Need help fixing my first cd player

[giddycadet]

Hello, I got an old (2002) RCA RP3755A CD player at Goodwill today and it does not work. I'm not quite sure why, I suspect the gears in the CD spinner or the playhead control need lubricating or something. No matter what the problem is, I need to disassemble it somehow. So far I've managed to get past the plastic shell and into the guts of the beast (a fair task in itself), but accessing any of the relevant gears has been multiple hours of madness. I would really appreciate any help anyone can give me.

I don't think I can get the player assembly out through the front, nor can I figure out how to take all of the main guts out at once to access it from the back. To take out the player assembly entirely, I would need to access four screws which each run through blue shock mounts - two of these are fairly accessible as depicted in the third image, but the third and fourth are completely buried. (You can see a tiny hint of one to the upper left of the belt wheel.) I feel like I must be missing something - surely there is some way to take off all the guts at once rather than going layer by layer? (Which I've also tried, to no avail.) I've disassembled iMacs that were less of a pain in the ass than this so I'm quite sure I'm missing something important. I can find no service or repair manuals for this product however so I'm totally in the dark.

On the subject of diagnosis, I recorded a short clip of the sounds it makes when it's trying to play a CD I just put in. Let me know if this is a telltale sign of anything in particular.

https://brudiza-spudnik.tumblr.com%2Fpost%2F774427814759972864

Thank you. Let me know if there's any additional information I should provide to help with this.

 

[restorer-john]

You need to remove the entire unit from the casework. Then either remove the laser head cover (likely three screws or two screws and a clip) or come in from the side and place one drop of machine oil on the upper spindle motor sleeve bearing.



This is a different mech, but the principle is the same. Put one drop of sewing machine style oil on the sleeve bearing. Dab off an excess with a Q-tip.



While you are in there, check the gear train and rack for detritus.

 

[giddycadet]

That's the problem, I can't figure out how to remove the front casework. Can't get the laser cover off without doing it, either. I've unscrewed all the screws I can access, but to get to the rest would mean total disassembly - disconnecting wires and ribbon cables, separating PCBs, taking apart the entire open/close gear system. I think I would have to unscrew every single screw I can currently see in the entire device. It's like the front casework is the first piece they made and everything else was built around it. Is this normal for this sort of device or did I end up with the lowest ifixit score on the market?

 

[giddycadet]

The screws you circled are not for holding the laser cover onto the spindle motor, btw, they're for holding the playhead motor onto the back of the laser cover. The laser cover screws are here.

This entire section (beginning at the aforementioned blue shock mounts) must be removed from the front panel before you can even SEE the screwheads. Judging by what I've seen, that means EVERY SINGLE OTHER PIECE of the player must be removed first.

Is it possible to get at the sleeve bearing without doing any of this other bullshit first? Maybe get the spindle off the motor?

 

[giddycadet]

Apologies for the anticlimactic ending, but I gave up and returned it to Goodwill. Got an Audiovox CD1791 instead which is much uglier but also does cassettes.