Tasacam 488 mkI help needed

[Masters Of War]

Please excuse my very untechnical descriptions. Ok, I was recording some piano on my 488 and I hit the rtz button to go back to the beginning of the track, but halfway through the rewinding process the counter stops and the motor starts making a funny noise. Oh shit, so I open the thing up just hoping that it's nothing major. I unscrew the housing for the tape player and see that the motor on the right side (the one that turns the magnetic tape reader) is working fine. The Motor on the left (the one that spins the rewind/fastforward/play spinners) seems to be working fine too, I can see the gear turning and the control arm that switches between the FF and RW spinners is working properly, but the actual spinners that turn the reels of tape are not moving. Then I find a small black rubber washer, it was split in two places and lying right underneath the tape player housing. So here's my theory, this washer was attached to the control arm that switches back and forth between the right and left reel spinners, it was old cracked and fell off, leaving no contact between the control arm and the reel spinners.

I have a few questions hopefully someone can help me out. First how would I go about getting a replacement part? Second should I attempt to replace this myself? Getting the tape player housing out was no big deal, but getting at the control arm looks a whole lot more complicated and I don't want to cause more problems for myself trying to fix this one. Should I have someone fix this for me, and about how much would it cost?

Any help would be greatly appreciated, thanks.

 

[Masters Of War]

Ok, I superglued the rubber washer back together, took out the motor and put the washer back on the little control arm that spins the reels to FF RW and play. Now there is this awful clicking when I FF RW and play, but other than that everything is fine it plays just as it use to and I don't hear any of the clickings on my tracks when I record. Should I just ignore the noises or should I seek out some professional servicing for my 488? Please anyone that could help me out it would be greatly appreciated, thanks.

 

[A Reel Person]

Yes, you pretty much nailed it and DIY'd it back together.

The fix you implemented was admirable.

The reality of it, is that the FF/RW mechanism is a double-pulley/clutch mechanism, that swings back & forth to drive either the FF/right spindle or the RW/left spindle. This double-pulley/clutch mechanism has two little rubber tires, and their technical name is "tires", heh heh.

The "real" or "pro" repair to do would have been to source two little rubber tires of the exact same size, then disassemble & remove the double/clutch mechanism enough to "stretch" the new tires back onto the double pulleys, and then install and assemble in reverse order.

However, since you glued the tire back together, it should be adequate for a while. Let's hope there is no subtle wowwing created by the unevennes of this glue-job, and that hopefully you didn't foul the double pulley with glue, because you may need to revisit this repair at some time in the future.

Otherwise, you did a good job, and you're a true DIY'er!

You may find compatible rubber tires at http://www.electronix.com as they are common cassette/vcr repair parts, in general. However, you'll have to ID the inner diameter, outer diameter and thickness in order to source the correct tire. I did that before, for my 244, and I believe the outer diameter is .56", but please verify that measurement for yourself before purchasing parts. If I run across my stocks of rubber tires, I'll verify that. The hint about the rubber tire, is that it has to be a little undersized, to stretch onto the pulley.

/DA

 

[monty]

Sounds like an "O" ring.

 

[Masters Of War]

Thanks for the link Reel, I'll change out the old washer as soon as possible, hopefully that will get rid of this clicking noise.

 

[A Reel Person]

Eh,...

Sounds like an "O" ring.

It's less of a "traditional" O-ring, and more of a "tire".

I think an O-ring would be a rounded design.

This little "tire" has round inner and outer diameter, but otherwise has squared edges. I've only seen it listed in parts catalogs as "tires", with "O-rings" being a totally different part, in a different section.

Wouldn't y'know it, I have a picture!!
... (FF/RW mechanism extracted from a 234)...

 

[A Reel Person]

Ps:...

The tires I sourced for this job were .56" diameter, then stretched a slight bit onto the pulleys. I'll look for the tires in my tech-junk, and verify that size. That's the one that sticks out in my mind.