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Broken Gear Wheel And Worn Out Sliding Pots Found In An Antique Philips Cassette Player

By on March 11, 2022
Philips cassette repair

how to fix Philips cassette player

This antique Cassette Recorder was brought to me by my regular customer from a faraway place and was one among the six he brought at a time. The set looked lying unused for quite a long time. I opened and cleaned the set thoroughly. Found broken pieces of some wheel lying around. So, dismantled the whole set and dismantled the mechanism assembly to locate which wheel was broken.

REPAIRING PHILIPS CASSETTE PLAYER

As you can see from the above picture, the wheel was made of celluloid and was engaging the play wheel.

My hunt with techie friends helped me fetch the exact replacement along with the original set of pinch roller and I replaced this wheel:

gear wheel cassette player

I lubricated the wheels with silicon grease and applied power to the motor and found that the mechanism was working well. Surprisingly, there was no need to change the belt and it was found in tact. As the set was found having undergone servicing before, perhaps the previous technician had replaced it.

I did a thorough retouch of all solders, in the process of which I also replaced all the electrolytic caps on the board. Found that the volume, Bass and Treble controls had rusted badly and the tracks were worn out. I had to spray WD40 and apply pressure for moving the controls up and down. The controls were found open when checked in multimeter.

potentiometer repair

So hunted for a 10K,  B type, 45mm length slip locking sliding type volume controls, as these were not available in the market. After sending messages to around 200 of my contacts, one spares parts dealer helped me locate an antique parts dealer in Indore, Madya Pradesh. I spoke to him and paid money by Google Pay and bought ten pieces, planning to keep these rare to get parts in stock. The pots were found original in its packing!  Removed and fixed the new pots, which were found to be exact replacement for size of pot and its height.

fixing philips cassette player

After fixing these back, applied power and found that the tape was not moving because the pinch roller had worn out. So replaced it with the original I got from my techie friend. The set worked perfectly well. The head actually needed replacement, as recording was not good enough.



But customer did not want to do any recording and further the play was really good. So, I did not replace the head though I had a spare one in stock. I allowed it to run for several hours. Mission accomplished very well with utmost satisfaction causing it to jump and join others in the bag! (LOL)

bad components in cassette player

Special Notes: From this article, one can learn (1) Never give up looking for parts and solutions. Hunt, hunt and hunt until you get what you want, as the aim is to bring the device back to working condition. (2) Never ever return an old device without retouching solder joints all around the board and replacing all the electrolytic capacitors, especially when the set has been lying unused for a prolonged time. (3) Why the customer is bringing such antique sets? It is because of his love for it. We should reciprocate that feeling and never spare our efforts to restore it back to the original condition. (4) Servicing is not always for money, but the thrill we get when we accomplish the results that fetch utmost satisfaction to the customer.

This article was prepared for you by Parasuraman Subramanian from India. He is 72 years old and has more than 30 years’ experience in handling antique equipment like Valve Radio, Amps, Reel Tape Recorders and currently studying latest tech-classes conducted by Kerala State Electronics Technicians’ Association. He has done graduation in BBA degree, private diploma in Radio Engineering and retired as MD of a USA company. Presently working as Consultant to Hospital and other institutions.

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19 Comments

  1. Waleed Rishmawi

    March 11, 2022 at 10:14 pm

    As always good job on the repair although rust like that is way beyond repair ( in my opinion) but you did it and the device is up and running. Have a blessed day

    Likes(2)Dislikes(0)
    • Parasuraman Subramanian

      March 12, 2022 at 5:52 pm

      Many thanks!

      Likes(1)Dislikes(0)
  2. ANIL KUMAR V K

    March 11, 2022 at 11:34 pm

    Old is gold, excellent work Sir

    Likes(1)Dislikes(0)
    • Parasuraman Subramanian

      March 12, 2022 at 5:52 pm

      Many thanks!

      Likes(0)Dislikes(0)
  3. Albert van Bemmelen

    March 11, 2022 at 11:39 pm

    We indeed should always try to fix older equipment with love and attention never sparing our efforts to restore it back to the original condition. Why I recently fixed 2 of my now about 30 year old retro ZX Spectrum computers that had internally worn out defect flexprint folie based keyboard pads which needed new microswitch keyboard replacements. And I added a DivMMC SD card unit because none of the old original Sinclair MicroDrive microtapes worked anymore. This DivMMC SD card drive is not only faster but also doesn't wear out like the microdrive tapes do. And now all tape recorded software can be digitized to SD card from TAPE WAVE Audio records to TZX digital files and converted to xxx.TAP digital divMMC's ESXDOS compatible files. This also works for all other Frequency Shift Keying Tape recorded programs like for Commodore C64, Apple II and all other now Retro personal computers.

    Likes(1)Dislikes(0)
    • Parasuraman Subramanian

      March 12, 2022 at 5:54 pm

      Many thanks for sharing your lovely expert experience! A lot of valuable tips too!

      Likes(0)Dislikes(0)
  4. Bobby Y

    March 12, 2022 at 3:00 pm

    I admire your "Hunt, hunt and hunt until you get what you want.." solution. That sliding volume control is hard to find. Thank you for sharing sir.

    Likes(1)Dislikes(0)
    • Parasuraman Subramanian

      March 13, 2022 at 12:48 am

      Many thanks!

      Likes(0)Dislikes(0)
  5. Tayo

    March 12, 2022 at 11:35 pm

    Well done Sir and very inspiring postface!

    Likes(1)Dislikes(0)
    • Parasuraman S

      March 13, 2022 at 9:02 pm

      Many thanks!

      Likes(0)Dislikes(0)
  6. Mohamed

    March 13, 2022 at 1:39 am

    Well done sir! If you ever have a problem with a difficult to find gear wheel, check with someone who has a 3d printer. Gears are real easy to print. They easy to design as well in freecad. Check out some YouTube videos or Google. Keep up the good work.

    Likes(2)Dislikes(0)
    • Parasuraman S

      March 13, 2022 at 9:02 pm

      Sure! Shall try to locate one nearby!

      Likes(0)Dislikes(0)
  7. Anwar Shiekh

    March 13, 2022 at 3:36 am

    Most impressive how you are able to hunt down parts.

    Likes(1)Dislikes(0)
    • Parasuraman S

      March 13, 2022 at 9:03 pm

      Many thanks!

      Likes(0)Dislikes(0)
  8. Babu M S

    March 13, 2022 at 2:19 pm

    Excellent work sir. I like very much your special notes.thank you very much for sharing.

    Likes(1)Dislikes(0)
    • Parasuraman S

      March 13, 2022 at 9:03 pm

      Many thanks, dear!

      Likes(0)Dislikes(0)
  9. Yogesh Panchal

    March 14, 2022 at 11:05 pm

    Great Job! Sir.

    Likes(1)Dislikes(0)
    • Parasuraman S

      March 15, 2022 at 8:48 pm

      Many thanks, dear!

      Likes(0)Dislikes(0)
  10. Stephen Bush

    August 12, 2023 at 11:58 pm

    I have a Philips cassette transport in a 1980s Grundig unit where the wheel has done the same. Can I ask where you got the replacement from? I could 3D print one if I had a template.

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