I have two of these amazing sounding 1987 cd players. Over time, the belts stretch out, causing disc loading/unloading issues which eventually makes them all unusable and happens to all belt driven cdps at some point. This tightening method can also be used on many other cdp's with a similar layout!
There's no information on the internet relating to the part number or size used for this belt. So, in order to know, you'd have to physically remove one to size it yourself so you could source a replacement which could then be shared with the community to make this whole process easier. Until then, it's anyone's guess what size belt is needed here to remove slack.
Also, the belt is very hard to access on these. You have to remove the front panel, remove the cd drive mechanism, flip it over, and then remove a gear from underneath to access the belt on one side, then loosen two screws holding the belt drive motor topside.
But I have found a solution which requires no parts. It may be temporary and not always work for everyone 100% of the time, but it got me (mostly) going and is better than nothing. It has made my cd load and play about 90% of the time versus 0%. If it doesn't work on the first button press, you just keep pushing 'eject' until it does.
1.) Remove the top cover. Turn it on, hit eject. If it struggles to open, coax the tray from the back with your finger. Turn it off with the tray out. Unplug it.
2.) Push the tray back in with your hand, approximately half way, until you can see and access the two screws holding the belt motor in place.
3.) Loosen the two screws just enough so they're no longer tight and then wedge something flat into the base of the motor spindle that you can pry against. I used a feeler gauge at its max single thickness.
4.) Stretch the spindle base as much as you safely can using your tool as a lever. Do not put any pressure on the top of the spindle. There is a plastic spindle guide or cutout at its base, limiting travel adjustment to <1mm. (May be more on other players) While gently prying it as far as it goes, re-tighten motor mount screws. That's it.
*Also while here, general maintenance to a cdp- if your belt motor is making noise, one drop of machine oil quiets things down as well any other tray loading pivot points that are not gear teeth coated in grease. Any plastic tray rails or friction points should be inspected and cleaned if necessary to allow the smoothest operation with the least friction necessary to allow the tray to load/unload. A q-tip rub with some windex over the laser lens is not a bad idea, as well as making sure your laser rail isn't gummed up with dried grease impeding smooth laser travel and is completely cleaned, leaving no lint behind, then lightly re-lubed with a thin film of white lithium grease spread over a q-tip then sparingly applied or spotted to the metal rail itself.
Another thing to check here if you have any laser read errors but only on certain beginning, middle, or end tracks of a cd, is to notice there are a group of 6 wires (on this model) connected to the laser assembly itself that are also attached to the pcb on the other end. The actual wires themselves move along with laser travel. Makes sure these wires remain "floating" in the air throughout the entire laser travel from beginning to end and are not touching any pcb components while moving up and down. My wires were binding up on some board components that were causing read errors on the first few tracks of a cd.
There's no information on the internet relating to the part number or size used for this belt. So, in order to know, you'd have to physically remove one to size it yourself so you could source a replacement which could then be shared with the community to make this whole process easier. Until then, it's anyone's guess what size belt is needed here to remove slack.
Also, the belt is very hard to access on these. You have to remove the front panel, remove the cd drive mechanism, flip it over, and then remove a gear from underneath to access the belt on one side, then loosen two screws holding the belt drive motor topside.
But I have found a solution which requires no parts. It may be temporary and not always work for everyone 100% of the time, but it got me (mostly) going and is better than nothing. It has made my cd load and play about 90% of the time versus 0%. If it doesn't work on the first button press, you just keep pushing 'eject' until it does.
1.) Remove the top cover. Turn it on, hit eject. If it struggles to open, coax the tray from the back with your finger. Turn it off with the tray out. Unplug it.
2.) Push the tray back in with your hand, approximately half way, until you can see and access the two screws holding the belt motor in place.
3.) Loosen the two screws just enough so they're no longer tight and then wedge something flat into the base of the motor spindle that you can pry against. I used a feeler gauge at its max single thickness.
4.) Stretch the spindle base as much as you safely can using your tool as a lever. Do not put any pressure on the top of the spindle. There is a plastic spindle guide or cutout at its base, limiting travel adjustment to <1mm. (May be more on other players) While gently prying it as far as it goes, re-tighten motor mount screws. That's it.
*Also while here, general maintenance to a cdp- if your belt motor is making noise, one drop of machine oil quiets things down as well any other tray loading pivot points that are not gear teeth coated in grease. Any plastic tray rails or friction points should be inspected and cleaned if necessary to allow the smoothest operation with the least friction necessary to allow the tray to load/unload. A q-tip rub with some windex over the laser lens is not a bad idea, as well as making sure your laser rail isn't gummed up with dried grease impeding smooth laser travel and is completely cleaned, leaving no lint behind, then lightly re-lubed with a thin film of white lithium grease spread over a q-tip then sparingly applied or spotted to the metal rail itself.
Another thing to check here if you have any laser read errors but only on certain beginning, middle, or end tracks of a cd, is to notice there are a group of 6 wires (on this model) connected to the laser assembly itself that are also attached to the pcb on the other end. The actual wires themselves move along with laser travel. Makes sure these wires remain "floating" in the air throughout the entire laser travel from beginning to end and are not touching any pcb components while moving up and down. My wires were binding up on some board components that were causing read errors on the first few tracks of a cd.
