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Teac A3340 slow ff and rew

J

John Mathews

New Member
I have had my Teac since new but hadn't used it for about 6 or 7 years. I decided its time to transfer my old tapes to digital. Unfortunately when turning it on, the capstan did not meet up with the pinch wheel and the small posts that hold the tape away from the heads would not lower the tape onto the heads when selecting play. I took the deck to a guy that specialises in vintage equipment and he discovered that grease had solidified causing the assembly to be stuck in the off position.
I started the transfer process but after a while the fast forward and rewind speeds got slower to the point that I had to spin the reels myself. They seem to start off ok ish and then slow down
No smell of burning.

Any ideas
 
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Since it's happening both in FF and REW my first guess would be #1 as mentioned above, sticky defective tape shedding a tar-like substance all over the transport or perhaps dry tape syndrome (lube in tape dried out). Check your transport closely and clean it thoroughly with alcohol soaked Q-tips, chances are there's tar on the lifters and stationary guides as well as the heads. The 3340 is a pretty robust machine and the REW / FF is generally trouble free on them, the most common thing that slows them down or stops them is sticky tape.

What brand / formula type of tape are you using and is it back-coated? There are a bunch of tape brands / types that are known offenders which you should never play without first checking to see if they shed. Among them are Ampex 456 / 457 / Grandmaster, Scotch Classic and 226 / 227, Sony PR-150 (not really a sticky shed problem but more of a dried out lubricant problem) as well as a few others. Google "Sticky Shed Syndrome" or "Sticky Shed Offenders" and you'll probably find a list of tapes that fit this catgegory. Most if not all of them are back-coated formulas and as it turns out many of them used a defective tape formula for the back coating that became hygroscopic and soft over time. They can be baked out with a food dehydrator at a very specific temperature for 8 hours and then transferred but stop playing them right away if they are shedding as you will permanently damage them and anything on them will be lost.
 
The left hand spool was rubbing against the floating lever on the left - I have lost the original TEAC infills that are used to lift the spools away from the hubs so replaced them with a couple of layers of circular cut paper which do the job for now but FF REW is still slow

Thanks for the replies. I tried a couple of 10" spools. Virtually all of my tapes date from the 70's. The first was Ilford brand and the second Agfa. They play quite well and no loud squeaks as they pass through the transport.
I will give the system a good clean today and report back.
 
A couple thoughts, not knowing the history of the deck, but may be issues to investigate:
1. Make sure reel heights are adjusted so they do not rub. The procedure is on page 18 of the service manual (found free here: http://www.quadraphonic.info/manuals/Reel_Player4_TEAC A-3340S_service_manual.pdf). Sometimes during shipping, they can get banged out of adjustment and the rubbing resists the motor movement (very common with Akai GX 600 and 700 series decks for example).
2. Make sure brakes are adjusted properly (you need a spring scale for this) as outlined in the SM.
3. Make sure you have the proper frequency (Hz) setting. Both the switch and the belt need to be in the proper position as described in the SM page 11.
4. Make sure you have the correct replacement belt. If it is the original, replace it at once.
 
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