T
tross1024
New member
Hi, I posted this at Tascamforums.com, but the traffic there seems pretty light, and there seem to be many people here who are knowledgeable of Tascam tape recorders, so here it is:
Long story short: Currently my 488 mkII is playing slower than it was before. My gut feeling is that its the belt. When I hit play, the tape speed will start out fast and then over the next 10 seconds slow down to a constant speed, not extremely slower than normal, but definitely not normal. While its playing, if I take a pen and lightly pull the pinch roller mechanism away from the tape and capstan shaft (not enough to terminate friction altogether), the speed returns to normal. But as soon as I let go it slows down again. I also noticed that the pitch controller is much less responsive when I increase the pitch as opposed to when I decrease. If I quickly turn the pitch control all the way to the right, it takes several seconds for the pitch to slowly speed up, whereas if I quickly turn it all the way to the left it immediately slows down. The pitch controller responds quickly and normally when I have the pinch roller pulled away from the capstan shaft though. So, It seems like the normal resistance of the pinch roller against the capstan shaft is actually slowing the capstan shaft down. Could this be due to a stretched belt? Seems like a stretched belt could account for the lagging. I recently took tape mechanism apart and its possible I could have put a little strain on the belt when detaching the motor. But I can't really say for sure until I replace the belt. Anyone have any thoughts or seen these symptoms before?
Long story short: Currently my 488 mkII is playing slower than it was before. My gut feeling is that its the belt. When I hit play, the tape speed will start out fast and then over the next 10 seconds slow down to a constant speed, not extremely slower than normal, but definitely not normal. While its playing, if I take a pen and lightly pull the pinch roller mechanism away from the tape and capstan shaft (not enough to terminate friction altogether), the speed returns to normal. But as soon as I let go it slows down again. I also noticed that the pitch controller is much less responsive when I increase the pitch as opposed to when I decrease. If I quickly turn the pitch control all the way to the right, it takes several seconds for the pitch to slowly speed up, whereas if I quickly turn it all the way to the left it immediately slows down. The pitch controller responds quickly and normally when I have the pinch roller pulled away from the capstan shaft though. So, It seems like the normal resistance of the pinch roller against the capstan shaft is actually slowing the capstan shaft down. Could this be due to a stretched belt? Seems like a stretched belt could account for the lagging. I recently took tape mechanism apart and its possible I could have put a little strain on the belt when detaching the motor. But I can't really say for sure until I replace the belt. Anyone have any thoughts or seen these symptoms before?