Very good repair Mr. Dave a new rubber belt carefully glued on is a lasting repair. I take the idler off and use comet or Ajax and scrub the heck out of the rubber with a wet paper towel and Ajax or comet paste two or three times in the sink with very warm water until the black stops coming off then it should feel squeaky clean and grip your skin real good. When you get to that point it will grab like crazy. I use it on record players and reel to reel. It works most of the time unless its cracked and too far gone then I have to glue a belt on like you did over the bad rubber. Give the Ajax or Comet a try. Use gloves its kinda harsh on the skin for the amount of time scrubbing the black off. I think you'll be amazed. Pinch rollers the same way. Be sure to blow out all the water from the bearings. I have a new cam set waiting on me to install in my old M8 AKAI I haven't done yet. Pot metal uuuhhh
Awsome idea the rubber band one and the change of positions. Fortunately the idler whells were equal. I have an AKAI GX-4000DB, recently arrived to my collection and ready to be restored. It isn't in a very good shape than yours but I'll do my best. My hope Is this play tape heads are almost eternal. I love all of this 70s & 80 stuff. I almost fix my first sólid state amp. stage of my old sansui G4700. Thank you for all your videos which are very illustrative. Regards from Cancún.
Great video and neat, neat trick with the idler tire! I have brought dozens of these old R/R decks back to life, but have never thought about using a belt like you have. My first deck was a Sony TC-377 with a single motor and mechanically similar to this one. I have thought many times about getting another one for nostalgia sake. I've held off because of the problem sourcing the idler tires. Maybe now...we'll see. One trick I've learned about the felt brakes is to take a utility knife and fluff them up to rejuvenate their stopping power.
tyres are sold out of a guy in Australia on ebay for the TC377/TC399 same guts on ebay. Brand new . Cost me sub 30 shipped the kit included both tyers.
Clever fix ...cool!.. one of my fix's was to sand the rubber a bit to get more virgin rubber exposed getting rid of some of the oxidized layer... i would chuck it in a drill and go at it with some sand paper..used to work good and keep it consistently cleaned off
@@12voltvids Yeah thought of that..usually if it's not critical like what you did that was smart is swap wheels then you can get away with just some sanding but gluing a belt on was very clever. I never thought of doing that. Cheers.
Intelligent repair, at least temporally. Also intelligence was required to reassemble - for finding the parts between all the other stuff on the table....
It's a little more than a temporary repair. I did this on one of my old machines probably 30 years ago it still runs. some have taken a larger belt and cut it included around the rim and that's more of a temporary repair because where it's cut it's always a possibility it's going to come off. The key is defining one that is smaller than the idler so that it can fit around The idler without needing to be cut then once it's glued in place they will typically last until the belt wears through and if the belt is .5 - 1mm that is going to take a while. Same thing can be done to The idler tires on old rim drive turntables. In fact the first place I saw this done and where I learned it initially was the engineer at the community TV station I worked at. He showed me this on a rusco cue master turntable. The one we had in the studio was slipping, he came in and collected it took it to his workshop popped the platter and glued a thin belt around the edge and had it back in service before i went on air. (i was working master control at the time). this is the same engineer that showed me the clean video head trick using your fingernail. There's probably my best teacher actually because I wasn't in the repair field then, that was during my broadcast stint when I had little interest in actually repairing stuff because I was headed for a career and broadcast. Unfortunately that didn't pan out and I ended up in the repair business but I learned a lot from the chief engineer who is the smartest guy I ever knew when it came to servicing video equipment. My shift ran 3:00 to 11:00 p.m. and most days I would go in there right around lunch time and hang around the engineer shop and I'm sure annoy the shit out of them with questions.
Good practice to inspect the heads on a tape deck before getting in too deep with other repairs. No point repairing the rest of the machine if the heads are worn out. Replacements are scarce and re-lapping costs a fortune.
I like the retread. Try coating a wheel with Flex Seal liquid, the kind in a can for brushing/dipping. It is very thin and flows to a VERY even thickness I have found. The stuff loves being reapplied to build thickness. (plasti dip for tool handles may work good too)
I bought one of those at a hamfest for $40. They wanted $100. Turns out the head track selector switch was smashed in and the metal cover of the pinch roller cap was missing. I bypassed the switch and got it working.
The switch is only necessary for mono tapes as it puts either the left or the right track on both outputs. In the stereo mode you can do the same thing by just using a y cord and plugging it into a single output on the back.
Thank you for the belt tip! Now I need to order a pack of floppy disk belts, have an old Toshiba laptop I am trying to repair, need to have the power supply recapped and a belt for the floppy drive. Hopefully I can also get all of the software off of the HD. It just chatters like the heads are stuck. All of my Radio Programming software is on there for Motoroni rads that are now obsolete for US use but I still can use them on ham bands. Is there any supplier up in Canada that might stock belts for an older Technics turntable?
Interesting idea! I wonder from an experimental point of view - if we could just 'round' the idler to true a concentric wheel (lathe work) and then add the rubber band idea later it could even drive a flywheel? My Sony TC-645 works on a motor pulley to idler to flywheel principle, and it's a little noisy, but not too bad. I just gently roughed it up and then applied Rubber Renue. Regards.
