Decided to buy the model that replaces this unit, the TC-RX77es. It uses the same mechanism as the RX70es. Needed the belts and the capstan motor. I found the motor new old stock, and the belts are easy to find. It is a well put together unit, and easy to work on. The service manual was easy to find and has been very helpful. Your video also helped me seeing how easy it was to service this machine. Thanks for posting the video.
Great video! Never would have tried to replace the mode belt on my Sony TC-RX79ES without it! Same mechanism, at least as far as belt changing goes. There was one serious omission in the video -- or at least the Sony service manual regards it as a definite step in the reassembly process. Before the two "halves" of the mechanism are joined back together after having secured the new mode belt to the motor pulley and its temporary anchor point, you are supposed to adjust the timing of the gears by aligning certain marks on the Mode Cam with the Selection Lever and one other piece so that everything functions properly when the mechanism is reassembled. None of this was even mentioned in this video. Find a free service guide from HIFI Engine or another source and you'll see this.
Hey Dave , I have the same deck which you helped me fix ….lol that darn fusible resister went open and you told what to look for ….fixed it ! I've torn down mine as well to replace the belts ,mode switch ...etc: I also had to tear that motorized record mechanism motor and clean it as it was seized .great deck and it sounds amazing . Take care !
I have a Akai GXC-710 from 1975. Needs some TLC. When i get the guts to send it i'll be in touch. Never had the unit serviced. Really enjoy your videos.
😊 excellent video. I have that exact model, followed most of your tuition but found no need to take off the pendulum on the front. You can unlock the screws at the back just enough to slip in the square belt. This saved a wee bit of time and effort. I accidentally broke the red/white and the white wires to the belt drive motor. Will solder them back tomorrow. But an A1 instructional video, keep up the good work. P.S. How's the cat???? Love it.😊
Thank You! this video helped me to fix my 606ES, it has the same mechanism but instead of the left side, it's mounted in the middle of chassis. However, for the small belt, I managed to replace it without removing the front plate inside the mechanism (with background cassette light), I just unscrewed couple of screws so I can lift it up enough to pull out old, and put a new belt! I was lucky that belt was still "a belt" not a sticky goo, that's why I didn't need to disassemble the whole thing. Thanks again!
Thank you! I was able to do the same on my Sony TC-RX79ES and replace the small belt by removing the extra couple of screws, it makes things much easier. The only thing I did wrong is to pull the front panel after watching another video while I didn't have to and I broke the a small clip that connect the front panel to the motherboard. Fortunately I was able to fix it.
Good job! Sony's ES series we're not the same in Europe or US, as few autoreverse mechanisms can achieve the quality standards obtained with 3 heads mechanisms simple direction. However, this deck seems very well built and tech friendly, as it's a quite easy task to access these belts. Try this on a TEAC or JVC... and you'll get some wires problems, and 3x Times more screws and fragile plastic clips... The complexity of this Sony mechanism reminds me the VCR or DAT decks, with all these optical sensors and position encoder. I was first surprised when you pulled the capstan belt in opposite directions, untill I realized the capstans should turn that way in these autoreverse decks. When you have dual capstans mechanism decks with one capstan motor, your belt has to pass the same way round the flywheels.
Also did you notice that the flywheels are different size as is the capstan shaft. You can't mix em up because one is larger and will not fit on the wrong side.
And there was an extra screw left over that the guy that took it apart and then forgot where it went left in the bottom of the cabinet. That washer was missing and I don't have any. When people try to fix their own and then give up I never know what I will get.
great vids, and thanks for the last advice, it works fine now, have anissue now on another sl-f1e, whereas, soon as fired up, the motor starts to run, and of course, it will not take a cassette, checked all cables and connections. seem fine, but there is 1 black earth cable off at the circuit board , its connected at 1 end to a tin plate, could it be this causing the motor to run ?
I have a 3 head 2 motor tc-k561s to do belts and replace some nichicon caps on previous owner has taken it apart and made a mess of one of the motor connectors i need to get it done .Somebody on uk ebay is charging £50 to replace sony walkman belts .
@12voltvids -thanks for the video, has been an enormous help. Would you happen to have the inside diameters for the replacement belts; am unable to find anything, especially for the larger belt. The mode belt seems to be 20.6mm. Any help would be much appreciated.
Thanks for the upload! I was hoping that you would have a better way of removing the remains of the melted belts then me, but it comes down to scraping of the last little bits. A pain in the arse it is. I have an old Philips 8 track tape recorder it used to be my dad's. I have replaced the belts on it once already but that is 30 years ago and they need replacing again! Hopefully it is easeyer to get belts for it now with the internet under our fingertips then it was 30 years ago... You know what I mean, go to the parts shop and then they had all the belts exept for one. To find that one you drove from city to city to find it ahhh. All the best and waiting for the next video.
I liked how you used the spinning motor to assist in cleaning the belt residue. The belt kit you ordered has a wider variety of belt widths than the set I ordered from China. I would be interested to know what universal kit you ordered. ES! Haha!
Not going to be too picky or critical or anything cuz I like your work but if you would use a clean Q-tip every time you get something black out of there it might come clean without scraping it like that
Q tip is not getting into the nooks and crannies of the edge of the pulley, and nothing is being scraped. No pressure was put on it, not enough to scratch, just enough to remove the residue. If you get upset at this, don't watch how I resurface a betamax upper drum assembly. It is ugly. Sandpaper basically.
