illini
The Past is Alive
Sony TC-WR701ES Stereo Cassette Deck repair experience
https://www.hifiengine.com/manual_library/sony/tc-wr701es.shtml
Ok. So.
I picked up this deck for 15 smackers at some thrift store a few months ago. This was my first Sony ES so I was excited even though I knew after testing and inspecting it in the store it was a repair project instead of a fully working unit.
The problems:
1. The pincher rollers were deteriorating between the axle and the rubber
2. None of the tape deck drives actually worked. The two belts on each deck were destroyed and had turned to mush; melted Hershey bar-looking rubber splatterings were all over the place, especially on the drive shaft and pulleys, flywheels, and the white plastic chassis'
Replacement belts and pinch rollers were ordered.
I removed the motors and white plastic chassis' and cleaned- up the rubber mess with Q-tips and isopropyl alcohol, installed the new belts and replaced the white lithium grease at the drive "bearings". This repair was performed the incorrect way without removing the front panel assembly. This method worked but I damaged some circuit board standoffs. During this procedure In discovered a mounting bracket on one of the white plastic chassis' had a serious crack, so pinch-tweezers and Gorilla rubberized super glue was implemented to repair the mounting bracket. I also discovered evidence of a previous repair attempt.
I performed a successful functional test with the new belts installed, so now the pinch roller replacements were next.
With the unit assembled I carefully removed the defective rollers by scooping them out with a tool I fashioned out of a pair of cheap tweezers. But because I was unable to install / snap the new rollers into place I removed the front panel assembly (page 5) and carefully installed the pinched rollers. The unit was reassembled, but I did have to pause and spray some deoxit on one of the display ribbon cable connections; the counter display was counting but was consistantly missing a segment. Deoxit cured this. Also, I drilled a 1/16" hole into two of the damaged standoffs and installed a small woodscrew and nylon spacers in order to gently secure the circuit boards as a substitute for the damaged standoffs.
At this writing the Sony is fully functional and sounds great. Deck B sounds better than Deck A. Speeds sound accurate. Tape contact areas are clean and look brand new. I have not checked the recording functions.
Lessons learned:
1. Don't be afraid to follow the service manual even if it looks imposing and time consuming. Using my own personal method (cleaning and belt replacements) was much more time consuming and required deeper disassembly versus the service manual (pages 5 - 7). I ended up redoing one belt replacement because I installed the white plastic chassis onto the deck incorrectly causing one of the belts to rub up against the plastic. I also damaged some of the circuit board standoffs because I unnecessarily removed the circuit boards.
2. Sony ES build quality, at least for this unit, is nothing special.
3. Dolby S noise reduction exists
Cheers
https://www.hifiengine.com/manual_library/sony/tc-wr701es.shtml
Ok. So.
I picked up this deck for 15 smackers at some thrift store a few months ago. This was my first Sony ES so I was excited even though I knew after testing and inspecting it in the store it was a repair project instead of a fully working unit.
The problems:
1. The pincher rollers were deteriorating between the axle and the rubber
2. None of the tape deck drives actually worked. The two belts on each deck were destroyed and had turned to mush; melted Hershey bar-looking rubber splatterings were all over the place, especially on the drive shaft and pulleys, flywheels, and the white plastic chassis'
Replacement belts and pinch rollers were ordered.
I removed the motors and white plastic chassis' and cleaned- up the rubber mess with Q-tips and isopropyl alcohol, installed the new belts and replaced the white lithium grease at the drive "bearings". This repair was performed the incorrect way without removing the front panel assembly. This method worked but I damaged some circuit board standoffs. During this procedure In discovered a mounting bracket on one of the white plastic chassis' had a serious crack, so pinch-tweezers and Gorilla rubberized super glue was implemented to repair the mounting bracket. I also discovered evidence of a previous repair attempt.
I performed a successful functional test with the new belts installed, so now the pinch roller replacements were next.
With the unit assembled I carefully removed the defective rollers by scooping them out with a tool I fashioned out of a pair of cheap tweezers. But because I was unable to install / snap the new rollers into place I removed the front panel assembly (page 5) and carefully installed the pinched rollers. The unit was reassembled, but I did have to pause and spray some deoxit on one of the display ribbon cable connections; the counter display was counting but was consistantly missing a segment. Deoxit cured this. Also, I drilled a 1/16" hole into two of the damaged standoffs and installed a small woodscrew and nylon spacers in order to gently secure the circuit boards as a substitute for the damaged standoffs.
At this writing the Sony is fully functional and sounds great. Deck B sounds better than Deck A. Speeds sound accurate. Tape contact areas are clean and look brand new. I have not checked the recording functions.
Lessons learned:
1. Don't be afraid to follow the service manual even if it looks imposing and time consuming. Using my own personal method (cleaning and belt replacements) was much more time consuming and required deeper disassembly versus the service manual (pages 5 - 7). I ended up redoing one belt replacement because I installed the white plastic chassis onto the deck incorrectly causing one of the belts to rub up against the plastic. I also damaged some of the circuit board standoffs because I unnecessarily removed the circuit boards.
2. Sony ES build quality, at least for this unit, is nothing special.
3. Dolby S noise reduction exists
Cheers
