Hi All, Thanks to this awesome forum and Fixyouraudio and Walkman Man repair guide, I've repaired the broken center gear on a DD33. Unfortunately, when checking PLAY function, the WM emits little noises like a tiny tiny duck were hidden beneath the motor. "quack-quack ........ quack-quack........ quack-quack" The motor is oscillating at every "quack". I realise a video file would make more sense, right? http://stereo2go.com/forums/media/dd33_quack-quack.1624/ I've uploaded a short video in Media Walkman, I hope that's ok. Other functions work fine. Gears turn very smoothly. Buttons are now clicking in place with satisfying feedback. Correcting the axle of the center gear is mentioned on the repair guide, but I don't know how to do it and I'm not event certain that's the problem. I would love to hear your opinion or solutions. Thanks! ML
Hello ML4949, I did encounter this problem on my WM-D3, when replacing the center gear. I don't know if it's some manufacturing problem or it has been dropped at some point, but the solution is pretty simple: you must bend the motor support, so that the motor spindle comes in full contact with the rubber ring. In the second picture, it can be seen that the spindle is half-way out, and it's not making proper contact with the capstan ring, hence the slippage. I marked the part that needs to be bend and the direction that the motor needs to go after the bend. In my case, the fact that the previous owner used it like this, made some grooves in the rubber ring. You will also need to replace it if you haven't already. Something that should also be checked is if the motor shaft is perpendicular to the flywheel: it has an adjustment screw covered in loctite near the spindle if it needs adjustment.
Something I forgot to mention: that bracket only needs to be bent enough to be straight (it can be seen that now it's bent outwards) to get the motor alignment right.
Hi Valentin, I have seen no way to bend that metal piece, it's pretty tough. So I have removed to white gear closest to the motor: the small gear underneath it with the small spring was upside down. aïe aïe aïe... That was hindering the contact you were showing me! Thanks for hinting me into the right direction, May I come back to you if further checks fail? Thanks, ML
I did take the motor out of the bracket for bending. You need to remove 2 screws (one is the adjustment screw I wrote about) and 2 small springs in order to do that. Then it can be bent with a pair of pliers. In my D3, where I encountered this problem it was very bad: wasn't even engaging the mechanism in play, the motor was mostly freewheeling. Yes, of course, feel free to ask further questions.
Hi there, Quacking noise problem is solved. Now: FF check failed: it looks like the center gear arm does not push the mechanism deep enough? It seems to me it has to reach the deepest of three "levels", but does not. With or without cassette. Button contacts work when sticking something inside: that way the mechanism is not pushed down, though and the gear movement seems to work properly on the 1st and 2nd "levels" . http://stereo2go.com/forums/media/dd33-ff-fail-check.1625/ The repair guide mentions bending the center gear, but I can't figure out: 1. how to bend it without damaging anything, 2. where to bend exactly. Does it look to you like a piece is missing? Thanks for any suggestion, ML
Hi, From what I see in the video it seems that the arm of the gear must be bent. Do not bend the shaft of the center gear (that is stated in the repair if the gears make a lot of noise when engaged, which is not your case). This is the guide where I took the screenshot from: http://www.walkman-archive.com/articles/sony-dd-repair-guide_05.html
Hi again Valentin! That is the guide that I follow. But I don't understand how to bend the arm of the center gear. 1. On what line? I would do it on the pink line on my image, is that right? 2. Does one have to remove the whole thing again? It seems too tough to bent with a screw driver as a lever without damaging anything? I'm giving it break until tomorrow evening. Thanks again, ML
By the looks of it, the part marked purple is the one that needs to be bent upwards. You do not need to take the center gear out to do this. Bend it a little bit and see the difference. And bend again if necessary until the mechanism becomes completely silent. Just a question: below the hinge point of the gear arm, there should be a spring. Was the spring there and did you lubricate the shaft on which it slides up/down ? Good luck !
Hi there, Every spring at its supposed place, everything supposed to be bouncing is bouncing. I still have no clue how to bend that UP (as instructed on the guide when having FF noises) without ejecting every out or damaging things around... It is not possible while the center gear is still mounted. What am I doing wrong? Is there something about the instruction that I understand wrong? I've bent the other end of the mobile arm though, because it is the part touching the the white gear closest to the battery compartment and causing the noise. But I can't find an angle that keeps its hole over that gear with touching it. Now, the arm is all bent up and I better stop before it is irremediably warped. Thinking about getting a new center gear part with arm... Is there such a thing? :-O
Maybe you do need to take the assembly out. From what the guide was showing to bend it with a small screwdriver, it seemed that it could be done with the center gear installed. I did not have this FF problem on my unit, however. Where is your noise coming from ? Is it the small white gear closest to the battery compartment or the center gear not coming into full contact with the takeup reel ? Because you are talking of 2 points of bending and I did not quite understand where exactly is the problem. Maybe your problem is different than the one stated in the guide. From what I understand, what the guide states is if the gears make noise only in FF, the center gear sits too low, not making full contact with takeup reel. And by bending that arm up, you allow the arm to sit a little bit higher when the FF button is pressed and allowing the teeth of the gears to engage fully. I can also state that from what I see in the picture the center gear seems to be at the right height in FF: the black clutch that is engaged only in PLAY does not make contact with the takeup reel, but sits just below, the big white center gear to come in contact with the smaller reel gear underneath. Also do not bend that arm too many times, as it will break from metal fatigue. And no, you won't be able to find a new arm.
