Whine from cassette deck when playing pre-recorded cassettes

[laatsch55]

Gary, any competent mechanic shop or machine shop will have gasket punches and hole punches. We use them all the time when making gaskets for treaters. If you were here it'd take me 2 minutes to fix you up....

 

[62vauxhall]

Jeez, I never thought about that - gasket punches. Maybe one of the mechanics at the tow truck company I begrudgingly work for has them. But I will certainly remember to try machine shops.

Thanks Lee!!!!

 

[laatsch55]

Welcome Sir.....very tedious work you are doing there Lad....I'm rootin for ya....

 

[laatsch55]

Good hole punches are pricey, but built to resharpen dozens of times and can last a lifetime. And the really good ones are built so you can keep punching and not stop to clean the slugs, they feed continuously out the top...

 

[stuwee]

Welcome Sir.....very tedious work you are doing there Lad....I'm rootin for ya....

Ditto from the stumiester! Sam is a wonderful man...thanks buddy for your input

 

[62vauxhall]

That felt ring was a "peel & stick" and it came off without any difficulty at all.

For some reason, I woke up at 4:30 this morning and my first thought was Princess Automotive. It's a Canadian chain store that sells all manner of cheap Made In China hardware and it seems they carry a 12 piece hollow punch set for $19.99. They're open Sundays so I'll wander in later and take a look.

1/8, 5/32, 3/16, 7/32, 1/4, 5/16, 3/8, 7/16, 1/2, 9/16, 5/8, 3/4 in.



This will obviously not be of the highest quality but should be sufficient to make a felt ring or two. The sizes I need look like 5/8" OD - 3/8" ID and this set includes both.



Lee, you have good ideas!

But I'm back to thinking about the felt itself.

Skywavebe, you recommended 1.5 mm and I measured what I bought with calipers and it does indeed appear to be that thickness. Since the old ring came off intact, I measured it too and in it's present state it is 1 mm. As I won't know if it works or not until I put the deck back together, in your opinion, is this new felt likely to be OK? I'm concerned because I doubt that brass keeper could take many re & re's.

 

[Skywavebe]

You are dealing with one of those especially difficult parts that was never meant to be repaired but just replaced. The felt will most likely be the self adhesive type. These have been known to come off with the help in starting from a splice type razor blade. If there is trouble denatured or maybe Lacquer thinner will work on the brass. I have known the chemical Xylol to break down dried glues over a 20 minute period but that stuff is a little bit hard to retain in a plastic bottle as it all disappeared over time. I try to stay with lower molecular chemicals rather than complex chains that are typically more dangerous for humans.
I have cut a ring from a square sized piece of felt with scissors. The center hole is the problem- this is why I bough some Leather bunches on E bay. If you have a round or even a square piece of felt if you fold it twice and cut at the center corner with a scissors a small hole when you unfold the felt the hole will be in the middle. Then if you started with a square piece all you need to is keep trimming the corners until you get to where you need to be. The center just needs to clear the mechanism are in the center and the outside ring just not be sticking out so much. Then some latex glue or Three Bond Rubber cement which is the good stuff will fix the felt to the brass. I have used Best Test latex glue and it never gave me any failures. The next step is attaching the brass keeper. If the retention seems to have been lost, then a method of solution may need to be created. Since the shaft is not grooved, the idea of an E clip does not come to mind. Maybe once the right position is found it could be epoxied on. JB Weld seems to be the best solution and I have obtained several pairs of smaller tubes of it. Once it is all together again one could measure the torque as a result of te fix and it should be less. The squeal might also be gone too. Keep us informed as to what is happening and we can advise further. There are always solutions but some unknown one may just have to be thought up. Super Glue usually is not one of them.

As I read other posts above, The felt material is a soft substance. I bought a leather punch set from E bay for less than $20. It has punched me at least 10 rings. The smaller they are the worse it is. Check on E bay as they are probably selling the same thing- you just need to trim some filaments off the edge at times.

 

[62vauxhall]

Sam, I was relieved to read your post which was after I got home from buying that hollow punch set. Without some serious sharpening, a hydraulic press or much bigger hammer than I have handy they won't cut squat. Did I mention they were made in China?

So it is very good to know that it's possible to cut those felt rings out of a sheet by hand. Almost all of the adhesive residue came off with the felt. What's left on the brass part is just a couple of flecks which should come off with IPA.

Regarding the brass keeper, I'm fairly sure I can re-use the one I took off. It's not badly mangled. But if my initial felt replacement is unsuccessful and I have to repeat the process, ruining the keeper in the process, I have two on standby that came from a different model but are the same size.

I will post my results when I can. Weekdays I get up at 4AM and usually work 16 hours including travel time home. There may be a few hours of downtime in the late mornings but I can't count on it.


And many thanks for the "insider info".

