The 6038A is a very capable switchmode power supply, which features great reliability, 10 Amps of current, up to 60 Volts, and 200 Watts – for the regular unit. The unit discussed here is an Option “100” unit, this means, it can work here in Japan, with 100 Volts AC mains voltage (50 or 60 Hz, depends on where you are in Japan…) – at 75% of the rated power, say 150 Watts max.

Well, 150 Watts is fair enough for my purposes, and I got this unit for next to nothing, “doesn’t power on, blows fuse”.

Indeed, the fuse was blown. An it has low resistance when measuring across the mains. Difficult to find the issue.

Looking at the datasheet, it is definitely worth the repair. New, it was around USD 3000 list price (maybe more like USD 5k in nowadays dollars)!

Somehow, I could not find anything wrong with the power board. Maybe a short on the main board?

That’s the main power board – checked all components, no issues, no specific signs of heat or excessive aging. Anyway, we have to take this thing apart for thorough cleaning.

Finally, after a lot of probing – the short disappeared. How can it be? After even more probing – it turned out that the fan (!!) had a hard short. This fan is a SU2A5 fan, quite common in HP equipment of that time, but pretty rare and expensive nowadays, and I really don’t want to fit an old fan, but rather a new part with new bearings.

After quite some study, I found a good offer for a NMB B30 fan, which is quite similar.

Best to compare not only the numbers, but the full pressure vs. flow curve, because the instruments has many cavities and corners, so the flow resistance can be quite substantial. But as it turns out, the B30 design is a high pressure fan, it will meet or exceed the performance of the original part.

Now, we have to wait for the delivery of the fan – at least, I tested the supply without the fan, and it does work and start up. So it is confirmed, the repair will be worth the effort.

Additionally, all the X and Y rated capacitors are RIFA type, of the cracking epoxy-coated series. They will all need to go, and will be replaced with new RIFA caps – hope they have improved the design – at least, these will last another 20 years.