Topic: Akai ax-80 repair (dead membranes)

Hello,

Picked up an ax-80 w/ the membrane button issue... cant seem to find the repair tutorial on the internet (link that everyone references is dead).

Can anyone help me out with this?

A service manual would be nice.. Seems like a straight forward re-soldering of the contacts joining the two circuit boards.. which i can do. I just dont even know which screws i need to take out to open this thing up proper. (trying to avoid unnecessary steps)

Also..been thinking about preventive measures so this wont happen again.. I know you can do the wire thing, but what about just reinforcing the housing? seems pretty weak in the middle.. hmm.

thanks!

2 (edited by Brian Chinetti 2010-06-03 17:15:03)

Re: Akai ax-80 repair (dead membranes)

Forget about it... edit number 8: I tried to help but I figure I wait till I'm sitting in front of my AX80 so I can be sure I tell you the right information....

Re: Akai ax-80 repair (dead membranes)

try here: http://web.archive.org/web/200702160611 … epair1.htm

4 (edited by rsprats 2010-06-03 22:10:18)

Re: Akai ax-80 repair (dead membranes)

Well.. all the buttons are working now except for 17-24 .. and now the function mode  led is displaying incorrectly
sad

Re: Akai ax-80 repair (dead membranes)

and now it's not powering on at all.. oh no.....

6 (edited by Brian Chinetti 2010-06-04 11:15:15)

Re: Akai ax-80 repair (dead membranes)

Ah, so you got it open. Have you determined the power problem yet? Probably a loose connection from opening the panel.

As for the membrane buttons, as I remember the joints are very close to each other, so it's quite easy to fuck it up with too much solder or if your soldering iron get's too hot or doesn't have a narrow tip and is unsuitable for working on prints. It's supposedly an easy job, but pretty delicate. On my first attempt I think I had the exact same problem you had, where I only made the problem worse: the LFO buttons would control the EG funtions, and the EG section still didn't work or controlled another section on the first print. I can't remember exactly what went wrong, but it was something weird like that.

As for me, after my first attempt I had it send to my tech guy with a bunch of other stuff that needed attention. I hate to determine these kind of electronic problems as I get uncertain and easily confused, so unless I know what to do I won't do it. But that's me.

Re: Akai ax-80 repair (dead membranes)

Brian.. the uncertainty and confusion is my problem too.  Looks like i blew out a few of the fuses and now have a PSU problem on my hands.  I'm going to take it down to my synth repair friend soon as to avoid exacerbating the problem.  I'm not scared with the soldering iron, but when i'm not sure about what i'm doing and how it affect other parts of the circuits it turns into a big mess.

i didnt have a pointed tip for my iron so i had to do the joint soldering a few times, thankfully i had a nice magnifying lamp thing... need to stock up on the proper tools. and probably some circuitry literature heh. 

Hopefully i'll get this thing fixed soon.. the synth sounds sooo good.

Re: Akai ax-80 repair (dead membranes)

It is a very nice synth, quite underrated (or unknown?). It deserves the attention.

Re: Akai ax-80 repair (dead membranes)

We, electronic repair friends, suggest that you ask what to do first before unleashing the gassolder tools on the pcb.

Re: Akai ax-80 repair (dead membranes)

Know your limits and learn to recognize them miles ahead smile Seeing the level of patient professionalism my tech guy displays every time I offer him my shamefully silly repair jobs it is comforting to conclude that the ones that can handle the tools buy them, so that the ones that can't handle the tools can hire them.