akai 1700 motor won't run

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reelshows

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I'm brand new, first post. I recorded for years on reel to reel. I have a stack of tapes about 10 feet high. Only one of my old recorders is usable, would like to repair my 1700. The motor turns only when spun by hand, and then stops when put under a load. Could this be the capacitor? Or the Motor?

I really need to get something else working, the one that is usable(sony tc-270) has a small rewind problem after it heats up(Belt?).

Any help will be appreciated.
 
The problem with these types of decks is the heavy reliance on rubber components / belts (idlers wheels, belts etc..) and yours may only have 1 motor (which drives everything). Why is this a problem? Well, a deck of this age and its rubber has gone bad (either hardened and / or gooey / falling apart) and is causing major problems "driving" the various parts. This, rather than the motor itself, is the cause for most problems. If you really want to get your decks going, one of the main things to do is to totally replace the rubber on the idlers, the belts etc.... (after verifying the motor actually operates), basically have it serviced from top to bottom. Another option is to look for a higher end deck, which may prove less expensive than restoring your existing decks. Look out for local Akai GX models and make sure it's "direct drive", which means no idlers or belts and heads which don't wear. That's the easiest recommendation and, of course, there are other options as well.
 
reelshows said:
I'm brand new, first post. I recorded for years on reel to reel. I have a stack of tapes about 10 feet high. Only one of my old recorders is usable, would like to repair my 1700. The motor turns only when spun by hand, and then stops when put under a load. Could this be the capacitor? Or the Motor?

I really need to get something else working, the one that is usable(sony tc-270) has a small rewind problem after it heats up(Belt?).

Any help will be appreciated.
Click to expand...
Aside from the rubber and old hardened grease etc, check the motor run and start capacitors (the start cap will be huge, the run one will be smaller, but both easily found working backwards from the motor). I have a 1710 which had the same issue, turned out to be the 0.5uf motor run capacitor. Mine was visibly blown and had wax coming out of one end! Replaced it and it's working great now (of course with a bit of a general clean and oil too). The original cap was dated 1967!!

Give it a go, a capacitor is a lot cheaper than most anything else you might end up doing.
 
Good info on checking the capacitors.

Another thing to check is the tape. Many have sticky shed and this can slow / stop a transport. What tape r u using?
 
thanks, I think the capacitor is problem, will start on that soon.
 
cjacek said:
The problem with these types of decks is the heavy reliance on rubber components / belts (idlers wheels, belts etc..) and yours may only have 1 motor (which drives everything). Why is this a problem? Well, a deck of this age and its rubber has gone bad (either hardened and / or gooey / falling apart) and is causing major problems "driving" the various parts. This, rather than the motor itself, is the cause for most problems. If you really want to get your decks going, one of the main things to do is to totally replace the rubber on the idlers, the belts etc.... (after verifying the motor actually operates), basically have it serviced from top to bottom. Another option is to look for a higher end deck, which may prove less expensive than restoring your existing decks. Look out for local Akai GX models and make sure it's "direct drive", which means no idlers or belts and heads which don't wear. That's the easiest recommendation and, of course, there are other options as well.
Click to expand...
does the ops 1700 have the infamous metal cam that disintegrates with age?
if so, something to consider.
 
cjacek said:
Good info on checking the capacitors.

Another thing to check is the tape. Many have sticky shed and this can slow / stop a transport. What tape r u using?
Click to expand...
oh yeah! and it only takes a few minutes of playing a tape that sheds to really gum up the works and bring the whole thing to a stop. further attempts at operation without cleaning can cause the motor to burn out.
 
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I'm not sure on the "metal cam" issue either. Not an expert by any means.;)

To the original poster: How do you know it's the actual motor or the capacitor that is at fault?

Check the most obvious, simple stuff first, like tape, bad rubber etc... I'm not sure how your deck is put together inside but have you tried verifying if the actual motor works or not? I'd probably pull any belt off of it and check if it spins when turned on.
 
I'm looking at the motor. I can turn the fan and the motor will turn, put a load on it, play, rewind, Fast forwd, and it stops. It's not the rubber. I believe it is the run capacitor, but I only see one large capacitor(2 mf). I'll see if I can replace it .

Thanks for all your help.
 
reelshows said:
I'm looking at the motor. I can turn the fan and the motor will turn, put a load on it, play, rewind, Fast forwd, and it stops. It's not the rubber. I believe it is the run capacitor, but I only see one large capacitor(2 mf). I'll see if I can replace it .

Thanks for all your help.
Click to expand...
On mine, granted that it's a 1710 and possibly a bit different internally, the run cap was right up the top edge of the machine (assuming you've got it standing up).

(This isn't my pic and it IS a 1710)
c2fec36f.jpg


See the big green resistor there next to the motor to the right? There's a big silver cap next to it (behind it in the photo, hidden) that's your start cap. If you look to the left of the motor, you can see a couple of red and yellow wires going up. Follow these upwards, you should get to the run capacitor (the wires will also go up to the speed switch but it's all connected/related). If the photo was a bit bigger, it'd be visible right in the top left corner. Failing that, trace all the wires from the speed switch and you should find it.

Obviously, if yours is substantially different, it might be somewhere else so ignore me.

The metal cams don't play a part in the actual running of the motor. They do break and they suck to swap out but that's another thread hehe.
 
I have another akai deck that is identical to the 1710, except it is a deck(x-150d). It has the green resistor, but the 1710 I have only has the silver capacitor. I found the small .5mf your talking about. I may just replace both start and run.

The other deck runs, but has no audio output. I intend to try to make one of them work. I probably will wind up cannibalizing one for the other .

Your picture is great help -thanks

I have a huge collection of tapes, and I just need to keep something running.

The unit I use now is a Sony TC 270. It works well for me, but now the rewind is sometimes dragging.

I also just picked up a nice Sony APR 5000. But that's my other thread.

Thanks to all for your help, I'll let you know how it turns out.
 
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