I really liked this repair video (above), not because I will ever fix an Apollo-era hand controller (I won't) but because it illustrates well what can go wrong with older, analog gear. And how you fix it.
You watch as Mark and Mike try to figure out what was wrong. This brings us back to the diagnostic questions that Richard Feynman posed to his neighbors when, as a boy, as he fixed their AM radios back in Brooklyn. "My God! He fixes radios just by thinking!" exclaimed one amazed customer.
Once (well, several times) after they thought they had it figured out, they used simple test gear (a DMM) to find the short. Then they fixed it, and brought the controller back to life. This wasn't easy. It involved lots of digging (almost literal digging) and put at risk some irreplaceable parts. But they did it. Three cheers for the CuriousMarc team.
BTW: What was that liquid that Marc used to replace the insulation that had been scraped away to allow for testing?
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