I need a card of an Otari mx70

[Talldog]

Any ideas?

[RRuskin]

Originally Posted by Talldog

Any ideas?

I'm not familiar with that machine but it would be a good idea to mention what particular card and/or its part number.

[Hi_Flyer]

If you have time, there is always ebay... and if that fails try Sorren Wittrup at CS Electronics: http://www.cselectronics.net/

I got a card for a MX5050-8 from there, although it wasn't cheap (but cheaper than getting it from Otari).

[Talldog]

Thanks Hi. Are you getting the same storm we have over here in Cleveland? I have my eye on evil bay and I have a little time. Does Otari still have parts? I'll also ckeck your contact. I'd like to see about repairing the card. I know Cory and Ethan from this board can do that for tascam stuff. Are you out there guys?

Ken

[Hi_Flyer]

yes, we have had some snow the past few days, but it wasn't really that bad...

Otari had a card for my MX5050, but it was like $400. so no way was I gonna buy from them.

What is wrong with the card? I had some switches and relays replaced on my cards. its delicate work, and I couldn't do it myself, but it can be done.

[Talldog]

Don't really know. I was calibrating and doing alignment on the deck and the track 16 card was all over the place meter wise.

[gerard]

Hi, I had a MX 70 and found out the relay(s) on the cards going "out" would cause this condition. Had the "jumping VU meters on about 8 channels. Drove me crazy trying to find the problem till I called Otari tech support, I think the guys name is Dina. He told me about the relay issue. Can't remember if the relays were mercury wetted and they went out over time. I got all new ones from Mouser or Digi-Key and replaced them myself. Keep in mind I have the equipment to do this but fixed the problems and saved a bunch of bucks! Hope this helps.

Jerry

[sweetbeats]

Talldog,

Yeah I had that problem big-time on my 58...with Ethan's help it ended being resolved by applying DeoxIT to the relays...don't know what the relays are like on 5050 amp cards, but on the 58 they have covers that are soldered on. Once those are removed there is just a plastic cover over the contacts. Pop the cover off, spray DeoxIT in, massage gently with a soft toothbrush, turn over to dry, and once dry put it all back together. Voila! Everything worked great. If the relays needed replacing it wouldn't have been much more tough a job.

Let me know if I can help.

[Hi_Flyer]

There is a fairly well known issue with crappy relays on alot Otari decks. The problem is that they weren't sealed. I think Deoxit might be a temporary solution, but long term, its probably best to just replace the component.

[Talldog]

Ok. The playback works fine but the record signal goes up and down and there is crackling. I don't think its the relays. Here's a couple of pics:

[sweetbeats]

Couple other things you might want to try that Beck suggested to me when I was having trouble:

1. Since I saw your post about DeoxIT, I know you are looking into that. Get some and apply the DeoxIT cleaner to the card connector pins, seat and reseat the card a couple three times.
2. Ensure there are no cold or broken solder joints where the card connector socket is soldered to the card (a bajillion times...). You can ensure this by reheating those joints and sometimes even adding a little solder as you go.

I was having the exact same symptoms with my Tascam 58...it was driving me nuts...repro levels all over the place all the way down to nothing. I cleaned the relays, cleaned the connector and reseated several times and rejuvinated the carad connector solder joints and the level problems were totally gone and the switching from sync to repro to input were crisp and quick.


Good luck. Get that DeoxIT.

Anybody ever gone to the extent to apply DeoxIT to the trim pots on an amp card? That is going to extremes I suppose but that's another thing that I've always wondered about for these kinds of issues...I imagine those little trimmer pots are prone to the same issues that arise with regular trim/gain/pan pots and such...

[gerard]

Just in case you need/want to replace the relays, I got mine from Digi-Key and the part number is: Z830-ND. They are made by Omron and there P/N is: G6E-134P-ST-US. I THINK these are the mercury wetted type. Hope this helps.

Jerry

[gerard]

They are the sealed type, sorry 'bout that.

Jerry