Nakamichi BX-100 Idler Wheel Problem 

Some people don't like the Sankyo mechanism in Nakamichi tape decks but they are "easy" to repair, compared to others.

A very special Thank you for posting the video,clearly explaining the root cause and remedy, easy enough that anyone could understand. Fixed my Nakamichi BX1 , works like a charm. I managed to remove the plate and did the job, just too scared to remove the mechanism.Great, thanks once again.

Many thanks Old School! I'd watched another video which involved even removing the base plate, but thankfully there was no need to do that at all -- your guide has been exactly what I needed and it all worked perfectly.

Thank you for taking the time to make the video and all the commenters for the extra tips. I used the sanding method and totally fixed the FFD/RWD issue on my Technics CX-650R. You all are what is great about the internet. Thank you all!

Hi - Nice video! Just a quick note - if you want to clean the idler to get more life while your part is on order, all you have to do is pop off the cassette door, take out the 2 screws holding on the black plate, and clean the idler! You don't even need to take the cover off! Just did that on mine and it's back to strong winding each way!

Hey There 'Old School' - Just wanted to Thank you so much for posting this video. I have exactly the same model of Nakamichi & it had exactly the same fault! Your video helped a lot to fix it & has saved it from being skipped! 👍🏽

Thanks. I have this same model, and this helped me. I ended cuting a 1 inch square of 220 grit sand paper and wraping that around the wheel, and sanding it lightly in place. Only had to remove the front plate, and not take apart the whole thing.

I just repaired my Nakamichi CR-7A thanks to your video and to the comment of one of the persons that watched the video. To make it easier than this video, I just removed the black metal plate that sits behind the cassette, there are two small screws on the top of this plate that sits right in front of this Idle wheel. I cleaned the tire with liquid sander and I clean all the parts or spindles where this tire makes contact with Isopropyl alcohol, it took me about 15 minutes. Now it rewinds, fast-forward and plays like brand new!

Praise the internet and praise people like you for sharing the knowledge. I THINK this is going to be exactly what I need to get a Sansui D-550M going properly again. If the sandpaper doesn't work, then maybe I'll use an o-ring instead. Fingers crossed!

Gotta love those super simple Nakamichi mechanism's. When I fixed my Philips F6121 there was also a washer for the idler gear which had it's teeth fall of and also the auto-stop gear had it's teeth fall of. I probably wasted about 1 hour or more to find that damn washer, I think that I've lost and found it about 7 times lol. Never thought of putting it on a piece of tape!. Keep up the good works. Cheers :)

Mine had developed the same fault. The good news is you don't need to take it apart to fix this. Removing the black plate is easy enough with just the two screws and then you can get to the little wheel and roughen it with one of those sticks designed for filing your nails. Very light pressure, patience -the idea is not to file it down. Using Fast Forward will allow you to get the machine to do most of the work too. However, I think the real problem is the rubber has aged and hardened over the last 40 years and this will only be a temporary fix. A replacement tire is needed. I ordered one along with a capstan belt as I am sure the existing one will also have lost its performance over time. Lubrication of the various bearings is probably a good idea too.

Bravo! Thanks for sharing. I have the same mechanism in an onkyo that I hope to repair and this gives me hope. Godspeed with you other adventures!

I just wanted to add to this video. I found that you can access the idler wheel by just taking off the black plate through the door. Also I removed the rubber wheel without removing the cam. I then turned the rubber wheel inside out so that the previous unworn inside part was now on the outside. A perfect easy fix.

Many thanks for this video. I need to do the same thing with my deck and now I know how to proceed. This is RU-vid as it's best. Take care and stay safe!

thanks for this great video, my deck had a different problem, but the same cause. it could FF and REW, but play worked for 2-3 seconds, then the deck stopped. having watched this video, i started removing the transport, but then decided to just remove the back plate, and I carefully sanded the idler wheel in place with a tiny strip of 180grit sandpaper.

I got my replacement washer from a garden hose tap adapter (the little rubber sealing ring is perfect).... cheap from the local shop and still working 10+ years later.

Great video!! I have a BX300 with the same issue.. Now I know how to fix it!! Thank you!

Gracias por el aporte, me sirvió para reparar mi Nakamichi BX-150. Thanks man.

Cats like this guy are my hero's

In the good old days we just apply some amount of lacquer thinner in a cotton swab and then rub it at that idler tire rubber surface. No more hassle of removing it which is difficult and time consuming.

Nakamichi used to supply a replacement kit, I used a rubber O-ring to replace the idler tire.

Will it also help to very slightly sand paper the brass motor capstan with like 320 grit sand paper, which comes in contact with the idler wheel? WIll this further enhances better contact or just don't do it as it might distort the dimension of that brass capstan?

