Doing a full alignment ...

[cjacek]

A full alignment for my TEAC 3440 costs about $200.00 CND plus taxes in the area where I live. If it would be my only recorder then I'd surely pay the price for someone to do it but I have several that may need to be brought up to spec, perhaps not now but one day. At least this should be done. My question is: Is it at all feasable to do this by oneself ? Where do I begin ? What would be the overhead for the equipment I'd need ? Is it really tough to do or is there info where I can learn how step by step .. ?

Thanks!

Daniel

[evm1024]

Originally Posted by cjacek

A full alignment for my TEAC 3440 costs about $200.00 CND plus taxes in the area where I live. If it would be my only recorder then I'd surely pay the price for someone to do it but I have several that may need to be brought up to spec, perhaps not now but one day. At least this should be done. My question is: Is it at all feasable to do this by oneself ? Where do I begin ? What would be the overhead for the equipment I'd need ? Is it really tough to do or is there info where I can learn how step by step .. ?

Thanks!

Daniel

That is not a bad price for doing the service work. The thing that you will need that is out of the ordinary is a scope for azimuth alignment. You will need a MRL tape and a signal generator (you can use your notebook for signal generation using free software and the sound card).

You should have some scales as well (fish scales work) if you want to do the motor torque which does help mantain the tape to head contact.

My first 3440 alignment took me about 4 hours. It is well worth your effort to learn to do this.

The scope just needs to do x-y with audio bandwidth so it can be an older model. Some are available for less than $100.

I use a 200 nWb/M MRL tape that I happen to have. Using this tape and setting the levels to read -2 Vu sets the tape for 250 nWb/M at 0VU which is the recommended level for Ampex 456. I tried to set it for 320 nWb/M but did not have the adjustment range on my deck. This would be the norm for 499. With some component changes you could set it for "standard" 499. But whoi wants to? BY setting to 456 and using 499 you could record at 0 VU and have extended headroom or record at +3 VU and have a lower noise floor.

Feel free to send me questions. If I don't know them off the top of my head I can put my 3440 on the bench and take a look.


Regards

[cjacek]

Originally Posted by evm1024

That is not a bad price for doing the service work. The thing that you will need that is out of the ordinary is a scope for azimuth alignment. You will need a MRL tape and a signal generator (you can use your notebook for signal generation using free software and the sound card).

You should have some scales as well (fish scales work) if you want to do the motor torque which does help mantain the tape to head contact.

My first 3440 alignment took me about 4 hours. It is well worth your effort to learn to do this.

The scope just needs to do x-y with audio bandwidth so it can be an older model. Some are available for less than $100.

I use a 200 nWb/M MRL tape that I happen to have. Using this tape and setting the levels to read -2 Vu sets the tape for 250 nWb/M at 0VU which is the recommended level for Ampex 456. I tried to set it for 320 nWb/M but did not have the adjustment range on my deck. This would be the norm for 499. With some component changes you could set it for "standard" 499. But whoi wants to? BY setting to 456 and using 499 you could record at 0 VU and have extended headroom or record at +3 VU and have a lower noise floor.

Feel free to send me questions. If I don't know them off the top of my head I can put my 3440 on the bench and take a look.


Regards

Thanks a lot my friend! I'll definitely ask more should the need arise.

~Daniel

[The Ghost of FM]

I used to ponder the same thought, Daniel, about doing my own calibrations on my MS-16 and then when I added up the price of the calibration tape, scope and other test gear, it just didn't make financial sense when I could get my technician to come over to the house for a couple of hundred and let him do it once every few years.

Perhaps, for a 1/4" machine, the price gap gets smaller so you might still consider going the full DIY route but for 1" machines like mine, I happily leave it to the pros.

Cheers!

[evm1024]

Forgot to say a 3 or 4 digit multimeter for reading voltage levels.

Regards

[snipeguy]

Originally Posted by The Ghost of FM

.....when I could get my technician to come over to the house for a couple of hundred and let him do it once every few years.



Cheers!

Ghost,
Would this technician be willing to come to Guelph to do a Otari 8 track? and maybe my 2 track Revox as well.

[The Ghost of FM]

Originally Posted by snipeguy

Ghost,
Would this technician be willing to come to Guelph to do a Otari 8 track? and maybe my 2 track Revox as well.

Here's their contact info;

http://www.tele-tech.ca/addinfo.html

Patrick is the technician.

Cheers!

