Hammerstone
Out of style
Hey guys, give me your opinions here. I've been sitting on this machine for more than three years now (hard to believe), still don't know if it's worth it to me to hang onto it. I got it for cheap from a guy who said it belonged to a friend of his, evidently his friend had been a musician but had health problems and had all his equipment stored in a barn for the better part of a decade until he passed away.
It's pretty rough on the outside, has some sort of corrosion on a few of the metal parts, and a few other problems. The buttons for the auto locator stick, as does the pitch control knob, the tension arms are corroded, and the pinch roller will have to be replaced. At least the heads don't look too bad to me, but tell me what you think:
(that green stuff between the tracks came right off with some 91% alcohol, was gonna take another couple pics but the batteries died)
I've also never peeked inside before today, I was scared that it would just be a mess, but it seems relatively clean, there is (again) some corrosion on some of the metal bracing that I can see, but from what I can tell the insides look more like they could use a good cleaning at the worst.
Sorry there aren't more pictures of the insides, again, the camera's batteries ran out and I don't have any spares unfortunately. Also, some of the screws on the top plate are corroded and extremely soft, I stripped them almost immediately, so they'll have to be drilled.
It's taken 3.5 years and an impending move to make me wonder if it's worth it for me to cart around a (currently) dead piece of equipment for another year or two trying to fix it up, or if I should try to make some money parting it out.
First question is, is it safe to power it up, or should I wait until I can take it apart more and give it a good cleaning?
Second question, from what you guys have seen so far and what I've told you, do you think it's repairable, or should I start breaking it down and selling it off? (In which case, is anyone interested in 8-track Otari 5050 parts? Or a whole parts machine?)
Tell me what you guys think.
It's pretty rough on the outside, has some sort of corrosion on a few of the metal parts, and a few other problems. The buttons for the auto locator stick, as does the pitch control knob, the tension arms are corroded, and the pinch roller will have to be replaced. At least the heads don't look too bad to me, but tell me what you think:
(that green stuff between the tracks came right off with some 91% alcohol, was gonna take another couple pics but the batteries died)
I've also never peeked inside before today, I was scared that it would just be a mess, but it seems relatively clean, there is (again) some corrosion on some of the metal bracing that I can see, but from what I can tell the insides look more like they could use a good cleaning at the worst.
Sorry there aren't more pictures of the insides, again, the camera's batteries ran out and I don't have any spares unfortunately. Also, some of the screws on the top plate are corroded and extremely soft, I stripped them almost immediately, so they'll have to be drilled.
It's taken 3.5 years and an impending move to make me wonder if it's worth it for me to cart around a (currently) dead piece of equipment for another year or two trying to fix it up, or if I should try to make some money parting it out.
First question is, is it safe to power it up, or should I wait until I can take it apart more and give it a good cleaning?
Second question, from what you guys have seen so far and what I've told you, do you think it's repairable, or should I start breaking it down and selling it off? (In which case, is anyone interested in 8-track Otari 5050 parts? Or a whole parts machine?)
Tell me what you guys think.
