Tascam ATR60-16 Not Erasing!!

[ron-e-g]

skywaveTDR, Thanks for your response. I think you misunderstand mdainsd's post. The comment about word processors is a signature that is applied to all his post.

As for the dirty erase head, I have cleaned it throughly. The problem does exist on all tracks. I live on the Central Coast in CA. No techs close by. I wish that were not the case. Problem with the LA thing. It is a three hour drive to drop-off recorder, then hope the estimate is not twice what the recorder is actually worth. Then another three hour drive to pick-up hopefully repaired recorder. This could be a totally non cost effective venture. I paid $500 for this recorder. (starting to think) "wasted $500 on" is a better way to put it!

 

[skywaveTDR]

skywaveTDR, Thanks for your response. I think you misunderstand mdainsd's post. The comment about word processors is a signature that is applied to all his post.

As for the dirty erase head, I have cleaned it throughly. The problem does exist on all tracks. I live on the Central Coast in CA. No techs close by. I wish that were not the case. Problem with the LA thing. It is a three hour drive to drop-off recorder, then hope the estimate is not twice what the recorder is actually worth. Then another three hour drive to pick-up hopefully repaired recorder. This could be a totally non cost effective venture. I paid $500 for this recorder. (starting to think) "wasted $500 on" is a better way to put it!

People buy things cheap and then find out the repair are going to be more than they were prepared to spend on the item in the first place. I see it all the time but a lot of my clients do not complain as in the end they get a working great unit. The ATR60-16 is no small unit like the MSR16 so you have a pretty nice bit of hardware there.
All these units can be fixed but you have to come across the right talent or learn to do it yourself. Of course doing it yourself can take an investment in equipment and lots of time- it might take a year to get it going. I say this as I helped a Dentist calibrate his X1000R through several E mail messages and he bought all the scope, alignment tape and all the other equipment but was able to do it in the end. You have 16 channels to deal with. You need to find out if the card is getting he record signal on command- I don't have ATR60-16 schematics here but there are common things that happen to these decks. Most of them have a master oscillator and then slave oscillators. Extender cards are nice to have but not always necessary. If there is no record or erase on any channel then a good place too start is the power supply and making sure the supply is getting to the master card. A lot of malfunctions can be edge connectors and motherboard connectors and feed through points.Feed through points are those solder pin that transfer a signal from the top to bottom of the motherboard. When these are wave soldered they are not up to high standards and can break with vibration and time. A lot of technician go in and resolder them all with additional lead. I use Kester 44 myself. If you have some channels working you can try to put nonfunctioning card in that channel and the working cards in the nonworking channel. This can tell you if the problem is on the card or in the position. That is a great machine there so I would not abandon it all that quickly. It probably went for over $12,000 new.

 

[mdainsd]

The ATR60-16 is nothing to do with a word processor- who comes up with such stupid comments.

You ought to learn a little bit about the forum here before you go off on people.

Its a signature, its in all of my posts. Figure it out.

There are several members on here trying to help Ron through his troubles with his machine, but you would have known that if you had read some of the many threads concerning this machine.

 

[ron-e-g]

All these units can be fixed but you have to come across the right talent or learn to do it yourself. Of course doing it yourself can take an investment in equipment and lots of time- it might take a year to get it going. problem is on the card or in the position. That is a great machine there so I would not abandon it all that quickly. It probably went for over $12,000 new.

All so true skywave. That is why I appreciate this Forum so much! I also have a MS16 much less problematic so far. I have been coached and advised by some truly dedicated and un-selfish people here. I can't say enough good things about the members here. My hope is that someday, I will have learned enough to actually be able to give the kind of support to someone else like me. Your words are true and honest. I suspect the Power supply or Oscilator PB, but Being a total newb. I need to be held by the hand and walked through the process (even using my own test equipment) ! I realize this is above and beyond, but I have no recourse. I totally agree with your assessment of time. Your story involving the Dentist is perfect! I'm like Him. (No I'm not a Dentist)..but I did stay at a Holiday Inn once. To illustrate my point. After finding the connector on the MB that pertains to Erase and Record bias I thought I was supposed to disconnect the connector and attach the alligator clip of my scope probe the the exposed pin marked Ground and probe the open hole on the connector. In doing this I suspect I may have inadvertently touched the - to + with the alligator clip. Because the latest thing is Fuses F8 & F9 are blowing.

This is a new problem since my scope adventure. At the same time frame actually before closing the back cover up. I happen to notice the connector at the MB (Record Signal) I think it was. Was not connected. So Either I accidentally dis connected it or possibly the previous owner. I have had house guest since this discovery so I haven't had time to investigate any further. I did however find time to purchase the 5A fuses I will need.

 

[ron-e-g]

Had a chance to check the fuse problem yesterday. I disconnected the two connections in question,replaced the blown fuses, and powered on.. everything fine, I power down, plug-in the rec/erase bias plug (P3), power on..everything fine! plug the rec/signal plug and again all's well. I'm guessing the reason the F8 fuse blew when I replaced it with F9 a few days ago, is that F9 was only a 3A fuse!? Well that was good to see. Now back where I started. I wasn't getting much of a signal on the scope before. Now I'm thinking, or actually wondering, when those fuses blew. I will suppress the question in my mind as to (why they blew)! They are connected with the bias as the two lights above +15 and -15 went out. Guess now that I understand how to test the signal at P3 with paper-clips. I should repeat the test?

 

[mdainsd]

if you promise to do it right and not short things out!

Leave that yellow connector connected and scope it again. Those are the master oscillator outputs for erase and record bias.

report back

edit: did you try gently pulling on the end of your scope probe to remove the hook section? If it pulls off there is a nice little pin probe that will be sufficient to reach down onto that connector and then just use a short piece of paper clip on the alligator clip (probe ground). youll be far less likely to short things out...

 

[ron-e-g]

mdainsd OK..I will "go back in" later today... I did try and pull that bugger off! nothing doing, these are the cheap after market ones. I have the tektronix brand it has a probe, but..the ground has a screw connection (male) with nothing connected to it. What's up with that?

wish me luck!

 

[mdainsd]

That screw thing, as you call it, on the Tectronix probe screws into an assortment of choices for grounding, INCLUDING the tectronix alligator clip!!!
But it sounds like you dont have that part....

 

[ron-e-g]

That screw thing, as you call it, on the Tectronix probe screws into an assortment of choices for grounding, INCLUDING the tectronix alligator clip!!!
But it sounds like you dont have that part....

Yea..that's pretty much what I figured. And no.. of course I don't have that, that..would be to easy!

 

[ron-e-g]

Problem has been solved! Many, Many Thanks to all the people who have responded to my plea! Like, sweetbeats, and skywave.

I would like to especially thank, mdainsd and wkrbee who have persevered through this with me. Both in this post, and PM-ing. Much Thanks to you both. I wish I could explain how the problem was fixed..but I can't. All I know is that, in the process of testing circuits with mdainsd's guidance, it started working! even the meter problem in Sync monitor mode works!!

So now back to Calibration!

 

[mdainsd]

Glad to help. Actually helping me develop a new skill set....remote trouble shooting.

remember those modded bias pots when you get back to calibrating.

 

[ron-e-g]

Oh good...... glad to hear you say that mdainsd! I'm sure I can help you some more in the near future!

 

[fgonza2]