Crikey, that machine takes me back to being a teenager trying to make sound on sound demos- Very difficult to balance all the instruments when you're having to GUESS how loud it should be after you've bounced the track between L & R channels maybe 6 times at a push - by which time it's easy to find the first track was too quiet or has become a bit muffled for all manner of reasons - not keeping the heads clean enough or demagnetised (degaussed) or trying to do it at 3.75 IPS instead of 7.5IPS - the maximum this machine will do anyway - I DREAMED of owning a TEAC 4 track, 15IPS but in the end I BUILT (or ADAPTED to be more accurate) my own 24 track recorder on reject 1 inch video tape I bought in bulk - it was reject because it was as sticky as gaffa tape until I ran each reel through a few times with a rag carefully collecting the sticky oxide shedding - which was a LOT of oxide shedding - and very tricky to do without ruining the reel. But the tape deck was adapted from an ancient computer data recorder / tape handler - the ones you always see in movies from the 60's with reels spinning at mad speeds - and they DID spin at mad speeds too, each reel driven by a separate motor as big as one on a good washing machine, electromagnetic disc brakes, three VACUUM motors to keep the original (half inch) data tape in suspension ... if only I had realised what a treasure I had in those old data tape handlers, years before ebay, I would not have been so casual about letting them go - at the time all I wanted was multitrack AUDIO, so it took a lot of very amateur engineering on my part to adapt, make them work for my purposes at all. Even the multitrack heads were simply CASSETTE HEADS stacked in a staggered formation - so it ended up more like a 26 track or something, but only about 12 tracks were properly erasable due to the difficulty aligning the erase heads to the record / replay tracks lol - and a couple even overlapped a bit! I DID say my engineering was very amateur. I wish i had kept it - and the huge mixer I made too, just so I could fantassise about being in Abbey Road recording studio I guess! It WORKED but it often picked TAXI RADIOS at the worst possible moment when recording or mixing down. Sorry I am just reminiscing now.
The sound on sound feature of these decks was really quite a gimmick wasn't it. I've never tried doing it on the 3340 with simusync. I do know someone that had 2 3340s in his home studio. He would record his drum machine onto 2 tracks. Then record guitar onto track 3 bass on 4. Play the tape through his mixer and mix it down to tracks one and two on the second 3340. Play back the tape in simusync and on track three and four lay down his stereo synth. Take that tape which now had the drum bass guitar and keys and mix that back too another stereo track on the 1st 3340. Continue adding two more tracks on that 3340 dubbing it back again to the second one mixing the first two sessions down to a stereo track and so on. Was very interesting what one guy could do with two tape decks and a cheap mixer. At 15 IPS the sound was more than good enough. He what's the first guy that I knew that went to digital audio tape when it first came out. Got a tascam da 88 I think it was eight track and a DA 30. He gave me his da30 when he switched everything to digital cubase recording which he still uses today. He was in a band going way back to the sixties. Being a studio musician since the '70s and it's still raining jingles today. Won't say his name but his music has been heard by millions of people. Is done lots of session work but most of his stuff these days is for film TV and commercials. has a nice little studio set up in his house that have been to a few times. He has a guitar it is studio in a glass case signed by Keith Richards. His band back in the 60s opened for the rolling Stones.
@@12voltvids He sounds a very interesting character. I think some people are very talented in the art of getting just the right sounds down on tape (or equivalent) - they know what is too much and what sounds tasteful and what suits the song - then there are guys like me who ruin 95% or more recordings - largely by never being able to stop tinkering - often trying to compensate for poor musicianship - I can admit it in retrospect - some people are just talented, they have the ears ... I could only dream of having that kind of ability but I did at least enjoy trying ... it's not always all about winning, although I must admit, i wouldn't have minded a LITTLE success, lol!- but it wasn't to be. I realised I will never be any good at recording - regardless of my songwriting ability which is also a little questionable - when I joined TAXI MUSIC which most people who work in film and TV music are aware of, I would imagine. (although someone who has had success 30 or 40 years before Taxi Music even existed, probably has little or no need for their services - but I could be wrong there too) ... but the main thing I learned from a few years membership with "Taxi" was that I am no darn good - and it just took a while for that obvious fact to sink in. I was still living in the past, from the days when my very amateur demos COULD get a few publishing contracts of questionable worth, if enough copies were sent out (I would literally post out 200 tapes to almost every publisher and record company in the UK) ... and that was exciting ... hundreds of letters back saying more or less "Thanks but no thanks" and the occasional "do submit again" and once a year if I was lucky, an invitation to meet or chat or sign just a few songs - but the stars never quite lined up and the main reason, I can now accept, was that I didn't have sufficient "talent" - very little, in fact - but I DID REALLY REALLY enjoy trying! And that's the main thing!! I remember when I was 16 and naive, almost laughing at stories of people my age now, sometimes finally having a hit or some other kind of success ... (in the monthly magazine published by the ISA -= International Songwriters Association, in Limerick, Ireland) ... I'm sure I wasn't the only kid who would be lying to himself for the next 20 years that he was hard done by in some respect if he had no "luck" in music - it's such an alluring industry, it kinda warps your perspective until you grow out of DREAMING (in my case at any rate) - I can think of worse ways I could have wasted my time and money so I always encourage others to at least have a good go at writing their own material - it's such a fulfilling occupation even at a hobbyist level. Thanks for sharing your story with us.
I'm curious Dave how long is the run time for one of those small reels just said to the wife I'd like one of those o display in summer house, great work top man as usual thanks
Well it depends on the record speed and tape thickness. .5 mil tape vs 1mil vs 1.5mil. Obviously .5 is going to fit 3x the tape on same size reel as 1.5mil. I have a Sony that has 4 speeds. 15/16, 1 7/8, 3 3/4, and 7 1/2. So, saying that. The small real I had of Ampex 541 5-in reel is 1 mil polyester 900 ft. Running time at 3 and 3/4 IPS 45 minutes at seven and a half 22 1/2 minutes at 15 IPS 11 and a quarter and 90 minutes at 1 and 7/8. That's per side. Now a one and a half mil tape would contain 600 ft and .5 mil 1200 feet. 7-in reels obviously you're going to hold more and 10 and 1/2 in even more
I promise you the novelty wears off very quickly - once you've compared it to the digital alternatives, tape soon becomes a pain you can do without. That's probably why so many change hands on Ebay - The tape costs a fortune, cleaning and degaussing the heads becomes tedious - some old tape from the 80's or thereabouts has become unusable - sticky - There;s always something going wrong - endless faffing about - if the back tension isn't right, the head to tape contact won;t be sufficient to actually record well or even at all, if the heads are pretty worn out - as i imagine many of them must be by now. I still LOVE looking at tape recorders and trying them out on the rare occasion I could afford one - but 4 months later I would always sell it again on ebay after it has sat there un used for three months lol. You can always get your money back if you don;t pay silly prices - check completed listings - you might get a bargain.
