Vestax Handytrax hack - moving the power switch

The Vestax Handy trax is an excellent little portable turntable with only two real drawbacks. One is the size - it's slightly too large to fit in most shoulder bags; the second is the stupid positioning of the power switch - on the outside of the case where it can be easily switched on accidently, draining the batteries.

I've been fed up with the power switch for a few years, and have finally got around to moving it to a more sensible position. On the photo to the right, the new power switch is the metal toggle switch next to the speaker (Positions where the switch could be placed are limited, restricted by the speaker, the circuit boards inside, and the space required to play a 12" record). The instructions below are how I did it. This procedure is at your own risk and will undoubtedly invalidate your warranty.

(You can't really see on the photo, but another improvement that I already made was to add sticky-backed felt to the platter to help prevent scratching records).

Tools:

• Hand-drill
• Phillips screwdriver
• Soldering iron
• Wire cutters and wire strippers (or use sharp scissors)
  

Components:

• Miniature SPST toggle switch. I used the Maplin FH97F Ultra Miniature toggle switch, however the white plastic case of the Vestax is very thick (~5mm) and one suitable for thicker panels would have been better. Any alternatives should be fine providing the height of the toggle is less than about 15mm (so it doesn't catch on the arm).
  
• Short length (10cm?) of plastic shielded wire, one end stripped ~3mm, the other end stripped to 10mm
  

Layout of the Vestax Handytrax:

With the back cover removed, the handle at the bottom and the platter face down, the internal layout is as follows:

• Top left - Circuit board 1 - power supply and audio output circuit board
• Bottom left - Circuit board 2 - amplifer and power switch circuit board
• Between the two circuit boards is the speaker
  
• Right of circuit board 1 - the pickup arm
• Below the pickup arm - a mini circuit board for the motor stop/start switch
• Centre - battery compartment
• Far right - the motor and turntable platter
  

The external power switch is on the lower circuit board and stops both the amplifer and the motor (the switch controlled by the pickup arm only stops the motor). It is this that the toggle switch will replace.



Instructions:

1. Unplug the AC power supply and remove the batteries.
2. Turn upside down and remove the grey base - there are 8 (identical) screws to remove.
   
3. Turn the right way up (so the platter is facing you, and the handle at the bottom). Cover the bottom-left hole in the speaker grill with masking tape.
4. Carefully drill through this hole to enlarge it (the toggle switch I used required a 5.2 mm mounting hole - so I used a 6mm drill bit). You may wish to drill through again from the other side to clear the hole properly.
5. Prepare the toggle switch - because of the thickness of the panel, I only used the sprung washer on the rear and a nut on the front of the panel - the second nut and large notched washer were discarded (If your toggle switch has a longer 'bush' you may want to keep all the nuts and washers).
   
6. Wrap the 10mm stripped end of the length of wire around the toggle switch with the sprung washer. This is to earth (US: ground) the metal parts of the switch.
7. Insert the toggle switch, and add the nut to the front panel side and tighten to hold the switch in place. Try and make sure the toggle lines up neatly (moving either up-and-down or side-to-side as preferred).
   
8. Remove the 2 (identical) shorter screws holding Circuit board 2 in place.
9. Find the 2-core power cable that connects to the circuit board in the top-left corner, above the power switch (the connection is labelled 'switch' on the component side of the circuit board).
   
10. Snip this cable close to the connector.
11. Put circuit board 2 back in place and replace the screws.
    
12. Follow the cable back to circuit board 1, and move it so that it reaches the toggle switch on the right of the speaker. You may need to loosen the speaker and the other circuit boards to do this (Remember to put the screws back).
    
13. Separate the two cores of the cable and strip the ends.
14. Solder the ends to the toggle switch.
    
15. On the right hand edge of circuit board 2 is a small metal wire protruding a few milimetres, connected to earth. The other end of the earth wire from the toggle switch (from step 5) should be soldered to this.
16. Now, replace the grey case (being careful not to trap any wires) and (before replacing the screws) test the toggle switch works by using the AC power supply.
17. Once happy, replace the 8 case screws.
    

Now I'm not sure if I should remove the old switch or not - if removed, I'll have to find something to block the hole left in the casing. Ideas welcome!