I just noticed that the two flywheels are sifferent sized while driven by the same belt, strange. Normally you'd expect that both must be same-sized. I guess, the only explanation is that, it takes into account that the speed of the belt on the part where it goes from the flywheel to the motor pulley, is slightly greater, due to the elasticity of the belt, than on the part where it goes from the motor pulley to the flywheel (whichever flywheel comes first, which is the right side one viewed from the back, in this case). So in result, the first flywheel has to be smaller for the same RPM. With the wrong belt (different elasticity or worn out belt) this can result in a different tape speed between side A and side B play, with the latter one would be a little slower if the belt is worn out or too elastic, but faster if the belt is less elastic or too tight. Interesting! Hmm, different capstan shaft diameters too, interesting. This explains the different flywheel size too, somewhat... My JVC UX-T150 still awaits for me to take it apart for the second time. Tape mechanism is not engaging because of worn out belt. Some idiot put in there only 1, it needs 2 belts. Crazy complex mechanism too!
Speed calibration Might be what's wrong with my Nakamichi BX-100 Belts are fine, spindle spins only when it is not playing a casette, and the rewinding/Fast forward has the same problem, the only problem I could think of is motor is weak?
Hi, I fixed my BX-150 which had the problems you describe. For playback I did need a new capstan belt because the old one was too stretched out to grip properly. The fast rewind/forward issue was a rubber drive wheel for the spindles (idler tire replacement). I got everything from one USA Nakamichi service place [ www.eslabs.com/parts.htm ]. Not cheap but sometimes proper fitting parts is the best way to go.
another example of sony slapping the "es" badge on a meh+ deck. i bought some of those 70 buck belt and roller kits off ebay. belts and brass bearing rollers from germany, how can you go wrong? right? well i tore my deck apart, a tc-k950es (333esg). a real es deck. put the new belts in, used it for a month, stopped using it for a few months and when i came back the mode belt was too loose to work the deck. what the flip?
TC-K was the higher end. ES stuff was good initially, got the reputation and then they started using it on more mid grade. I have DTC75ES and a CDP X555ES and those are the real mccoy.
May i ask I just got hold of a TC-K677ES that does not play, it winds forward and back but will not play, I've ordered all new belts and will change them up. My question is I want to clean up around all the buttons and I'm trying to get the metal front off, is it clipped on underneath? I've taken the screws out but cant seem toget the front off, it looks like all the control will just go through the metal holes and it seems I dont need to remove the knobs. This mech looks the same so i will use this video to change my belts. What the best way to clean the pinch rollers or should I just replace them also in your view?
Hello I have two decks with dolby s just wonder was it just a marketing gimic my denon deck that I mostly use only has dolby b/c but it is a three head deck and sounds so much brighter.
Dolby S is very very good imo. The problem with S is, it is rarely supported on other equipment. While it was designed to be compatible with Dolby B players, it just never sounded as good as on a dedicated Dolby S machine. I for myself only use Dolby on very low end Type 1 tapes, other than that I turn it off. But I appreciate that it's there in case I need it. Dolby S is definitely my favorite.
I have a Sony tck to a made in 1978 if the motor or the power transformer goes bad or if the belts have to be replaced or if I need mechanical parts I could take up real or clutch assembly can you get those parts to fix it and where would you go for them thank you
@12voldvids - not sure if you are checking the comments but I still haven't managed to get this deck working... it looks like the heads are not going up as far as they ought to when pressing play; would yourself or any of the commenters have any hints or tips for what to look at? Any advice would be much appreciated,
A known issue on many of those decks that have the plastic chassis that the head plate slides on, the plastic cracks and the head won't lift all the way. I don't know if your model uses a metal or plastic chassis because I don't have one here to look at for comparision.
@@12voltvids Just an FYI for anyone with a similar issue; it was the back plate of the cassette (with the light) that wasn't fitted properly; it needs to be fitted at the bottom in the clips.
@@12voltvids - I hope you don't mind me asking but am at a loss having fixed the tape playing the Open/Close button only opens; the only way to close the tape mechanism is to unplug it from the mains for 10 seconds and when plugging back in, the tape mechanism closes. Am not sure if this is related to the capstan reels spinning and the light on the ornamental plate when plugged in but the power switched off. I have nothing to compare this with and if you could let me know if your tape deck is similar or if you have had any similar issues, would really appreciate any help.
Smashing repair :-D. A very unusual deck, loved the real balanced flywheels :-). Ahh the nasty decomposing drive belts. i've done a fair few over the years, the worst was a vertical reel to reel machine, every belt turned into black concrete and it was on everything. A vocal cat, i like an animal with a bit of character :-D. Ha ha Expensive Sheeeeet, are they from mehiiko then :)
I have a tc-rx50es and I tryed to fix it :l didnt go well for me lol it plays and everything but it doesnt record right and the number thing is too fast
Press Play , and then it stops , that is what I am working on with an old Technics . My Dad has a Sony deck from new , straight after a bit of use that did the same so it is not age or were . He has the one with the door in the center and its ma dads so it has not been used due to the lazy Radio .
I really appreciate these videos, but sometimes my OCD gets the best of me. 1. Don’t be so stingy on your cotton swabs - for chrissakes switch them out with clean swabs and clean alcohol! 2. The way you throw vintage IRREPLACEABLE electronics around on your hard wood work table gives me nightmares. 😂
@@12voltvids I know, and it probably doesn't matter, and it is faster. But I would probably spend an hour cleaning it with wooden picks with cotton wraped around it and ipa, not to mention polishing axles, but that's why I'm not a professional. Anyway, fun videos, keep it up man.