Something rattling around in my T3!

[EricK]

Friends,
There is something rattling around in my T3. I usually keep it under the Wurlitzer, but I was moving it because I was going to hook it up to the dotcom. When I lifted it on it's rear, it sounds like there is something rattling around in there.

I wonder if there is a way that I can open it up and see what it is.

Does anyone know the best way to do this?


Eric

[EricK]

Here's the culprit. Looks like some kind of clip?

[ricknboogie]

I have something inside my LP Stage 2 as well. Haven't opened it up to see, as it's not really causing any issues, but everytime I pick it up to pack/unpack, I hear it rattling away.

[EricK]

I opened mine because I didn't want whatever it was in there to possibly cause a short and end up frying something.

[Mr Arkadin]

Did you take any opening up pictures? Don't think we've seen a T3 open yet.

Did you see if it that part snapped off anything?

[EricK]

I didn't really open it up, I just turned it upside down and removed the bottom plate.

Anyone that is willing, I would be interested to see what you find (provided yours is not under warranty...mine isn't), but carefully. Im curious to see if yours is on there as crooked as mine was. I couldn't put in a few of the screws because it was so out of alignment. Some of the small screws on the bottom were wood screws that had actually dug into the metal but really had no receptacle for them other than on one side of the metal panel. I was really baffled at the way this was put together.

So, I removed the screws, one of which there was barely anything for the screwdriver to grip as I think mine was initially not lined up properly.

What you will find on that bottom plate when you open it up is that the power supply (I'm assuming that's what it was) is attached there with two removable cables, and theres also another wire that is screwed to the bottom plate (im assuming a ground). So you really can't "remove" the bottom plate, but you can swivel it out of the way as far as the cables will allow you. I believe that this is something that is probably best accessed from the top if one just had to.

When I was at the factory, I remember they had a special stand that they made to support the top panel when the screws were removed. This was why I opted to go in through the bottom.

I might perform this again and take pictures. The board is pretty cool looking, but inside it is tremendously spacious. It seems like the extrusion could support a slew of jacks provided there was space ont he board to hook them to.

I had to be sure that whatever it was wasn't metal before I powered it up. I didn't see where it came from and there was nothing else rattling around in there after I put it back together.

[MC]

Good thing you found it. You can hardly get a better conductor than a copper penny, that would had caused some real damage had it shorted the wrong place.

Kevin Lightner had a Roland keyboard come in years ago with an intermittent problem. When he opened it up he found pliers presumed to have belonged to the assembly line. The circuit board would short out when it came in contact with the metal pliers. Removed the pliers and no problem since.

[EMwhite]

Here's the culprit. Looks like some kind of clip?

Did you mean to have the plastic clip piece is crystal focus and the penny slightly out? Fancy camera you have there son... And I think that penny is counterfeit; Lincoln isn't in his chair!

But as far as finding stuff; better than having surgery and ending up with Junior Mint or a Whopper Junior dropped within a cavity between two organs (not talking about Lowry and Whirly and sewn up inside you!

Maybe I'll take my T3 apart tomorrow, but I only have a crappy consumer grade Nikon.

[EricK]

Did you mean to have the plastic clip piece is crystal focus and the penny slightly out?

Actually, the penny was in that shot to show the scale of the plastic piece. I found that piece to be particularly difficult to photograph.

[EMwhite]

I knew that (penny for scale) MC didn't!

[Voltor07]

Here's the culprit. Looks like some kind of clip?

Did you mean to have the plastic clip piece is crystal focus and the penny slightly out? Fancy camera you have there son... And I think that penny is counterfeit; Lincoln isn't in his chair!

Lincoln IS in his chair on that penny, actually. I'm on a crappy Dell Latitude Core Duo, and can see Lincoln's head.

[marty]

Eric,

I had an identical experience with my T3 and found the same bit of broken clip after taking off the bottom plate. I've done some gigging with my pedals and a drunk fan "helpfully" dumped the thing on its side on the sidewalk one night (in its flight case), so I figured the broken clip was due to that trauma. But if yours has just been sitting in studio maybe these clips are spontaneously disintegrating?

Marty

[Ledbetter]

I found the same plastic clip rattling around in my Little Phatty SE II.

[Voltor07]

The one question no one is asking is: What is this clip for? The circuit boards are screwed on, and the case isn't plastic, so why are there plastic clips floating around in these instruments?

[EricK]

Marty,
Yeah, I currently don't play anywhere, and never used a synth on a gig (I'm really a bass player). The Taurus shipped to my home and then I transported it here and that's been really the only time it has ever moved anywhere other than around the floor...and I bet you I was way more careful than UPS.

I just turned it on it's back (extrusion down) and heard it rattle. It was freely rattling around but I noticed another rattling sound when I removed one of the screws as if it were clipped to the base of the floorplate or something (just a guess). I only found the one clip. I didn't see the other half.

I couldn't bear to ignore it because I was really eager to fire it up.