OK, I'm going to have to call it quits on this Problem after spending a week on this and missing work even, because of sleep. Recaptcha helped get me in the correct direction on getting these two nice Walkman's running last April! After hours of unsoldering and taking gears off and cleaning, watch oil on capstans, and new pinch rollers etc. The issue seems both won't rewind correctly, they start and stop. if (Auto-reverse to side 2, The FAST FOWARD) will not work, so same area of problem. I have changed the belt 3 times to rule it out. lube the spindle. and stripped all gears except the "Black Cam Gear and Plunger that controls the Cam Gear" I just spent 3 hours tonight after work. I give up and don't want to ruin the motor flex cable unsoldering from board all the time. "I prefer to send one to get Rewind Diagnose and fixed and I will fix the other one when we know the Problem." I'm in the states and have no problem to send it to Europe if needed. Both Play perfect in both directions. Rewind is the problem, and Fast Forward on side 2. Thanks members for reading and replies. -Duane, MI USA
So, I took it all apart again and cleaned the Cam gear, Lever from Plunger. Still the same. Sometimes If I hit Stop First it will rewind the tape. But not always and never rewinds from play mode. Fast Foward works on Side A But Not on Side B direction. I really have no clues on what the cause is. There are not that many gears. I even dipped the Capstan in Ferric Chloride to rough up . That cured the auto reverse problem when starting on Side-A at the beginning.
FF and REW work by simply rotating the motor one way or the other. The rotation is transmitted to one reel or the other via a gear with a spring (see pictures attached) that moves together with a lever due to the resistance of the spring. So there can be a couple of possibilities: - the motor is unable to rotate in both directions; - the spring on that gear is missing, so it doesn't have any resistance, not moving the lever (unlikely since it works in one direction); - the lever itself is too hard to turn, so the resistance of the lever is higher than resistance of gear spring resulting in gear rotating before moving the lever into position; - it can also be a button problem since it uses a resistor ladder, but since you stated REW and FF on side B (which is the same reel as REW on side A) I would exclude this; I would start by manually turning the mechanism one way or the other (in STOP mode). When operating normally this should turn the table reels. Does REW not work at all or run for a couple of seconds then stop ? If it runs but stops immediately it may be an electronic problem related to the fact it doesn't detect reel rotation. But this would affect playback as well, as autoreverse is triggered by the same sensor.
Yes, the Spring is inside that gear. By hand rotation both reals seem to move smoothly, confirmed. It will reverse sometimes fine if I hit stop first then hit rewind button. Other than that I hit rewind it might for a few seconds tgen stop. Ok, If I look at the Belt on the motor pully it is being stressed when I hit Rewind? But it can Rewind perfect sometimes after hitting Stop! I have no grease on the gears. Just watch oil on all gear posts. I've clean and lightly relube. But both walkmans are doing this and new pinch rollers twice and belts. Something I'm over looking Valentin. It's a simple mech also. I restored a WM-EX808 and that plays and Rewinds perfect! Almost the same layout. Thanks, .Duane
Watch oil is what should be on the gear posts, so that's good. As long as the reels turn when you turn the driving flywheel by hand, then anything mechanical can be ruled out as a potential problem. Given pressing STOP first makes it works would suggest it's an electronic problem, most likely the buttons themselves have increased resistance.
So, do I strip down the buttons and clean with contact cleaner? They are on a flex cable. Thanks, probably explains why I have been chasing this problem with no results.
If you can spray some contact cleaner without stripping down the button do it without opening. Also, pay attention to what cleaner you use as most generic ones available on the market (such as WD40 contact cleaner) are not designed for electronics and will create more damage than solve problems. The one I recommend is Kontakt 60.
Valentin? Quick Question? If it is the Logic Keys, why does rewind and FF work without a cassette insert? I was just thinking about this before bedtime. And Both players have this? I have nice Analog Oscilloscope and 3 different Fluke meters. I was trying to map out a test, but then again everything works and responds without a cassette.
OK, I finally found the problem! The Direction plate that slides for Auto reverse(Slides the pin for Pinch Rollers). If I hit Stop, it stops in the middle which is correct, but it's tweaked(Bent somewhere just very little). If I slightly press with my pick, Reverse works all the time. Those parts are riveted to the bottom plate. There is the arm with the pressure spring also all connected. So it could be somewhere there also. It's only when there is a cassette installed. Anyways, I removed the good parts and restoring my EX60. Love the looks of the WM-EX-60! Wish I could score the British Green color with the Gold button plate!!
Glad you found the problem, the clue that it works fine without a cassette inserted was key and was not mentioned before the previous post. This seems like it may be a common problem on these units since you have 2 with the exact same problem. If you can illustrate with pictures how exactly you solved the problem that would be appreciated as it would be helpful for others reading this thread.
Well, I pinpointed the area of the problem. I'm not quite sure what to tweak(Bend) back in place etc. On the arm that shifts for Foward play and reverse. When stop and in normal position. That is where it's off just very little. If I just but a little pressure then it rewinds. I will show with a photo when I get time. I moved things over to a EX60. Same mech. AND that is hesitant on reverse too. FOWARD is silky smooth but reverse is not perfect. If I push the top lid towards me with light pressure then it will rewind prefect. So it seems the mech is off just a little also as my other two EX70 and FX70. It must be a known problem with these 3. They all have the mech. I Spent hours and hours on this. Valentin? You have one of these correct? Maybe you could see if yours has the Rewind problems?(WM-EX70/60 FX70) Thanks, Duane
The one I took pictures from is a donor unit with rusty capstans that won't be repaired. Unfortuantely I'm not familiar with these series, otherwise I would have known the common problems and their solutions already and it would have been on the common problems list.
Ok, Problem is solved on Rewinding when a Cassette is inserted any playing either hitting stop and rewind or rewind from playing. Both my EX70, EX60, and FX70 working again. My Solution was to apply the lightest touch of of Molykote EM 30 L to each Reel Gear and others. (The reel gears are fixed to the reels) and I stripped away the watch oil on all Plastic posts). After a a few Cassette's, rewind and foward in reverse direction works normal. Countless Hours, Days, Weeks, and Months on this. I thought maybe something got tweaked. So, the light Dab with Exatro Blade of Moly EM 30 did the trick. Thanks again on trying to solve this for me. I guess it's just a mech. That's very conservative with lubrication.