Ha!..Dam washers and shag carpet!..lol..that sound like me when i was young...tearing apart stuff on the floor and loosing parts in the carpet! Nice tape trick,good idea to keep from dropping the washer when putting it back on..nice fix too!

Without this small trick and a small piece of sand paper, thi Naka was good for the garbage : what a shame ! I mean : there is not a single line about this possible issue on the BX-2 Service Manual. Couldn't they think such a problem could show up after some years ? Dam ! I mean, I'm happy to have save it - and thank you so much for your help - but in the other hands, I feel that so absurd ... Most of people have think it is dead and how many units have been wasted ?

It looks like MR1 has same idler design for reels. NAK had a gear upgrade option, but it was noisier and offered no general benefit vs idler tire. Try using Rubber Renew it's also very good restoration

I got a nak bx300 with a broken "swing arm" that holds the roller in place. I bought a used bx-1 for parts and got her going! It's an absolute pain though.

If you lose the idler wheel washer, like I did.. You can use a tiny piece of the speaker wire sheath, just clip a piece off the end and use it as the washer. I've been playing tapes for months without any problems.

What if my VCR is feeding itself too much tape and gets clogged?

...I may have snapped the idler wheel off while trying to fix this. I feel like an idiot. How can I fix this? I would appreciate any help.

Hi, thanks for the video. Does Idler also work in play or just rewind and fast forward? Thank’s.

I'm wanting to replace the power cord on my Nak CR4, do you think it's as easy as soldering two connections?

Watch out for the black plate, at the bottom it fits into slots in the shiny pins at either side. I can see on the video 9:10 that the plate is not in the slots. This mounts the plate too far forward miss aligns the tape and makes the deck sound a bit off.

Couldn't you do this without taking the whole mechanism off and just remove that metal plate to get to the rubber wheel?

Same issue with a 300 I just got for 4 bucks. Fixed it and sold got a small fortune

You really have chosen the hard way lol. You can remove the plate and replace or refurb the idler without removing the mech.

Thanks man!

I don't get that: why did you open up the machine and pull out the entire drive mechanism, when all you had to do, to access the idler wheel, was remove the plate from the front without any of that ???

Must say that changing that rubber thing works best, dont try to save some money, it might work sanding the rubber, but a new part is cheaper. Now my deck runs again, but is making clickering noises when the tape is over.

Can u make a video on how to do this on the 9090?

A dab of grease will hold the washer in place...That drive system looks exactly like my Yamaha K-1000...the capstan motor is brushless and has a big flywheel that spins around a set of coils, which will have zero resistance, and the reel motor has the tire like yours that moves back and forth between the two reels..and I had to do the same thing with the tire...sand it LIGHTLY and as evenly as i could which fixed it.

some tech's use 3000 grit sand paper on the tire with a dremel. I prefer to spray carb cleaner on a cuetip and apply it on the tire. Restores tire softness and removes glaze.

Most times if the rubber cannot be sourced, an o ring is the best subtitute It works just as well I solved plenty problems like that already

Спасибо

This helped me fix my deck thank you

TOP

this is the same problem with Sansui deck D-350M almost the same mechanism

My device, a Nakamichi BX-1 was in very good condition, but had sat unused for several years at least. It has the same transport as the one in this video. The device would power on, but the only button that did anything was the play button, and it would just spin the capstan motor and flywheel for a few seconds and then stop. Nothing at all would happen with a cassette in the machine. If you are having similar symptoms to the ones I described above (little to no movement from Play, Rev, FF), go to this video and find my comment there: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-ExNSDYwKeXA.html Once I had basic functions working, I came to this video to solve this exact issue. I would put a cassette in the machine and the functions were unable to move the cassette. I suggest doing the following like another commenter suggested, it worked very well. Just remove the black plate as he does in the video, close the cassette door, press FF, and very lightly touch a small file to the rubber of the Idler wheel. After some time, and it will take some patience, try a cassette, and if it doesn't work try more filing. Due to the very low amounts of pressure you can use, a sharper file works better. Let the spinning of the FF do the work over a minute or a few. If your wheel is destroyed or cracked filing it probably won't work, but if it is just too smooth like mine was this might work well. Hope this helps! Great explanation Old School, very useful video. Thanks.

The hard part of working on these decks is that the part are soo small!

The most important thing - how to take off the snap ring is not there - omitted. Otherwise the removal of the whole mechanism due to the replacement of the rubber band is completely unnecessary, it can be done from the front without removing it from the hi-fi tower

I would not have messed about cleaning it up, you can buy new tyres on eBay.