@@snowcraft40 $100 is too much? They are still many, many thousands of these machines about, but to get the performance they are capable of a new pinch wheel is one essential I'd recommend, so add 30 dollars, the one here was very bad. The reel idlers are not going to affect playback, apart from background noise.
Quick question on camcorders...my HC1 now finally died on me. Moisture...and it do not reset as it did previously. Someone suggested a 100 ohm resistor soldered across the sensor. In south africa we don't get that cold weather to worry about condensation...not that I will ever take it outside for whatever reason. Just want to make sure about the value of the resistor. 100 ohm or if you can recommend another value I will appreciate it. Thanks for ALL your videos...just love it.
if it's the sensor that's bad that might do it because they typically are 100-200 ohms dry. you will need to disconnect the original sensor however because if it is shorted it'll still trip to do sensor just like if it's open. That's providing that that is what's causing the trouble it could be anything in that circuit including leaking capacitors thought the main board.
Hi, have you done a video on the products you use in servicing equipment? In this video you mention 'Re-new,' there is also sprays for crackly volume pots and white graphite grease spray made by '3 in 1' for metal bearings, perhaps this is a future video idea on servicing tools you could do...?
Rubber renew is a product made by mg chemicals as is nutrol contact cleaner. 3 in 1 electric motor oil is just that non detergent sae20 oil. I have shown them in other videos.
@12voltsvids You like that rock song in the beginning of the reel tape . Ive heard that on your channel before.Been listening too and watching your videos for some years now mite be like 10 years now
The only problem with the glue that I used is it's getting kind of thick and drying out. Rubber spent obviously is the choice to use but the problem with it is once the jars been open and exposed to air the rest of the container starts to dry out
@@TKELCH I have seen some other rollers done by others. 100 for a pinch roller redo haha laughable. I showed a r-r here a few years ago that had reman pinch and the flutter was unbearable. They had to be sent back and done again and that shipping cost was ultimately paid for by customer. I might make 100 or so repairing a unit so there. People don't want to spend much on these old machines. Spending 100 for a rubber roller means I have to charge 200 and 200 is over the budget on almost every case. I remember when pinch rollers were available from nakamichi and they were about 40 cost and people refused to change them. I changed plenty under warranty but out of warranty not too many.
I am impressed by your ingenious solutions and thorough knowledge about the hardware. BUT the way your worktable is organized, parts are floating all around and mounting hardware is hidden under the UUT scares me…😂
Have you ever seen the workspace of a real shop?. I have. Besides working in three one for 20 years every workshop that I ever visited was far worse than the clutter on my small bench and they had large benches. In fact the only place that the work dances work cluttered was Sony. That was only because their texts worked on one specific piece of equipment. One guy did televisions one guy did betamax one guy did cameras one guy did reel to reel the guy did cassette decks the other guy did amplifiers and receivers. The first shop I worked at what I was in high school looked like a bomb had been detonated in the back there were piles of ripped apart equipment everywhere being used to pick parts off of every bench was an absolute disaster and I don't know how the owner knew where anything was. He did and I trained at that place for a couple years when I was in high school. The shop I ended up working at for 20 years had one big bench the three guys were working on I was the fourth guy in there I got my own bench. It started out relatively organized but over the years got looking just as bad as the other bench even though we did clean it on a regular basis it didn't stay clean that long. Every shop I ever visited and I went to plenty as we all know each other or did. We shared tips with each other and winning the area would go in and visit the other guys because again we talked on the phone shared tips ordered parts from each other so I knew most of the other owners of shops and would go visit them they would come visit me when they were in the area. They all looked the same might have looked nice for what you can see from the storefront but walk around in behind that divider to the areas that the customers didn't see and they all look the same. Who was the exception there was the guy that bought the shop that I first learned the trade at which was across the street from the shop I worked at for 20 years. His shop looked like a hospital operating room everything was in its place the bench was spotless you could eat off of it. Didn't take long to figure out why his shop was so clean, it's because he had nothing to do he spent all his spare time just putting everything away between every job. He would take on one set fix it and then put everything away and clean up before he started the next one. he didn't stay in business very long after buying what had been a successful business. I don't do this for a living I do this more as a hobby and as a platform to produce content. I work full-time at my day job. When I'm not at my day job and I'm not actually fixing something in here or editing something I'm having to maintain my UA-cam channel and remove all the spam and duplicate comments. You would be amazed at how many people and this one really ticks me off will ask a question about something completely irrelevant usually regarding a piece of equipment that they have which I've never seen before never heard before because it's some model that was never sold on this side of the world and then they will proceed to post the same question over and over and over to about 20 different videos that I've posted over the years. Not a day goes by that I don't spend at least two to three hours going through the comments and deleting the duplicate posts on various videos. I don't know if people are dumb or something but when a post is made I get a copy of an email to me. They don't need to post the same question 10 times all that typically does is piss me off and they'll not get an answer even if I know it. And that's why I don't have time to clean my bench more regularly because I have to babysit all the dumbass questions I get every day. Which some days is as many as 500 messages. Obviously I don't get a chance to respond to everyone I'm sure you can understand why. Some people however don't get the message and they'll just keep repeating the same question over and over and over until they eventually find that they don't get answers to any questions because they're on the ban list. Old Johnny shithead is a prime example of that one he got banned about 7 years ago for being a troll like he has been on several other tech based channels I won't mention and he continues to file take down requests daily against all of us.
I salvaged them from wreckers. Have no idea where to get them now. The only shop I used to buy from closed years ago when the owner died and his son had no interest in the family business which happens a lot these days. Friend is a 3 generation jeweler none of his kids had any interest so business closing. Same with me. I'm now 3rd generation telco worker. Grandfather, uncle, cousin and me. My kids forget it. To much work for them.
Ooow you bodgy bugger ha ha :-D Just pulling your leg dave. Sometimes you have to be inventive, i've made mods to mechanisms when there was no other way. Rubber drive parts are a bugger.
I found on ebay a seller of rubber friction tires for recorders, check with "8pcs Idle Wheel Belt Loop Idler Rubber Ring Cassette Deck Tape for Akai Sony", perhaps they may accept a customized order
@@12voltvids Before, in the 90's here in Europe, it was easy to order such universal tire sets in any parts stores, I don't know why it disappeared .... Anyway thank a lot for your demonstration.
