No, they definately do not bounce.

Hopefully the only damage sustained is the suspected broken VFD, as it seems to function OK. Carsupport already mailed.

Can you guys offer advise on anything that I should check (i.e. fuses ? ??) before I have to ship it back for repair.

Thanks

Shake it gently to hear if there's anything loose. Do this with the power off. If you hear the fill neck of the VFD clattering around, that's most likely the problem. You should be able to verify it by removing the fascia with your Allen key: remove the knob and the display filter/lense. The VFD is the large glass unit (it's pretty obvious). Bottom right corner as you face it should have a filler neck: if it's gone, that's the problem.

Not knowing what a filler neck is, i'm not sure. But on inspection there was a small glass 'breast' shaped bit floating around inside. Presumably that should have been in the hole on the right hand side of the display just below the level of the vol knob ?

Thanks for your help.

Yep - that's a broken fill nipple.

/Michael

But on inspection there was a small glass 'breast' shaped bit floating around inside.

Yes, that was the filler neck/nipple.

cu,
sven

<half joking> Lordey, can't we just find a way to put those things back on?

But really, breaking the glass breaks the vaccuum, I guess. Anyway that it could be refilled and have the glass heated and melted back in place? It just sucks that so many of these precious parts keep dying.

Anyway that it could be refilled and have the glass heated and melted back in place?

Possibly, unless something burns out when you power it up without vacuum/with air inside.
But the cost for the process would probably be on the same order, if not higher, as the cost for a new module. The modules are standard parts, after all...

/Michael

The problem is that the nipple is so close to the pivot point that the lower row of leads provides. If you drop it, the foam pad behind the display compresses with the Force of the accelerated display unit. The unit rotates around the pins along the bottom of the display, and the nipple comes into contact with the rotary switch. Due to the length of the lever arm created, you get a nutcracker effect on the nipple, and POW it breaks off.

The only way to stop it is to use a dense double sided foam pad of the same thickness as the depth of the leads, instead of the low-density foam tape used at the moment. This doesn't compress so much on impact and it MIGHT help, but I'm not really prepared to test my theory.

The problem gets worse if you use a PCB for illumination over the shaft of the rotary switch. Thing to do is remove the switch!!!

Mk.1 players suffer exactly the same fate when dropped - and they have no rotary control.

Rob

hopefully lads@empeg will contact me tommorow and tell me what to do ? It was all quiet on the Cambridge front today ...

Ta

Lad, singular. David to be precise.

The rest of us work for Engineering, thank god

Rob

Is he is East Angular tomorrow ?

In reply to:

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Anyway that it could be refilled and have the glass heated and melted back in place?

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I think you'd have to re-empty it, not re-fill it

A.

I had a parachute system installed on my empeg. The internal gyroscopes are triggered when they sense the player starting to accelerate at 1G, and they deploy a miniature chute about 1 foot in diameter. If for some reason the acceleration does not immediately slow down, it will automatically fire the reserve. The only downside is I have to repack the chute everytime I drop it.

My next project will be installing a propeller that will serve two purposes:
1) it will keep the player from overheating
2) when the player is dropped, it will auto-rotate it safely to the ground.

Hey, my empeg did bounce.. I droped it a few days ago on my concrete driveway, it fell about two feet and landed on it's left side. Instantly my stomach flew up into my mouth and I had to swallow it. Luckily I had it in a fairly well paded bag (case logic cd player case) and it was ok... but I still freaked when it fell.

You mean accelerate past 1G. If it were triggered at 1G it would always be deployed. ;p

However, they do have the "winker" LED right next to the nipple, and the display is mounted the same way, hence I am not really surprised that they break in the same failure mode.

I think I'm going to have a look at high-density sticky foam to replace the original support foam, and raise the top edge of the display away form the board a little to give a touch more clearance. It's a shame that (even though not designed for this) given the good disk shock mounts, the impact resistant disks, and the generally rugged stainless construction of the case, the the display failure occurs so often due to a mechanical shock fault.

You mean accelerate past 1G. If it were triggered at 1G it would always be deployed


no because it has to accelerate to one G. When you hold it still, it isn't accelerating.
I personally have an antigrav implanted in mine. that way it never falls

I personally have an antigrav implanted in mine. that way it never falls

But it really sucks when you let go of it and have to watch it float away...

[grammar nazi]
no because it has to accelerate to one G

Since one G is a measure of acceleration, you are really saying "No because it has to accelerate to a known acceleration" which doesn't make any sense. It could accelerate at a rate of 0.01m/s/s until the sun implodes, and would still not get to 1G. (It'd still be at 0.01m/s/s, ignoring gravitational effects from the aforementioned solar catastrohpy)

What I think you meant to say was "It's acceleration has to increase to 1G".

[/grammar nazi]

picky picky

But it really sucks when you let go of it and have to watch it float away...

I have it finely tuned to not be greater than one G. if anything, it decends very slowly. it can also detenct whether it is decending rapidly, and ramps up the antiG accordingly.

OK Grammar Nazi, It has a levitation device. Which just WORKS. OK? If I had to explain its existance it would cease to exist. Like God. It's a faith thing. I have faith that it works, It has faith that I believe it exists and everything's sweet.

Hey, I wasn't questioning that your anti-grav device worked! I'd really like one for my empeg...can I buy one for less than the amount of money that I'm receiving from the sale of London Bridge?

Actually I don't believe 1 g is sufficient to brake your Empeg. If it was, than mine would have been broken long ago. I know I've subjected it to 1 g of deceleration in my CRX. Perhaps the real answer is 20, 30 50, 100? g's as the Empeg goes through rapid deceleration as it strikes a hard surface?

Happy Thanksgiving to all of you Yanks out there.

My answer was a big ol' helium filled balloon. It sucks to see around in the car though...

But it works really good for ordering food at a drive thru.

My point was that, even siting still, the empeg (and anything else, for that matter) is always at 1G. When on Earth, anyway.

Hahaha

G is the planetary constant of attraction, not the acceleration due to the Earth's mass, which is g (9.8 ms-2). An object at rest within the earth's gravity field is subject to a force which results in an acceleration when unopposed: a box lying on the ground is being opposed with a force equal to that exerted by the mass of the box, so the net acceleration is zero.

I've seen 1.6 g on the Mini, and it did sod all.

Ahh, I meant 1g then. You all knew what I was trying to say.