Project TG-16 - Repair

The first step of this project is to repair the TG-16.  It was sold on eBay as "broken" mainly because the person did not have the power cord so they couldn't test it.  So at the worst this system may be so busted inside it's impossible to fix, or it may be as easy as buying a replacement power cord.  Older electronics like this tend to be very robust, so I'm leaning towards the latter.

Before I even think about trying to power up the system, I want to have a look at the circuit board, to look for any obvious signs of damage.  But immediately I ran into a problem.  The TG-16 uses security screws.  To open it up you need to order a "4.5mm security bit" easily found on eBay.  Although the technical name is "4.6 line head screw."  I ordered mine from ifixit.com.  After you open the case, you discover the circuit board has an RFI metal shield soldered onto both sides.  I used a lot of solder wick to get these metal plates off.

Having a look at the circuit board I saw no obvious signs of damage.  So I connected it up to my Elenco power supply and turned it on.  Success!  It works just fine.  So all I need is to buy a power supply.  If you read my post on power cords, you know you can use other power cords so long as you know what you're looking for, it doesn't have to be an original part.  The TG-16 is rated at 10.5 V at 730 mA, so I looked on eBay and found a 10 V at 1 A supply for a few bucks delivered.  Even though the volts is a little lower, because of the difference between regulated and unregulated it won't matter, and the fact the amps is higher helps as well.

Next time I will cover recapping the system.