I guess this is my first post, besides my introduction. So hello everyone. (This is a repost of my post on tapeheads) Well, good and bad news. I recently bought a WM-F2095 knowing full well it would be in "parts" condition. I knew it would likely need a belt replacement and possibly new caps or a gear clutch. Unfortunately, I dropped the Walkman when I was moving to a spot with more light. It broke the flex cable that attaches from the motor to the board. It snapped at the board mount. Is this fixable via soldering? I have about 2 years of experience with soldering smaller electronics and boards, so I'd be willing to give it a shot if its feasible. I'm not able to check for a broken clutch gear because there is no power, but I found another gear with what looks like to be a crack. Still spins, but does become stiff when rotated by hand near the crack. Also, it appears to be missing a cap near the Dolby switch. ( I found it later, it did fall off) I also am including a picture of what I believe is a leaking capacitor. At first I thought it was battery corrosion, but the positive side has none on it. I'm assuming that would have to be removed/replaced and the area cleaned, as well as the one cap nearby. I cleaned out the old belt, and cleaned a good amount of battery corrosion off the negative terminals as well. I guess the question I should be asking is if this Walkman is worth saving. I do have soldering experience, so I could potentially work on it, but I'm not entirely sure if that's possible or reasonable to do so. I do have a soldering iron on order because I have to inspect some other Walkmans that require de-soldering to get to where I need. Images attached - Board overview, missing cap, cap leakage, broken gear?, broken motor flex cable mount (board + both sides) - not in order Any help is appreciated.. Thank you
Ok, so let's take things one by one: 1. That reel gear is available for sale. I recently spotted someone in China who sells it, unfortunately both of these gears fail so if you are to replace both you'll need to order 2 kits. Link here: https://www.ebay.com/itm/334972740460 (also includes new clutch gear) 2. The cap leakeage looks pretty bad, but I think it is worth pursuing. You might need to soak the PCB in contact cleaner and also scratch the pads before they come back to normal. 3. About the motor flex, where did that break exactly ? Sorry, but can't see the break in your pictures. To me it looks like it's just the solder points that broke, not the flex itself. That flex can be repaired or even replaced with small wires, I don't see any major issue if it's just the flex that's broken. Overall, I think the walkman is worth fixing.
Thank you for the help. I also posted this on tapeheads, and two users gave me very similar responses to yours. For the gear, thank you for the link, I'll look into it, especially as I have other units that need theirs replaced as well. I think I'm going to pursue it, especially so I can get some experience working on this unit, because I have a WM-2091 coming soon, and already have a EX-50 which are very similar internally. So this'll help with the repairs on those units later on. Good idea on the contact cleaner, I'll need to get some. And yes, the solder points appear to be the part that broke, not the flex cable itself. I'm glad that it was that way and not the opposite.
The reel gears are a very common problem on this mechanism type, but usually it's just a small crack in the center (in which case the gear can be glued to the reel shaft). For the second gear you will need to disassemble the mechanism further in order to to be able to replace it. Also recommend removing the table reels, clean the shafts and plastic bushings and re-oil them before installing the new gears. For contact cleaner, I recommend something dedicated for electronics (like Kontakt 60, Deoxit etc.), not a generic contact cleaner like the one from WD-40. The generic ones are designed for electrical stuff and can leave a nasty residue on the PCB which will be hard to clean, hence why I do not recommend those. Do note the capacitors that sit on one side (see attached pic) are also electrolytics and need to be replaced. You don't need to find ones with that plastic cage, normal THT ones will work fine. As a recommendation, you do not need to quote the previous post. Suggest instead of using the "Reply" button (which automatically quotes), just type in the box below the post and press "Post Reply" instead.
Thank you for the extra help, I wasn't intending on doing that, but since I need to practice, I should do it right for this unit. I didn't think to get contact cleaner this weekend, so it'll be high on my priority list to get before I start the disassembly. I'm holding off for the time being on getting the reel gears and clutch, only because I have another unit in the mail with the same mechanism, so I'm gonna check for the cracked gears and then order accordingly. Question on replacing the capacitors that lay on their side: Do I need to do anything special when I replace them with new ones? (Just because they look different than the ones on the market today). And for myself quoting the last post, sorry about that, its a bit of a habit from other forums that use the same/similar interface.
The reel gears, in the majority of cases, don't break entirely but just a harline crack in the middle enough to make it not a press-fit anymore. In those cases you can enlarge the hole with a drill bit and then glue the reel shaft to the gear, so no need to actually replace it unless you want to. The clutch, that is going to be broken in all units (so far I have never seen a good one) as it's a much smaller gear. As for the capacitors, you don't need anything special. Just use through-hole ones and bend their legs with a pair of tweezers so they can be soldered sitting on one side.
I'll probably just replace the reel gears and the clutch just to be safe. I want them to last, so I'll try and do it properly the first time. Thank you for the info on the through-hole capacitors, that is what I was thinking, but I'm glad its confirmed now.
