Hi, I post this as it might be useful for others trying to fix the same thing. This is not the right way to do it and maybe others can avoid some mistakes Primary I thought this would only require changing belts so that was what I started with. Removing the old belt was a hurdle. The belt was nice and dry but after removing the belt there was something left on the flywheels that I can only describe as someone trying to superglue the belts. I tried all solvents I had at hand but nothing worked. Ended up screaming carefully with a razorblades for quite some time. With new belts I discovered that the head would not go up against the tape and would not spin when changing direction. This turned out to be a cracked gear: Taking it apart all those very tiny metal balls came out... My plan was to increase the whole in the gear and then glue it onto the shaft. It was however very tricky to put everything together without those tiny ball running away. In the end I managed to get everything together and glue it. Later I discovered that the crack had expanded and where on the side the connecting gear would connect and the turning of the head would not work properly. As it was now all glued I decided to give up on autoreverse and fix the head. I removed the part that turned the head and put in a spring to hold the head in one direction while still being able to adjust azimuth: That worked great and it now plays well and has great sound. Funny thing if I press autoreverse the tape will now play backwards instead Anyway, I'm happy with the result but I think I could have avoided losing autoreverse if I've been more careful to position the crack of the gear away from the connecting gear.
Hi, I just get a beautiful Sony FH-11, almost everything is working fine except the auto-stop on the cassette deck, I must maintain the play button instead it stop after few seconds, same thing for the forward / rewind button, I must keep the button pressed. I cleaned evething and replaced the belts. Do you have any ideas? Thanks
I have no experience with the FH-11 (beautiful machine btw), but in most of these decks there is a part that detects if the spindles are moving. If this doesn't work, it engages auto-stop after a few seconds. Most of the time it is a magnetic hall sensor or optical sensor somehow connected to a turning shaft. In the FH-7/FH-5/FH-3 it is located on the tape counter shaft (driven via a belt by the spindle). Its some sort propeller looking devices that runs in between a light emitting source and a light sensor (LDR).
Thank Michiel, exactly that was the issue, the belt turning the counter was a bit loosen and the propeller passing to an optical sensor was not turning properly. I cleaned the shaft, put some oil and replace the belt with a smaller one and now evething is running well!!!
Just a note, I got another FH-11 that I also fixed. In this the autoreverse worked fine for a while but then the cogwheel for the head cracked in the same way as i describe above. I recon I could have saved myself some trouble if i glued it in place before cracking but now i have to dismantle it. I guess this is a common issue?
Cracked gears are common everywhere on many different cassette devices. The plastic shrinks over the decades due, apparently, to various chemical changes, additives evaporating, aging or reacting. And the metal shaft does not shrink... so the plastic is under great stress and cracks. For many models there are 3D printed replacements available. E-bay vendors have available a surprisingly wide selection of gears too. It might be necessary to determine what other model machines the cassette mechanism was used in and try searching for those model numbers along with "gear". (I approve of the Equinoxe demo album pictured by the way. Two tracks on that album are especially good...)
does the capstan motor continuously running on FH series even when changing mode to tuner or aux? I also experienced the cracked gear on auto reverse mechanism, I glued it, it's working for the moment.
With the FH-3/5/7 the capstan motor isn't running continuously. But they are boxes that are designed to run (for FH7 optional) on batteries. They will drain quickly when the motor is running continuously. I also never had the cracking gear head problem with the 3/5/7 boxes. They have a different design I think. The erase head is fixed and doesn't autoreverse for instance. I got one FH3 that's connected to an audio timer for waking me up in the morning. Every day it plays a complete C90 for months now, without any problems. The 3/5/7 decks are pretty good players.
