Hi all, long time listener / first time poster here.
I acquired a Teac 85-16 after making a lot of recordings with my pair of Fostex R8s over the last 4 years.
Heads were relapped by JRF and I replaced the bearings in the motor myself.
After using the machine on a bunch of sessions since last July, I notice there's a disturbingly uneven pattern the tape is polishing the head in. It seems like the tape tension on the low side must be higher than the high side, but I have no way to ascertain if this is the case. I want to fix this before my heads wear out unevenly.
(looks like the images are huge, might want to right click and view)
View attachment 86601
Note in this one that the tape is wrapped loosely around the bottom of the supply tension roller... that's the only place I can really tell that it is stronger on one side. If it's bent, would that skew the tension up to the capstan?
View attachment 86602
Any members here with experience working on wide transports? (Sweetbeats?)
I have fixed loads of 1/4" and 1/2" decks in my time as an electronics weirdo but tape this wide seems to present its own challenges.
P.S. is it normal for a wear pattern to appear that quickly with new/relapped heads? This is the first personal machine I've had where I would have been able to witness that. The tape I'm using is 456 manufactured in about 1995, exhibiting no signs of binder breakdown. But I'm not absolutely sure it's past the cutoff date for the bad formula.
I acquired a Teac 85-16 after making a lot of recordings with my pair of Fostex R8s over the last 4 years.
Heads were relapped by JRF and I replaced the bearings in the motor myself.
After using the machine on a bunch of sessions since last July, I notice there's a disturbingly uneven pattern the tape is polishing the head in. It seems like the tape tension on the low side must be higher than the high side, but I have no way to ascertain if this is the case. I want to fix this before my heads wear out unevenly.
(looks like the images are huge, might want to right click and view)
View attachment 86601
Note in this one that the tape is wrapped loosely around the bottom of the supply tension roller... that's the only place I can really tell that it is stronger on one side. If it's bent, would that skew the tension up to the capstan?
View attachment 86602
Any members here with experience working on wide transports? (Sweetbeats?)
I have fixed loads of 1/4" and 1/2" decks in my time as an electronics weirdo but tape this wide seems to present its own challenges.
P.S. is it normal for a wear pattern to appear that quickly with new/relapped heads? This is the first personal machine I've had where I would have been able to witness that. The tape I'm using is 456 manufactured in about 1995, exhibiting no signs of binder breakdown. But I'm not absolutely sure it's past the cutoff date for the bad formula.