 

[Skywavebe]

I know the 1.5mm stuff looks to be more than what you need but as long as it is fluffy it should compress well. I have used this felt in a dozen or more replacements with a similar one to that which you took off. I have not had any problems using this stuff. I did buys some thinner stuff on E bay and I think it is for the but of a rifle. I have not had to use it yet. The hard part you face is the determining of what the torque is. If you don't have a torque cassette then how will you know where you are? That is even if it is silent and does not make any noise.

 

[62vauxhall]

Since I have no way to measure torque, I was going to start with the keeper as it was when I first got the deck. That would be with it just onto the end of the shaft with no discernible length protruding at the back. If it slips prematurely I can coax it forward slightly using a C clamp and a small socket. That's what I did before to increase spring pressure to prevent the Auto Stop from kicking in too soon. If Auto Stop is activated before the tape reaches the end, my plan was to incrementally move the keeper forward until the tape runs completely through to the end without stopping.

 

[Skywavebe]

OK, That might be a way to do it on the fly. You could also feel if there is difference from fast wind and play at the TU reel table. The FFwd should be much stronger.

 

[Elite-ist]

Gary: You have an enormous amount of perseverance getting this problem sorted out with the clutch rebuild. Lots of good help by Sam is a benefit, too.

Nando.

 

[62vauxhall]

I hate letting go of a problem unless I absolutely, positively can't fix it. The bitch is I feel like a leach asking for help when I'm in over my head which is most of the time.

Sam is la creme de la creme of tape machine techs as far as I'm concerned. He graciously helped me before with things I was unsure about and even provided me a couple of fiddly little parts. I wish I sent him my Teac R2R instead of saving a few bucks on shipping.

 

[Elite-ist]

Gary: I appreciate the time you've spent documenting your steps. There's something to be learned by some of the improvisation techniques used. Like a lot of the fix-it threads, there are valuable tips a few of us might recollect for our own projects.

Nando.

 

[62vauxhall]

Thanks Nando and too to bad we didn't connect in Squamish over the summer. I have two TDK MA 110's for you - both unmarked and both with virgin J cards. Only one has the label decals but I think it has 2 sets of two. Found them at a garage sale and one is someone's party tape but they overdid the level on some tracks. Thought you could use some Metals to record on because I can't. Guess I'll just have to send them to you.

 

[Elite-ist]

Thanks, Gary, a couple of TDK MAs would be nice. It's been awhile since I recorded on a Type IV tape. I am sure I have something to send your way, too, but I'll keep it a surprise.

Nando.

 

[62vauxhall]

Thanks, Gary, a couple of TDK MAs would be nice. It's been awhile since I recorded on a Type IV tape. I am sure I have something to send your way, too, but I'll keep it a surprise.

Nando.

I'll stick them in the mail today. Hope you haven;t moved in the last year or so.

 

[62vauxhall]

I have no time to spend on projects during the week so could not do much of anything to this SCT3000 cassette deck until now. I've been re-assembling it for the last 5 hours of which a lot of time was wasted looking for the teeny parts I kept dropping inside. And the trial and error belt location. It surprised me that I had that problem since I had the damned thing apart and back together so many times.

Using Skywavebe's suggestion of hand cutting and trimming a new felt ring which I did early this week. I glued it on a couple of night ago and was wrong about little adhesive residue left behind from the first ring, there was a lot of it. Just couldn't see it in the light I had at the time. I removed it with a combo of Goo Gone and Methyl Hydrate. The adhesive I used was something I found from a German company UHU and the stuff is a gel stick called Contact Power Glue. I "discovered" it when looking for something to make new 8 track pressure pads with from new open cell foam and styrene strips. Everything else I tried soaked into the foam. Thinking that since felt was also absorbent, I should use it for the new ring and although it dries fairly quick, I let it sit until today.

After the prolonged re-assembly process, I inserted a tape and pushed PLAY but the first test run did not start well. After it played for a few minutes, I tried REW which at first was stuttery then I hit PLAY again. It almost made it to the end but Auto Stop kicked in too soon. I think all this was from the manipulation all the parts endured as I was trying to get things back together. But having said that, it has just now completed 2 complete tape passes in PLAY without Auto Stop activating until the end and REW seems to be fine. All the tape winds back onto the supply hub with even speed. Before buttoning it back up, I will clean again the belts, pulleys and tires in case they got a little contaminated by my fingies.

Had a bit of an "oh no, what next" moment when I saw no green LED light up after pushing PLAY. I had to remove the PC board with the transport switches and all the manhandling bent one over, pulling a leg from it's hole. I think/hope it's an easy fix.

I am going to hesitantly proclaim that the new felt clutch ring was a success. At least it's not making that noise anymore and torque seems good enough to play a whole tape. If otherwise, I'll be posting again and it'll be me doing the whining.

 

[laatsch55]

Your perseverence is admirable....good work.

 

[Elite-ist]

I'll stick them in the mail today. Hope you haven;t moved in the last year or so.

Thanks, Gary. No, I haven't moved. I had better check that I have your mailing address available, too.

Nando.