A3440 Refurbishment - Mechanical Operation 

Hi Bill - If I recall rightly (it's a while since I restored that deck), there was totally gummy/solidified grease in the capstan arm and/or solenoid, and it displayed that very fault. After stripping the mechanism, cleaning all the solid grease out with isopropyl alcohol on cotton buds, and re-greasing it with fresh light grease, it worked fine. I was amazed at how much traction that gummy mess had. So it's worth checking out the mechanical aspects before looking for an electrical/elecronic fault. Hope you manage to crack the problem!

Hi Bill - Sorry for the delay in responding. If you're confident about safely working on electronic equipment, you've probably already dived into your machine by now and sorted the problem, but FWIW: If the capstan itself doesn't rotate, it's most likely a failed drive belt (usually turned into a gooey black mess), in which case, clean off the debris with care - it will stain clothes premanently - and fit a replacement (google for suppliers online). Next, if the pinch wheel won't swing in to engage the capstan, the grease on the pinch wheel actuator mechanism levers may have turned to hard wax after many years of inactivity, causing it so seize up - that will respond to a strip-down and regrease. I have also come across a seized actuator solenoid (on another Tascam machine), which needed exercising by hand to loosen it off. Finally, it could be a failed capstan motor - that's bad news as spare motors are rare and _very_ expensive. If you google around, the service manual is available online. Also google 'A3440 Carpenter' for a very good description of the A3440 circuitry by an enthusiast. Good luck!

@@reqordist hi there. Thanks for the reply. The issue of the pinch wheel not lifting was due to a leeky cap and bad transistor I forget which one now maybe c711 on the control board was causing the stop circuit to remain active. All sorted now. This can be tested by removing q718 from the board. Basically bypassing the stop circuit to test the functionality of the the pinch wheel etc. Much forum searching and fun with a multi meter. Got there in the end

@@billpickle2875 Glad you managed to trace the fault and fix it - at least the old discrete components can be readily sourced and replaced!

Hi Joe - If you want to use it as a 4-track, 4-channel machine for quadraphonic hi-fi listening, you will need a 4-channel stereo system with four discrete inputs that you can connect to the line-outs of the tape machine. If you intend to do home 4-track, 4-channel multitrack recordings (i.e. what it was designed for), you will need a basic mixer to mix the 4 channels down to 2-channel stereo and handle external effects, etc. If you just want to play back regular 4-track, 2-channel tapes in stereo, connect channels 1 and 3 to your stereo, as shown in the cartoon on page 7 of the Owner's Manual. If you didn't get the original manual with your machine, it's readily available online as a PDF download (as is the Service Manual) from various sources - try hifiengine. You can also play back 2-track 2-channel tapes in this way, but you may have to experiment with the tracks you use (may be better off using tracks 1 and 4, due tio the wide central 'dead' guard band), and the results won't be optimal. The headphone monitoring output and selection switch matrix allows you to listen to any or all of the 4 tracks at once, which will enable you to hear what's on existing 4-track, 4-channel tapes, and to do basic standalone track-laying. But it is just a monitor facility, and simply slings all four channels' signals to mono. HTH!

Sorry, Emmet it's a long time since I did that strip-down, so memory vague - but I seem to recall there was some green 'nail varnish' type stuff on the screw heads there. I guess they'd work loose otherwise, given the potential for vibration in that location. Have sometimes had to resort to Godzilla Grip / Neji-Saurus pliers when the crosspoints in the screw heads gave way...

You're welcome, Gabor - I hope they can supply the belts you need. The machine wouldn't win any prizes for its appearance in a vintage electronics show, but it has worked well enough to transfer about 70 open reel tapes from the mid '80s for a musician friend, so I'm happy with that!

Well that's the important thing. They were built with that purpose. Glad you're keeping this one alive. Thanks for your reply. Cheers :)