Does anyone have a Toshiba/Aurex PC-3460 or PC-335?

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#1
I'm trying to repair this cassette deck, and I'm having trouble getting the auto-stop to work. There should be something that holds the auto-stop lever against the takeup reel cam, but I can't for the life of me figure out what or where. Can someone Remove take the pulley with the weird little bottom part, which sits above the takeup reel off and take some photos? It's one teensy little circlip to remove (and a belt). I'd love to see what in the world I'm missing under there. No need to take the transport out of the machine for this!

Well, I fixed the problem with the auto-stop. Everything must be flawlessly clean in the rotating mechanism, and the linkage needs liberal lubing. It's a really delicate mechanism. I have it auto-stopping reliably now.

Still can't get it to rewind. The tension on the takeup reel is too hard to overcome, something slips - either the belt or the traction tire. Seems to me the felt tension is too high, but there's no way to change that. Tried to disassemble both of the reel assemblies, and got nowhere trying to make them slide easier.

Overall, I would not recommend this deck. The PC-3460 does not have a reliable or well-designed transport. The heads are pretty amazing (Aurex heads), and the rest of the electronics are top notch. The transport just sucks. One day I'll find a Toshiba full-logic deck, until then I'll keep the Toshiba up for display and actually use my Nakamichi. Oh well.

Charles.
 
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tivali

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Hey, can you take some video of the insides? Specifically the tape transport? Thanks!
 
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So, more on Toshiba decks. The PC-5460 is supposedly a "full logic transport".... and it's really not. There are no solenoids inside. The transport is the identical transport from a PC-3460. Piano-key levers and all, but actuated by a drum that is rotated by a second motor when the microswitches on the front panel are pushed. So, even the TOTL deck from Toshiba (for this era), is not particularly good.

That said, I think I can get these two transports working reliably by replacing some of the tension springs in the mechanism. Specifically the spring that holds the rewind traction tire against the flywheel, and the spring that holds the play pulley against the takeup reel traction tire. I'm also considering taking apart the supply and takeup reel spindles and replacing the springs inside with lesser tension springs, so they slip on the felt pads easier.

I will post pictures and videos once I get the deck working reliably. Now off to eBay for some belts...

Charles.
 

tivali

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Quick note, I'm using several different tapes for testing. An older moody blues tape was my first test. I moved on to the Audio Pro C60, which is also not a tape that is easily wound. And it can't handle these. Old tapes are common, and Audio Pro tapes are the best deal out there for recording onto chrome, so it needs to handle them. It also chokes on TDK D60 ferrics.

Sony CD-IT cassettes fare much better, with full-speed rewinds and slightly struggling fast-forwards (but completes the full pack). Both 74 and 94 minute passed. An old Sony FeCr and a Phillips FeCr had similar results. Polariod C-90s slow to a crawl in FF, but rewind is okay.

The only tape that fast-forwarded at full speed all the way through the pack was a Maxell Capsule metal 90-minute tape.

Almost none of my store-bought pre-recorded cassettes fast forward without major struggles.

Note that ALL of these tapes FF and RW just fine in my two Pioneer decks (CT-F950 and CT-F900), in my Nakamichi BX-150, in my Toshiba X-10, and my Sherwood CD201-CP. So, the problem is not the tape.
 
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orange

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#5
So, more on Toshiba decks. The PC-5460 is supposedly a "full logic transport".... and it's really not. There are no solenoids inside. The transport is the identical transport from a PC-3460. Piano-key levers and all, but actuated by a drum that is rotated by a second motor when the microswitches on the front panel are pushed. So, even the TOTL deck from Toshiba (for this era), is not particularly good.

That said, I think I can get these two transports working reliably by replacing some of the tension springs in the mechanism. Specifically the spring that holds the rewind traction tire against the flywheel, and the spring that holds the play pulley against the takeup reel traction tire. I'm also considering taking apart the supply and takeup reel spindles and replacing the springs inside with lesser tension springs, so they slip on the felt pads easier.

I will post pictures and videos once I get the deck working reliably. Now off to eBay for some belts...

Charles.
My Sanyo RD-S2x had a similar arrangement. When it seized up you could take the lid off and rotate it through the cycle to free it up.
 
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Well, I got it working reliably! Had to upgrade the springs that hold the RW and FF idlers against the flywheel, as well as the spring that holds the little capstan thingy against the play idler. But that got it fast forwarding through 3/4 of the tape at full speed and then struggling and eventually stopping. Same with rewind. The problem is the felt pads in both supply (for rewind) and takeup (for fast-forward) were slipping like mad. Felt was in good shape, springs still had tension. Tried beefing up the springs, but that didn't help much. Ultimately the solution was a huge bodge - I contact-cemented the felt pad to the part it's supposed to slide against. And that mofo now rewinds and fast-forwards completely reliably. When it gets to the end of the tape, the idler or the belt will slip momentarily before the auto-stop kicks in. (The felt pad was supposed to do the slipping). Not sure how this will affect idler tire wear or long-term reliability of the deck... but I'll find out! Note that there's another felt pad for play, which did not need to be bonded, and so for the normal use-case (play a tape to the end), the deck works as originally designed.

Charles.
 
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Wow, so that half-assed fix was eventually un-done, and new felt pads were constructed. Turns out the actual problem was with a broken nylon ring in the takeup reel clutch mechanism. The spring pushes against the ring, and gives tension so the clutch works. If that ring breaks, the full clutch tension is put on the auto-stop mechanism, and the takeup reel becomes very difficult to turn by hand -- or by the FF traction tire for that matter. Rebuilding the takeup reel fixed the actual problem. That said, upgraded springs also really helped the FF/RW system to work reliably in this deck. So upgraded springs and a rebuilt takeup reel, plus all new belts and traction tires, and this deck is back to performing like new!

Charles.
 

orange

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#8
Good to hear that, Charles. I know that's been ongoing for well over a year. Feels great to tackle stuff like that, doesn't it?
 
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I've fixed a PC-5460, PC-4460, and PC-3460 with this same arrangement. I replaced the broken nylon ring with a slightly thicker ring from the hardware store. The original ring is a press-fit, and it's very thin. This causes it to break with time. The new ring is thicker, but it doesn't press fit as tightly as the original. So instead I use a couple of drops of crazy glue to keep it in place. That works perfectly. All three of these decks are seeing regular use. I used the 4460 for months and months to ensure it was good, and then sold it. The 3460 and 5460 are in my office and used daily. I'm very happy with these now that I've correctly repaired them!

That said, it's a lot of work. Major overhaul, and the amount of work put into the deck is probably more than the decks are worth.... but damn that PC-5460 with the Aurex All-Sendust (AS) head sounds really, really good! Very warm sound with wonderful highs and lovely detail. A Dolby circuit that works like it should, and just smooth lovely music. And the 3460 (with it's permalloy head) really isn't that far behind the 5460. Both are great decks! They perform really well... after a thorough servicing and rebuild and cleaning and $40 worth of belts...

Charles.
 
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