Corrected A Tampered Japanese Make Tascam Model 112R Tape Deck
This was the set brought by a regular customer along with a Sony DVD Player. The complaint on this Deck was that it stopped playing and it was taken to a technician close to his house assuming that it could only be a problem with the belt. This was an auto-reverse set with three motors; one for capstan and one for loading the mechanism and turning the head in the direction selected and another for collection of tape & FF/REW functions. There were two capstans with two pinch rollers for enabling playing both sides of the cassette. I removed the cover and found the inside very neat and clean, which saved some work for me. Then when I played the deck, it just turned and stopped and went to protection mode, indicating that all was not well with the mechanism. The main belt has to be routed so as to enable clockwise rotation of one capstan and anti-clockwise rotation of other. But the belt was not routed properly.
So I took out the mechanism assembly, after removing the cassette door and unscrewing two screws at the bottom. Then unscrewed the motor holding plate from the three screws; one at the bottom and two on the sides. Then removed the belt and rolled it around the nearest capstan and took it to the top of the other capstan and placed it around it keeping it in proper position. The tension of the flat belt was good enough and it was new. The motor was of CW type. (Runs in Clock Wise direction only). Then checked the tension of belt on the loading motor and found it to be slagging a bit. So replaced it with a correct belt from my stock. Now let us have a look at the inside of this lovely Deck:
Then re-fixed the back plate of the motor behind the capstan wheels as how it was before. Then applied power and played the cassette using all the functions on the touch buttons: Play forward, Play reverse, REW/FF & Pause.
Everything worked very well. I allowed the mechanism to run for several hours before fixing it back to the cabinet.
Thus what looked like a very complicated problem got solved by simple re-arrangement of belt and replacement of another with the correct size. Unfortunately, unskilled technicians tamper with such costly and lovely sets and in this case, I understood that even the customer tried. These are very rare antique collections and one should be careful and choosy about what needs to be done instead of taking such risks. Anyhow, the mission got accomplished with satisfaction getting added to the collection!
This article was prepared for you by Parasuraman Subramanian from India. He is 74 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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You may check on his previous article on It’s A Technician’s Pride To Handle Such Antiques Sets – AKAI 2-IN-1 AJ490-FS
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