Thread by @TubeTimeUS

here's a very special microcassette recorder. 🧵

in case you haven't seen these before, the cassettes are a lot smaller than a standard audio cassette.

let's have a look inside.

umm 😬

since these are alkaline batteries, you can neutralize the leakage with vinegar.

wow these batteries really leaked a lot

how cute. now to check for battery damage

not looking good

it's spread throughout the flex circuit 😬

soaking the battery contacts

oh no, these electrolytic capacitors have also leaked 🤦‍♂️

to neutralize that we have to use a base, such as sodium bicarbonate

I'm gonna have to remove the whole flex circuit

removed, and I've started scraping away at the corrosion in the lower left. the copper is pretty thick so it all seems to be intact

the mechanism is quite compact. there's a drive belt in there but it seems to be intact

so why is this very special? it's a rather ordinary microcassette recorder from probably around the late 1970s.

except this was the first gadget i ever laid my hands on--this particular one. apparently i was a baby and my dad thought it would be funny to hand it to me to play with, and he said i got so excited i started shaking 😂

anyway the corrosion comes right off with a fiberglass pen

new caps soldered in. I had to add some wire to jumper a broken via.

whew, finally got it all recapped.

so it actually works fine now (mostly, there's some motor rumble coming out of the speakers i need to figure out)

and the tape has recordings of family members on it, stuff from 25 years ago. amazing.