[Blackdog.sn]

Originally Posted by The Ghost of FM

Here's their contact info;

http://www.tele-tech.ca/addinfo.html

Patrick is the technician.

Cheers!

Man Tele-tech is expensive. The service guy charges $90/hour. Wont be getting my M-35 repaired for a while

[Beck]

Stuff I use for aligning tape reel-to-reel decks:

Winscope
Freeware oscilloscope for Windows.
I’ve installed it on Win 98, and XP using compatibility mode install.
http://polly.phys.msu.su/~zeld/oscill.html

Operation/Maintenance Manual for Deck
TEAC E-3 Head Demagnetizer
Fostex TT-15 Test Tone Oscillator
MRL Calibration Tapes http://home.flash.net/~mrltapes/
Radio Shack Digital Multimeter, Model 22-811
http://www.radioshack.com/product.as...%5Fid=22%2D811

Some good links:

Spring Scales:
http://www.sciencelab.com/page/S/CTGY/20846

How-to and info:
http://www.recordingwebsite.com/articles/tapecal.php
http://audio.utac.net/pg/tape/align.html
http://www.barryrudolph.com/greg/align.html
http://home.swipnet.se/herbalifeinfo/Audio/engRULL2.htm
http://www9.dw-world.de/rtc/infotheq...ng/magrec.html

More calibration tape info (nice chart)
http://www.tangible-technology.com/m.../mrltapes.html

-Tim

[cjacek]

Originally Posted by Beck

Stuff I use for aligning tape reel-to-reel decks:

Winscope
Freeware oscilloscope for Windows.
I’ve installed it on Win 98, and XP using compatibility mode install.
http://polly.phys.msu.su/~zeld/oscill.html

Operation/Maintenance Manual for Deck
TEAC E-3 Head Demagnetizer
Fostex TT-15 Test Tone Oscillator
MRL Calibration Tapes http://home.flash.net/~mrltapes/
Radio Shack Digital Multimeter, Model 22-811
http://www.radioshack.com/product.as...%5Fid=22%2D811

Some good links:

Spring Scales:
http://www.sciencelab.com/page/S/CTGY/20846

How-to and info:
http://www.recordingwebsite.com/articles/tapecal.php
http://audio.utac.net/pg/tape/align.html
http://www.barryrudolph.com/greg/align.html
http://home.swipnet.se/herbalifeinfo/Audio/engRULL2.htm
http://www9.dw-world.de/rtc/infotheq...ng/magrec.html

More calibration tape info (nice chart)
http://www.tangible-technology.com/m.../mrltapes.html

-Tim

Man, Tim! How can I even begin to thank you for printing all this out and finding all those links ?? Thank you so much my friend! I do have a lot of reading ahead of me, don't I ?

Thanks again!

Daniel

[cjacek]

Originally Posted by The Ghost of FM

I used to ponder the same thought, Daniel, about doing my own calibrations on my MS-16 and then when I added up the price of the calibration tape, scope and other test gear, it just didn't make financial sense when I could get my technician to come over to the house for a couple of hundred and let him do it once every few years.

Perhaps, for a 1/4" machine, the price gap gets smaller so you might still consider going the full DIY route but for 1" machines like mine, I happily leave it to the pros.

Cheers!

Perhaps letting someone else service it instead would be a definite plus, at least a real time saver but then again it would be nice to know all this shit, wouldn't it ? Thanks for the input Jeff.

Daniel

[cjacek]

Thanks again guys!

~Daniel

[mr.rich]

id say get a tech to to major calibrations ( motor tension, card adjusts, head shit) but buy yourself an mrl and learn to bias and adjust rec playback lvs. this will give you a great insight into whats going on with your deck, will give you the abilty to over bias certain freqs for differant types of stuff and speed settings and those are things you should be doing before every session. a tape machine can sometimes shift bias by just being turned off and on. its wierd.

[cjacek]

Originally Posted by mr.rich

id say get a tech to to major calibrations ( motor tension, card adjusts, head shit) but buy yourself an mrl and learn to bias and adjust rec playback lvs. this will give you a great insight into whats going on with your deck, will give you the abilty to over bias certain freqs for differant types of stuff and speed settings and those are things you should be doing before every session. a tape machine can sometimes shift bias by just being turned off and on. its wierd.

Actually that's great advice. Thanks! Yeah, that will allow me to change tapes as I please without having to shell out big bucks each time I feel like biasing to another tape ... Plus, I think that's also the simpliest way to start getting to know all of this stuff. Thanks.

Daniel