Tascam atr 60/8

faelucho

New member
Hello, I am new to this forum, first post! first of all thank you so much for all your help, as I have been a reader of this forum for quite a while, but this is my second time writing, so thank you in advance for any help you can give me.

I am thinking of buying a tascam atr60/8 with vumeters and NR unit for a good price here in Spain (about 400 euros)

The person selling it has not a clue about tape machines, even less than me!

he sent me pictures of the heads and sent it to a technician for testing.

Here is what he's told me. The guy tried by bouncing 8 tracks to 1/2" from some old recordings of his studio with the machine and said that all audio path is in working condition, everything appears to be good.

BUT, that there seems to be a problem with the transport (syncro he called it, but I guess thats what they call it here in spanish?) That everything works properly but the play and rewind buttons need to be pushed several times in order to work. So the transport DOES work but its kind of stubborn and needs to be pressed several times in order to play, rewind, etc. So he says that in the long run if I plan to work with the machine for long periods of time this can come as a hassle.

So I don't know how bad of a problem this is, maybe some cleaning can fix it?

I do a lot of DIY repairing of my equipment at the studio, so I could open the machine and go for an easy fix if needed.

The machine is not in my hometown so I actually have to drive to go buy it, its a 6 hour drive so please if anyone can help me with any experience with this , just to know how much of a problem this is and if fixing it is a possibility I could take that drive and repair it once having bought it.

In this parts is hard to find this machine or any 8 track 1/2" for that matter, and if so, they don't even come close to this price, so I believe its a bargain but not sure if its worth it.


also here are pictures of the heads, how do they look to you? Not the best pictures I know but its what I've got this far.

thank you in advance for any help, I'm truly grateful for anyones advice!
 

Attachments

  • 3.JPG
    3.JPG
    248.5 KB · Views: 306
  • 2.JPG
    2.JPG
    230.2 KB · Views: 307
  • 1.JPG
    1.JPG
    221.6 KB · Views: 329
  • 4.JPG
    4.JPG
    237.7 KB · Views: 302
The head wear looks pretty minimal and even top to bottom. So the mechanical alignment is good.

About the transport issue. Most likely its just dirty micro switches which are located at the bottom of the transport button assembly which can be removed from the top(main face plate) panel. If you get the manual with the machine, there will be diagrams that show how the parts all fit together.

Also, if the switches can not be cleaned or replaced, you could also look into getting a remote control for the machine which could be either the RC-65 basic unit or the AQ-65 which is a 10 point auto locator with transport controls. Both of those are pretty rare items though.

Good luck!

Cheers! :)
 
I think that's a very good price, especially for Europe and also considering that the most costly parts to replace (the heads) have, like Ghost said, minimal ware. That's also an indication that the machine sat for a long time and all other parts are not worn out. All good news. Likely dirty / oxidized micro switches as Ghost mentioned. You said you do a lot of DYI repairs and in that case that's another plus. If there's a manual that comes with the machine, you're golden. If not, try to score one.
 
thanks for your answer!

I supposed that it could be some cleaning. The control is a good idea, will be on the lookout for one if needed.

I've sent John French pictures already, but still asked the seller to take better photos.

Any way I will go for it and look to fix the transport, the seller has the manual too so I'll be able to look at the buttons and try to repair it myself.

I've thought of relapping heads in the future for sure, but living in Spain I would need to send them to John, so I will look for someone going there.

I can send the entire block to him right? so he can align everything too?


The heads do look worn, but maybe still has some life left?

well, thanks again
 
I think they have a lot of life left but John is the expert to ask.

The head block, yes, can be removed and sent to John. You just unplug the head's 3 wiring harnesses and undo the bolts which hold the block down...should you decide to do a re-lap later on.

Cheers! :)
 
That,s a pretty nice machine. I have owned ATR 2 , 16 and 24 track. The 2 and 16 where atr the 24 track maybe was the model up. That machine is more solid than a tascam trs8 or a fostex 8 track. If the caps are starting to go bad in the channels and else where it gets very expensive. It,s always nice to have many spare parts or an extra machine.
I have drivin 6-10 hours before to get machines. Good luck.
 
Hello guys!!

so I'm about to take the trip and the seller contacts me about some possible problems with the machine.

There seems to be like a blurry spot on the second head on the first channel, I saw this before but he told me all audio had been checked, but it now seems to maybe be a problem.

Can you see that stain? could this be fixed with cleaning of the heads??

do you think that a relap wi=ould fix this in any case?

I'm about to take a long drive so not sure what to make out of that stain on the head.

PLease any help could really help me right now??? as I plan on driving for it this monday.

