Advice needed: Otari MX5050 MkIII8 - worth fixing up?

I had a 238 for years. Great machines.
At first I had one of those alesis 16 channel boards. I have forgotten the name, but it was the one that had everything on a carbon board.

It was ok, real clean with no personality.
Then i used it with an m520 board and was amazed. I was always in disbelief that it was cassette
The 238 with the remote is life made easy.

Despite the narrow track width, I never needed a safety track for the timecode.
Always used all the tracks. 1 thru 7 for music, and track 8 for timecode.

I still have a fondness in my heart for those units.
 
It is too bad it was treated this way, I though the one I worked on was bad this is yet another step in the wrong direction. New Pinch Roller from Terry, Some cleaning off to see what you have. Two heads lap or inspections by John French and then probably some new caps and oiling and then whatever else is found.
The unit might take a paint job on the front panel. All depends on what level you want to restore it.
People if you are going to store something put it in a plastic bag and set it on something off the ground a couple of feet. You would have saved a lot more money if these practices were taken.
 
Dunno man, I tried running the transport again this morning, no response. I'd think the first thing I'd have to do is what, take a look at the board connected to the controls? And figure out why the capstan doesn't turn. Both these things are completely beyond me, and I wish I could just pass this along to someone who knows what they're doing.
 
I'd rather not give out a figure, but not much, not enough to feel like an idiot just for picking it up in the first place. If I can't sell it whole as a parts machine, I'll be ok talking about prices and stuff like that. I think I'd make money selling any major part off it, and I'd probably make quite a decent sum parting it out, enough to buy a different multitrack if I bide my time and get a good deal. Still, from your guys' guesses about the likelihood of fixing it, I'd rather make less and sell it whole to someone who would restore it, but still, I'd like to make something. Hope you understand :)
 
Wow! I just saw the pics on a real screen rather than my phone. Yikes! That girl needs some work!
 
It's a bit rough, yeah.

Found something else out today: that regular clicking sound under the hood, a solenoid or something engaging, coincides with with the capstan attempting to turn. Loose belt, perhaps?
 
Hammerstone said:
I'd rather not give out a figure, but not much, not enough to feel like an idiot just for picking it up in the first place. If I can't sell it whole as a parts machine, I'll be ok talking about prices and stuff like that. I think I'd make money selling any major part off it, and I'd probably make quite a decent sum parting it out, enough to buy a different multitrack if I bide my time and get a good deal. Still, from your guys' guesses about the likelihood of fixing it, I'd rather make less and sell it whole to someone who would restore it, but still, I'd like to make something. Hope you understand :)
Click to expand...

Sure, makes sense. Ain't no thang.
 
Thanks, that actually seems like good news. And why the reels would spin one day and not the next? I was thinking something with the controls, but you probably know better than I.

I'm compiling a to-do list, so let me see if I got this right.

-Open up machine, which will require drilling a few of the screws, as they are corroded.
-Give it as thorough cleaning as I can manage
-Look at the control board as one day the reel motors worked, now they don't. Am I on the right track here?
(OK, so here's where I have to start spending money, don't want to make that decision just quite yet)
-New capstan belt (I see the belts for the 1/4" decks on the bay for $15, dunno if they work for the 1/2" machines or not)
-Pinch roller off to Terry ($40) (I suppose I could resell this later if it comes to that)
-a reel of tape and takeup reel. ($30-50 I'd estimate, depending on what I can find on the bay)
Now, I believe that that is really all I need to test the transport and see if it's worth it to continue with the restoration.
-a set of tension arms, which I've seen on the bay before but not recently and I have no idea how much they'd cost
-new tape counter (or cleaned out?)
-new pitch control knob (or cleaned out?)
-get rid of all corrosion (Cosmetics don't bother me, so I don't intend to worry about the paint if it's not necessary for operation)
-take apart reel motors and clean? The thought doesn't really excite me...

So I'm still working on getting the manual, got it downloaded, but getting Winzip is taking forever...
 
Last edited:
Winzip? :eek:

Are you on Windows 98? :D

All the OS's from XP and up have a zip/unzip utility program built in. Just right click on the compressed folder and it should show up in the context menu. Once found select the "extract all" option.



Cheers! :)
 
Not for .rar files, I guess. I got it worked out, now I have to see if the manual will actually help me at all...
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top