Blue Gravel

So recently a local hobo decided that they were bored of stealing copper and would try branching out into stealing tools instead.

Well jokes on them, I don't keep any tools in my van. As such, nothing was stolen, though a few other vans in the neighbourhood were also broken into and probably suffered some losses.

Anyway, the good news is that a new window is under $100 on Amazon, because of course it is, so let's get to fixing this mess.

For the sake of the algorithm, this beast is a 2007 Dodge Sprinter 2500 based on the Mercedes NCV3 platform.

With that out of the way, we need to get the inside trim panels off, and that starts with removing the lower panel. It's held in by the two quarter-turn knobs on either side, and then just hinges down and lifts out. Don't forget to unplug the light at the bottom.

I think this is meant to be kind of a storage cubby thing? I dunno.

Next up the trim panel on the door pull needs to come off to reveal a pair of bolts underneath.

It's got some pretty stout clips at the bottom that need to be pried open, then the rest just pops off.

Or maybe it's supposed to come off from the top first? I dunno, I'm not a mechanic.

Removing the trim around the door lock is technically optional but helps free up the door a little easier.

There's two screw covers at the top corners of the door panel that need to be popped out to reveal the final pair of screws, then after unscrewing all six the door panel just pops off with an assortment of the usual at-least-three-break-every-time-you-remove-it plastic snap fittings.

The bowden cable for the door latch snaps out of the handle by prying the outer jacket fitting out first, then unsnapping the clip around the L-shaped end, which I apparently failed to take a picture of.

It's easiest to unplug the window controls from the wiring harness at this point, but I'm going to need them a bit later so removing the white plastic clip allows the controls to be removed from the door panel.

That way it can be plugged back in and left to dangle.

Now this is the part where things diverge a little from the usual method one might employ on most cars. Since the van's windows are significantly taller than they are wide, it's not possible to slide them in from the top by angling the leading edge down. Instead, Mercedes designed a large cutaway on the inner door panel that the window goes through from the inside.

But first the window regulator needs to move out of the way. It's held in by two bolts and two nuts, one of which is loose enough to explain why my door kept rattling so much every time I opened and closed it.

Good thing the nut didn't back itself all the way out, I guess.

Anyway, with the 4 bolts removed and one wiring harness clip popped out, the window regulator can be removed and set aside.

And now there's clear access to shove the glass inside the door.

Speaking of the glass, let's get that unwrapped.

I am genuinely impressed that it made it here in one piece, all the way from China.

Miracles do happen, I guess.

Anyway, the glass goes in bottom-first... I think. I know I tried both top first and bottom first and I'm pretty sure top first didn't work, so if going in bottom-first doesn't work for you then try the other way.

Then to get the window regulator back in you need to slide it at least partly out of the way. The simplest thing to do is to just shove it right up into the track and tape it in place at the top.

My window track was sticky enough that it probably could have held itself up by friction, but also I didn't want it to suddenly come crashing down inside the door while I was working and shatter into a fresh new pile of blue gravel.

On the subject of working, I need to work the remaining bits of old window out of the regulator's clamps.

And then once it's bolted back into place, tightly this time, I can lower the window down into the clamps.

I snugged it up just finger tight at first and ran the window up and down a few times to make sure it was properly aligned. Remember that part earlier where I hooked the window controls back up and left them dangling? This is why.

Once the window was seated in the right spot in the clamps, they can be snugged up. Don't overdo it here, it just needs to grip the glass firmly.

Anyway, now I just need to peel off that sticker from the glass and... oh, I probably should have done that before installing the window.

Lesson learned.

Moving on, the inner door trim needs to go back on, so I'll start with refilling the plastic snap fittings because of course some of them broke.

And now there's three different colours of them in this one panel.

The reinstallation is just removal in reverse, and with everything back together things are looking good.

And with any luck I won't have to do this again soon.

Floss Regularly

When we last saw my trusty JX-305 it was literally yesterday and I thought I was done with messing around with it. However, this morning I was reminded that when I first got it, it was pretty filthy, and in particular the keys were a huge mess. I had cleaned them up from the topside, but there's only so much dirt you can get out that way. In particular, the dirt that builds up between the keys tends to be basically inaccessible to this kind of cleaning.

And let's not forget the dirt at the back of the keys.

As much as I wish I could forget the dirt at the back of the keys.

Well, only one thing to do, let's pull it apart.

This is, thankfully, a pretty easy task. Or it would be, if Roland hadn't stuck one (1) screw underneath the main PCB, which requires completely removing it to access. Oh well, it's only another half dozen screws.

Speaking of many things, I can't get the keys off with the springs still attached, so off they come. Both the white keys...

And the black keys...

And a bunch of dog and/or cat hair, I guess. I'm pretty sure these springs are identical, but it pays to keep them separated just in case.

Also say hello to this friendly little ladybug taking a nap behind one of the keys.

I don't think I'll have to be too careful about waking it up.

Anyway, the keys aren't quite free yet, I need to remove a set of black plastic retention strips on the underside first.

Then the keys can start coming off, and yuck.

That is definitely some grime.

When it comes to this kind of grime, my go-to is always borax, with a little dish soap to help get things started. Alkaline cleaners really do an amazing job of chemically destroying oily schmoo like this.

And while we're cleaning the keys, the keybed frame could use at least a little dusting.

