Tandberg TCD330 take up motor issue

[oldvinyldude]

I have this deck, and it plays and winds tape, for the most part.

Issue I have is the take up motor, in play mode, will stop for a fraction of a second. I hear a click at that moment, but I am unsure it's coming from the motor-it seems to be generated from the hub of the cassette. When the momentary stopping occurs and then resumes, it catches up, and the noise is the hub and it's spindle making mechanical contact again. (I think)

If allowed to run in play mode, this will occur with a regular rhythm. I cannot state whether it's one revolution of the hub, or it's rhythm is based on the turning of the motor shaft itself. I have tested with several different cassettes, so I can safely conclude it's not a faulty\binding cassette.

After a few or several minutes, this stopping will occur long enough to create a loop sufficient to jam the tape, and the deck stops.

Do these motors (it's direct drive for each spindle-no belts), develop dead spots over time? I bought the deck from the family of a former audio business user-I believe he may have used it to create tapes for education or a similar field-so it got regular use.

Anyone seen this behavior before? Suggestions?

Thanks,
Paul

 

[Furburger]

There is a thread on Tapeheads today with the same take up motor issue with a Tandberg TCD 340. The problem was a blown cap inside the motor.

 

[oldvinyldude]

Wow-that thread pretty much nailed it-same symptoms, etc.

I will look into replacing the 3 caps, once I see about removing the motor-I have SM. Removal does not seem too bad-but I have said that before!

I have also serviced a cassette motor and it's fiddley work for sure.

 

[oldvinyldude]

Well, I found some time to look further into the issue. I read the thread on Tapeheads, and had the capacitors in my Mouser cart, but did not buy them yet.

I had some time, so I pulled the motor-not a 5 minute job, but I had it out in 30 minutes. Fortunately, it was pretty easy to disassemble and find the caps. They all looked fine. What I did see was that the rotor contacts were pretty dirty, and pitted a good bit, right at the boundary of one section where it meets up with the next one.

I used a drill and some 600 grit sanding sheet (with help by the Mrs. to run the drill at low speed), and polished the rotor contacts. It remove much, but not all of the pitting. I did not think it wise to go further on the polishing-there is only so much metal there...…

After cleaning the slots and reassembling the motor, remounting it, I fired it up. I have run about 3 hours of tape through it, without issue. Before, I would have had a jam\stuck take up spindle within 30 minutes of use. I will continue to play a trashable tape, and if it does not jam up after many hours, I will call it good enough!

I am impressed that the motor (it's driving the spindle directly), can work at the low speed of play\record mode, and yet spin the tape very fast for FFD mode. Low speed is hard on motors, I would think.

I am tempted to buy a used spare, which are out there, for a modest sum that they command, unlike the eye popping price of the new units being sold for Pioneer RT series, and Teac X series.