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Denon DR-M44 control wheel chuffing on stop

M

mixographer

New Member
Hi,

I have a new (to me) Denon DR-M44 cassette deck. All the controls work, play, FF, RW etc. but if I hit stop, or it the tape rewinds to the end and performs auto-stop, there is some back and forth chuffing of the "mode control" gear. It's turning slightly back and forth several times before it stops.

Has anyone ever encountered and similar issue on a Denon and come up with a solution?

Thanks in advance

Jimmy
 
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Well, you're the first response since July, so I don't know if anyone is going to join in. If I figure it out, I'll let you know!
 
Hi!

I have a few Denon 3-head decks including a DR-M33 (not the HX) but none is doing that.

However, if it´s only doing that when you hit STOP and at Auto-stop, I would start checking the Rotary cam decoder. See KU-5100-2 DR-M33 (no 158 page 27) and KU-0445B DR-M44 (no 79 page 28) and page 32 in the service manual. On the 5 pins on the back you should read 5 or 0 VDC depending on cam mode/position (Example PLAY: 5,0,5,0,5 VDC and STOP 0,5,0,0,5 VDC).

I am thinking that it could be dirt in the rotary cam and that it hopefully can be cured with some DeOxit. There are only two screws to get the it out, for better access.
 
Thanks HM-2.I’ll take a look at this cam. Looking at the exploded diagram, that is the part that is making the noise. I’ll post back once I dig deeper.

Thanks!
 
More on this chuffing issue. I cleaned the Rotary decoder with deoxit and cleaned all the old grease off the CAM that drives the rotary decoder. It still wants to shuffle a little bit before the deck stops. I notice that if you touch the cam, the motor will want to turn a little. I also noticed that the rotary decoder can wiggle a little bit in the mount. I have put a slight mechanical warp into the encoder bracket to help it hold the encoder a little better and that seems to have helped with the back and forth shuffling.

Next step is the FL meter doesn't work right (mostly at -20, and not working even when adjusted) and low, muffled output on line out while headphone out is good. I'll start a new thread on those if I don't find any info.

Thanks!

Jimmy
 
The chuffing issue: Good to hear that you are getting progress. My rotary decoder can also wiggle a little bit in the mount, but has no chuffing issues. Did you get a drop of oil into the motor bearing? Next thing would be to get the cam motor out and run it with an external power source (e.g. battery) and see how it behaves.

FL meter / Line out: This sounds a bit strange, think you need to narrow down the problem a bit more. The signal to the FL meter is routed out right before the output level and the head phones right at the Line out (just after the Output level). Do you have the same problem in Playback and Source mode? When you say Head phones is good, is that with the output level at max? Normally the output level needs to be turned down quite a bit when using head phones.

Adjusting the FL meter: Did you use a proper test tape for that? (Point 7 in the Service manual)

Cheers
 
do you guys know where I can get or what size is the tool in azimuth adjustment for the DR-M44?
Thanks,..
 
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