Casio CZ/ VZ/ FZ - Pro Series

Today I have finished the repair of CZ1000:

- cleaning

- cleaning some metal parts from the rust

- repair of cartridge cover - new spring made from the guitar string

- cleaning cartridge slot contacts

- resolder power connector

- replacement of display

- setting display contrast

- adding screw washers to keep better the screening shield on the bottom 　　　　

I have used New Haven display NHD-0216BZ-FL-YBW ordered at Mouser, it came after four days!

As it has limiting resistor on the board, it's enough to connect pin 16 to pin 1 and pin 15 to pin 2.

Contrast can be set with VR4 on the main board near display connector.

Display is thicker but there was no problem to use original screws and tighten them as much as possible.

So far so good.

Happy New Year to everybody!

Daniel Forro 　

On Dec 24, 2016, at 12:48 AM, Daniel Forró danforcz@... [CZsynth] wrote:

OK, I will take some pictures.

Today I have opened it and start to disassembly it. It's not so easy as boards are connected by flat plastic cables which are soldered on both ends... grrrrr... so unpleasant and service unfriendly. Similar way as on cheap Casio portables from that times - I did cleaning and repairs of my MT65... at least they have used there flat cables with relatively thick wires inside. Here it's much more fragile, just thin foil and inside metal traces. I have to be very careful not to break some. If so, better to desolder it and use standard wires. The reason for this is they wanted to save money...that's why there are no multi pin connectors.

Inside I have found some rusty screws, and also some pieces of rust on some metal parts. Will clean everything after full disassembly.

I couldn't find any problem with power connector, there's no cold solder, no cracks... Probably just the connector needs good cleaning inside, and adjusting the contact. High humidity here in Japan during summer is guilty for the oxidation...

Also contacts for cartridge had green color from oxidation, I had cleaned it very carefully with fine sand paper.

Another problem was with cover of cartridge slot. It was fixed inside with transparent sticker tape, and the reason was that spring which should keep it closed was broken. Evidently previous owner didn't use cartridge. So I made new spring from guitar string, works perfectly now. I have RAM-3 cartridge, originally for my CZ3000 but there it can be used only for data backup. CZ1000 offers direct access to 16 programs so I will use it now with this instrument, it's more flexible. Still I have another rare cartridge which offers 4 banks.

Keyboard is quite OK, it doesn't need cleaning.

So now I have to order LED display and replace the original one. It will take some time...

Daniel Forro

On Dec 24, 2016, at 12:26 AM, Michael Lim raffles1968@... [CZsynth] wrote:

Very interesting! Could you post pics of your adventures as you try to "revive" this vintage keyboard?

Regards

Michael

On Friday, December 23, 2016, 3:23 PM, Daniel Forró danforcz@yahoo.com [CZsynth] <CZsynth@yahoogroups.com> wrote:

Today I have found a nice looking CZ1000 like a new one in the nearest
recycle shop, in junk department proclaimed as non working. Price was
4.6 USD, so I couldn't leave it there.

Using proper adapter at home I could make it work on the first switch
on. I'm quite sure that instruments have a soul and can feel they are
in good hands. So far so good.

Everything is OK, but power connector board is probably somehow
moving, or there's a cold contact on the connector itself - when I
move with it, sometimes instrument switches off. Opening the
instrument will probably take more time than the repair :-)

There's a small coin battery in the holder inside the battery
compartment, it looks like previous owner did this modification to
keep data when power off. I don't like similar amateur looking mods so
will think twice if to leave it there or remove.

The next step will be replacing the display for modern one with LED
backlight as I did with my CZ3000.

Merry Christmas!

Daniel Forro