Rhodes Chroma Polaris

Sorry for the long title, couldn't think of something shorter at the 
moment.

My left side buttons aren't working. I've found out that this is a 
common problem with this board. I thought it was the buttons 
themselves and went out to find any place that has replacement 
buttons. I then realized, when I had the board open, that the thin, 
clear, flat-circuitry like ribbon cable, connecting the two control 
panels was broke. Both might be broke,(or split from being too 
brittle), but I know at least the smaller one is for now. Does anyone 
have any ideas on where to start with this. I went to a local 
electronics store but they couldn't do anything because they said it 
was OEM/propietary and they wouldn't have the parts. I was about to 
start calling some flat-circuitry places around here but then thought 
I would try the forum first. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks 
for your time.  Kris.

I fixed my connecting ribbon-- its not easy and you will need a multi-
meter (to see if the ribbon is connecting.

I had cracks going perpendicular to the traces on mine.  I ended up 
cutting the ribbon back to a location before the cracks using a sharp 
scissors.   If it turns out that you need to go so far back that you 
loose the contact area, you need to make a new one.  I used a tweezer 
or dull exacto knife to scratch away part of the black coating on the 
traces so that they would make contact.

Then you plug in the cable, and use the multi-meter to verify 
connectivity across the connector.

Note that some of the traces don't go anywhere (esp. on the right 
side) so you do need to file those.

Good luck, and please keep let me know if anyone figures out a 
solution to the patch tape transfer-- I can't get the mp3s to load on 
my polaris.   I suppose I'll have to do a cassette dump into my 
computer, figure out the levels and match those w/my computer, but I 
haven't had time.

-Ben



--- In chromapolaris@yahoogroups.com, "kornelious23" 
<kornelious23@y...> wrote:
> Sorry for the long title, couldn't think of something shorter at 
the 
> moment.
> 
> My left side buttons aren't working. I've found out that this is a 
> common problem with this board. I thought it was the buttons 
> themselves and went out to find any place that has replacement 
> buttons. I then realized, when I had the board open, that the thin, 
> clear, flat-circuitry like ribbon cable, connecting the two control 
> panels was broke. Both might be broke,(or split from being too 
> brittle), but I know at least the smaller one is for now. Does 
anyone 
> have any ideas on where to start with this. I went to a local 
> electronics store but they couldn't do anything because they said 
it 
> was OEM/propietary and they wouldn't have the parts. I was about to 
> start calling some flat-circuitry places around here but then 
thought 
> I would try the forum first. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks 
> for your time.  Kris.