I've written John French but no answer yet.

Of course I will take the price down because of that, but maybe someone has experience with this?

thanks in advance once more for all your help!
 
If it is just a "stain", it should be able to be cleaned off with a good scrubbing with isopropyl alcohol or methanol if its really caked on, ala sticky shed residue.

If its anything other then a stain, I'm not sure what to say without seeing it in person.

Good luck.

Cheers! :)
 
I think...

the heads look like-new, lifters show no wear, save for some sticky shed on one of the posts.

The crown, contact area of the heads still have that curved appearance of a new head, not a flat spot like a used head.
I'd say if all the components and interconnect cables are accounted for, go for it.

I'm not as familiar with the ATR60, but on the MS16 there was an arming module that's separate from the VU meter module that always "seems" to go missing. I suppose if you've had an ATR60/2, 16 & 24 then the modules will be well known & no mystery.

Be careful & good luck. Looks like a no-use machine to me.
:spank::eek:;)
 
Ok So I’m back from the trip and got the machine with me!!

Everything seemed to come together as the day I was going to test it I received an answer fro John French about the heads saying they looked very good with life left in them and offered good prices for relaxing or even new ones! And when I got there the heads were clean and the stain appears to be gone!

Now for the testing part. The seller said a technician tried the machine and made a bounce with it from another deck, and apart from the tranport craziness everything is ok. It appears the machine has had all its caps changed by previous owner, this the technician confirmed, and pinch roller appears ing greatshape so do the lifters! so this was great news!


EVEN THOUGH I didn’t have that much time to try it out, just got to make sure the signal got to the vumeters, every cable was there, and everything turns on, and tried out all the switches.

I loaded a tape he had and noticed that the NAB adapters are in pretty bad shape, one original tascam that appears to be faulty and another one (don’t know what brand) that uses a couple of washers to get the right distance!

Everything appeared ok, the only problem of course was the craziness of the transport controls, they went ll over the place, when pressing PLAY all buttons seemed to light on and machine went crazy. Then after turning it on and off again something different happened.

But the problem I didn’t get is that the rec buttons for arming tracks appears to not be working, none of the lights come on, but everything else on the module works OK. But as I knew the price is great and have the original manual with me, went ahead and took a risk and brought it home. I believe as the heads are ok anything else I can fix with a little patience.


SO NOW HOME. I don’t have any tape yet, but went ahead and turned everything on again. And I have some questions, maybe someone can help me with:

1. The capstan is always moving, is this normal?

2. I raised the lifters and tried the transport and everything seems to be running smooth!!! How come? could this have something to do with the NAB adapters that didn’t hold the tapes properly? I don’t know what happened but whenI tested it everything went crazy and now without tape everything works OK.

3. The rec buttons still don’t work!!!? I’m pretty sure I’m doing something wrong. Is there something I should check for? something not connected? Every vomiter registers audio when trying it out but just can’t get the tracks armed.


Well I’ve been diving deep into the manual and followed rec procedures but still no dice with arming tracks.

So any help anyone can give me will truly be appreciated.

once again sincerely,

Rafael



IMG_4212.jpgIMG_4211.jpgIMG_4210.jpgIMG_4209.jpg
 
Answers.

1- Yes, this is normal if the power is on.

2- Hard to say when it comes to logic problems, Might need a new eprom chip or an inspection of the chip that's in it for oxidized contacts or it could be a tensioning issue or even something else all together.

3- track arming issue might be due to poor contact on the wiring harness that connects that switching module to the rest of the deck. Try re-seating the multi-pin connector and cleaning the contacts on both sides of the harness connector.

Glad to hear the heads are OK...most of us here suspected they were fine. ;)

Cheers! :)
 
I don't know the ATR machines, but on the TSR/MSR series, there is a roller which tells the microprocessor how fast the tape is travelling and in what direction. If it doesn't get that information or it gets garbled information back, the transport will go pretty crazy. Typically it will keep accelerating and doesn't respond to the STOP command.

This can happen if the tape is threaded wrong, or if there is something wrong with the roller/tach circuit. Usually it's implemented as a pattern on the bottom of the roller, and a set of LEDs and photosensors. Often the pattern is a disk glued to the base of the roller, and if it becomes detached it's going to cause problems.

With the capstan, on TASCAM machines the capstan usually turns only when tape is threaded and the tension arms are lifted. The ATRs might be always-on like a Revox, but personally I'd expect them to be wired to one of the tension arms.
 
OK!

thank you for the quick replies, will check everything out and keep posted!!

once again truly thankful for all the help!
 
