Tascam MS16 dodgy tape lifters

  • Thread starter Thread starter James K
  • Start date Start date
J

James K

Member
Hi,
my Tascam MS16 has a problem with its tape lifters. They seem to be sluggish in responding and don't lift the tape fully a lot of the time. On my old R8 they used to shoot out and back in again but on this machine they move slowly outwards and sometimes don't manage to lift the tape away from the heads. I'm aware that if I use the machine like this it will most likely destroy the heads. What could be causing this?

Thanks
James
 
I would say that whatever underlying components cause the lifters to lift (solenoids, springs, both) may be dirty, failing, damaged, or not getting enough current supplied to them by other components before it in the chain.

However, I will defer to the Tascam experts as I don't know how this specific machine's lifters are actuated.
 
Get the dress panel off and see if the rubber washer ("cushion") that keeps the plunger from going *klak* when it retracts has turned to tarry sticky goo. I've had this same issue with a 58 and a 48 I used to have.
 
Thanks! Is it easy and fairly risk free to remove the dress plate? Also, if it is the rubber causing the problem, is it easy to get hold of a replacement?

Thanks again,
James
 
Okay, I took the dress plate off but I couldn't really access the mechanism. I made this video to show what it's doing though. In the video they spring out at the start but when there's tape in the machine it does something similar to what they do on the way back in on the video.


Thanks
James
 
You usually have to remove the head assembly to get at the lifters. That's the big chunk of metal all the heads are mounted on, so it won't affect the alignment. There's about 4 bolts holding it in place, and the entire head assembly should just come away, exposing the lifter plate or whatever this one uses.
 
Follow the linkages back to where the solenoid is. Looks like its on the lower left? Too lazy to pull out my MS-16 service manual. But at the least, yes it does involve pulling stuff apart because if it IS a gooey solenoid cushion then you have to remove the plunger from the solenoid which means removing the solenoid...you have to use isopropyl alcohol to get it cleaned up.

BUT...

No offense...

Your machine is...uh...filthy. You may want to try and clean things up a bit and conservatively lubricate things. After seeing the action of what's happening I think that the grease on the main pivots may be hardened. Best practice is to take the assembly apart, clean as many of the moving joints as you can and then relubricate. As was stated by jpmorris you can get a better view of things just by removing that whole headblock assembly without fear of screwing up head alignment. The heads unplug don't they?
 
Okay,
I'm going to get my local tech guy to have a look at it. I'll ask him to clean it all up.

Thanks
James
 
Right,
I haven't been able to get hold of my tech guy yet (hopefully next week) but I've cleaned up what I could in the tape lifter assembly and greased it slightly. The tape lifters are now nice and snappy when they operate on their own. They're no longer acting like they did in the last video. However, they still sometimes fail to lift the tape. I attempted to make a video showing this but it decided to work fine every time I was filming it! Anyway, here it is. It does lift the tape but you can see (especially later on) that they are struggling to do so. I wonder if it's an issue with the tape tension. Also, I tried to get a few shots of the heads at the end to see what you guys think of them. I'm unsure about whether they are in good condition or not. I sort of assumed they were as it sounds fine but I've never really known.



Thanks
James
 
Tascams are notoriou (to me at least) for having factory grease in the lifter pivots that hardens over time. The proper fix is disassembling the pivots, clenibg and regrreasing. The fast "fix" is applying a good grade of machine oil to the pivot points while you are excercising the lifters by hand. The absolute best oil i have found for this is Hammond organ tone wheel generator oil.
 
Yeah, I'm pretty sure the problem with them acting like they did in the first video was because of that. My local tech guy (who is known by everyone in the South-East as the god of gear repair) told me that Hammond oil is basically identical to normal 3 in 1. I use that on my Hammond and it works fine. I oiled the lifters as well as I could and they seem to act fine on their own. It's just when there's actually tape in the machine that there's a problem. It's like they don't have enough force to lift the tape. They won't move if I put my finger in the way either. Any ideas about what's causing that?

Thanks again for all the replies.

James
 
Well intuitively it sounds like the solenoid is under-powered. But I know squat about how the mechanism works on the MS16, so I can't really help.
 
i have actually the same exact problem. And noticed that cleaning and re-lubing the lifters pivots helps smooth the movement. But that doesnt fix the issue, as the are pushed hard by the tape tension which according to the manual should be ~210g. I measured it with a tentelometer to get to that value. That tension is very high, not sure if that is right on the manual. IF you reduce the tension it will help the lifters and they can separate the tape more from the heads. I have not turned the machine around in the back to check on the actual solenoid that is under the front plate, but i noticed that the mechanism actually is stopped by the brown lifter manual control on the left. So the solenoid is able to fully go through its expected travel range. The only way to fix this apparently would be to move the tape lifter stopper somehow, but it looks like it is fine, so i dont understand either why i am not getting the lifters to separate more.

Also one more question about the headblock, when you remove it there is some play in the screws, to the side and to the back and front, how do you align it ? i mean the screws dont lock it automatically, there is some play on it. I wonder if this is my machine only or is it normal ?

thanks,
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top