How do you go about removing the pinch roller on these? I've done repairs on a number of these smaller walkmans, and I know you have to pop the pin holding the pinch roller from the inside and pull it out from the outside. I tried this with the pin on the WM-501, however it's either extremely tough (I'm hesitant to put too much force for fear of bending or breaking things) or I'm doing it wrong. Any idea the right method for this model? Also, out of interest, what tool do you use to do this? For my other walkmans I have just used the tip of a T1 or T2 screwdriver which is a little thinner than the pin itself, but if it's the same removal method for the WM-501 and it's just really tight, I don't think I'll be able to push it out with a T2 bit.
prolly the same as doing it on the f100, far as i can tell from the service manual you need to remove the lid, remove the whole assembly with the pinch rollers, then you can remove the washer on the bottom end for it to come out i imagine you can skip the removing the assembly part if youre careful with it but thats the "correct" way by sony ps did you remove the washer holding the assembly in place before trying to remove it? i cant tell if you removed the whole roller assembly before trying to take the roller out or not. if youre going straight for the roller stop before you bend something lol for those washers i got a great tip that you can use watch dial removal tools to pop them out easier
I simply took off the lid and tried to poke out just the roller (not the whole assembly). The washer is only to remove the assembly itself, but I'm just trying to poke out the pin holding the roller as I have done on other Sonys that I've worked on (150, EX70, etc.). On those models the pin can be pushed out from the inside without much force but these ones seem stuck in there pretty tight and I don't see a washer for the roller pin.
I recommend removing the whole assembly before attempting to remove the roller pin, otherwise chances are you will bend the bracket. Also note it's important to press the pin from the bottom part, as that's the only hole in which it is a press fit. Doing it the other way round would be a pain and also risks enlarging the hole to the point pin won't be a press fit anymore and will be to be glued. For removing the pin itself, the ideal tool for this is an ejector punch of the same diameter as the pin. However it can be done with the tip of a small screwdriver also, as you already mentioned have done in the past. It's also important the opposite side of the bracket sits on a flat surface that has a hole where the pin can go in. A pair of pliers can be used for this (see second picture), but there are many other ways to do it.
