Since parts other than belts, tires and pinch rollers are largely unavailable, it is very difficult to offer a reliable repair service. Given the unit's age, it is very possible that it needs parts that I cannot get. I sometimes need to use salvaged parts from other decks in order to assemble a good working unit. I wish it was different, but these decks are getting rather old. Good luck with yours.
Hello Francis, it would be great if you do a detailed video on just the calibration process, this one is a bit rushed up an we cant really see how it's made. Also you talk about Speed, Playback Level, Record Level and Record Bias adjustments but it's not shown in the video. Could you please do a detailed video just on the calibration part showing all steps? Thank you so much
Thanks. I'll see if I can do that. But, really, it's the same setting up any other tape recorder. I'll work on that. I'll see what I can cook up. :) Thanks for the suggestion.
Hi Francis, thanks for the very nice videos. I have a 482 and used your videos to replace the belts and idler tire. The pinch rollers were stuck and had to take them out like you did but I couldn't find the reference plate you mentioned in the video. I guess there are some problems with the pinch roller alignment as I could see one tape curled badly. If you don't mind could you please post a link where I can purchase a reference plate? Other than that the deck works nicely. Also, I noticed lots of noise on the headphones and the output level is very high but they don't seem to show up on the line out. Is that normal or any adjustment is required to get it resolved? Thanks again.
There are some reference plates on ebay. I have seen some made from Plexiglas and some from steel. I would prefer the steel if the cost is not too much. I have no affiliation with any of these suppliers. I just searched on ebay using "Cassette Head Alignment Gauge" as a search phrase. Good luck, it looks like you are almost there to having it restored. Here is a reference plate I found: www.ebay.com/itm/373971150021?_trkparms=amclksrc%3DITM%26aid%3D1110006%26algo%3DHOMESPLICE.SIM%26ao%3D1%26asc%3D238214%26meid%3Dd86979a4ee064b57a1cd7efc591d02bf%26pid%3D101195%26rk%3D3%26rkt%3D12%26sd%3D115213493801%26itm%3D373971150021%26pmt%3D1%26noa%3D0%26pg%3D2047675%26algv%3DSimplAMLv9PairwiseWebMskuAspectsV202110NoVariantSeed%26brand%3DUnbranded&_trksid=p2047675.c101195.m1851&amdata=cksum%3A373971150021d86979a4ee064b57a1cd7efc591d02bf%7Cenc%3AAQAGAAABMIIp3bTCXFAKw6S9crk9CpCrrtOgadqFiC10NVPbN0936eprYVB4SXfDa52e1mbPLHt567o9Q5EZAKRIfvkB%252BlddyUrhCFC5JXFtwpaH3wHlXEu86P6jE21LjRVlkKz9dFQfyTYZtw6nkSIf%252BeuG5lQYMtu2Dwh9uPT%252BUX%252FrCBdvyD%252FwFIpq33XePaJXINVtmDPzBccij1RK2IFi%252B5zK1Aq%252BW%252FJaOEp3FqbnBjTlx5lDEL%252FQ8ey4OvHoNIH%252FeA2FvgBTXMchZyZLRclViYbrGipa42C6zkolU6dtA00EhEnpOEP%252BpgFSgrmVmjIUJM9dZr%252BcVCDuYdeuBUjo7RUErMVvp9wAcMCZm1WIXwPJQZHRjN6H7iH7KcuN4B2KVIiZgJA7ChJ6Lo%252FIpy3bzKZz8y4%253D%7Campid%3APL_CLK%7Cclp%3A2047675
The headphone problem is likely a circuit problem. It's very likely bad electrolytic capacitors. The liquid electrolyte in them can dry up over time and 40 years is a long time. Service manuals are available on the internet. But try cleaning all switches and controls first before you dig too deep, sometimes a little contact cleaner spray solves the problem.
@@fflynnful Thank you. I will get one of those alignment gauges and adjust the pinch rollers. I have tried cleaning all the controls and switches. The cracking noise when I operate the controls are gone. Most likely it's the electronics. I have downloaded the service manual. Will locate the headphone section and see what is wrong. I also saw you replaced the film caps as well in part 4 of the video.
@@fflynnful - Thought of asking if you offer repair service, I can send the mechanism to you to have it aligned. If not I will order the reference plate. Might be still not an easy task for me :-). Thanks again.
