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'89 Sony Tape Deck WR-510 Not Spooling?

bonneville

bonneville

New Member
Hi all, just found an old WR-510 from the thrift store this evening. It seemed to be working fine; it rewinds, fast forwards, and "plays"... And when I mean play, it actually plays except the tape that is read simply collects in the bottom of the deck and after 10-15 seconds, the tape player stops because it gets jammed. It ruined my Buddy Guy tape, and now I am sad. Any suggestions?
 
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I expect that you will find it's belts need to be replaced. Might need idler tire too. Not sure what you mean by "arm".
 
revox-b77 said:
I expect that you will find it's belts need to be replaced. Might need idler tire too. Not sure what you mean by "arm".
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When I press play, two arms go up; the wheels turn to move the tape, etc. The right one goes up and spins, left does not. Here's a pic. You can see what I'm talking about.
 

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E Gads is it dirty in there. Get a bunch of q Tips and some Isopropyl Alcohol in a 95% purity and clean. That is a dual capstan transport and if one is not moving it is a problem. It may be as simple as dried grease though.
 
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revox-b77 said:
E Gads is it dirty in there. Get a bunch of q Tips and some denatured alcohol and clean. That is a dual capstan transport and if one is not moving it is a problem. It may be as simple as dried grease though.
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I will definitely do so. What is denatured alcohol, and where can I find some of it? So, what happens if it's not as simple as dried grease?
 
Sorry, I meant to type Isopropyl - too much multitasking... Get it at your local pharmacy.
When that does not work you will have to get a copy of the service manual and start taking things apart.
You will have to do this to some degree anyway to replace the belts and idler tire. Check the threads at the top of the page regarding cleaning. Eventually you will need to demagnetize the heads as well. It really looks from your picture that no service or cleaning has ever been done to this machine.
 
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Just a little bit of before & after. I cleaned just about everything I could possibly see.

I'm a total 100% newbie in this realm, and I feel like if I were to take it apart, I'd break something. I literally just saw this last night and decided to grab it.
 

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If you find a service manual for it, that will provide instructions on how to safely open it up, but I understand you concern about breaking something.
 
Upon some research, I've found what the correct terms are for the part that is malfunctioning: the left pinch roller arm is not engaging like the right one is. Any ideas?
 
I think it is a case of dried grease. It is a common problem where the grease dries and becomes sticky; I had to regrease the pinch roller arm on my reel to reel about a month ago after it was in a garage for a decade. It was not too challenging, but reel to reels are bigger machines than cassette tape decks.

However, I admit I am still relatively new to tape maintenance and defer to others who have more experience if they have other ideas.
 
judsonw said:
I think it is a case of dried grease. It is a common problem where the grease dries and becomes sticky; I had to regrease the pinch roller arm on my reel to reel about a month ago after it was in a garage for a decade. It was not too challenging, but reel to reels are bigger machines than cassette tape decks.

However, I admit I am still relatively new to tape maintenance and defer to others who have more experience if they have other ideas.
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I will give that a try. However, in the manual, I do not see anything on how to take it apart .
 
bonneville said:
I will give that a try. However, in the manual, I do not see anything on how to take it apart .
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Part of that might be if you have the owners manual instead of the service manual. I did a quick search and was not able to find a service manual. I can try looking harder later when I am not as busy. I would encourage you to wait and see if you cannot find a video on youtube about cassette tape deck pinch roller maintenance. Models vary but some parts are similar enough that you can figure it out.
 
judsonw said:
Part of that might be if you have the owners manual instead of the service manual. I did a quick search and was not able to find a service manual. I can try looking harder later when I am not as busy. I would encourage you to wait and see if you cannot find a video on youtube about cassette tape deck pinch roller maintenance. Models vary but some parts are similar enough that you can figure it out.
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Alright, will do. Thanks.
 
When I play a tape on my JVC deck which has auto reverse and plays flawless, the right arm will raise when the tape is winding from left to right and when I switch directions the right one will go down and the left one will go up. So I'm pretty sure only one arm is supposed to come up at a time depending on which way it's playing.
 
kirkendoll said:
When I play a tape on my JVC deck which has auto reverse and plays flawless, the right arm will raise when the tape is winding from left to right and when I switch directions the right one will go down and the left one will go up. So I'm pretty sure only one arm is supposed to come up at a time depending on which way it's playing.
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What he said.
 
kirkendoll said:
When I play a tape on my JVC deck which has auto reverse and plays flawless, the right arm will raise when the tape is winding from left to right and when I switch directions the right one will go down and the left one will go up. So I'm pretty sure only one arm is supposed to come up at a time depending on which way it's playing.
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Now that I think of how cassette tapes work, that does make sense. I will now sit back and learn from those who know better.
 
Well, if it is supposed to have only one arm raised and one arm down, how come the tape isn't spooling back into itself?
 
My best bet is that the capstan belt is old and has gotten loose so it now slips and probably when enough tension is applied might not even turn at causing the tape to pile up in front of it. Pull the cover and most likely this belt will be easy to find. There will be a electric motor with a pulley as big around as a pencil, the capstan drive pulley is usually about as big as a half dollar. If the belt is still intact use alcohol to clean it and it might get it working again for a little while.
 
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