Hey Dave I must ask this question? Did you ever play football when you were younger? Your a big guy and not saying anything offensive just thought you did!
Not football. I was into Motorsports i raced motocross when i was younger and broke a few bones in the process. When i see knuckelheads riding motorcycles without helmets I just shake my head. That turban isn't going to save the rider when he comes off the bike andbitvis just a matter if when, not if. Yes we have helmet laws here but religion superceeds traffic laws and common sense.
@@12voltvids I agree with you about helmet laws stupid Florida says you don't have to have one! Shoot If I ever get a bike I sure will use one! My brother was into Motorsports as a kid also he was mostly Dirt bike racing!
@@johnb5519 it's funny the value that people put on these old real machines. Back in the day they were not that expensive in fact a high-end cassette deck was a lot more than a real to real deck back in the late seventies. I bought a gx260 brand new in around 1979. It was probably made a few years before that they've been sitting in the stereo shop for a while. I think I paid $450 or $500 for it. Brand new in the box. By comparison I bought my first vhsvcr at that same shop around the same time. That RCA VCT 201 set me back 2 grand. The gx260 if you're not familiar is a six head, Auto reverse reel-to-reel. It records both directions. Has three glass heads for each direction and a center capstan. I used to think it was a great deck and I still have it however the glass heads became a thorn in its side. It just refuses to play any tapes that have sticky shed. Those same tapes however will play perfect on the also 4000 or my teac 3440. Sure I have to clean the heads often but the tapes play without creating a screaching sound in the audio as they do on the glass head machine.
@@12voltvids Yeah, I think I recall your video where you talked about that. Must be nostalgia more than anything else, that people spend the money for.
My Akai 1721W had the problem where the idler wheel is slipping while the tape is playing and spilling all over the tape which causes the problem. This is why I don’t like about Akai reel to reel tape recorders, because of the broken cam switch which were pot metal where it is about to break or deteriorate overtime. Panasonic and Sony are way better than Akai.
Yes Sony and teac for me. I have always been a teac / tascam fan. I have a Panasonic wired remote control for a cassette deck or reel to reel. It is compatable with my teac. Same plug same wiring.
I don't believe you unless you're living in the sticks like Humboldt County California lol. There's 10's of thousands of Revox R2R collectors worldwide. Take a walk outside of the sticks when you got a chance, but leave the rifle behind !
I live in a city and everything around here is high end. You can't get a tiny house under 1.4 million. Most in my neighborhood are 1.7 to 2.5 million. There are Tesla's everywhere. Lots of money here and nobody has reel to reel. Many have control 4 or higher systems. Lots of big systems with racks of brand new high end electronics. Some real nice turn tables but very few have cassette decks. See plenty of stand alone music servers. Tons of sonos systems in hones with speakers in every room hidden in walls. Again lots of high end gear and nobody had reel to reel. In fact i only know 3 people besides myself that have reel to reel and one of them has brought me many for service. One been sitting here for months awaiting pickup. I work in people's homes every day at my day job and I see everything that people have. Lots of Samsung frame TV's and tons of new OLED sets in the past year. Lots of sound bars too. The odd collector has vintage stereo equipment but no reel to reel.
Ever try to microwave a idler tire?... seems the water would cover any metal that was exposed ...wouldn't a belt on a phono idler change the speed of the turntable?
@@bones007able that sounds like a future video. Fit a belt around an idler drive turntable wheel and check the speed before and after. It shouldn't have an effect as it is just a midway drive. The reduction is between the motor and platter
That a temporary fix glueing that on the tire .The proper way is place new rubber on the tire if the deck is worth that much too the customer.That fix is not going too last .I just don't agree with you on that repair everything else you repair yes .
@@dubdoodle7191 Been in hundreds of audiophiles homes over the past few years. you know how many reel to reel setups I have seen? None, zero. Nobody wants them. I get people t hat have old reel tapes that just want them digitized. Have zero interest in having a reel to reel. When I do see one, it not usually in some high end audiophiles setup, its sitting out in the garage. I comment, oh you have an old reel to reel, and the response is usually, want it? That's how I ended up with about 15 of them. Even people that were collecting turn tables seems to have leveled off. They are about as popular as DAT, which is not very popular either. Even my Teac 3340 is more of a show piece. It works but I don't use it. It does look cool as a display piece and gives me something to display my Betacam on.
Very good repair Mr. Dave a new rubber belt carefully glued on is a lasting repair. I take the idler off and use comet or Ajax and scrub the heck out of the rubber with a wet paper towel and Ajax or comet paste two or three times in the sink with very warm water until the black stops coming off then it should feel squeaky clean and grip your skin real good. When you get to that point it will grab like crazy. I use it on record players and reel to reel. It works most of the time unless its cracked and too far gone then I have to glue a belt on like you did over the bad rubber. Give the Ajax or Comet a try. Use gloves its kinda harsh on the skin for the amount of time scrubbing the black off. I think you'll be amazed. Pinch rollers the same way. Be sure to blow out all the water from the bearings. I have a new cam set waiting on me to install in my old M8 AKAI I haven't done yet. Pot metal uuuhhh
Awsome idea the rubber band one and the change of positions. Fortunately the idler whells were equal. I have an AKAI GX-4000DB, recently arrived to my collection and ready to be restored. It isn't in a very good shape than yours but I'll do my best. My hope Is this play tape heads are almost eternal. I love all of this 70s & 80 stuff. I almost fix my first sólid state amp. stage of my old sansui G4700. Thank you for all your videos which are very illustrative. Regards from Cancún.
Love your content! Very entertaining and educational!
Thank you for uploading a reel to reel video! Very interesting and enjoyable.😃👍
I make em as I get em.
I always learn something new on this channel.👍
Great video and neat, neat trick with the idler tire! I have brought dozens of these old R/R decks back to life, but have never thought about using a belt like you have. My first deck was a Sony TC-377 with a single motor and mechanically similar to this one. I have thought many times about getting another one for nostalgia sake. I've held off because of the problem sourcing the idler tires. Maybe now...we'll see. One trick I've learned about the felt brakes is to take a utility knife and fluff them up to rejuvenate their stopping power.
tyres are sold out of a guy in Australia on ebay for the TC377/TC399 same guts on ebay. Brand new . Cost me sub 30 shipped the kit included both tyers.
