Hello all, so I picked up a little piece of work in the form of a Panasonic rx s28 yesterday. It doesn’t play, and in my googlings, I came across this forum! I am new to this hobby. But I really want to fix up this little 1980’s unit! It seems to be a technical issue, not an electrical issue, because the power light comes on/but the wheels do not spin when the tape is inserted/you press “play”. My main problem is that I don’t even know how to disassemble the unit. I have unscrewed/opened the back plate, exposing the electrical board, but I’m stuck after that. Could you give me any pointers on how to continue? Feedback on issues you have encountered with this or similar units, would also be appreciated!! Thank you so much for your time.
Hello and welcome to Stereo2Go. I'd say this was an interesting find. I quite like the design and build of these era of Panasonic walkmans. The main problem is most likely the belts. The rubber degrades overtime and becomes either rock hard and brittle or a gooey sticky belts. To access the belts, you'll need to lift the electrical board. I'm not familiar with your particular model, but I'm guessing that to lift the board you'll need to desolder some wires going near the motor, and the board can then be swung like a door. Looking at it too, I'm thinking at it perhaps needs at least 2 belts. One going above the board, connecting the motor to the wheel on the bottom right. And one going below the board, connecting that wheel to the 2 larger flywheels.
Welcome to the club!!! For this hobby you will need at minimum a soldering iron with a fine tip. Desolder the wires to get rid of a back-plate with batteries (no need to desolder flex-board!) Then it is a matter of a few screws to lift the main-board... Once you lifted the main-board you will see that all rubber belts got BAD... or just melted into small gooey pieces, but this is the worst case scenario. Or they just got stiff, then you are in luck and do not have to clean that rubbery black goo... Post your progress and we shall go from there! Good Luck!
Oh yeah... Forgot that . Look for screws and don't force the board. The small screws can be hard to spot, as they are silver like the soldered bits and may be hidden under cables. It should lift with minimal resistance, but you may need to wiggle a bit here and there
Thank you so much, stuck-in-time and Jorge! I’m off to get a desoldering tool, and find my very small screw driver... Yes, I think it is exactly the belts that need help — I can access the one going above the board (that stuck-in-time mentioned in the first reply) and it is luckily (according to Jorge) brittle and stiff. So I feel like I am already on the right track! I will post again as soon as I can lift the main board!
@Esther D. if you feel that this might become your “hobby” and you got a few extra $$ stashed: look into Wiha Tools page! Those screwdrivers are pricey (compared to the Harbor Freight offerings)... but using them is almost a sensual experience I acquired my first set from a Nikon tech guy who serviced our microscopes and then forgot his kit in our lab... now I do not even consider anything less: no more stripped heads, pure sensuality
