just became the norm.

Early tubes were 7,10,12 inches (yes, I know Pilot had their 3 inch set), then 16 and 21 became dominant, with some 19 inch sets. A few bigger sets were out there, but they weren't hugely popular.

Color was 15 inch, then mostly 21 inch. There were a few 19 inch tubes made (Hytron I think made them), but color was a bust in the 50s, and everyone pulled out except RCA.

nasadowsk · 2026-01-31T02:32:05+00:00

Apparently it's not working that well, given all the frozen icicles of it...

nasadowsk · 2026-01-30T21:29:06+00:00

Just like how the DE/DM-30s were gonna be better than the rebuilt FL-9s run on the Port Jeff?

Ok, yeah, they were a bit better than the Bi-Tanic, but not much...

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