RT-701 slow down

[goldswimmerb]

Hey, so I have an RT 701 I got about a year ago, Ive had to, so far, replace the front panel (original owner dremelled or angle grinded off the rack mount), and a new counter belt and idler tire.

However, as of late I've noticed significant slowdown towards the end of tapes. The speed is consistent, but it just gets slower towards the end of the reel, especially if the inner diameter of the two reels doesn't match up.
I've done recaps on other equipment before, will that be all this needs? I've been reading about recapping the servo board.

Thanks for any help!

 

[Trevor White]

Hi there,

The slowing down towards the end of a reel can have a couple of causes. If the speed of the deck is steady and consistent normally then the problem is not likely to be the Servo board.

It is much more likely to be either 1) the Tape Back Tension adjustment, or much more likely 2) the Capstan Pinch Roller. Above you said that you have replaced the 'idler' tire. I presume you mean the Pinch Roller.

I recently had a very similar problem with my fully overhauled RT-707. In the end this turned out to be the 'new' Capstan Pinch Roller. The rubber compound had crushed and formed a small channel where the tape runs. This allowed the tape to slip slightly when the take up reel was nearly full and the supply reel was approaching the end. I went through the exercise of re-validating my Back Tension adjustments only to find that I had to replace the Pinch Roller with a much better quality item. Once I had done that the problem was resolved.

If you would like some info on doing the Back Tensions and a link to the Pinch Roller I used, have a look at this thread. Read that post and the following ones.

Good Luck.