OK, so I've done some tests

I've opened the machine following the manual, got to remove the transport control Assembly and removed the rec arming module.

I went ahead and dismanteled the transport to look at the contacts and maybe look for something disoldered.


TRANSPORT MODULE:

I found after cleaning it that there seems to be a sticky residue, and I'm using dry contact cleaner so this can't be it. Maybe someone silled a drink or something over the buttons, could this be the problem with the transport mechanism?

after cleaning it I connected it back again without the cover and started the mahcine and tried it out. Something is different, it doesn't respond so good anymore, can it be that t=now the machine is laid on its back?

suddenly the play, rew and ff buttons al lighted up and the machine started moving things a la crazy!, then it stops, and the numbers disappear on the control, and when pushing STOP something appeared on the screen LL.LL just appearing when pressing STOP.

Anyone have any idea on this?

I've cleaned the cables and connections, and tried removing the sticky residue but it still appears to be there.


REC ARMING MODULE:

disconnected it, cleaned the cables and the lights still don't come on, no red lights working, so I'm guessing because all the lights are off it means its not a light problem, its as if some option was selected or some button I need to depress that I don't know of.

OK will keep on accepting suggestions, will try to clean the sticky residue.
 
Be careful if you remove the tach wheel. There is a thin fragile fan thing on the back of it that triggers the foto sensor. You have to remove the 2 screws that hold the foto sensor and move it out of the way. Then use a 1.5mm allen wrench and remove the cap on the tach wheel. A phillips head screw holds the wheel in place. The tach wheel controls speed and direction. The 30-60 series machines were wave soldered. Its possible some of the solder joints have gone bad.
 
Be careful if you remove the tach wheel. There is a thin fragile fan thing on the back of it that triggers the foto sensor. You have to remove the 2 screws that hold the foto sensor and move it out of the way. Then use a 1.5mm allen wrench and remove the cap on the tach wheel. A phillips head screw holds the wheel in place. The tach wheel controls speed and direction. The 30-60 series machines were wave soldered. Its possible some of the solder joints have gone bad.

Just noticed that I was testing the deck with the transport touching the metal case inside, so put it aside and now seems to work OK, something to do with the grounding??

I still can't get the REC buttons to light up though.
 
Hopefully it's a grounding/electrical issue, but the fact that garbage appeared in the display is worrying. That may indicate a problem on the microprocessor side, in which case the tach wheel is probably not to blame.

I'm not sure what to suggest because I don't know how the ATR-60 is implemented. I know the TSR-8 appears to have a masked ROM inside the microcontroller, whereas the MSR-24 has a separate EPROM. If the ATR-60 uses an EPROM, be aware that they can lose their programming over time. I'm not sure how you'd go about fixing it if that is the problem. Hopefully it's something more mundane.
 
UPDATE:

So I have the transport working fine now, tried it many times and all seems to be working OK.

I found out that one fuse was burned!

So today I went and replacedall the fuses with new ones, and I was hoping this would fix the problem with the REC arming switches lights!, but NO!


I did get to see though that the REC switches DO work, because when getting the machine on rec mode the lights on the Vumeter module DO work perfectly, so the switches seem to be working!!

So I thought maybe the lights where bad, so I went ahead and changed one light with another I know works but this only proved that the light bul is working, so lights are not the problem.

So I know the switches work, but the lights don't turn ON ont he rec module!!

any ideas?

Already have tape on the way to try it out, but I can't get why this lights don't turnON!!! all solder pints look good on the PCB for the switches, so how come it sends signal to the lights on the VUMETERS but doesn't send signal to its own light??
 
Have you done a voltage check with a meter on the power supply that delivers the power to those LEDs? If you can trace those down, you might be able to find where the voltage disappears and hopefully find the issue. Might be something as simple as a bad ground somewhere along the way, a bad diode, etc.

Glad to hear you got the transport issue sorted! :thumbs up:



Cheers! :)
 
Have you done a voltage check with a meter on the power supply that delivers the power to those LEDs? If you can trace those down, you might be able to find where the voltage disappears and hopefully find the issue. Might be something as simple as a bad ground somewhere along the way, a bad diode, etc.

Glad to hear you got the transport issue sorted! :thumbs up:



Cheers! :)


No I haven't checked that, what confuses me is that the entire PCB board has lights and all seem to be working fine. The bulb only goes to the switch and then I could only traced down the entire switch's path. But if some bulbs on the board work fine doesn't it mean that the path up until the board from the power supply is fine?

Here's a picture of the board and the lights working on the vumeter module when the deck is set to recordIMG_4220.JPGIMG_4219.jpg
 
Back
Top