Teac 80-8 hub/tape path misalignment question

[sam humans]

HELLO FINE FOLKS!

could use some help, so here goes:

Have this here Teac 80-8. Throw on some tape, thread it (correctly, i checked this multiple times just to be sure) and i'll be jiggered if the reel (10") just doesn't align with the tension arm. It's obviously out of wack, with the reel being maybe a few millimeters too closely set to the body of the machine. It causes the tape to leave the reel at a harsh angle, causing a flare on the outer edge of the tape. It's almost as if the hubs are missing some sort of spacer and/or are the wrong hubs all together. In researching this these last few days, i find no information to suggest either of these things are true. The hubs are Teac TZ-612's if it matters.

Any suggestions as to what the issue is? Thanks for any and all help!

-Sam

 

[lonewhitefly]

assuming the reel itself is good --

you have to unscrew and remove the entire hub adapter assembly, there are adjustments inside to move and tighten/loosen the hub ... i think it uses an allen wrench. we had to do that on mine recently but i can't exactly remember what we adjusted. take it apart and you can pretty much see how it works (we just winged it and figured it out).

if its too close to the body, you could even try just gently pulling it out, but proceed with caution. you'll probably want to adjust it properly at some point.

 

[sweetbeats]

Yes. That's the ticket. Sounds like you need to adjust t reel table height. The reel table is the platter that mates with the tape reel and that is attached to the hub which affixes to the motor shaft via two set screws. You need to get access to these set screws, loosen, adjust the position of the hub on the shaft, tighten set screws and check your work; readjust as necessary. This can easily get out of whack if a reel table gets bumped or even if the deck was paid on its face or was on its back and had something set on top of it. If you can remove the top panel you may be able to access the set screws one at a time through holes in the framework, rotating the reel table 90 degrees to get the second one.

I'm just south of you outside of Salem.

 

[sam humans]

thanks fellas, problem solved! test recordings have commenced!

i'm checking the thing out to possibly buy from a friend. as experienced 80-8ers, anything i should keep an eye out for? tape path is evenly warn, no head gaps visible, transport (so far) appears to be stable. i'm a little concerned about capacitors and buying/finding an mrl... anything else?

again, thanks!
-s

 

[lonewhitefly]

i've not had any unresolvable problems on mine since i've owned it in the last 5 years ... once it went kaput and i got it repaired by a local guy who works on stereos, etc, nothing too bad ... i think it was the capstan that went out. mine has a funny clicking sound that i need to get looked at at some point.

one tip (which could be unique to my deck) is that the edge tracks (1 and 8) tend to have more dropouts, etc, so i generally try to put less important instruments or things like kick or bass on those tracks.

 

[mattstollar]

hi there

i had exactly the same problem with my 80 8...and i followed the advise on this thread and just pulled out the right hub and it came out by a full 1/4 inch almost

however the left hub won't do it

I'm not getting any play or record functions happenning...the capstan isn't 'taking'

Maybe this is because the left hub is too far into the machine making the tape slightly drag against the reels side and thus sort of
telling the machine the tape is stuck and not to play...but this seems too hi tech for this era of machine

Or maybe it is because I haven't threaded the tape through the heads area properly

Does one just pass the tape underneath the head area..or do you lift up the head enclosure and run the tape up and down and through the various loops and pathways in some special way?
thanks for helping if you can


I'm pretty sure I've threaded the tape properly through the right metal arm