Fostex r8 doesn't power up

G

glcslv

New member
Hi everyone, I'm new to this forum but came here a lot of times.
Tonight after some years I decided to fix my Fostex R8 8-track reel to reel, that had a capstan problem. I have a R8 for parts also, and patiently started working on it, opened up both machines, took off the capstan belt and motor and replaced with the working one, changed motor, belt and wheel. I'm not a technician or expert in electronics but it did work!
I played back some old tapes and everything was ok, play, stop, rewind and fast forward with locate function, the mechanism being a little noisy during playback but everything ok for a machine that was just sitting for 5 years.
After more or less half an hour it just died, a couple of seconds after turning it on, and doesn't power up anymore.
What do you think went wrong? Dead transformer? Any hints on what I can do to fix it?
Thanks a lot in advance!
 
Greetings!

What was the capstan problem you were having?

How confident were you that the parts you swapped in were good?

Have you checked the fuses? If any are burned out replacing won't likely solve the problem, but it can help narrow down where the problem is coming from.

Just to make sure I understand, *nothing* works on the machine now? You press the power button and no lights or *anything* comes alive?
 
Hi sweetbeats, thanks for your reply! The capstan was running slowly (motor or belt problem, I replaced both of them), but then after replacing it worked well for at least a couple of hours, and in the "for parts" machine it was working well. I didn't check the fuses yet, I'll do it as soon as I find the time to open it again and have a look inside, probably I'll manage to do it tomorrow. Hope it is something that simple, and I will double check the parts I removed before closing the back panel again (there should have been something that burned the fuse, if that is the problem, or maybe it is just that the fuses were very old, I'll replace them with new ones).
Now there's nothing happening in the machine as I turn it on, no lights, no "fostex" animation on the display, nothing.
I'll keep you posted, thanks again!
 
So, here I am again after opening up the recorder. One fuse was gone, but replacing it didn't help solving the problem, it still doesn't power up. Any suggestion on next step?
 
The next step is to isolate the power supply (unplug everything on the output side of the power supply) and take your multimeter and measure to ensure proper voltage and type of power (AC or DC), and also verify the outputs are clean (no AC in the DC supply outputs, and if there are any AC supply outputs no DC in those). You’ll want the service manual at this point if you’re going to dive in. Do you have that? An oscilloscope helps also.

What’s your level of experience with repairing electronics?

[EDIT] My copy of the service manual isn’t the greatest, but...hm...in taking a peek it looks like the power supply is fed by only two taps and a center tap off the main transformer, so before doing. The above I’d check to make sure the main transformer isn’t roached and see if you even have AC voltage at the input side of the power supply.
 
Thanks again for the help! I have the service manual, and I am a total beginner with repairing electronics, but I can ask an experienced friend of mine, I know that handling these parts can be dangerous and I will not take any risk.
 
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