Thank you for sharing the useful information
Nice tip. Thanks!
Clever fix ...cool!.. one of my fix's was to sand the rubber a bit to get more virgin rubber exposed getting rid of some of the oxidized layer... i would chuck it in a drill and go at it with some sand paper..used to work good and keep it consistently cleaned off
Except when it is too small you need to beef it up a bit.
@@12voltvids Yeah thought of that..usually if it's not critical like what you did that was smart is swap wheels then you can get away with just some sanding but gluing a belt on was very clever. I never thought of doing that. Cheers.
I'm from Denmark, i just bought a Teac 3300sx for 50$ on a Danish auction!!
Intelligent repair, at least temporally. Also intelligence was required to reassemble - for finding the parts between all the other stuff on the table....
It's a little more than a temporary repair. I did this on one of my old machines probably 30 years ago it still runs. some have taken a larger belt and cut it included around the rim and that's more of a temporary repair because where it's cut it's always a possibility it's going to come off. The key is defining one that is smaller than the idler so that it can fit around The idler without needing to be cut then once it's glued in place they will typically last until the belt wears through and if the belt is .5 - 1mm that is going to take a while. Same thing can be done to The idler tires on old rim drive turntables. In fact the first place I saw this done and where I learned it initially was the engineer at the community TV station I worked at. He showed me this on a rusco cue master turntable. The one we had in the studio was slipping, he came in and collected it took it to his workshop popped the platter and glued a thin belt around the edge and had it back in service before i went on air. (i was working master control at the time).
this is the same engineer that showed me the clean video head trick using your fingernail. There's probably my best teacher actually because I wasn't in the repair field then, that was during my broadcast stint when I had little interest in actually repairing stuff because I was headed for a career and broadcast. Unfortunately that didn't pan out and I ended up in the repair business but I learned a lot from the chief engineer who is the smartest guy I ever knew when it came to servicing video equipment. My shift ran 3:00 to 11:00 p.m. and most days I would go in there right around lunch time and hang around the engineer shop and I'm sure annoy the shit out of them with questions.
Good practice to inspect the heads on a tape deck before getting in too deep with other repairs. No point repairing the rest of the machine if the heads are worn out. Replacements are scarce and re-lapping costs a fortune.
Teac and tascam still available to purchase directly.
@@Shadowban69 that's great news. Is that for reel to reel or also cassette?
I like the retread. Try coating a wheel with Flex Seal liquid, the kind in a can for brushing/dipping. It is very thin and flows to a VERY even thickness I have found. The stuff loves being reapplied to build thickness. (plasti dip for tool handles may work good too)
Flexseal good idea. Will try that some time and see how that works out as I have some.
Very cool never owned one still got old audio cassette player
i have the same model tires are worn too, haven't got around to repairing it yet been on the back burner for a few years
Great work 12 vs
great idea!
I bought one of those at a hamfest for $40. They wanted $100. Turns out the head track selector switch was smashed in and the metal cover of the pinch roller cap was missing. I bypassed the switch and got it working.
The switch is only necessary for mono tapes as it puts either the left or the right track on both outputs. In the stereo mode you can do the same thing by just using a y cord and plugging it into a single output on the back.
Thank you for the belt tip! Now I need to order a pack of floppy disk belts, have an old Toshiba laptop I am trying to repair, need to have the power supply recapped and a belt for the floppy drive. Hopefully I can also get all of the software off of the HD. It just chatters like the heads are stuck. All of my Radio Programming software is on there for Motoroni rads that are now obsolete for US use but I still can use them on ham bands. Is there any supplier up in Canada that might stock belts for an older Technics turntable?
Interesting idea! I wonder from an experimental point of view - if we could just 'round' the idler to true a concentric wheel (lathe work) and then add the rubber band idea later it could even drive a flywheel? My Sony TC-645 works on a motor pulley to idler to flywheel principle, and it's a little noisy, but not too bad. I just gently roughed it up and then applied Rubber Renue.
Regards.
Dave, have you got a link to this rubber renew, please?
Crikey, that machine takes me back to being a teenager trying to make sound on sound demos- Very difficult to balance all the instruments when you're having to GUESS how loud it should be after you've bounced the track between L & R channels maybe 6 times at a push - by which time it's easy to find the first track was too quiet or has become a bit muffled for all manner of reasons - not keeping the heads clean enough or demagnetised (degaussed) or trying to do it at 3.75 IPS instead of 7.5IPS - the maximum this machine will do anyway -
I DREAMED of owning a TEAC 4 track, 15IPS but in the end I BUILT (or ADAPTED to be more accurate) my own 24 track recorder on reject 1 inch video tape I bought in bulk - it was reject because it was as sticky as gaffa tape until I ran each reel through a few times with a rag carefully collecting the sticky oxide shedding - which was a LOT of oxide shedding - and very tricky to do without ruining the reel.
But the tape deck was adapted from an ancient computer data recorder / tape handler - the ones you always see in movies from the 60's with reels spinning at mad speeds - and they DID spin at mad speeds too, each reel driven by a separate motor as big as one on a good washing machine, electromagnetic disc brakes, three VACUUM motors to keep the original (half inch) data tape in suspension ... if only I had realised what a treasure I had in those old data tape handlers, years before ebay, I would not have been so casual about letting them go - at the time all I wanted was multitrack AUDIO, so it took a lot of very amateur engineering on my part to adapt, make them work for my purposes at all.
Even the multitrack heads were simply CASSETTE HEADS stacked in a staggered formation - so it ended up more like a 26 track or something, but only about 12 tracks were properly erasable due to the difficulty aligning the erase heads to the record / replay tracks lol - and a couple even overlapped a bit! I DID say my engineering was very amateur. I wish i had kept it - and the huge mixer I made too, just so I could fantassise about being in Abbey Road recording studio I guess! It WORKED but it often picked TAXI RADIOS at the worst possible moment when recording or mixing down.
