Disc-changer-based cdplayer repair help

On Thu, 11 Jan 2007 03:55:34 -0800, jonfaquit Has Frothed:

There is a position switch or two that tells the micro where the mech is. You'll have to sync the mech up with it/them. Going to be tough to do unless you have a service manual that illustrates the steps. Go here:

And type CMT EP707 in the search bar. There are a couple pdf documents there thatr you can download for free, maybe one has the info you'll need.

--
Pierre Salinger Memorial Hook, Line & Sinker, June 2004

COOSN-266-06-25794

Thanks for the reply....that site was one of the first things I tried. No exact matches, but it did have a service manual for a CMT-FM3D

looks kind of similar, except, it's only a single-disc player, unlike the EP707 which is 3. Isn't a 3-disc changer a common mechanism? It can't only be used on this player...maybe someone knows the technical name for this type of changer where there's one tray, and 2 thin plastic holders in the tray (while the other plastic holder is being played) that are loaded one at a time?

On Thu, 11 Jan 2007 12:24:14 -0800, jonfaquit Has Frothed:

Products for Sony CMT-EP707 Service (repair) manual [1] Digital (Acrobat .PDF) English US $19.00

--
Pierre Salinger Memorial Hook, Line & Sinker, June 2004

COOSN-266-06-25794

Your pictures show a Sanyo mech that is fitted to many different makes with slight variations to the laser which is fitted, and correspondingly, the shape of the cutout in each tray leaf, but I was not aware that Sony had ever used it. You can find alignment instructions as a video tutorial on my son's website at

and look for sanyo3cdchanger.zip. Let me know on or off group if you need any further help with it. It's quite a straightforward mech to align, providing you do your work carefully. Also, check the half tooth at the front of each tray very carefully for damage, distortion or missing.

Arfa

Wow...that video is a true lifesaver! Never would I have expected to find a video detailing exactly what I need to do! Definitely going to try it. I guess my main problem was that I didn't want to take the CD mechanism out...guess I'll have to (and hopefully not screw something up!)

I also went ahead and bought the service manual...nodevice.com...$4.95 for unlimited service manuals for 24 hours. So, even though I found the one I need, I'm downloading all manuals for any device I can recognize...except I don't recognize that many of 'em. $5 wasn't too bad though.

If anyone has any manual requests, let me know and I'll see if nodevice.com has it!!! 23 hours left!

Arfa Daily wrote:

"jonfaquit" wrote in message news: snipped-for-privacy@l53g2000cwa.googlegroups.com...

OK, you may have a problem with the gear assembly on the right hand side of the tray, with it the right way up,and looking from the front - it's not uncommon. Passing across the underside of the tray, is a thin metal rod with a small gear on either end. If you gently flex the rod, you can lift it out, which leaves the two sides independant of one another. Now, with no trays fitted, try rotating the three-piece gear set on each side rail. Both should rotate equally easily in both directions, and the only *slight* resistance to rotation, should be as each of the little planet wheels set in the central gear, alternately turn. I guess that this is part of your question. No, they should not turn all the time. They turn alternately, and intermittently. If there is any tendency for the central gear to stick or tighten up in either direction of rotation, then there is a problem with that gear set. Don't bother to try to disassemble it - it is broken inside, and even if you have made a mistake, and it's not broken, you will struggle to get it back together, and lined up. It is available from Sanyo as a pre-assembled sub unit - or at least it used to be, I haven't ordered one for some time.

Assuming that there is not a problem, and both sides do turn freely, then you need to refit the cross rod, and re-establish the correct positional relationship between the two sides. Look in the windows on the top of the two outer gears, and rotate both sides until the timing lines on the gear tops, are on top, and aligned with the plastic tray edge that is level with the centre of the rear gear's window. When the rear gear has its line at this point, the front one should be exactly in the centre of its own window. Now fine-adjust the position of the gear set on the other side, such that its lines are in the identical places. Now carefully re-insert the rod, trying to mesh the teeth on its gears, with those on the side-rail gears, such that nothing moves ( a bit fiddly, but totally do-able ). It is *very* important that the two sides are *exactly* aligned with respect to one another. If either side does move and goes out by as little as a single tooth, you must disconnect one end again, re-correct the position of the side gear train, and refit the rod gear again. When it is correctly back together, you should be able to rotate the gear train on one side, which will rotate the gear train on the other side via the cross rod, and go all the way around in both directions, smoothly. Each time, all four lines on the outer gears, should come around to the top exactly together. Lines at the top, centres of windows, is also the starting point for the subsequent reassembly, which is probably the other part to your question. This starting point is important.

Although the alignment procedure is quite simple in principle, as you will have seen from the video, in practice it is - how shall we say - tricky? My son can usually get it bang on first go. I can 90% of the time, but just occasionally, it can take me a couple of goes, and I've been working with this mech ever since it first appeared ... Be very careful not to lose that little bevel gear on the side rail - it falls off when you're not looking ! Also, when rotating the gears to pull the trays in - the bit where you are apparently having trouble - rotate them using a thumb on one of the central gears, but make sure that you are only touching the bit that does actually rotate - its very easy to be trying to turn the stationary bit as well without realising it, which can give the impression that it has all got stuck.

The reason that we did the video was that I gave out some instructions on here several years back, on how to align the mech, and also made available the manufacturer's training notes for it, which to be honest are actually quite hard to follow, as they were originally fax'd to me, and are of pretty poor quality. Some web-based news servers archive just about every post that there's ever been, so when people start Googling on this mech, they come up with my post, so immediately e-mail me for advice and a copy of the notes. It got to the point where I was getting a couple of enquiries a month from the four corners of the globe, so I said to my son that next time we had one in - we probably get 50 or more a year - he should make one of his video tutorials on it. This seems to have been quite successful. By all means, feel free to include a link to it from your own web space, if you want. If you start getting very deep in on this, and need more advice, probably better to e-mail either me or my son direct off group, rather than turning this into a long saga - unless other readers would prefer to see it continue on here.

Arfa

On Thu, 11 Jan 2007 13:53:20 -0800, jonfaquit Has Frothed:

Don't need any but thanks for the offer and the link.

--
Pierre Salinger Memorial Hook, Line & Sinker, June 2004

COOSN-266-06-25794