Repairing a Sony Tape Deck

BTW, this is a Sony TC-WR545

Audio cassette?

Thats correct.

You know what, the tape wont play even If I get it in there. There is a little white piece of plastic that is supposed to be mounted down and clear of the ejecting mechanism. It is kind of floating around in there preventing the ejecting of the tape but even more important is when a tape is in there it seems life the heads dont want to move. A belt maybe?

That is probably the write protect detector. I suspect the mechanism is out of whack, but you may not have much luck looking to diagnose that over the net.

It is very possibly a belt. Assuming that this model has indirectly operated decks i.e. the head plate is cranked in and the take up drive is shifted courtesy of a cam gear driven from one of the capstans, then it is quite common for a slipping belt to only be able to drive the cam gear to the first point it encounters any mechanical reistance. At this point, the eject lever blocking bar will have shifted into place, preventing you from being able to operate the eject button to re-open the door. You should be able to see what is going on quite easily. If you see the capstans start to rotate, and then come to a stop, try 'helping' with a finger.

However, one word of caution. Many later Sony decks use a flat main drive belt of an odd size, which is critical for correct operation of the decks. Sony do not supply these belts as as a spare part, only a complete deck, and I have not been able to source the exact size here in the UK, but that situation might be different elsewhere in the world.

Arfa

So I may be better off with a new one or a call to a service center.

If you don't feel confident to proceed further, that would be my recommended route.

Arfa

One place to try is a hydraulics supplier. They often have all sorts of odd neoprene seals.

So i'm not the only one with this sony-odd-size problem ! ;-) I have a sony RXD3 system sitting gathering dust because I can't find a suitable substitute belt for the record-capable tape deck. Sony= B@stards.

-B.

Does the capstan spin? If not then check the capstan flywheel drive belt or the motor itself. I found that Frys had a decent stock of belts.

DaveL

Failing finding the right size, if you can find one that is too long you could try shortening it. You'd need to cut it on an angle, and weld it with perhaps a bicycle tube repair kit that uses heat to fuse.

Hi Homey and b

Yeah, it's a real problem with these Sonys. The trick is not so much the length of the belt - although it *is* an odd length that's not one of the readily available general replacement sizes - it's more the width. Although a flat belt, it's narrower than they usually are. When a standard width belt is fitted, it rides on the capstans with a slight overhang - just enough to catch on the back of one of the other pullies. I've even tried cutting down the width of a normal belt with a scalpel and steel straight-edge, but it is virtually impossible to do it with enough accuracy such that the belt does not then ' wander ' in normal use. It is ridiculous, considering the crying of all the green eco-warriors now about electronics going to landfill, that Sony can / will not supply such a simple item. There is no excuse for not stocking it, even if they buy that deck mech in. I've done a lot of them within warranty period, so a whole new deck is supplied. I used to keep them in the fond hope that something else on there would become useful in the future, but now I just bin them.

On ' adjusting ' the size of normal square belts that are an odd length. Yes, I have done this on many occasions over the years, even on the small

1mm types. I tend to cut the ends dead square with a razor blade, then apply a single tiny drop of cyano-acrylate "superglue" to one cut end, using the point of a needle, then bring them tightly together by hand, and hold for about 1 minute. The slight ' squeeze-out ' of glue can then be removed with a piece of very fine oxide paper ( car paint wet 'n' dry rubbing abrasive paper ). As soon as you attack it with the paper, you will see if you have got a good bond. You can then stretch the belt about without a problem. Superglue bonds neoprene like the proverbial, and I can't remember ever having had a belt thus ' manufactured ', come bouncing back.

Arfa

The really sad thing is that somewhere in China there is probably a guy with

5,000 of these who wonders if they're worth keeping or what to do with them!

Homer J Simpson ha escrito:

managed to get mine up and running with belt ref. MOLGAR PV177.

A bit wider than the original, and stretches a little bit more to go round the 2 capstans on the the auto reverse deck , but works both decks and better than buying a new cassette mech.

-b