Hi all,
As I begin to enjoy my 'new' RT-707 I am thinking about the future life of the heads. A little while ago I was lucky enough to pick up a full head block that had come from a working machine. These heads seem to be in quite good condition, although of course they have some wear. Probably no worse than the heads in my machine, and possibly better.
Here are a few pictures of this second hand head block.
Unfortunately it is very difficult to photograph these things, and get good contrast and clarity.
I have been thinking about sending these off to JRF Magnetics, but before following that up I was wondering just what the best approach is going to be regarding the removal/replacement of heads on the 707.
As you can see from the images these heads have all their wiring still intact and in good condition (except where they have been cut
). I expect that I will need to de-solder the wiring from the second hand set anyway before sending them to JRF Magnetics.
But on their return I was contemplating fitting some 4 pin Mini Molex connectors, one for each head, into the loom inside the 707 and also on each set of head wires, and then being able to simply unplug the original heads and plug in the replacements. Although I suspect this would be pointless as once the 'new' heads were fitted and setup on the machine I would not be swapping them out.
So, just how careful do you need to be when soldering around Magnetic Heads? I would imagine that too much heat would be a bad thing for the fine coils in the heads? Have any of you ever replaced heads in an R2R machine? I guess any system would do here, not just an RT-707.
Cheers.
PS: I am not imminently planning to change my heads. Just looking into the future.