It looks like the motor died on my R8, does Fostex still sell parts for their open reel machines, and if not, does anyone know a reputable aftermarket distributor?
It might be... Lemme tear it apart and see what's up. After all, not a whole lot to lose at this point. I had thought it was the belt until play back was weird too, then I thought it might be the motor.
You could strip the motor and look at the armature and comutator to see if the comutator brushes need replaceing.
I have done this on many machines that use DC motors
The reel and capstan motors on the R8 are 24V DC motors. And the most common fault is the graphite brushes and/or the comutator wearing down so you get an intermittent or even a loss of motion.
For the brushes look for a motor of equal size to salvage a set of graphite brushes from.
For the comutator look for a BRASS bristle wire brush to clean the contacts
when cleaning the comutator brush it VERTICLY NOT horizontaly for best results.
Usually this would take about 10 to 15 minutes to complete.
1 of many things i did in my electronics and engineering degree