Sorry I am just reminiscing now.
The sound on sound feature of these decks was really quite a gimmick wasn't it. I've never tried doing it on the 3340 with simusync. I do know someone that had 2 3340s in his home studio. He would record his drum machine onto 2 tracks. Then record guitar onto track 3 bass on 4. Play the tape through his mixer and mix it down to tracks one and two on the second 3340. Play back the tape in simusync and on track three and four lay down his stereo synth. Take that tape which now had the drum bass guitar and keys and mix that back too another stereo track on the 1st 3340. Continue adding two more tracks on that 3340 dubbing it back again to the second one mixing the first two sessions down to a stereo track and so on. Was very interesting what one guy could do with two tape decks and a cheap mixer. At 15 IPS the sound was more than good enough. He what's the first guy that I knew that went to digital audio tape when it first came out. Got a tascam da 88 I think it was eight track and a DA 30. He gave me his da30 when he switched everything to digital cubase recording which he still uses today. He was in a band going way back to the sixties. Being a studio musician since the '70s and it's still raining jingles today. Won't say his name but his music has been heard by millions of people. Is done lots of session work but most of his stuff these days is for film TV and commercials. has a nice little studio set up in his house that have been to a few times. He has a guitar it is studio in a glass case signed by Keith Richards. His band back in the 60s opened for the rolling Stones.
@@12voltvids He sounds a very interesting character. I think some people are very talented in the art of getting just the right sounds down on tape (or equivalent) - they know what is too much and what sounds tasteful and what suits the song - then there are guys like me who ruin 95% or more recordings - largely by never being able to stop tinkering - often trying to compensate for poor musicianship - I can admit it in retrospect - some people are just talented, they have the ears ... I could only dream of having that kind of ability but I did at least enjoy trying ... it's not always all about winning, although I must admit, i wouldn't have minded a LITTLE success, lol!- but it wasn't to be.
I realised I will never be any good at recording - regardless of my songwriting ability which is also a little questionable - when I joined TAXI MUSIC which most people who work in film and TV music are aware of, I would imagine. (although someone who has had success 30 or 40 years before Taxi Music even existed, probably has little or no need for their services - but I could be wrong there too) ... but the main thing I learned from a few years membership with "Taxi" was that I am no darn good - and it just took a while for that obvious fact to sink in.
I was still living in the past, from the days when my very amateur demos COULD get a few publishing contracts of questionable worth, if enough copies were sent out (I would literally post out 200 tapes to almost every publisher and record company in the UK) ... and that was exciting ... hundreds of letters back saying more or less "Thanks but no thanks" and the occasional "do submit again" and once a year if I was lucky, an invitation to meet or chat or sign just a few songs - but the stars never quite lined up and the main reason, I can now accept, was that I didn't have sufficient "talent" - very little, in fact - but I DID REALLY REALLY enjoy trying! And that's the main thing!!
I remember when I was 16 and naive, almost laughing at stories of people my age now, sometimes finally having a hit or some other kind of success ... (in the monthly magazine published by the ISA -= International Songwriters Association, in Limerick, Ireland) ... I'm sure I wasn't the only kid who would be lying to himself for the next 20 years that he was hard done by in some respect if he had no "luck" in music - it's such an alluring industry, it kinda warps your perspective until you grow out of DREAMING (in my case at any rate) - I can think of worse ways I could have wasted my time and money so I always encourage others to at least have a good go at writing their own material - it's such a fulfilling occupation even at a hobbyist level.
Thanks for sharing your story with us.
I'm curious Dave how long is the run time for one of those small reels just said to the wife I'd like one of those o display in summer house, great work top man as usual thanks
Well it depends on the record speed and tape thickness. .5 mil tape vs 1mil vs 1.5mil. Obviously .5 is going to fit 3x the tape on same size reel as 1.5mil. I have a Sony that has 4 speeds. 15/16, 1 7/8, 3 3/4, and 7 1/2. So, saying that. The small real I had of Ampex 541 5-in reel is 1 mil polyester 900 ft. Running time at 3 and 3/4 IPS 45 minutes at seven and a half 22 1/2 minutes at 15 IPS 11 and a quarter and 90 minutes at 1 and 7/8. That's per side. Now a one and a half mil tape would contain 600 ft and .5 mil 1200 feet. 7-in reels obviously you're going to hold more and 10 and 1/2 in even more
I like those open reel decks. I could never afford one.
Same. I can only dream about owning one.
I promise you the novelty wears off very quickly - once you've compared it to the digital alternatives, tape soon becomes a pain you can do without. That's probably why so many change hands on Ebay - The tape costs a fortune, cleaning and degaussing the heads becomes tedious - some old tape from the 80's or thereabouts has become unusable - sticky - There;s always something going wrong - endless faffing about - if the back tension isn't right, the head to tape contact won;t be sufficient to actually record well or even at all, if the heads are pretty worn out - as i imagine many of them must be by now. I still LOVE looking at tape recorders and trying them out on the rare occasion I could afford one - but 4 months later I would always sell it again on ebay after it has sat there un used for three months lol. You can always get your money back if you don;t pay silly prices - check completed listings - you might get a bargain.
@@snowcraft40 $100 is too much? They are still many, many thousands of these machines about, but to get the performance they are capable of a new pinch wheel is one essential I'd recommend, so add 30 dollars, the one here was very bad. The reel idlers are not going to affect playback, apart from background noise.
@@stephenbrough8132 It does not wear off for me and I have 5
@@SDsailor7 I'm glad for you.
Quick question on camcorders...my HC1 now finally died on me. Moisture...and it do not reset as it did previously. Someone suggested a 100 ohm resistor soldered across the sensor. In south africa we don't get that cold weather to worry about condensation...not that I will ever take it outside for whatever reason. Just want to make sure about the value of the resistor. 100 ohm or if you can recommend another value I will appreciate it. Thanks for ALL your videos...just love it.
if it's the sensor that's bad that might do it because they typically are 100-200 ohms dry. you will need to disconnect the original sensor however because if it is shorted it'll still trip to do sensor just like if it's open. That's providing that that is what's causing the trouble it could be anything in that circuit including leaking capacitors thought the main board.
