Tascam 244 playback, rewind, ff doesn't work

JanneVSE

New member
I have fairly new belts installed to Tascam 244. I haven't used it in a while. Now when I put a tape in, press play, but nothing happens. Only capstan is turning. Pinch roller stays down. When I press RW or FF pinch roller lifts up for a few seconds and so do the heads. Tape reels don't turn at all.

Could the problem be with the belts? It used to work just fine last time I used it, maybe year ago..

Thanx for your help!
 
JanneVSE,

One or two of my Tascams here have some hidden rubber you might look into (a Porta Two may have been one). There's an idler tire on a plastic wheel which sits between the reel tables and bounces from one to the other depending on what mode you're in. Don't mean to frighten you, but I think it was a PITA to get to.

If that's it, and you feel like messing with it, this guy has a selection, as well as a downloadable chart to check the dimensions. Ask for Frank. I think I had to go with one which was slightly thicker on one machine and thin it down on some sandpaper, but it was OK after that.

Good luck on it!

George
 
Belts & tires.

The capstan may be turning, which is the good news.
The smaller control belt is the one that moves the heads up/down, and is probably worn out.
The FF/RW function is performed by two "tires" that make contact with the drive motor and reel sprockets, on either end.
These tires can get sticky and fail to turn, as the other rubber parts will deteriorate too.

The capstan belt is a (PRB Line) FRM-11.7,... flat rubber (belt) medium (width & thickness), 11.7" total length.
The control belt I've used was a SCQ-5.6,... square cut, 5.6" total length.
For tires I've used similarly sized O-rings from Lowe's hardware store, in the faucet section.

It's a fair teardown to replace the belts and tires. I'd replace them all if I got inside the unit.

An 11.5" capstan belt will do in a pinch, as long as it's medium & not too heavy.

I got belts a while back from adams electronics, off the web.

Good luck.

:spank::eek:;)
 
I returned to this old topic I started years ago.. The tips that I got last time were very helpful. I just yesterday replaced all the belts, the pinch roller and idler tires today. It wasn't too hard job, it took maybe like an hour and a half to do the job, following these instructions: MZE-Electroarts Entertainment - MZEntertainment.com: Dr. ZEE WORKSHOP TASCAM-244 4-track Cassette Portastudio Restoration and Servicing Project

Now PLAY and REC works smoothly. Only issue I have is that the machine eats tape when it is on PAUSE. Did I do something wrong? The pinch roller rises to touch the tape when I press PAUSE button. After few seconds the tape is caught by the pinch roller (which is new) and gets tangled. I think I can live without the pause option, but if anyone has an idea what can cause the problem I would greatly appreciate help! Thanks!
 
Oh and another issue is that I get quite a bit of noise from headphone outputs, but not on the master outputs. Maybe it is a problem with ground?
 
You may want to check that the motor that lifts the pinch roller up to the capstan is plugged in correctly and the mechanical part of the head lift mechanism is in phase, not 180 degrees out.
 
A buzz in the headphone section could be dirty connectors, bad caps or a marginal transistor. First defense for most problems is to pull, clean and reseat connectors.
 
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