Tascam 424mkII (Bad Motor ??)

A

analog aaron

Swami King of Poppers
Hey Guys, I'm in the process of trying to repair an old Tascam 424mkII, but I think the motor is bad. It came from a church.. I guess they were using it as a mixing board....My guess is that they left it turned on 24hrs a day and the motor finally called it quits. While I have it out, does anyone know how I could check this to see if it really is bad or not? :confused: Thanks,
A.A.
 
I have one of these as well...

No expert on the guts of them though.

A couple easy checks though would be to disconnect the motor and then see if there is voltage at the motor leads under the conditions that the motor should be turning. Obviously if there is no power there it may not be the motor.

You can also (with the motor detached) measure continuity across the motor contacts. If the circuit is open, then I believe the motor is bad.

Check for fuses. Don't know if the 424 has any, but I would check, pull each one and check for continuity. If the circuit is incomplete replace the fuse.

Is this the capstan motor we're talking about?
 
I believe there are two other motors, the reel motors, possibly just one, but there has to be at least one other motor as without it the tape wouldn't spool.
 
I'd be pretty sure it's the capstan motor. They were cheap little motors in this model (crappy motor brushes) and also they stayed running all the time. If the 424 was used as a mixer it's almost certain the motor would have worn itself out.

I once modded one of these with a switch to turn the motor off when not using the tape section. The idea was to save the same thing happening again after fitting the new motor.

Cheers Tim.
 
Yeah...

I'm pretty sure it's the motor too... When I first got it, the guy said the tape transport had issues and the fuses had blown. I noticed when I replaced the fuses with the motor plugged in...they would pop. Then I unplugged the motor from the chipboard, replaced the fuses again and the unit would power up and work fine (as a mixing board). I called tascam for a replacement motor, though they said the motor was on backorder and to check back in a month or so.. Maybe I could find the same motor (way cheaper) at an electronics repair shop(?) 5pin 3200 rpm? I think.
 
I would sometimes obtain generic cassette deck motors from the local trade electronics supplier. I think the speed, polarity, rotation (CW or CCW) and voltage are the main criteria. They came in 6v, 9v or 12v. I have a feeling it was 9v in this case.
These motors had an integral speed control pcb inside them. If you're having trouble sourcing the original Teac motor it's possible to use a new generic motor which is correct in all other respects, and transplant the speed control pcb over. This assumes the old pcb has not been damaged by the old motor which tended to go short circuit.
The job is a fiddle but if the original part is nla or hard to obtain this may be an option for you. The new motor will be just as short lived as the original so adding the switch may be a good mod to save having to do it again down the track.

Cheers Tim
 
Good advice from Tim. The motors on the 414/424 types aren't really unusual, so shouldn't be hard to find a generic to match up. Sometimes it’s just a matter of switching the pulley, but you might not even have to do that. A lot of the TEAC cassette motors are the same, but the motor part number is different due to different pulley diameter and/or different mounting bracket.

:)
 
Beck said:
A lot of the TEAC cassette motors are the same, but the motor part number is different due to different pulley diameter and/or different mounting bracket.

:)
Click to expand...

Yeah, I noticed that too. I have 2 original 424's I keep around as parts machines. I thought I might try and use one of those motors, but the mounting bracket IS different and it doesn't have 5 pins. Thanks guys, I'm gonna check out some electronics shops.
 
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