Akai 1810D R2R starting point and maintance

[Ivanthetoler]

Hey all,

I picked up an Akai 1810D Reel to Reel/8 track machine. When I got it home it smoked when I powered it on it seems to still play, record, fast foward and reverse fine.

I'm looking for some advice for pre-emptive maintenance I should do and maybe to know what that initial smoke was?

Thanks all!

 

[Okke 70s]

Smoke = STOP!

I would not power it up, or even leave it plugged in when smoke came out and I wouldn't know what caused it.

You will have to open it up to see what that was. It might be the spark-killer across the power switch. Although the really old machines usually have a plate capacitor for that, and those aren't the commonly exploding type. Anyhow, you'll have to investigate the insides, beginning with a visual inspection aimed a blackened parts.

 

[oldvinyldude]

Well-given that you have already powered it up, and you have what appears to be normal operation, I would still not try again, until you remove whatever covers you can and look for discolored parts.

It may well be that you simply burned off the accumulated dust from the dropping resistors that are present in many vintage decks. They run very hot during normal operation, so look for cylindrical parts that are perhaps 1+" x 3 to 5 inches long. They will typically be mounted near the top of the unit, under a ventilation grill to get proper cooling. They will have a wiper that has a set screw, and a strip where the ceramic insulation is not present, to adjust the wiper arm. I don't own that model, but newer Akia decks still used these devices.