I didn't go bonkers on this part because it's largely out of sight, out of mind, and there's some grease on the grommets and at the back where the keys hinge that I don't feel like reapplying. So a quick blast with compressed air and a little vacuuming will get rid of most of the pet hair and dust.

And now that the keys have had a little swim, followed by a little shower, I can shake off the majority of the water and drop them back into place.

And a little bit of reassembly followed by a quick spit shine and hopefully this is the last I'll need to mess with this keyboard for quite a while.

But who knows what tomorrow will bring?

A Little Tact Goes A Long Way

When last we saw my trusty JX-305 I had pulled one of the main front panel boards to straighten up the potentiometers that had, over time, become bent and askew. For reasons that I will perhaps never understand, I didn't take this opportunity to replace the tact switches, perhaps because I had assumed they were functioning properly, or perhaps because I had forgotten that they most certainly were not.

Well, today I'm fixing that oversight. Thankfully it's not too hard to dig into this particular synth, but it does take quite a lot of screws to get there.

This one here is the right-side panel board, and contains most of the tact switches, including most of the most used tact switches, like the PTN/SONG, SHIFT and the patch number 3 button, which I guess is a pretty popular patch number. I bring these up because they were among the least responsive buttons on the whole synth, and the SHIFT button not working kind of blocks off a lot of functions, as you might imagine.

As per usual, it's out with the old and in with the new. I didn't take a lot of photos because I was powering through this one, but here's the left side panel with all the switches replaced.

And the combined pile of oxidized crustiness.

Then, as per usual, I just need to throw the boards and screws back in, shake things around until everything settles into place, and it's back up and running.

So why fix the JX-305 now? Well I've been practicing a song and while I'd usually just use one of my Reface keyboards to chill on the couch while playing, this particular song needs more than 37 keys. As it happens, the JX-305 is my lightest 61 key synth (despite having a pretty solid aluminum chassis), so it got conscripted into service as a slightly more awkward couch synth.

Breathe Easy

It's that furnace filter changing time of year again. Except this will be the first filter change for the HRV pre-filter after being installed for roughly 6 months.

But before I clean the HRV prefilter I need to clean the HRV preprefilter, as it's managed to get plugged up a little bit.

It's not a complete disaster but this is definitely something I'll need to add to my regular maintenance checklist.

All that dust and fluff got sucked inside of course, so naturally I did this part before changing the filter so it wouldn't just immediately muck up the new one. And speaking of changing the filter, let's see how the old one looks compared to the new one.

Ok, yup, that's a bit of a difference. Let's have a look in some better lighting though.

Well alrighty then. I'm glad that dust is in the filter and not in my lungs.

The furnace filter managed to fare a bit better, though it's also much bigger so the dust and dirt is spread over a larger area.

But it's still definitely time for a replacement.

The Beat of A Different Drum

I don't have an especially wide variety of drum machines hiding amongst my growing pile of synths, and one of the areas that didn't have great coverage was the late 80s style digital e-drums. Didn't, until now that is.

The Kawai R50e is a drum machine hailing from the late 80s and is filled with samples of atomic-blast style gated reverb snares, Simmons style toms, and sampled bass and orchestra hits for that extra "the 90s are just around the corner" vibe.

These hard-hitting drum sounds are favoured by people producing in the industrial genre, but they also work well with synth pop and its elevated evolution city pop. It's the latter that's of primary interest to me.

There was nothing terribly wrong with this unit when it arrived, quite appropriately, from Japan. It was uncharacteristically filthy though, with plenty of tobacco tar, sweat, and a little bit of mold coating it inside and out. Luckily it cleaned up pretty nicely, though it still has a bit of an aroma if you get right in close and sniff, but most people don't play drum machines with their nose so that's not really a big deal.

Also arriving from the land of the rising sun in the same package was this delightful rack effects unit.

This is the Boss VF-1, which is, along with the SX-700 that I covered in another blog post, the follow up to the SE-70 and SE-50, which I also covered in another blog post. Other than a few guitar-specific models that I probably won't bother with, this pretty much completes my collection of Boss rack multi-effects boxes.

This unit's claim to fame largely revolves around the inclusion of the COSM amp and mic simulators, but other party tricks include an acoustic guitar simulator, and a guitar-to-midi processor that lets you control a synth with a guitar signal. Also according to this preset it'll give you free gender reassignment surgery so that's cool.

It's a little more guitar-focused than my other Boss rack effects, but it'll still be useful for my purposes.

Stepping Up

When I purchased this house, what I was really after was the welcome mats at the front door. The rest of the house, the land, and so on was really just icing on the cake.

Unfortunately this may not have been the fantastic bargain I was counting on, as one of the mats is very much falling apart, and getting to the point where it's shedding more dirt, which gets tracked into the house, than it's keeping out.

Luckily the solution is simple.

Well that was easy.

Though, I suppose it now leaves me with a new problem. Let's see if we can solve that one too.

Ok, yes, that's more like it. This is a molded rubber door mat which should hopefully give me a suitable surface to stomp dirt off my shoes before entering the house.

And presumably send appropriately decorative vibes to the occasional door-to-door tea salesman who, for some reason, thought I might like to buy tea in the middle of the afternoon. Is that a thing people do? Buy tea from people who show up unannounced at their doorstep?