@@SubbuKaruppiah This is very old equipment and parts are not available. The mechanism is part of the overall deck and must be calibrated to the electronics. All that I can do is show you and others how to repair the mechanism. In most cases, replacing the belts and rubber pulley tire is all that is required to make such an old unit play a tape. I like to restore them to original performance including recording to original specifications. I refurbish and sell machines that perform to original specs. Look for me on ebay under "likenuagain". I offer rebuilt machines there.
Hi Francis i own a nak z7 bought it new i need to replace the belts i like to do it myself i wonder if its hard to do it been looking for videos on youtube and nothing to look at im over sea can i ship it to you just in case i can't fix it, and how much repair will cost me, any idea? thanks
I buy up broken machines, repair and resell. Since parts (aside from belts and rubber pulley surrounds) are not available, it is very difficult to provide a repair service. I often need to take parts from 2 or 3 broken machines in order to piece together one working machine. Btw, there is no "z7", perhaps you mean "zx-7". The ZX-7 appears to be very similar to the LX-5, I recently rebuilt 2 LX-5s. The transport is very similar to the 480 and the restoration procedure would be similar to what I do in this video. It appears to be a very high end machine and is worth getting it to a good shop that has the proper tools and expertise.
Very nice done. gratulation! I am fighting with a 480 just at this moment. Changed belts, idler, cleaned /lubed here and there. The right pinch roller arm stuck down totally, so I pressed it carefully against its spring (not down!) and put a very very small drop of oil in the space. Then is was free (after pushig play/stop about 50 times)- but totally out of the tape path, about 4mm.(I am shure someone had his hands on this- maybe to free the arm) To align it, I used one half of an empty cassette shell and compared the distance of the roller/path guide to the left pinch roller/guide and the half cassette. Of course that is not 100% perfect like a reference plate/gauge, but aligns about +/- 0.5mm correct, I guess. Now it is working perfect, l/R channels both the same, no more curling the tape. After all, very nice cassette deck, but not the easiest to service.
I am happy to know that you have your Nakamichi back together and sounding good. Some of them can be challenging, but the Nakamichis are among the best performing cassette tape decks. You have found a clever way to set pinch roller height.
A trick to get those pinch roller arms loose is to "warm" them up with a soldering iron. Don't get too crazy with doing that since the pinch roller arm supporting posts are set into plastic at the transport base. The heat from a soldering iron is just enough to liquify the old lubrication enough to get the arm off. Once you get it off, clean it up, re-oil it, and do your best to get it back in and adjusted to the correct height.
Fantastic work. The enclosure looks amazing as well. I had on my list to build one of his designs for a really long time. I'm about to do it as I finally have the parts I needed... and I found yours. Now I'm even more curious to build one hehehe. 73 my friend... beautiful work.
@@fflynnful Very beautiful. I'm working on a receiver now... also Charles Kitchin design... if not the same ))) I will see how close I can come to this enclosure. 73
Hey Francis, can't thank you enough for putting these fantastic clips together, they've given me some really timely and comprehensive pointers on how to rebuild my 480. Have you done a lot of these rebuilds? You sure know what you're doing! Truly great work, and very much appreciated.
I have been working on tape decks and cassette decks since the mid 1970s. I have rebuilt several of the Nakamichi decks in the past 20 years. I like to focus on the Nakamichi decks because they show the best performance of any cassette deck that I know of. Thanks very much for your comment.
@@fflynnful Ah, that is great to hear, and I couldn't agree more, the Naks are certainly the Rolls Royce of the cassette world. The 480 was my first (and for many years my only) Nak. It has its flaws but its signature sound is one I just keep returning to, and I'm sure you can understand why. Thanks again for all your time and effort.
@@geofffisher6382 Some insist that the Dragon brings out the best sound quality from a cassette, but the 480 and it's like can do just as well if in proper alignment. A badly adjusted and poorly maintained Dragon can sound bad as well.
@@geofffisher6382 When CDs came out, Nak used a "peaking circuit" to enhance the frequency response in the area of 20 khz. It made the numbers look good on paper. the 480 doesn't have that. This gives the 480 a more "natural" sound. I like the 480 and 580 most of all out of the Nakamichi decks. There is a difference between what looks good on paper and what sounds good.
