Date   : Tue, 27 Dec 2005 23:22:02 +0000
From   : Annihilannic <annihilannic@...>
Subject: Re: Guess age from serial number? - Holy smoking Beebs,

David Hunt wrote:
>>> They both look healthy from the outside?
> Yeah, I remember I had the same thing happen to me, I knew it wasn't a
> critical component because the Beeb was still working with smoke jetting out
> from underneath. The filter caps were my first port of call. They looked
> fine, but when I prodded them with a screwdriver they promptly fell to bits!

Once again you guys have proven that you know your onions; when I 
finally disconnected all the power leads and manoeuvred the PCB out I 
could see a bulge on the side of the 0.1µF cap; I desoldered it and sure 
enough it looks like there's been some serious volcanic activity in there.

> Cycled down the road to Cambridge Maplin and got another, only a few pence
> see SC93B and SC89W respectively at ...
> <http://www.maplin.co.uk/Module.aspx?ModuleNo=26584> 
> ... these are rated to 100 Celsius rather than the old part that is rated at
> 85 degrees Celsius.
> As this is a common problem loads of people have taken pics of the offender!
> e.g.
> <http://8-bit.summerfield-technology.co.uk/varia/repair/bbc/bbc.html>

Here's mine to add to the collection:

http://galaxy4.net/misc/beeb_capacitor.jpg

On that note we're preparing to move internationally and I can't really 
justify lugging this beast with us; we currently live in France, and 
before I chuck the Beeb and it's CUB 452 (1431MS) monitor in the tip I'd 
feel better having given you folks the chance to claim it, for the price 
of shipping it to the UK.  These are my estimations based on their weight:

€20 (~£14) Beeb alone
€60 (~£40) Beeb and cub monitor

I realise that's probably pricey for a Beeb, but just in case... my 
guess is that it's not worth putting on Ebay with those shipping fees?

There's also the TTL video cable and a copy of Ian Sinclair's 
"Introducing the BBC Micro".  As per this thread it's in full working 
order however should probably have a new capacitor installed for safe 
use... and it has a Wordwise ROM and Acorn DFS on board.

If I haven't had any interest by mid-January it'll have to go... :-(

Regards,

-- 
Annihilannic