"Kirk Patton" wrote in
:

Hi Rich,

I have successfully repaired a couple of Mac faceplates by using the
technique as you describe . . . the paint I used (though I haven't tried
a bunch of different types) was Krylon spray semi-gloss black, squirted
first into a small bottle (beware of vapors), and then applied to the
glass via a Q-tip. The thin consistancy and fast drying seemed to work
well . . . brush marks were completely avoided.

The color match was quite acceptable, but the opacity wasn't . . . a
patch of gaffer's tape (after the paint had cured for 24 hrs.) on top of
the paint patch fixed this.


I am going to give Krylon a try but as far as opacity is concerned, I think I
would give it a few more coats of paint. I am afraid that the gaffers tape
would react to the remaining coating.


I have seen a few MI3 faceplates damaged as you described . . . I would
guess that the bubbling at the edges was caused by a chemical reaction
with the particular foam tape that was used for a time, as the problem
seemed to become much less common in newer units . . . though maybe it
was just because they were newer.


Hard to say, but I think mine is a later unit as the original sale date was
12/26/68.

I seem to recall that the last MI3 I saw had an open HT secondary as
well, and one of the sources you mentioned had a replacement (of new
manufacture) available. It wasn't exactly cheap . . . but way less than
what finding an MPI-4 or pristene, working MI3 would be. But that was
at least five years ago . . .

It seems that the HV winding is quite prone to fail due to an open. Adding a
voltage tripler to the remaining PS circuitry solves the problem. I have
seen more than one reference to that sort of fix.


I have also seen a problem with paint lifting on a number of Mac
faceplates where the plastic light-diffuser is stuck on with 2-sided
tape. Early versions of some units (C-26's seem to come to mind) had
screws that held the light-diffuser to the panel endbrackets in addition
to the tape; in later editions these screws were left out. I think that
paint lifting was being caused by flexing/shifting of the panel bracket
assembly relative to the faceplate (esp. on the units with the screws
installed), and caused the paint to eventually lift. I recommend that
you DO NOT install screws from the end brackets into the light-diffuser.

I don't have a bracket of that nature and thanks for the tip.


Hope this helps,

Kirk Patton






--
"Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from
magic."

Arthur C. Clarke (1917 - ), "Technology and the Future"