The 1702 arrived with a picture that shrank to a bright horizontal line after twenty minutes. Classic tired electrolytics, or so we hoped. Before touching anything we let it sit unplugged for a week and then discharged the tube properly with a grounded probe.

The three mistakes

• Ordering the kit before checking the board revision against the schematic.
• Lifting a pad on the vertical deflection board by rushing the desoldering.
• Forgetting to photograph the yoke wiring before unplugging it.

Measure twice, desolder once, and never trust the silkscreen on a board built in 1984.

Mara Kestrel, Thursday bench notes

Four hours later the picture filled the screen and stayed there. The geometry needed a small nudge on the vertical size pot, and the colour is now better than the C64 feeding it deserves.