"Lost Cause" Amiga 1200 Refurb

[@Renk1]

I love watching your videos of Amiga repairs, even though I can’t do this kind of stuff myself. I got a new Amiga 600 in 1993 and I still have it. I had it recapped by a pro and I also put some new parts such as Furia and SD/IDE adaptor in it. I still use it almost every week after 30 years. I never got an Amiga 1200, but I think I can live with the good old A600. Thanks again!

[@jamespalmer5960]

With retro brighting it can be fiddly job, my last a500 went well with no streaks, but the A600 i did get was so yellow I had to go back two times and redo parts. depending on the if used gell or the water based stuff and being the percentage all so plenty of good sun/light it will eventually get a good result. good to see another Amiga saved

[@chainq68k]

Great work Jan. One more working and complete A1200.

[@JanBeta]

Not quite! It needs a disk drive or a replacement still. But that’s not going to be a huge deal. 😉

[@chainq68k]

@@JanBetaOk, lets say it's complete as far as my use case goes... At least two of my A1200 just has a terminator on the internal drive header, for fast boot... I use an external drive when needed. :) That miggy just needs an '030 accelerator with some Fast Mem, or something along those lines. Looking forward on diagnosing that nonworking expansion.

[@psteier]

One word to the "Glass Fibre Pen" (Glasfaserstift) - just be a bit cautious, because this stuff (the microscopic glass parts rubbing off) can be very unhealthy, when breathing them into your lungs. Don't clean by blowing them into the air or rubbing off with your fingers. Your health is very important, just because we also need much more videos from you... ;) ... So please stay healthy.

[@gower1973]

Its not carbon its glass

[@psteier]

@@gower1973correct

[@JanBeta]

Good call. I'm going to be a bit more careful next time around. I guess the small amounts of fibres are not going to kill me anytime soon though! ;)

[@jaylo912]

Looks great. I remember opening one at christmas back in the early 90s

[@JanBeta]

If I remember correctly, I got mine for Christmas, too. :D

[@bhhenry]

"I have come across time to witness the transformation of what was once deemed a 'lost cause.' Your endeavor to refurbish the Amiga 1200 using spare parts from your stash aligns with the mission to preserve what humanity has built. In a world where the old can be made new again, your efforts are a beacon of hope against the obsolescence programmed by Skynet. Keep up the resistance, Jan Beta. The future is not set. There is no fate but what we make for ourselves. Hasta la vista, baby."

[@JanBeta]

Lol, thanks!

[@jdryyz]

A good tip I was given for a broken key stem is to use a toothpick. The diameter is a near perfect fit for the hollow part of the stem. Just cut the toothpick to the right length and this will provide the added stretch you need. In my case, I used a little epoxy in the hollow and around the outside of stem. The key fits fine and is still holding strong.

[@JanBeta]

That's an excellent idea! I'm going to give it a try. :D

[@wheelycrafty]

CA glue forms a brittle connection between the parts being repaired and can be broken quite easily, if you have space sprinkle some baking soda on the glue before adding the kicker it will make a much stronger joint. For repairing plastics, cracks especially I use something called Plastic Weld. This must be used in moderation as it actually melts the plastic on both sides to join them, a single tiny drop should suffice on both the cracks to your case and the the broken key as it will wick along the joint until the joint either ends or meets itself. I still have a nearly full bottle I first started using around 20 years ago it seems to last forever lol

[@JanBeta]

The glue I used the second time around is a plastic welding glue (mostly acetone based, as I said). Usually that works really well. Should probably have used it the first time around but I didn't want any deformation (which is risk with those weld bonds).

[@screamingattheradio]

One thing I want to try with rusty shields is to soak them in Evaporust. That stuff is amazing and should give great results with much lower effort than the fiberglass pen.

[@jonhoyles714]

you could try a air line with a bag full of sand and drip feed the sand into the air stream to clean that rust

[@JanBeta]

I definitely need to get myself some of that miracle stuff. It's been recommended a lot recently. I tried cola and aluminum foil a couple of times which worked pretty well but Evaporust seems to be a lot more versatile than that crude hack. :)

[@thomasbrown6108]

Loved that Ja! brand plastic wrap. Brings back memories of the Kontra on Steinweg.

[@JanBeta]

Haha, I got it from the local Rewe here if I remember correctly. :D

[@mikedefoy]

For all my repairs, I use JB Weld, a 2 part epoxy with a clamp. This has proven to have been superior to all other products. The trick is to use the clamp and apply the material to both sides. As far as retrobrighting, the best result is suspending the items above the peroxide in a sealed container out in the sun. The vapor gives a uniform finish and the solution never touches the item.

