Technics Cassette Deck RS-TR575

[JD Harvey]

My father bought this for me in the late 90's. I know it's not the greatest and some would call it trash, but to me, it's very sentimental. Powered up after 26 years of storage. Caps must have formed well enough. Cosmetically its 10/10. Looks new. Inside..... Corrosion, rust, old belts and rollers. Sigh..... I've never worked on a cassette deck, but going to try and salvage it. When it was put in storage, it was working perfect, so I guess that's a bonus in my favor. It was used very little.

Deck 1 is the worst
Deck 2 had a cassette inside and that helped a lot.

 

[Okke 70s]

Man I wish I still had my first real actual machine.. Of course you want to reanimate that!

Looking at the capstans of the first picture I'm wondering what the freak happened there? As for the pinch rollers, those appear to be snap-ins. Kind of nice if you have 4 to go.

If it's been sitting still for 26 years, you have to assume the mechanics are in a desperate shape. Typically the machine wil work okay-ish for like 30 minutes. And then starts making noises, refusing functions, eating tape and eventually stop functioning altogether. You're going to have to take the transport - the part with all the little wheels in it etc. out, and apart. In your case that would be two of them. I haven no idea how "serviceable" your machine is though. Fun project!

Do be very careful while dismanteling, and take lots of pictures.

 

[JD Harvey]

I've watched several videos on YouTube concerning this model. Yes, you're right about everything concerning the unit. I'm pretty sure I can salvage the unit will some time and effort. Need to order belts and rollers. I plan on relubricating all of the moving parts. This was used so little, its shame how my father stored it after I went off to college. Hot damp storage unit getting plenty of east Texas sun for years and years.