Inside & repair of first generation of Fluke 87.

[anadevi]

I hope you find this post interesting, while not a traditional power tool, it's every bit a tool. This is an 87 I purchased in March 1993.

These meters can sometimes be picked up used very cheaply on ebay. If you only have an occasional need consider one of these early 87's.

The LCD has dim segments which make it very hard to read. This is a common problem with this first generation Fluke 87. They still have the parts available to fix this using an upgraded elastomer connectors.

Remove the protective jacket.

There are three screws that need to be removed.

The back cover separates at the bottom and then unclips from the top. Don't force it appart.

The front cover just falls away once the back cover is removed.

There is a single screw holding the front and back shields in place. The pcb is in between them.

The back shield has two clips at the top. Again do not force these apart. The clips are brittle.

Now remove the top shield. There are four clips at the top. They will break very easily so be careful.

Remove the old elastomer connectors. They are pink in this photo. The grey ones are the replacements.

The PCB board contacts need to be cleaned. I used a eraser (very careful and only on the contacts). I finished cleaning them using Isopropyl Alcohol.

The grey elastomer connectors are now installed. Do not touch them, use tweezers.

These are the tools I used, a couple of philips, tweezers, ESD mat and ESD wrist band.

The 87 is back together and the LCD is clear and easy to read. The parts were <$5.