Tascam 38 Capstan Assembly Making Strange Noise.

C

carsarebad

New member
First time poster long time lurker... glad to be here except that it is under such unfortunate circumstances.

Here is a video I made which demonstrates the issue.


Extra clarification: it is not an issue with the tape rubbing or anything like that, as it can be observed without tape in the machine. If I push slightly on the capstan (pushing in toward the machine) the noise stops. The issue, as you can tell in the video only starts when the motor gets up to a certain speed and only in PLAY mode.

Background info: Been using this machine for about a year. Up until now was going great. This just started happening today, first time using the machine in about a month, and since the last use I have moved it from a nice cold basement to a pretty hot garage, especially this Portland summer. Wondering if the change in climate may have caused issues with a rubber component. Seems like it could be a similar issue to the one described in this thread. Hoping I just have to replace the rubber washers described by Piper99. All input is appreciated... Thanks!
 
Also: if anyone has recommendations for techs in Portland, Oregon, please let me know. I have a guy but he's super far away from me (I'm in Southeast Portland, he's in St. Johns.)
 
Does it do it if you tip the machine back or forward while playing? Be careful doing this of course…heavy machine…don’t want it to get away from you. I’m a ways south of you.
 
sweetbeats said:
Does it do it if you tip the machine back or forward while playing? Be careful doing this of course…heavy machine…don’t want it to get away from you. I’m a ways south of you.
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Tilted it back a little and it worked fine. tilted it forward and it got worse. Put it on its back like this and its working great. It even has little feet on the back/top side of the machine to support it. Any reason not to use it like this? Was planning on recording my band in two days so probably just gonna rock it like this until I get a chance to take it to my guy. Vid with audio of the homies band attached.

 
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The 38 is designed to operate vertically, horizontally, or anything in between. Your capstan flywheel is rubbing on something, and when you have it laying flat the flywheel is resting fully on its thrust bearing. There is supposed to be a spacer washer between the flywheel and the back of the capstan bearing housing. I can’t recall if it’s teflon or what, but maybe that has worn and dropped out of place…so operating it leaned back or laying flat is fine.
 
sweetbeats said:
The 38 is designed to operate vertically, horizontally, or anything in between. Your capstan flywheel is rubbing on something, and when you have it laying flat the flywheel is resting fully on its thrust bearing. There is supposed to be a spacer washer between the flywheel and the back of the capstan bearing housing. I can’t recall if it’s teflon or what, but maybe that has worn and dropped out of place…so operating it leaned back or laying flat is fine.
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Thanks a lot!!!
 
Tascam techs advised me to operate their machines horizontally to avoid the capstan motor bearing having to support the motor's weight. It also makes routine cleaning much easier.
 
RRuskin said:
Tascam techs advised me to operate their machines horizontally to avoid the capstan motor bearing having to support the motor's weight. It also makes routine cleaning much easier.
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Yeah once I put it on its back I thought wow it will be so much easier to clean it like this. Not sure why I didn't think of that before!
 
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