tascam 32

[FALKEN]

Seeker getting his tascam 32 has made me want to bring mine back out and repair it. Here is the problem with it: in any function, FF, RW, or Play, after hitting stop, the tape does not brake all the way. the trailing side keeps rolling a little bit when it should be stopped. Here are some ideas I had and I was wondering if you guys might be able to point me towards the right direction. I've already cleaned out the goo in the solenoids.

-tighten the brake pads

-replace the brake solenoid

-something else? should the opposite reel motor actually engage to pull the tape the other way slightly? or is this purely up to the brakes?

thanks!!!!

[FALKEN]

on further inspection it looks as though the brake solenoid might be getting stuck in the "go" or "in" position....... but I already cleaned out the goo...........perhaps it needs some lube? or to be replaced outright?

[krhall]

hmm

On most reel to reel machines the brakes are solenoid controlled.

On the machines i have you can make 2 adjustments.

1. The brake band that goes arround the outer rim of the spindle shaft.

2. The solenoid retractor bolt.

Also you might want to check if the solenoid retractor bolt is getting stuck or jamming when you press either a transport button or the stop button.

Also when you press play or forward the left reel will turn in the other direction providing back tension so the reel doesn't overrun when in play and forward, same thing happens on rewind, only this time back tension is provided by the right reel motor.

I dont know if teac parts are the same as tascam but in a few days time i am breaking a Teac A3330S tape recorder for parts and on this machine the felt pads + Solenoids are working great.

The reason for breaking this machine is because there is a current short that is discharging live current into the metal frame of the machine, so when you turn it on every metal part of the machine becomes live, so i have declared that this machine is no longer safe to use. So i am replacing it with another Revox machine (Revox A77 MK2)

If you want i can photograph the brake layout in the teac machine which may give you some idea as to the layout.

Hope this info helps

Keith

[Herm]

Falken Did you take the plunger all the way out or did you only clean what you could see of it. If not you might want to try that and see what happens.

[FALKEN]

ok weirdness. I took out the solenoid just to double check what Herm was getting at. it was clean. so I put it back in and tested again. and what do you know this thing is working again. I can't explain it but I dont expect it to last long.

keith, i took a look at things, and in play mode, the opposite reel does turn the other direction, but in FF or WW it does not. when you say
"On the machines i have you can make 2 adjustments.

1. The brake band that goes arround the outer rim of the spindle shaft.

2. The solenoid retractor bolt.
"

what are the adjustments there?

[krhall]

on opposite end of the end of the retractor bolt where the other end of the band attaches there should be a screw there that will take up the slack in the band when the solenoid releases.

The other adjustment is on the other end of the retractor bolt itself a nut with a locking nut on the opposite end of the retractor bolt.

I will try and get some pics of a similar machine so you can see.

Keith

[krhall]

Ok these pictures attached are from a teac machine, as the layout between a Teac and a Tascam machine may be fairly similar hopefully these pictures should make it easier to make adjustments to the reel brake system.

First image :-

This image shows the top end of the brake drum and band assembly. There are 2 screws on top. The right hand screw holds the band in place and the left hand screw adjusts the slack in the band when the solenoid engages.

Hope this info helps

Keith

[krhall]

Second Image :-

This image shows the solenoid and the 4 mounting screws. If you loosen these 4 screw you can then slide the solenoid either left or right to adjust the tension on the band from here. If when the solenoid engages you hear the solenoid buzzing loudly then that means the bolt isn't sliding back far enough and the coil will begin to heat up which could burn out the solenoid, so you must take care when making adjustments here.

Keith

[krhall]

Third image.

This is a closeup of the solenoid so you can see the bolt and the band holder on the end.


Keith

[FALKEN]

do you guys know how to tweak the speed of a 32 ? I want to make sure that the machine is running perfectly at 15 ips, by matching a playback tone from a calibration tape.

[jpmorris]

According to Page 82 of the manual, there are two trimmers, for the high and low speeds. They are on a small circuit board attached to the system by a multi-pin connector. The manual does NOT give any indication as to where the hell this board is, or any kind of identifier at all other than the diagram. You might look around the capstan motor itself since IIRC the capstan servo is pretty self-contained.

[Beck]

Technically speaking you need a speed & flutter tape with a precise 3.15 kHz tone recorded on it. For the 32 or any 15 ips ¼” it’s MRL 241-570-480-104.

Practically speaking I don’t worry about getting it that precise. A 2 kHz or 4 kHz tone from the regular calibration tape works well enough.

You play the tape and measure the output with a frequency counter. If you play a 4 kHz tone the output should read 4 kHz. Check it first... I bet it will be right on. I've never had to actually tweak speed on any open reel machine; just checked it to see all was well.

[FALKEN]

I think it was right on before the motor died and I swapped it. That's why I think it is off. tapes made before I swapped the motor play about a 1/2 step higher in pitch.

I don't have a frequency counter and I don't have the MRL long tape. You don't think "tuning" the playback tone to a computer generated one like you would tune a guitar string to another one would do the trick?

[Beck]

Ok, yeah if you've changed a motor you'll usually have to fine tune the speed. If you have some kind of MRL tape then yes tuning it by ear like that with a PC generated tone will get it really close.

Even if you don’t have a calibration tape you can use your own original music to get it really close. You know what key it’s supposed to be in, so you can even use your properly tuned keyboard or guitar as a reference. (This is only recommended for us jack-of-all-trade types… musician/composer/engineer/producer… not a good idea for tone def repair technicians )

[Dr ZEE]

Originally Posted by FALKEN

I don't have a frequency counter

Found HERE - http://www.computecsa.co.za/echofilter/ . 7 Hz resolution - is it good enough? I have not tried it, so don't know, just found it. I'd guess there should be bunch of apps like this out there.

[FALKEN]

OK I found some trimmers that might be the trimmers but I thought I would post before changing anything. if you are looking at the front of the machine, they are on the left side. you have to take off the casing that goes around the sides and top, and then there are two holes in the metal chassis so that you can stick a screwdriver through the holes and adjust a trimmer. the trimmers are plastic and blue, and are on a small card. I have a manual but it ends around page 50 and this is on page 82.

[FALKEN]

OK I got a hold of the manual and these are the trimmers.