[QuadList] Restoring an Ampex AVR-1

Wed Oct 22 10:24:04 CDT 2008

Hi John:

It will be interesting to see what the collective wisdom of this group has to offer to your situation.  I suspect that the likelihood of finding an AVR-1 available for donation would be an extremely long shot.  But beyond that, I would encourage you or the group you are working with to very carefully and realistically examine both your goals and abilities in relationship to this project.  Any quad machine, and most particularly an AVR-1, requires specialized knowledge along with both technical and financial resources to maintain it in an operating environment.  

If your goal is to have a machine that operates reliably, the only way to achieve that level of performance is to properly refurbish the machine.  Simply substituting boards from another "donor" machine is not a good idea for several reasons.  First, if the donor machine has not been properly maintained, it too will likely experience failure, and then what?  You must properly repair it or find yet another donor which is just not a practical approach.  Second, depending on what boards are swapped, there may be alignment and set-up issues that if not properly performed, will either degrade the performance of the machine or render it unusable, even though the board is perfectly good.

Having worked with non-profits, I am sympathetic to the common problem of budget restraints.  Unfortunately, the reality of the costs, both in dollars and knowledge, may be more than the organization can bear.  I certainly wish you success, and strongly support the preservation of this technology, but I also urge you to carefully evaluate your expectations and resources to determine if this is a feasible undertaking for the organization.  There may be other alternatives which are more practical.

Best Regards,

Don

Don Norwood
Digitrak Communications, Inc.

  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: John Walko 
  To: quadlist at quadvideotapegroup.com 
  Cc: 'Bradford E. Scott' ; 'Bird Jim (Jim Bird)' 
  Sent: Wednesday, October 22, 2008 10:02 AM
  Subject: [QuadList] Restoring an Ampex AVR-1

  Hello group;

  We are working with a local non-profit organization in our home town.  An Ampex AVR-1 was donated to them when it was taken out of service from a local television station several years ago.  The machine sat for several years while this non-profit (an organization called Media Heritage) prepared their facility.  Their facility is now far enough along that they would like to get this machine operational.

  Some background.  The machine was working when it was taken out of service.  It has been sitting without power for probably the last 5-6 years.  It appears as if the machine was originally wired for a 208-three phase volt power supply, and that is the way it is currently wired.  We've been working with the engineer (now retired) who originally kept this machine in working condition.  He knows a tremendous amount about this machine, and has helped us get to the point where the machine will power up.  However we have run into a road block, and I hope someone can help.

  When we powered the machine up, we did not power up the air compressor.we just wanted to see if the machine itself would run.  When we let the machine powered up for more than a few moments, the circuit breakers in the lower drawer start to trip.  We have tested the power supplies in the lower drawer and have found a few of them don't appear to be working (this is regardless of whether the circuit breaker is open or closed).  There also appears to be a problem with some of the boards in the side cabinets (which, we believe is causing the circuit breakers to trip).  We have not tried the air compressor yet, but are not overly concerned about it, because we could use an external compressor if necessary.

  The machine is very clean.  We have removed and reseated all the boards and power supplies (with the machine powered off, of course).  We have visually inspected everything to see if there was anything obvious (such as exposed wires) and see nothing out of the ordinary.  I did not record which circuit breakers trip, or which power supplies appear to not be working.  I could get this information if it would help anyone diagnose the problem.  What we don't want to do is get into a situation where we are replacing the hundreds of caps in the machine to try to figure out the problem.

  We are looking for another machine.  The intent is to utilize good components from this, or the other machine to make one operational.  It does not matter to us if the other machine is operational, as long as it is largely complete (although an operational machine would be ideal).  Since this organization is a non-profit, they are operating on a shoe-string budget, so we are seeking donations (however, we can cover minor expenses, such as pick-up/shipping, etc.).

  An ideal situation would be an organization who has a machine that is no longer being used or one that is a spare.  As we are located in the Mid-West, machines located in the eastern half of the US would be ideal.

  Can anyone offer any advice or do you know where any machines might be located?  I can be reached at 800-978-3445.  Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

  John Walko

  Media Archive Manager

  Scene Savers

  www.scenesavers.com

  800-978-3445

  513-708-1474 (cell)

  859-292-1110 (direct)

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