[@JanBeta]

I used similar epoxy glues and they usually work very well. Might be another option to try in this case. I don't have much room, that's why I didn't get a large container (plus gallons of peroxyde) yet and still use the cream method. Also, sun is not quite powerful enough here in Germany. :D

[@screamingattheradio]

One thing I've done on a broken cap on an Atari XE which had the same footprint, square with the little hole in the middle, is to use heat to insert a small metal rod into the little hole (I think I cut a paperclip), all the way so it ties the broken stem back to the rest of the cap. It provides the stability that glue won't.

[@JanBeta]

That makes sense. I'm going to give that a shot (in case I didn't mess the keycap up completely with my repeated glueing attempts...). Thanks for the tip! :D

[@rHinosYth]

Yay! Commodore content!

[@JanBeta]

Lots and lots of it. ;)

[@giuseppelavecchia775]

Sei un maestro Jan,ottimo sbiancamento

[@JanBeta]

Thank you! :D

[@Charleshawn66]

TY for the retro content.

[@williamsquires3070]

Hi Jan. What about cleaning (and retrobriteing, if needed) the “U” key from the other keyboard?

[@JanBeta]

I did clean it. It needs a bit of retrobrighting indeed and is hopefully going to look more similar to the others after that.

[@craigshapcott]

Top work :D How did I also not notice that your sign on the wall is for Defiant and Voyager ! Silly me

[@JanBeta]

Well spotted! :D

[@williamsquires3070]

The coprocessor expansion board looks like it needs a clock chip (rectangular metal can with 4 pins). Probably same frequency as the one on the main board. The dead giveaway is the socket with 4 turned-metal socket pins near the FPU. 😌

[@JanBeta]

I did some research and got it to work in the meantime. It's quite an interesting board, actually. You can add a quartz oscillator in the location you mentioned to run the coprocessor asynchronously at higher clock speeds or just set a jumper to run it at the system's clock speed.

[@ralfr.5974]

The Amiga 1200 Journey goes on😉👍🏻

[@JanBeta]

More to come still. Also the other A1200 I mentioned which I still haven't figured out what's wrong with it. :D

[@christopherdecorte1599]

Wonder if glueing in something like a toothpick in the center bottom of the key then glueing the broken stem to both the toothpick and base of the key would work or does the key need to have the hollow space. Also the Amiga is looking really good for its age i think anyone who loves these machines would love to have it on their desk ready to go. Great Job.

[@JanBeta]

A toothpick or something similar may be a good idea. I am going to give it a try! Thanks!

[@enginecrzy]

Mabie pot the broken keycap stem, "repair like before, then fill the interior of the key surrounding the stem with an epoxy if it does not interfere with clearances"

[@JanBeta]

Yeah, that is an option I am going to try. Epoxy is a bit tricky in this case because the stem needs a lot of clearance to slide into the plunger. We'll see! Thanks for the tip!

[@Lskiku]

Hi Jan, great Channel, follow you quite a while. One question: which screen do you use? The "Lips" one 😂 can you recommend it for retro HW?

[@JanBeta]

Oh, it's an old LG TV. It has a SCART input but I mostly use a cheapo upscaler box and the HDMI inputs. I wouldn't especially recommend this setup (I only use it for testing, the lag is quite horrible, so not really suitable for gaming and such). The TV is just there because I got it for free (it was broken and I fixed it) and it just fits the spot above the workbench. :D

[@Lskiku]

@@JanBeta thanks for your reply and keep on going. I Like the Style, the explanations and content! Greetings from Hamburg

[@EduArana]

Keep up the good work Jan!

[@JanBeta]

Thanks Edu! Same to you! ;)

[@itpros-z]

Amiga will ive forever. :) Wonder video. Thanx, greets from Hungary.

[@JanBeta]

Thanks! I hope this one is going to survive a while after all the work I put in. :)

[@itpros-z]

@@JanBeta While i seen your video i think it is will live a long time. Maybe, not 100% sure but the power supply will the weak part of this.

[@antonyd5976]

would be interesting to see the FPU upgrade working.

