Sony PlayStation Disc Skipping Issues - Retro Console Repair

In this video I work on an original Sony PlayStation that has FMV (Full Motion Video) skipping issues. This is a North American launch model SCPH-1001 that has the RCA jacks on the back in addition to the proprietary Multi-Out connector. Sony discontinued the RCA jacks on the SCPH-550X models and these units have become somewhat desirable from a collectibility standpoint.

The launch model PlayStations were notorious for having issues with the optical drive. The drives were made almost entirely of plastic and components would degrade due to friction. There is also documentation of warping due to the close proximity to the power supply which added heat to the equation and made things even worse. As a result these consoles would start to have difficulty readings discs. This often manifested in FMV during game intros and in-game sequences being choppy, and eventually causing crashes before not reading discs at all.

In this repair I go through the normal steps I normally would to refurbish an optical drive, which includes cleaning the laser and re-lubricating all the moving parts with lithium grease, followed by calibrating the laser to make sure it is within specifications. In addition to the regular laser intensity adjustment, the launch model PlayStations have manual controls for "Bias" and "Gain" to further tune the laser assembly, although this was automated in later revisions.

After all the above fails, I eventually manage to recover the drive by gluing a thin piece of aluminum stock to compensate for the missing material in the drive. This seemed to restore the drive and bring it back into alignment. While I am unsure of the longevity of this repair, it was a great learning experience to repair this console and learn about its design flaws.

🌎 20 year old PSX website that gave me the idea for this repair
https://bit.ly/35U7kFg

🎵 Music
Bensound - Summer
https://www.bensound.com
Music supported by RFM - NCM:    • Summer - Bensound | Royalty Free Musi...  

Affiliated links below to some of the tools I use if you'd like to support the channel:

🖥 Composite and S-Video on my Mac
USB Capture Card: https://amzn.to/2YM4TT7
(Catalina 64-bit drivers can be found on the manufacturer's website)

🔧 Toolkit
Screwdriver Set: https://amzn.to/2X7s0Gj
Automatic Wire Stripper: https://amzn.to/30F5TJm
White Lithium Grease: https://amzn.to/2UApx5M

🖌 Soldering Essentials
TS100 Soldering Iron: https://amzn.to/2YIJZUR
No Clean Flux Syringe: https://amzn.to/2NFUZvQ
No Clean Solder: https://amzn.to/2NHEAqQ
Desoldering Braid: https://amzn.to/312Grws

🔍 Soldering Add-ons
Tip Tinner: https://amzn.to/31w2EF4
Helping Hands Soldering Aid: https://amzn.to/3ihgksP

🔥 Thermal Compounds
Arctic MX-4 Thermal Paste: https://amzn.to/2Ak2y8w
1.5MM Arctic Thermal Pads: https://amzn.to/2Vv1RQU