Скачать или смотреть Roland R-8 - Cleaning the top for assembly and assembly - Restoration Part 8

Getting the top panel of the Roland R-8 out to install the backplate / circuitry I realised just how dirty it was. Now this had been in a box since I disassembled the drum machine. So the dirt was probably there from previous use.

This episode starts out by establishing which one of the two boards has a display fault. I established in an earlier video that neither of the two displays were actually faulty. The fault appears to be in the circuitry that drives the display.

Diagnosis of this circuitry will happen in a later video. The immediate aim is to restore one of the Roland R-8's back to working condition.

The next challenge was that the metal bars in the base of the lid assembly were also rusty. So these needed to be treated.

The lid assembly then needed to be stripped down for cleaning before the whole assembly was then put back together.

Background

The Roland R-8 was acquired as a job lot with another instrument. I am a sucker for a drum machine, so the acquisition of this Roland R-8 was a bonus. The second bonus was that when I opened the box containing the Roland R-8 I also found a Roland R-5. But the R-5 will be the subject of another video series.

On acquisition I noticed that the screen on the R-8 was not displaying the characters correctly. After a bit of Googling and reviewing a number of the forums it appeared that R-8's having defective screens was a known issue and would require the screen to be replaced to fix the problem.

This created a problem in itself. Most instruments of this era were supplied with an LCD screen and back light combination. And there are after market screens based on OLED technology that, with a few changes, can be fitted to the instrument. This is not the case for the Roland R-8. This LCD screen made by Samsung has a custom display and is no longer manufactured. There is no OLED equivalent that replicates this custom display.

Once I started to strip the drum machine down I found that there was additional work required to bring this instrument back into use within my studio.

The equipment mentioned above (if you can still buy it!):
Roland R-8 (Used): https://themusictechguyuk.me/3ewF3ZE

Tools and spares used to make this video:
Dremel Drill: https://themusictechguyuk.me/DremelDrill
Stanley Ratchet Screwdriver : https://themusictechguyuk.me/3m4eMFQ
Bosch Screw Driver Bits: https://themusictechguyuk.me/2WcZR3l
Black Primer Spray Paint: https://themusictechguyuk.me/BlackSpr...
Masks for sanding and spraying: https://themusictechguyuk.me/FaceMask...
Wera Kraftform 1000V Screwdrivers: https://themusictechguyuk.me/1000VScr...
Storage Box Organiser: https://themusictechguyuk.me/StorageB...

📖Chapters:
00:00 Opening
00:10 Next set of parts on the bench
01:06 Channel promotion
01:29 Testing the circuit boards and displays
04:55 Display / board conclusion
05:26 More rust identified for removal
06:15 Sanding down and re-spraying the bar
07:00 Another change of plan
09:12 Stripping down the lid assembly
10:20 Cleaning the strike pad circuit
11:57 Assembling the lid assembly
16:47 Lid assembly complete

#rolandr8 #RolandR8DrumMachine #r8 #Roland #drummachine

Videos in this series:
Part 1:    • Roland R-8 - Assessment of the project - R...  
Part 2:    • Roland R-8 - Accessing the drum machine - ...  
Part 3:    • Roland R-8 - Removing the display from the...  
Part 4:    • Roland R-8 - Installing the display to the...  
Part 5:    • Roland R-8 - Removing the rear plate for r...  
Part 6:    • Roland R-8 - Repainting the Backplate - Re...  
Part 7:    • Roland R-8 - Reassembling the circuits to ...  
Part 8:    • Roland R-8 - Cleaning the top for assembly...  
Part 9:    • Roland R-8 - At last the final assembly - ...  

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Roland R-8 - Cleaning the top for assembly and assembly - Restoration Part 8 - 2025-08-23