Hello, steemians, and welcome to the workshop, eh!
I was saving this post for a day when I didn't have something else to post about, and it looks like today is that day.
This is a 4 track recording deck that I've had for a long time that didn't work when it was given to me. I just stored it for a lot of years because I had no real use for it at the time, and I didn't have the ambition to fix it. However, after working on my stereo reel to reel deck a couple of weeks ago, I decided to try fixing this deck also. This is the the TEAC model 2340SX.
I wasn't sure what the problem was when I put it on the bench so I had to test it to see what was going on. It turned out that the pinch roller arm wouldn't move when you pushed the play button, it was stuck. That meant I had to take it apart to get at the pinch roller arm.
I had to remove a couple of circuit boards to get to the flywheel. The pinch roller arm is under the flywheel.
Then I had to pull the flywheel out to get to the pinch roller. The flywheel shaft is what the pinch roller is pushed up against to move the tape across the heads. It was "interesting" getting the flywheel out of the deck, but I managed to get it out without breaking anything, which I thought was a pretty good thing. With the flywheel out, you can see the pinch roller arm.
The flywheel arm bushing was just stuck to the post it rides on due to the grease basically turning into glue. I sprayed a bit of penetrating oil on both ends of the bushing and tried to work it in so that the arm would move at least enough to allow me to pull the arm off the shaft. Of course, that was another "interesting" process, because I had to remove the flywheel bearing assembly to get the pinch roller arm out, it sits behind two of the flanges of the bearing assembly. I actually forgot to take a picture of the deck with that assembly removed.
After getting everything apart, I cleaned up all the parts and relubricated everything that needed it, and put it back together. That was easier than taking it apart, for the most part. The flywheel drivebelt seemed to be in good condition, so I didn't worry about that when I put it back together. Then I gave it the first test without a tape in it, and it seemed to be working properly, so I put one of my pre-recorded tapes on it, put in stereo playback mode, and played the tape. That worked well, so I tested the recording function by recording some music from a CD player onto a blank tape. That also worked well, so I was able to put the bottom cover and one of the side covers back on it. I need to find more screws for the back cover, it's been off the machine for so long that the screws are gone. I think I've moved at least twice since I've had this thing and who knows where the screws might have gone.
Edit- I actually found the bag with the screws for this tape deck while I was looking for something else today, so I'm a happy camper now. :-)
I still haven't tried multitrack recording with this deck, there's actually more work involved with that than there is with recording on the computer. One of these days I'm going to try it, when I have the ambition.
Well, that's all I have for this post, I hope you found it interesting!
Thanks for stopping by and checking out my post, eh!
As always, feel free to leave a comment or a question if you would like.
May the Steem Force be with you!