Restoring old Tape Player

[MRC01]

I've decided to restore my brother's old tape player from the early 1980s. When I put in batteries, the motor spins. So it looks like all it needs is a new set of belts. While I'm at it I'll clean up stuff in side. I still have my old tape head demagnetizer wand. Anything else I should do? Lubricate anything?

 

[Harmonie]

Clean the head(s) with alcohol to remove the tape's depot due to friction >> that would be the last step (once everything works well).

 

[MRC01]

Of course, after demagnetizing. I'm wondering about whether to oil the axles of the various spindles. Will it help, or will it just gum things up?

 

[Harmonie]

I would be careful and avoid oil. It's a portable device you have and the oil might get in contact with areas you don't wish to.
Ask @restorer-john, he has the knowledge.

 

[solderdude]

Also have a look at the pressure roller.
You might wanna check that. Best not to use alcohol for that. instead let it rotate and push a fine sandpaper against it till it is 'matt' again.

Remove the spindle (it's usually held by a washer) and clean the hole it is in and the spot where the spindle meets the 'bearing' (bronze, don't need lubrication it is the lubrication).
Cleaning it should suffice. Maybe just wetting it with sewing machine oil. Don't let the oil wet the capstan itself. The washer that holds it in place should prevent that.

 

[BinkieHuckerback]

Send it to TechMoan

 

[Harmonie]

Also have a look at the pressure roller.
You might wanna check that. Best not to use alcohol for that. instead let it rotate and push a fine sandpaper against it till it is 'matt' again.

Very true.
Not related, but that applies also to pressure rollers in printers which do not grab the paper any-more

 

[restorer-john]

Most likely the playback head itself will be corroded from oxide and sitting unused for 30+ years. It will need careful cleaning and likely polishing before you run tapes through it.

Lift up the PCB and remove the mech. Check the supply and takeup idler and ensure the friction washer/s are in decent condition. FF and REW from each end of a tape to the other and check it has enough torque and the tape packs nicely in the shell.

The pinch roller will need attention. Look to see how swollen/shiny it is, and if following the fine sandpaper route (as above) be very careful- use fine and take your time. I often remove pinch rollers and spin them with an offset driven fine diamond straight engraver rod- does the same thing except in a more controlled manner. Remove/clean the flywheel bearing and lubricate with a tiny drop of sewing machine oil in the sintered bearing. Watch out for at least one white/clear washer, sometimes there are three- two on the rear of the flywheel up against the bearing- do not lose them. Clean the capstan. Use a small piece of card soaked in sewing mach oil, slide it under the motor pulley and rub it on the top motor shaft/bearing- that will lubricate the upper bearing enough. Do not attempt to lubricate the commutator end of the motor.

Clean out the foam bits from the battery compartment. Clean the H/P socket with contact cleaner and the twin vol sliders. If you have a known tape with a spot frequency, use it to trim the speed trimpot if there is one.

 

[MRC01]

All done. Thanks for the tips. It's fully resurrected. It did run slow and I adjusted the speed. Didn't have a frequency tape, so I played an old tape in sync with the CD of the same song, got it within 1 second for a 5 minute song. Not perfect but good enough for this old thing.

 

[MRC01]

Lest I forget to mention, boy are we spoiled when it comes to sound quality! The sonic limitations of cassette tape are so obvious, everything Amir measures here: SNR noise/hiss, limited frequency response, distortion, wow flutter. I was going to say that it could be good training for detecting certain kinds of distortion, but it's probably not such good training because the limitations are so obvious, it's too easy.

But, it is nice to have this old thing working again after all these years. And it makes me appreciate how good we have things today.

 

[paddycrow]

I was going to recommend replacing all the rubber parts, but it looks like you're done. I have an old TEAC Z-5000 deck that quit working a number of years ago. I sent it to a guy in the Chicago area, he got it in tip top shape. He said that in addition to the belt, the rubber rollers were also hard and dried up. Unfortunately, I can't recall the name of his business.

Based on how long it lasted with original equipment, it should last the rest of my lifetime. I don't use it much anymore, just have a few old tapes that are worth saving. You're right about the quality of the recording, even with high end equipment.

EDIT: I found him, it was Skywave Tape Deck Repair.

 

[MRC01]

The rubber pinch rollers weren't cracked, and still had resiliency. @restorer-john's advice worked well. I ran the rubber pinch rollers against fine emery paper which gently scrubbed off a thin oxidized outer layer. Then cleaned the new surface exposed underneath.

The hardest part was the speed adjustment. The speed control trimpot was quite sensitive, one milliscrump of motion made a BIG difference in speed. I exercised the trimpot over its entire range a few times to smooth it out (much like you might do to clean a volume knob by moving it back and forth several times). That helped but it still took a good 30 minutes of tweaking to get it right.