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Before and after of that weird cage around the capstan

Tape path doesn't look too bad. Not an inconsequential amount of wear, looking at you erase head. It also looks like teh tape was traveling through the path unevenly. we shall see.


Finally got the rocker arm for the Pinch roller off. It took a ton of heat. I cleaned it and the pin with Alco until I couldn't feel any resistance at all as I slide it on and off.
Still looking for a Lube recommendation for these types of parts. I have some Lithium Grease but am aware that it can dry up. I don't want to use anything that will run all over the place since this is so close to a belt. Astro Glide? Butter? Who knows?
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Moving free now
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Found out today that the 4 Track machine does 7 1/2 and 15 ips! That was a surprise to me on a more consumer machine of the era. Still haven't really dug into that guy yet, will will soon. Next up is... dunno, Re-Cap the entire fucking thing? Barrf. Maybe just the Power Supply first.

This is a very cool thread, thanks for the pics and updates. It's sadly really making me want a broken reel-to-reel to fix up, which I absolutely do not need.

Ha! I have two in Brooklyn that could use some TLC.
One has tubes (super old and clean Akai Terecorder).
Just sayin'.

I recently rehabilitated a few reel-to-reel recorders and an old turntable, and I chose "Super Lube Synthetic Grease" for anything that needed viscous grease that may come into contact with plastic parts. I used sewing machine oil (sparingly) for rollers/metal-on-metal. I'm not very experienced, but had good results with those.

Well... The pinch roller is engaging the capstan now. That is good. NOT good is it is pulling the tape towards the body of the machine and fulff'n up the tape path wildly. I'm hoping putting new rubber on the roller will fix this, maybe it has just wore down kinda cone shaped. I had already ordered new belts and roller rubber last week an will put that stuff on when it gets here. Making progress... slowly. I'll probably start looking on the 4 track machine while I wait for the rubber.




. PS: The terrible reel of shedding tape that came on the machine has La Bamba on it.

thecr4ne wrote: Mon Jul 03, 2023 8:42 pm Electrical has a youtube vid of Greg doing some tape machine maintenance, which I imagine translates just fine to a smaller machine. I recall him saying to use isopropyl alcohol of "at least 90%" and using it to clean heads, but to take care not to get to far from the center of the heads as there's coatings on stuff elsewhere that could be effected by the alcohol.
I think it's this one
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V3YKV5aLw10

Don't clean rubber parts with alcohol.

Jeebs! The main thing I took away from that was the Studer 820 cpu assisted calibration is a prom night handy compared to manual calibration off a mci or mtr90 or what have you. That's the most complicated thing i've touched. The few times I calibrated a manual machine I walked away hoping I didn't break a tiny set screw pot. If I can get these decks to just function I'll be happy. I'm planning on the 4 track just living upstairs next to my practice amp for fun impromptu ideas capturing. The 2 track... not sure. Might not hang around. I do love Greg's "just sit back and let it do its thing... would have taken forever the old way" vibes.

Here I go again...

This is a pic of the Pinch roller as it evolved over a million years into modern Pinch Roller

. . If I set it on my cell phone screen I could see a convex-ness to the surface of the rubber in the reflection so it is no wonder the tape was scoot'n. As soon as I started trying to slide it off it crumbled in my hand so this is a good upgrade. It took.... FOREVER to get the old rubber off. I was worried to use a razor, sand paper, or anything sharp to scrape it cause I am unsure of how doing anything to off-round the soft aluminum wheel would affect the way the roller rides on the capstan, so I used a heavy guitar pick, my finger nails, and a pair of fine pliers to pick at the big hunks. I also found that the electronics contact cleaner I have (that I don't use most of the time cause it is violent shit) actually softened the rubber a little. I'd apply some with a q-tip, and scrape, RPT RPT RPT... no fun. I got it down until I could just barely feel any of it rising from the metal and then I used one of those 4 stage mega fine Finger Nail polish things to kinda polish it away as much as I could muster. I'm over thinking this I bet. Bet I cannot feel any of the visible rubber shiz raising off the rubber, which makes me think it is maybe actually just filling in slight indentions in the wheel.

I put a piece of double sided tape around the wheel (it looked like there used to be a similar thing on there before) and slid the wheel on. It's a nice tight fit and hard to slide it around. I tried to center it by eye to where it will land centered on the tape when in action. (Music is virtual)

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. Next up, tension arms. What do they do? Or actually how does one know if they are wrong. This one seems wrong... to me.

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. It's so bouncy! It whips the hair back and forth a lot and jiggles the wiggle way too much for me. The past have had a fairly un-violent transition between peaceful and in action. Doesn't seen right. When it is in play mode the arm is resting at full extension and applying really, zero tension on the tape. Problem. I have no idea what to do about this. I should read book now and then. ANY AND ALL INPUT WOULD BE HELPFUL ON THIS ISSUE!!! P L E A S E !!!! I'm a babe in the woods. Never had to do anything like this with the Otari.

Well, once that is taken care of, I think the Tape path stuff is lookin ok to advance into the Signal path/calibration worm can that I'm sure is in my future. MRL Tape is so fucking so expensive. I'm not buying it. someone tell me how to get close enough without it.

Also, sorry about my pic/video quality. I'm by day a professional Broadcast/Streaming Audio/Video Technician for a "Fortune 100 Company", so I couldn't possibly care less about cameras, sound, or quality when I'm not on the clock.

Reel to Reels are really fun, and probably a gigantic mistake.

P.s. labamba sound pretty OK now from the headphone jack... left side is down a couple dB... I hope this is the tape, And not the uneven head wear. Teac literally still sells heads for this. It's insane. I'm buying some. I'm insane.

Kniferide wrote: Wed Jul 12, 2023 9:05 pm Here I go again...


. Next up, tension arms. What do they do? Or actually how does one know if they are wrong. This one seems wrong... to me.



. It's so bouncy! It whips the hair back and forth a lot and jiggles the wiggle way too much for me. The past have had a fairly un-violent transition between peaceful and in action. Doesn't seen right. When it is in play mode the arm is resting at full extension and applying really, zero tension on the tape. Problem. I have no idea what to do about this. I should read book now and then. ANY AND ALL INPUT WOULD BE HELPFUL ON THIS ISSUE!!! P L E A S E !!!! I'm a babe in the woods. Never had to do anything like this with the Otari.



Reel to Reels are really fun, and probably a gigantic mistake.

you need to look into something called a "tentelometer" which is a spring scale that gives you an idea how much tension the arm spring is applying. Decks I've worked with have some adjustment on the spring force that holds the tension arm in the right place and the documentation generally tells you how many inch-lbs of tension you need to have. Hook the tentelometer to the arm and pull and when the arm moves you see what the gauge tells you for tension. Not sure if your decks have adjustment on this, I'm more familiar with big MCI's and 1/4" Studers.

Yes! reel decks can be fun and are most certainly as much of a mistake as owning a vintage British car. I may or may not know something about that...

Great thread, thanks for sharing, J!