Teac 80 8 Playback Question about pinch roller

T

thereelman77

New member
Hi there, first posting on this great site.

I picked up my 2nd multitrack analog recorder recently, a Teac 80 8. I bought brand new RMG911 tape for it to test it out.

First when me and my guitarist ran the initial test of recording guitars it went perfectly well, all functions worked great.
The next day however when I spooled the tape up and pressed play, it didn't function correctly. It began spinning very, very slow, then eventually began speeding up to the point where it was basically in fast forward mode. I didn't know what was wrong until I really looked at it and noticed that the pinch roller wasn't touching the spinning capstan and that it was sometimes staying in place, not moving down completely. I couldn't move the pinch roller to even touch the capstan with my hand. Doing some internet search, I read that sometimes you have to clean the solenoid capstan, which I pulled apart and did, then put it back together, still the pinch roller didn't touch.

My question is that, what could the problem be, bad relays or something? Because when I took the reels off, the motors were spinning fine, no problem. I feared that it may be the motors not being able to handle the weight, but RW and FW functions work no problem.
 
In addition to the solenoid getting gunky and in need of a cleaning, there are also positional adjustments for that assembly to adjust the roller position. So you may have to go back and readjust that to get the travel position correct. Having the service manual would be a massive help in documenting the procedure. So if you don't have that, get one!

Cheers! :)
 
First off, thanks for the fast response The Ghost of FM.

I do have a copy of the service manual, but the scan you sent me helps me just as well.
Now I tried repositioning the solenoid, but to no avail, it didn't seem to change. The only problem I have seen is that, where it shows mounting screw A on the scan you sent, I only have one screw vs. the 2. And that one screw is stripped :(. So I wasn't able to adjust the 'Limit'. I'm assuming at this point that that is what may need to be adjusted, except that it is completely stripped.
 
Well, if that's the case, you might need to drill that screw out and re-tap a new threading and install a new screw to fit that.

Luck!

Cheers! :)
 
Alright so after a tough time getting the stripped screw out, replaced, and adjusting the spring Limit, still no go. The gap is still the same, just barely not touching the capstan. Any other suggestions?
 
thereelman77 said:
Alright so after a tough time getting the stripped screw out, replaced, and adjusting the spring Limit, still no go. The gap is still the same, just barely not touching the capstan. Any other suggestions?
Click to expand...

If you've followed the service manual to a tee and there's still an issue, I'm not sure of what else to suspect?

Hopefully someone else can chime in with useful suggestions. Sorry. :(
 
With the machine off, can you easily push the pinch roller up to touch the capstan shaft? Can you easily push it back to its resting position about 15mm or so below that?

Tim
 
Tim, yes with the machine off I can push the pinch roller with my hand up and down.

I'll try and post a pic.

Yesterday though after playing with the deck with the tape running thru it, I barely put some force to hold the pinch roller up and it held in place, touching the capstan, and rolling the tape at the correct speed. When I moved my hand away, the pinch roller moved very lightly back to the position before, where it wasn't touching the capstan by a few millimeters. So at this point I know it's just because the pinch roller isn't holding, but I mean the gap is so small that I held it up with my finger. I mean it seems like their is some metal bent somewhere or their is a pressure piece somewhere that is loose. I'll try and get some pics up tonight if I can.

Thanks.
 
If there was a piece of bent metal, the pinch roller might not be parallel to the capstan shaft. If that's not the case, I'd look elsewhere for loose mount points, or a weak spring, if there is one in that assembly or at the solenoid again to see if its moving the full extent of its travel or is still perhaps junked up a bit internally.

The point you mentioned about that stripped screw tells me that the previous owner obviously was monkeying around with that enough times to strip it, so its possible he may have done other damage during his efforts.

If your service manual shows you enough detail, try to compare every part in it against you machine to see if you can spot any deviations or replaced parts. Maybe also check the voltage specs for the solenoid to see if its getting the right amount of juice from the power supply.

Sorry, just throwing out some ideas here.

Cheers! :)
 
SORRY! I HAVE BEEN AWAY FOR A FEW MONTHS!!!! I have had a lot of things go down that I've had to deal with that I basically forgot about the forum.

LToro,
Yes, around the time I left my last response, somehow the pinch roller began working correctly again? Literally it was like gravity slowly started to kick-in and I haven't had to deal with the problem since.
 
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