keepin it clean and flat

[barbieparty]

sorry for posting so often with my simple questions, but this has been the best resource I have found so far on reel to reel. I couldnt find this issue exactly addressed anywhere, so please point me to the appropriate faq or thread, etc if it exists, and dont waste your time.

I called a local audio shop today, b/c I wanted them to take a look at my tascam and give it a tuneup (biasing, calibration, azimuth? (dont know what that is), etc. They said they would do it for $150. Is this pretty standard? I expected maintainence costs to be high. What exactly is the standard maintainence that must be done?

I would actually like to learn myself how to do all the maintainence and adjustments. Is there a good book or website on the issue? Am i better off just taking it to the shop? What equipment do I need to do these things? So many questions...

Also, where could i find a rack for my tsr-8 that mounts it horizontally? I have seen several otaris mounted on racks this way, and have heard it is benificial, but i couldnt find a rack like that for sale.

 

[The Ghost of FM]

I am not sure of the going rates for bench service in North Carolina but, here in Toronto, bench rates are $75.00 an hour plus parts.

So, if the shop is going to do a total mechanical and electrical calibration by the book, meaning all parts of the transport are checked for alignment, brakes are tested and adjusted, all servo tensions are checked and adjusted, all heads and guides are checked and adjusted and all of the multiple stages of a proper and full electrical calibration are performed with the MRL or TASCAM alignment tapes, then it's well worth the money to make sure everything is in order.

Doing it yourself can be accomplished if you have the service manual, calibration tape, oscilloscope, multimeter, various hand tools, spring scales, tentelo meter and experience but, you'll quickly discover that it's cheaper to have a professional service shop do the work, which for most home recording enthusiasts is a procedure that can be done every few years if you don't move the machine around too much or subject it to wild temperature and humidity extremes.

As far as rack ears go, you might try TASCAM's parts department out in Montebello, California by phone to see if they have them in stock. Odds are they do.

Phone: (323) 726-0303 West Coast Time.

Cheers!

 

[barbieparty]

what are the smaller things i can do by myself? surely i can demagnetize, and would buying alignment tape be worthwhile? whatever i could do myself would be helpful in the times between professional service.

 

[The Ghost of FM]

The normal in-between maintenance procedures for the TSR-8 are largely just cleaning the heads, guides and rollers and damagging the heads and guides along the tape path.

All other maintenance items do fall under the realm of qualified service in that doing a calibration involves opening up the bottom of the machine to get at the potentiometers which are mounted to the 8 channel cards. These pots are normally numbered as apposed to being named on the printed circuit board so having the service manual is essential to doing any adjustments.

In the good old days, as it is done in professionally run recording studios to this day, the recording engineer would need to do full mechanical and electrical alignment procedures on a fairly regular basis depending on how much drift of the settings would occur. (Each machine is different in it's stability of it's settings.) The TSR-8 once set, should hold it's levels for quite some time. Several years in most cases.They would by necessity, have on hand all of the tools, alignment tapes, and test equipment necessary to do these procedures that your service shop in NC quoted you on.

To just purchase an alignment tape by itself is not enough. That tape is necessary to set some preliminary playback and equalization levels so that you can continue from that point to go on and set up the recording levels and bias settings, which are all part of the calibration process. That Calibration tape is not cheap either! Most of them cost several hundred dollars and are specific to the type of reference levels, speed and tape width of your machine. http://home.flash.net/~mrltapes/

If you do choose to do these procedures yourself, in the long run, you will save some money and gain more insight into the interior workings of your equipment but, for most of us hobby users, it's cheaper and less painful on our brains to just let a professional technician do this procedure every few years and concentrate out time and effort on actually making music.

The absolute minimum would be to order the owner's manual/maintenance guide which will document all that I have written here in much greater detail and step you through the entire mechanical and electrical procedure, telling you what specific tools and test gear you will need to do these adjustments yourself. These sections of the manual are intended for professional technicians who have a working knowledge of electronics and are written to their level. This manual will not teach the novice, nor hold their hand in any practical way.

I hope that helps.

Cheers!

 

[DigitalSmigital]

The normal in-between maintenance procedures for the TSR-8 are largely just cleaning the heads, guides and rollers and damaging the heads and guides along the tape path.

I hope that helps.

Cheers!

Those canadians; they love to damage expensive equipment.

He may have meant de-magging!!!!

Sorry Ghost, but that "american" taunt in the cave still hurts...

 

[The Ghost of FM]

What is said in the Cave should stay in the cave.

I do however, thank you for your "Verneresque" correction on my spelling fubar.

By the way, Canada and the word Canadian should be capitalized!

Cheers!

 

[DigitalSmigital]

By the way, Canada and the word Canadian should be capitalized!

Cheers!

D'oh!

 

[regebro]

What is said in the Cave should stay in the cave.

I do however, thank you for your "Verneresque" correction on my spelling fubar.

By the way, Canada and the word Canadian should be capitalized!

Cheers!

Capitalize on Canada! Buy pot and kiss canadian girls and then sneak back over the border!