First post, by Kahenraz
- Rank
- l33t
I usually post repair threads for computer hardware, so I thought it might be interesting to hear about something a little different for a change. I don't have many photos, as I wasn't confident that I would succeed, as mechanical repair is completely different from solid state electronics. The unit is also 30 years old and a lot can happen in that time. To summarize, I did end up repairing the unit. Read below for further details.
I ordered one of these recently, for a trip back to my childhood. I don't have any dedicated CD players in the apartment, and I'm having fun playing with cassette tapes. I remembered that my family had one of these when I was younger, and I always admired the look of it. These are somewhat hard to obtain, as they often sell (or are listed, at least) for over $100 and often "for parts". And even when they do appear for less, shipping often pushes it back over that amount. These things are old, and no matter what would need some kind of cleaning and refurbishment. That's a big investment for a lot of work that may or may not pan out, so I've never given it much consideration.
I was casually searching for this model when I managed to find one for about $70 shipped. The owner also confirmed that it was all in working order, with the only fault being done problem with the power cord not working well. If it's the cord, I can replace it, I thought. And if it's the power jack, I can replace it. So with this information abd at this price, I figured it was worth picking up and trying to repair.
Unfortunately, the seller did not use enough packing material. The box they used was too large for the stereo, using and then another smaller, empty box, to brace it against the wall inside. This smaller box collapsed in shipping and the stereo bounced around, damaging one of the cassette doos. The seller was fair about the situation and issued a refund without any problems. This worked out well in my favor, as upon disassembly, I found several problems that would have made it inoperable, even if the door hadn't broken.
See here for a video of the cassette door. It was completely jammed open, and I wasn't keen on trying to put it back in place without inspecting it from the inside. This required a complete disassembly.
Disassembly was very time consuming, but I managed to remove all of the internal components until I reached the tape mechanism, which had to also be removed to reveal the reverse side of the cassette doors. The reason for the failure was a broken plastic standoff that held the gear which allowed the door to open and close. The spring that went along with it was also found nearby. Luckily, there was an extremely convenient and unused plastic standoff directly adjacent, which I used to brace the piece against and restore integrity. It makes me wonder if it wasn't meant to be used for this purpose, and that the person assembling this unit simply forgot to add this screw.
While the seller confirmed that the CD and cassette deck were in working order, I am cautious of this. While the main drive belts for the tape mechanism were still intact, the smaller belts had turned into goo. Athough it's possible that it could still play tapes in this state, perhaps these smaller belts are only used for fast forward and rewind. It took a while to clean, but after replacing the belts, everything was turning smoothly again. Since I already had the mechanism removed, I took this opportunity to clean it thoroughly and lubricated all of the moving parts. I also wanted to measure the punch rollers for a future replacement, but was unable to find a way to remove them without disassembling the tape machanism itself, which I was reluctant to do. So instead, I cleaned them in place and applied a rubber renewal product to help enhance what life they still had left.
The rest of the repair very straightforward. I reflowed new solder into the power connector pins and nothing else; all of the capacitors and joints looked fine. I spent more time blasting out the dust with canned air and wiping out the rest with a brush and a damp cloth.
The laser diode was very foggy, but still played discs. I did clean it up a bit, although I couldn't tell if this made any difference. The reason my family had gotten rid of the ones we used to own (we went though two) was that the laser had gone bad. I found out recently that it's still possible to get these same lasers NOS, which is why I even considered buying one of these. Surprisingly, this original laser still seems to work fine, although I'm thinking about replacing it preemptively, just to be done with it.
After reassembly, both the cassette and CD options work and sound great! The repair was a complete success. The only casualty was the radio, which doesn't seem to work at all; there isn't even any static or white noise when it's switched on. I don't know if it worked before the repair, but I don't intent to ever use it, so I'm not inclined to open it back up to investigate right now. Perhapse I'll look at it again when I replace the laser.
I hope you enjoyed this repair summary. Stay tuned for more in the future.
