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RT-909, looking for new brake felt pads

hertzdonut

hertzdonut

Press Play and Stand Back
Does anyone have a new source for the RT-909 brake felt pads? I did a lot of searching, but came up empty.

I was going on former recommendations, (really trying to be delicate here) but didn't know jblmar had passed away last year.

- Jeff
 
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Hm. Proving more challenging than I thought! Before I decide to rehab my existing brake felt, I'll post the same request in tape heads.
 
To give this thread some closure, I ended up freshening up my brake felt. Copied and pasted from my tape heads thread:

I had a chance to work on it last night, and taking a close look at the brake felt, discovered (what I thought) was that they were in pretty good shape. No apparent grease, tears, worn spots, nothing.



However, I decided to give them a freshening up anyway. I applied some 91% iso to the surface, and gave it a light brushing with some stiff bristles. Just enough to remove any impacted fibers. I then applied slight vertical pressure in a barely perceptible circular motion, in an attempt to raise the nap up, give it some new life.

Putting it back together, it solved my problem...almost. (I was running into a little unspooling after hitting Stop from Play). The refreshed brake felt was an improvement, but I still needed a bit more for a proper grab.

The service manual advocates loosening two screws and bending a metal tab (!) to increase brake tension.


Not being a fan of bending old metal back and forth to find the right tension, I opted instead to simply use the adjustment slot on the top of the brake band.


Initial testing shows the brakes now work properly, no more unspooling, and the brake drums turn freely with the brake released. All good!

I still need to check for proper torque, but am happy that the issue appears resolved.
 

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That rocks!

Another technique in the quiver. Thank you!

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@ hertzdonut-
Thanks for the information you provided on the RT-909 brake adjustment. That is good information to have! Were you ever able to source the correct material to reface your brake bands? I am preparing to restore my RT-909, and although I have not checked the physical condition of the felt brake pads yet, I may need any information you could possibly provide about felt brake material and where to obtain it (if possible). ANY information you could provide would be very much appreciated. Thanks for your consideration!
Greg
 
@ hertzdonut
Thanks for the information you provided on the RT-909 brake adjustment. That is good information to have! Were you ever able to source the correct material to reface your brake bands? I am preparing to restore my RT-909, and although I have not checked the physical condition of the felt brake pads yet, I may need any information you could possibly provide about felt brake material and where to obtain it (if possible). ANY information you could provide would be very much appreciated. Thanks for your consideration!
Greg
 
Hi Greg, you're welcome, hope the info proves helpful.

So...good news and bad news. The good news is my repair continues to work beautifully, stopping those 10.5" reels just as the brakes should. I haven't even needed to adjust it any further! The bad news is my repair continues to work beautifully, and "if it ain't broke..."

I haven't looked for any material for brake pad replacement, but I would think someone here might have something they've used. Do you know already if your material is damaged/oiled/whatever?

- Jeff
 
Hi, Jeff-
Thanks for your kind reply. I saw your posts over on the Tapeheads forum also. I haven't really looked at the felt yet in excruciating detail, but it is yellowed as mentioned over on Tapeheads, so I thought I might just go ahead and conduct research to try and find a reasonable, feasible alternative to the original felt. I did purchase some glue as mentioned on the Tapeheads forum, but still have yet to hear from one of the members I sent a PM to.
I will keep in touch about the condition of my felt and will let you know here in this thread what I find.
 
Unlike most R2R units, the brakes are not used to actually stop the reels. This is done via reverse torque on the reel motors. Once the reels are brought to near stop, the brakes are dropped. As long as your felt is not letting go of the bands, and is not contaminated, you should be fine with the originals.

Rich P
 
I have purchased felt with self adhesive attached at AC Moore. It was a craft store in the local mall. It has since closed, but I still have a sheet of it.
 
Sorry that I just saw the request for information. I recently rebuilt a TEAC A-4010 GSL that has very similar brake bands to the Pioneer RT-707 and RT-709. I had very good luck using the following from McMaster-Carr, item number 5051K422:

F1 Felt Strip, Firm, Adhesive Backing, 10 Feet Long, 1/2" Wide, 1/16" Thick

Best that I recall, it didn't require trimming for width, and it's worked well on the TEAC. I have previously rebuilt an RT-707 and RT-909, but didn't know what type felt to use, so I didn't replace the felt. In the future, if it needs to be replaced, I would not hesitate to use the product above.

Hope this helps!

BuffDriver
 
I used a good quality felt from the internet, affixed with high tack spray glue. Works perfectly.
 
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