@@12voltvids thanks...wil give it a try and let you know what the outcome was.
Reel-Reel built with quality
Hi, have you done a video on the products you use in servicing equipment? In this video you mention 'Re-new,' there is also sprays for crackly volume pots and white graphite grease spray made by '3 in 1' for metal bearings, perhaps this is a future video idea on servicing tools you could do...?
Rubber renew is a product made by mg chemicals as is nutrol contact cleaner. 3 in 1 electric motor oil is just that non detergent sae20 oil. I have shown them in other videos.
@12voltsvids
You like that rock song in the beginning of the reel tape . Ive heard that on your channel before.Been listening too and watching your videos for some years now mite be like 10 years now
It's a music bakery royalty free cut.
Maybe one day 'you' also will have an idea what kind of glue to use, so that the idler doesn't run so rough afterwards?! Who knows.
The only problem with the glue that I used is it's getting kind of thick and drying out. Rubber spent obviously is the choice to use but the problem with it is once the jars been open and exposed to air the rest of the container starts to dry out
Gary at VM can resurface the idler wheels. I do like your idea for fixing these tape machines. Thanks for sharing. What is the name of the glue?
Yeah but what he charges to resurface is more than i charge to do the job.
@@12voltvids I have never used his service for that; but, indeed it is costly. I have a Sony that I will be trying your method on. Thanks for sharing!
@@TKELCH I have seen some other rollers done by others. 100 for a pinch roller redo haha laughable. I showed a r-r here a few years ago that had reman pinch and the flutter was unbearable. They had to be sent back and done again and that shipping cost was ultimately paid for by customer. I might make 100 or so repairing a unit so there. People don't want to spend much on these old machines. Spending 100 for a rubber roller means I have to charge 200 and 200 is over the budget on almost every case. I remember when pinch rollers were available from nakamichi and they were about 40 cost and people refused to change them. I changed plenty under warranty but out of warranty not too many.
What brand is the glue and where to obtain? TIA
Thanku sir
I am impressed by your ingenious solutions and thorough knowledge about the hardware. BUT the way your worktable is organized, parts are floating all around and mounting hardware is hidden under the UUT scares me…😂
Indeed! But I think it is part of his technical “charm” ! I love his knowledgeable and entertaining videos!
Have you ever seen the workspace of a real shop?. I have. Besides working in three one for 20 years every workshop that I ever visited was far worse than the clutter on my small bench and they had large benches. In fact the only place that the work dances work cluttered was Sony. That was only because their texts worked on one specific piece of equipment. One guy did televisions one guy did betamax one guy did cameras one guy did reel to reel the guy did cassette decks the other guy did amplifiers and receivers. The first shop I worked at what I was in high school looked like a bomb had been detonated in the back there were piles of ripped apart equipment everywhere being used to pick parts off of every bench was an absolute disaster and I don't know how the owner knew where anything was. He did and I trained at that place for a couple years when I was in high school. The shop I ended up working at for 20 years had one big bench the three guys were working on I was the fourth guy in there I got my own bench. It started out relatively organized but over the years got looking just as bad as the other bench even though we did clean it on a regular basis it didn't stay clean that long. Every shop I ever visited and I went to plenty as we all know each other or did. We shared tips with each other and winning the area would go in and visit the other guys because again we talked on the phone shared tips ordered parts from each other so I knew most of the other owners of shops and would go visit them they would come visit me when they were in the area. They all looked the same might have looked nice for what you can see from the storefront but walk around in behind that divider to the areas that the customers didn't see and they all look the same. Who was the exception there was the guy that bought the shop that I first learned the trade at which was across the street from the shop I worked at for 20 years. His shop looked like a hospital operating room everything was in its place the bench was spotless you could eat off of it. Didn't take long to figure out why his shop was so clean, it's because he had nothing to do he spent all his spare time just putting everything away between every job. He would take on one set fix it and then put everything away and clean up before he started the next one. he didn't stay in business very long after buying what had been a successful business. I don't do this for a living I do this more as a hobby and as a platform to produce content. I work full-time at my day job. When I'm not at my day job and I'm not actually fixing something in here or editing something I'm having to maintain my UA-cam channel and remove all the spam and duplicate comments. You would be amazed at how many people and this one really ticks me off will ask a question about something completely irrelevant usually regarding a piece of equipment that they have which I've never seen before never heard before because it's some model that was never sold on this side of the world and then they will proceed to post the same question over and over and over to about 20 different videos that I've posted over the years. Not a day goes by that I don't spend at least two to three hours going through the comments and deleting the duplicate posts on various videos. I don't know if people are dumb or something but when a post is made I get a copy of an email to me. They don't need to post the same question 10 times all that typically does is piss me off and they'll not get an answer even if I know it. And that's why I don't have time to clean my bench more regularly because I have to babysit all the dumbass questions I get every day. Which some days is as many as 500 messages. Obviously I don't get a chance to respond to everyone I'm sure you can understand why. Some people however don't get the message and they'll just keep repeating the same question over and over and over until they eventually find that they don't get answers to any questions because they're on the ban list. Old Johnny shithead is a prime example of that one he got banned about 7 years ago for being a troll like he has been on several other tech based channels I won't mention and he continues to file take down requests daily against all of us.
Will this work on a turntable or will it be too noisy?
Could you not double nut the wheel and place it in a drill and smooth with some 400 wet dry before install to make it smooth?
Or just leave it running on rewind and let it polish itself.
Belt around the edge of the tire, idler wheel turn table by dual
Good
Where did you purchase the belts for the VCR?
I salvaged them from wreckers. Have no idea where to get them now. The only shop I used to buy from closed years ago when the owner died and his son had no interest in the family business which happens a lot these days. Friend is a 3 generation jeweler none of his kids had any interest so business closing. Same with me. I'm now 3rd generation telco worker. Grandfather, uncle, cousin and me. My kids forget it. To much work for them.
Ooow you bodgy bugger ha ha :-D Just pulling your leg dave.
Sometimes you have to be inventive, i've made mods to mechanisms when there was no other way.
Rubber drive parts are a bugger.
