Organising at least a basic workbench for the electronics work will make things easier, allowing kit to be set up over a number of days without competing with other desk space. In my case, it was time to pull out of storage my old MFI computer desk (from around 1989) which originally housed my Atari 520 STFM, its SM124 monitor and Epson LX80 (extremely loud) dot matrix printer. With those boxed up it is time to pull together some basic tools for my upcoming electronics work. That will include:
- Restore Roland SH-101 – Boxed for 30 years, has a severe fault possibly with the oscillator IC
- Restore Roland Alpha Juno 2 – Some keys not working, and faded back-light
- Restore my old amplifiers, speakers and bring back into operation – possibly re-housed
So the key tools are a mix of old and new:
- Soldering Iron 15W – though subsequently replaced with a 25W
- De-solder suction tool
- Soldering repair mat
- Helping hands
- Long nose pliers
- Snips
- A digital multimeter
One tool missing that I feel I need for the SH-101 repair is some kind of oscilloscope. To get us up and running, I have opted to build a kit – The JYTech DSO Shell.
