sweetbeats
Reel deep thoughts...
No clue if this "don't belong" here...
I'm in the midst of refurbing the reel motors on my Ampex 440B-8.
I originally pulled a reel motor off of a parts 440B 1/2/3/4 transport I have to
see how they go together and was surprised how different they are inside once I pulled one off the 440-8. I know that several different manufacturers made motors for the 440's and, from what I've read and been advised they are essentially the same. The original motors off the 440-8 are Ashland, the parts transport sports Takanawa motors.
My question is this: The Takanawa motor looks heavier duty and cleaner, though I can't tell if all the black inside the Ashland motor is black paint or oxidation...but the Takanawa looks prettier and has thicker windings, bigger bearings, etc. For obvious reasons, motor strength is an issue on the 1" transport.
I want to know if I should go to the trouble to modify the shafts on the Takanawa motors and retrofit those to the 440-8. The nose of each shaft would need to be shortened, and the tail of each shaft would need to be drilled for a roll-pin that holds the earlier-style clutchless brake drums. I'd rather not do that, so I'm hoping that the answer is "Use the Ashland motors that came fitted to the 440-8...it makes no difference even though the rotor and windings look different." Or better yet "Stick with the Ashland motors...they are better."
Here is a video showing the two motors opened up, picture is worth a thousand words blahblah. It is about 13Mb and is DivX encoded so you'll need a player that can do that (be patient...it takes a minute or so for it to come up):
https://www.torridheatstudios.com/videos/Ampex%20AG-440/2009_05_13/
If you don't want to hassle with the video here is a sampling of pictures appropriately named:
https://www.torridheatstudios.com/Pictures/Ampex%20AG-440/2009_05_13/Reel%20Motors/
I'm in the midst of refurbing the reel motors on my Ampex 440B-8.
I originally pulled a reel motor off of a parts 440B 1/2/3/4 transport I have to
see how they go together and was surprised how different they are inside once I pulled one off the 440-8. I know that several different manufacturers made motors for the 440's and, from what I've read and been advised they are essentially the same. The original motors off the 440-8 are Ashland, the parts transport sports Takanawa motors.
My question is this: The Takanawa motor looks heavier duty and cleaner, though I can't tell if all the black inside the Ashland motor is black paint or oxidation...but the Takanawa looks prettier and has thicker windings, bigger bearings, etc. For obvious reasons, motor strength is an issue on the 1" transport.
I want to know if I should go to the trouble to modify the shafts on the Takanawa motors and retrofit those to the 440-8. The nose of each shaft would need to be shortened, and the tail of each shaft would need to be drilled for a roll-pin that holds the earlier-style clutchless brake drums. I'd rather not do that, so I'm hoping that the answer is "Use the Ashland motors that came fitted to the 440-8...it makes no difference even though the rotor and windings look different." Or better yet "Stick with the Ashland motors...they are better."Here is a video showing the two motors opened up, picture is worth a thousand words blahblah. It is about 13Mb and is DivX encoded so you'll need a player that can do that (be patient...it takes a minute or so for it to come up):
https://www.torridheatstudios.com/videos/Ampex%20AG-440/2009_05_13/
If you don't want to hassle with the video here is a sampling of pictures appropriately named:
https://www.torridheatstudios.com/Pictures/Ampex%20AG-440/2009_05_13/Reel%20Motors/