Teac A-4010s reel tension settings

[CJ Payne]

I had this happen with the play reel. Thought it was it’s tension because of the wow/flutter and outright drag, but only with the last few minutes of the tape. Then just pressed my finger upwards against the pinch wheel and it tracked along just fine.

Just needs more pressure on the pinch wheel.

 

[Larry E]

Next thing to do with a scale. thx

 

[Larry E]

I had this happen with the play reel. Thought it was it’s tension because of the wow/flutter and outright drag, but only with the last few minutes of the tape. Then just pressed my finger upwards against the pinch wheel and it tracked along just fine.

Just needs more pressure on the pinch wheel.

It was the pinch roller pressure. Should be 4-5 libs and was less than 1 lb. Working great for now. Great tip. Just wondering why I hadn't checked it before. Duh

 

[Larry E]

All is well now except for one small issue. The record pilot light is not getting ~6 volts. I swapped the two relays and that didn't help. I've also cleaned the contacts which has been messed with in the past. I don't know who went thru it but they sure untuned everything. This unit was full of some kind of coating, I believe, now, it was a Viet Nam unit that got full of clay dust and the humidity set it up. Hard to even scrape clean but alcohol and Q-tip works pretty well.

 

[TerribleT]

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• TerribleT
• Nov 2, 2020

Panasonic Polyester .01uf cap

Hello people,
I need some advice in my journey to refurbish my Teac RR player.
Would this Panasonic polyester .01uf 400v cap work to replace the Suzuki bomb caps?
Regards,
David

 

[CJ Payne]

Any idea what it means when I press play and it takes off way too fast? Could there be too much voltage to the capstan motor?

 

[Larry E]

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• TerribleT
• Nov 2, 2020

Panasonic Polyester .01uf cap

Hello people,
I need some advice in my journey to refurbish my Teac RR player.
Would this Panasonic polyester .01uf 400v cap work to replace the Suzuki bomb caps?
Regards,
David

I
I think those are 0.1 uf and are polarized, i.e. +/- sensitive. Check again. larry\

 

[TerribleT]

yes, you're correct. The Suzukis are .1uf 400V caps. But I don't believe they're polarized. That black band on one end has printed 'Out side'. That indicates the lead that is connected to the out side end of the rolled foil. It acts like a shield. But I still need guidance on what cap to use. The caps I have are .1uf 400 V metallize polyester film caps. Can they be used and what type of caps did you use?
Regards,
David

 

[Larry E]

View attachment 2025375 yes, you're correct. The Suzukis are .1uf 400V caps. But I don't believe they're polarized. That black band on one end has printed 'Out side'. That indicates the lead that is connected to the out side end of the rolled foil. It acts like a shield. But I still need guidance on what cap to use. The caps I have are .1uf 400 V metallize polyester film caps. Can they be used and what type of caps did you use?
Regards,
David

I haven't replaced any caps yet. They all seem to work so far on deck 1, deck 2 has an issue in one record channel I need to try and figure out. I don't have any special analytical equipment. A Fluke VOM and an old dual trace scope still in a box.

 

[skywavebe]

Hi Larry, The people who ask me for technical advice often times mention changing out boards to fix a problem. I tell them that real technicians do not do that and that is the I phone
mentality where little thinking is required. A perfect solution for a millennial. Only if the audio section is exactly the same version as what you are taking out. Keep in mind all this stuff is
of the same age and to sub in a whole different section from what was in there will just be a exercise in time wasting as it will bring it's own problems with it as well. These deck need full recap work of the electrolytic caps. I just spent a number of hours on a RT-707 the other day changing caps and cleaning boards. They will only work well if you take the time to change out those parts that do not work well with lots of age on them- Polyester and Polystyrene caps age does not affect too much but Electrolytics are like batteries- when was the last time you tried to turn on a flashlight with 40-50 year old batteries in it? Same result. I don't spend hours taking caps out and putting in the right replacements for fun or other reasons other than it is required to have a good working deck. It also helps to not spill coffee in them and leave it there for 20 years like the RT-707 I was working on. It looks a lot better now and it does work again. I changed the brake pads on the RT-707 because at the highest spring setting the brakes were very weak. New pads in and I can set the springs back a ways.

I worked on a Sony TC model maybe a 377 that the service shop in TX put another 40 years old motor run cap in the deck and still did not understand why it did not work. Where do these guys come from that they even think in this way? There may not be such a place but Stupidville would be my guess. Plus they also only soldered 2 strands of the 7 conductor wire. This tells me all I need to know about their abilities. The deck did go back to the owner working with a ceiling fan film cap in it.

 

[skywavebe]

The contact noise mitigation caps I got from Mouser were .1uFd 630 V I think. I do not go after that voltage but higher is always better if they will fit. The Black Suzuki caps are just spark killer caps across contacts so that it is not so critical how you connect them. Polyester film caps should be fine for the job.

 

[skywavebe]

Analytical equipment resides on top your shoulders. The rest is just a tool that can do nothing by itself. In record issues I check for Bias- erase channel as well as that is where the Bias is tapped off of. It could be a dirty relay contact so tapping while in record can tell you something about the relay. If you measure audio at the bias trap you might find it missing and if so those electrolytic caps you think are working well it is a good chance that they are not and if working not very well. Get rid of them with new fresh Nichicon, Panasonic FC or FM or I have been using these Wurth caps with red jackets that come from Germany. I used about a 150 on a RT-707 yesterday. I buy the 105* caps not because I need that temp spec but that with that temp comes a better grade of cap automatically- if you check all the other specs. I think Mouser has another order of mine coming.
Record problems can be as easy as head cleaning which a lot of people jump over- don't jump!

 

[skywavebe]

You are better off taking covers off the audio section and spraying the switches and also I have had those multipin cables have trouble when you move them. The tube socket connectors can also use some Deoxit but that might just loosen them up connection wise. I have had to take a small driver and bend socket female pins back together as they spread out with years and lose contact. When working on equipment that is 60 years old always keep the age of it in mind. Electrolytic caps are the first things to go on units I work on otherwise you can not be sure of anything you do- gain levels often change and some calibration procedures can not be obtained due to lack of amp gain due to decayed caps. I have seen it happen and with new caps the gain was restored.
Changing the audio section for another is like changing an Engine when you have a bad spark plug.

 

[skywavebe]

It is always less trouble to fix a minor issue than change out the whole thing as that is not the answer.

 

[Larry E]

What felt product is recommended for the brake pads and where do you get it. I'm wondering about the stuff at fabric stores.
larry

 

[bbtv]

Figured I'd just add to this thread .. .working on a Teac A4010S. It's all back and working well except for Rewind mode. With a lot of tape on the takeup (R) reel, it starts into fast rewind and then slowly slacks enough to eventually trip the tape switch on the right arm. It does this repeatedly. I have manually cycled from REW to stop a billion times hoping it was a dirty relay issue but surely they are cleaned by now. I hope.

Any tips for this? What's needed is a bit of back tension on the Right reel in fast REW mode.... has not enough till it's maybe 1/3 of the way rewound

Thanks!

 

[bbtv]

I'm about to dig into the schematic and check voltages at the reel motors... just hope someone's seen this before