My Teac X2000R motor is fried, can it be rebuilt?
I found on ebay a seller of rubber friction tires for recorders, check with "8pcs Idle Wheel Belt Loop Idler Rubber Ring Cassette Deck Tape for Akai Sony", perhaps they may accept a customized order
I actually have a set of tires for this model as I have a spare with busted cams.
@@12voltvids Before, in the 90's here in Europe, it was easy to order such universal tire sets in any parts stores, I don't know why it disappeared .... Anyway thank a lot for your demonstration.
@@Yoritomo3800 it was getting hard in the late 90s to get some of the sizes.
Do you have a link to were to buy those rubberbands? Thank you.
Hey Dave I must ask this question? Did you ever play football when you were younger? Your a big guy and not saying anything offensive just thought you did!
Not football. I was into Motorsports i raced motocross when i was younger and broke a few bones in the process. When i see knuckelheads riding motorcycles without helmets I just shake my head. That turban isn't going to save the rider when he comes off the bike andbitvis just a matter if when, not if. Yes we have helmet laws here but religion superceeds traffic laws and common sense.
@@12voltvids I agree with you about helmet laws stupid Florida says you don't have to have one! Shoot If I ever get a bike I sure will use one! My brother was into Motorsports as a kid also he was mostly Dirt bike racing!
@@Jammerk40 I still have my old dirt bike. It's very rare. A can am tnt250.
There was only 250 made.
46 years old, I bought it in 1977.
Akai
The drive spindle seems to have some runout. You'd think that a quality machine like that, wouldn't have it in such an important area.
Quality machine? At the time this would have been an entry level recorder. Probably sold for 150 new.
@@12voltvids Oh, I didn't know that.
@@johnb5519 it's funny the value that people put on these old real machines. Back in the day they were not that expensive in fact a high-end cassette deck was a lot more than a real to real deck back in the late seventies. I bought a gx260 brand new in around 1979. It was probably made a few years before that they've been sitting in the stereo shop for a while. I think I paid $450 or $500 for it. Brand new in the box. By comparison I bought my first vhsvcr at that same shop around the same time. That RCA VCT 201 set me back 2 grand. The gx260 if you're not familiar is a six head, Auto reverse reel-to-reel. It records both directions. Has three glass heads for each direction and a center capstan. I used to think it was a great deck and I still have it however the glass heads became a thorn in its side. It just refuses to play any tapes that have sticky shed. Those same tapes however will play perfect on the also 4000 or my teac 3440. Sure I have to clean the heads often but the tapes play without creating a screaching sound in the audio as they do on the glass head machine.
@@12voltvids Yeah, I think I recall your video where you talked about that. Must be nostalgia more than anything else, that people spend the money for.
where do I have my tape repaired AKAI NO SOUND
My Akai 1721W had the problem where the idler wheel is slipping while the tape is playing and spilling all over the tape which causes the problem. This is why I don’t like about Akai reel to reel tape recorders, because of the broken cam switch which were pot metal where it is about to break or deteriorate overtime. Panasonic and Sony are way better than Akai.
Yes Sony and teac for me. I have always been a teac / tascam fan. I have a Panasonic wired remote control for a cassette deck or reel to reel. It is compatable with my teac. Same plug same wiring.
Could you not have just shortened the tension spring?
I don't believe you unless you're living in the sticks like Humboldt County California lol. There's 10's of thousands of Revox R2R collectors worldwide. Take a walk outside of the sticks when you got a chance, but leave the rifle behind !
I live in a city and everything around here is high end. You can't get a tiny house under 1.4 million. Most in my neighborhood are 1.7 to 2.5 million. There are Tesla's everywhere. Lots of money here and nobody has reel to reel. Many have control 4 or higher systems. Lots of big systems with racks of brand new high end electronics. Some real nice turn tables but very few have cassette decks. See plenty of stand alone music servers. Tons of sonos systems in hones with speakers in every room hidden in walls. Again lots of high end gear and nobody had reel to reel. In fact i only know 3 people besides myself that have reel to reel and one of them has brought me many for service. One been sitting here for months awaiting pickup. I work in people's homes every day at my day job and I see everything that people have. Lots of Samsung frame TV's and tons of new OLED sets in the past year. Lots of sound bars too. The odd collector has vintage stereo equipment but no reel to reel.
What is the name of black glue ???
Mg chemicals speaker repair cement.
@@12voltvids Thanx sir
Ever try to microwave a idler tire?... seems the water would cover any metal that was exposed ...wouldn't a belt on a phono idler change the speed of the turntable?
Is this a turntable?
@@12voltvids No.... I asked a general question ... guess you don't know
@@bones007able that sounds like a future video. Fit a belt around an idler drive turntable wheel and check the speed before and after. It shouldn't have an effect as it is just a midway drive. The reduction is between the motor and platter
Lools like someone oiled entire mechanism, not so good if it go onto rubber idlers.
That a temporary fix glueing that on the tire .The proper way is place new rubber on the tire if the deck is worth that much too the customer.That fix is not going too last .I just don't agree with you on that repair everything else you repair yes .
I still have a glued on belt on my tape deck. Over 10 years working fine. Did that on rewind tire on my old betamax too.
Buy a Revox R2R and this problem is non-existent
Who would actually buy a r2r these days. They are being given away or found in the atic
@@12voltvidsThousands & thousands of analog audiophiles.
@@dubdoodle7191 Been in hundreds of audiophiles homes over the past few years. you know how many reel to reel setups I have seen? None, zero.
Nobody wants them. I get people t hat have old reel tapes that just want them digitized. Have zero interest in having a reel to reel.
When I do see one, it not usually in some high end audiophiles setup, its sitting out in the garage. I comment, oh you have an old reel to reel, and the response is usually, want it? That's how I ended up with about 15 of them. Even people that were collecting turn tables seems to have leveled off.
They are about as popular as DAT, which is not very popular either. Even my Teac 3340 is more of a show piece. It works but I don't use it. It does look cool as a display piece and gives me something to display my Betacam on.
@@12voltvids For starters toward your education: ua-cam.com/video/E_U_138f7s0/v-deo.html