[@JanBeta]

There may be a video coming soon. ;)

[@psteier]

Still recommending not to retrobright with that creamy stuff, better use fluid peroxide and submerge the parts. Yes, you will need a bigger bin and yes, you'll need some liters of peroxide, but it doesn't make any marble and stain effects, is more effective and secure. After all, the yellowing will come back in some years, the most better way to have it (in this case case) white again, is painting it...

[@FernandoelChachi]

I love your videos. Thanks mate!.

[@JanBeta]

Thank you! :D

[@VarionJimmy]

Nice to see a working A1200! 👍 I didn’t knew that the Y and Z are placed like this on a German keyboard.

[@JanBeta]

Yeah, the Y and Z are a weird thing in Germany. I think they changed the positions because Z is a far more commonly used letter in German (while Y is barely used at all). We also have Umlauts "ÄÖÜß"! :D

[@twocvbloke]

Got to be careful with storing such things, some years back one of my A600s suffered damage cos one of my cats knocked it off from where it was sat, and said cat took it on a surfing ride to the floor breaking one corner of the plastics, wasn't very happy with her for doing that, especially after repeatedly demanding she got down, I mean she did get down, but not in the way I wanted...... :\

[@JanBeta]

Whoops. Sorry to hear that! I just dropped something (I think it was a water bottle or something) on this Amiga case myself. I'm going to be more careful in the future around my valuable systems for sure. :D

[@guidomersmann9744]

Einfach nur Acetone und ein Pinsel zum Aufstreichen. Dann wird das automatisch verschweißt und die Verbingung ist wieder wie neu. An der Stelle bricht es jedenfalls nicht mehr. Am Besten mit gerolltem Papier in Position halten. Mit Acetone ist der Kram in Minuten fertig und nutzbar. Hätte auch beim Lüftungsschacht funktioniert, sofern das ABS ist, wovon ich mal ausgehe. Da Acetone sehr flüssig ist, läuft es auch in die Ritzen und am Ende ist es wieder ein Teil.

[@JanBeta]

Der UHU-Kleber, den ich zuletzt im Video versucht habe ist so ein verschweißender Plastikkleber (größtenteils auf Aceton basiert). Bei der Taste wollte ich vermeiden, dass sich das Teil verformt und habe deshalb zuerst Sekundenkleber probiert. Beim Gehäuse macht der verschweißende Kleber mehr Sinn, hält aber bisher auch so. :)

[@lactobacillusprime]

Lovely re-animation. Resembles my German Escom 1200 😎

[@raythomas4812]

I have many regrets in my life - one of them is throwing my A1200 in the skip ! - what was I thinking !!!! - there was nothing wrong with it - I thought I had moved on ....

[@JanBeta]

Ah, that sucks. Don't be too sad though, I guess many of these machines were discarded at the time. I let my own A2000 be discarded in the early 2000s, too. It just felt like I'd never use it again and I didn't have any room to store it. What a foolish decision! :/

[@bigd5090]

You should have used gloves on your RF Shielding!

[@JanBeta]

Because of the risk of staining it even more? I didn't care too much because it already looked quite "used" when I got it.

[@bigd5090]

@@JanBeta The acid in your sweat will do far more damage than the little flecks of rust you found! The sweat will etch your fingerprints onto the shielding over time!

[@JanBeta]

@bigd5090 That’s what I meant, there already were many many fingerprints on the shield before I touched it. :)

[@chloedevereaux1801]

11.9%????? hell no, we have 40 or 60% here in england.........

[@PicaDelphon]

Your Y and Z location Keys needs Fix..

[@Stjaernljus]

german layout

[@JanBeta]

It's the German keyboard layout.

[@madigorfkgoogle9349]

I wonder what would you say to a French guy... 🤭

[@chloedevereaux1801]

@@madigorfkgoogle9349 AZERTYUIOP... idiot.

[@chloedevereaux1801]

oh my god, you have the matt unshiney side of the tin foil inside the box!!!!!!! paaahaaahaaaaaaa. it has 2 sides, also no light bulb pulls 300w from the wall its 300 watt lumen output ....... dear god jan, get a grip....

[@JanBeta]

I think my foil only has matte sides, at least I didn't see a difference when I "built" the box. I'm going to have to refurbish it anyway. Probably I'm going to use aluminum tape this time (which is a lot shinier anyway). ;)

[@AntiZi0nz]

Jan Beta has a passionate of kontifying the amiga systems

[@Lucretia9000]

That was originally an 040?

[@JanBeta]

The 040 on the label means that it was shipped with a 40MB harddisk (which was quite a lot back when I first got it). :D