Getting my hands dirty

This morning I started work toward my Community Connection practicum. Tim took me to a small production studio at the far end of CJLX' studio complex where he had me dismantle a quarter inch reel-to-reel tape deck and salvage its useful parts. Apparently switches, terminal mounts, electro-magnets and even springs are among the items commonly sought by media school and maintenance people at the college.

Of the parts I found most interesting:  three high capacity resistors connected in parallel, wired to one of the tape deck's mechanical circuits. In our Electronics Fundamentals and Digital Fundamentals classes we have been told that the physical size of the resistor is an indicator of its power handling capacity. In our labs we work with low capacity carbon resistors. It was nice to see the much larger high capacity resistors up close for the first time.

I hadn't taken apart consumer electronics in many years. This was my first time dismantling a piece of professional electronics and I thoroughly enjoyed it! It felt good to get my hands dirty, learning how all the parts work together. By the time I had to clean up for my first morning class I had the reel-to-reel machine almost completely dismantled and its salvaged parts sorted. Another 30 minutes of work and I should have it finished.

I left for my first class with a sense of accomplishment this morning. One and half hours completed, twenty-three and a half hours remaining and my Community Connection volunteer work will be complete. The ball is finally rolling.