Hi, I've recently acquired one of the devices I've always wanted to own, the Sony M-1PD. However, it is not doing very well. I replaced the belt in it, but noticed very high wow and flutter afterwards. It does play and record at the correct speed, but the sound distortion is making the device virtually unusable. I had investigated and found out that the small plastic gear under the flywheel has cracked. I'm not sure if it could be causing the problems I'm having, but it's my best bet. I'd like to ask for clarification, and if it is the problem - how can I go about fixing it? Does anyone know someone who could manufacture such a small gear? It's about 0.8mm in diamater.
Hello! The obvious answer which isn’t great for w/f is to use epoxy to bridge the crack. Lots of people did this with the DD right up until Marian brought his new gears to the world and saved us all. The other way is to find the same model, in a ‘spares’ state and take the parts from the broken model. The problem with making small 3D printed parts is the plastic is often not strong at such a small size. 3D printers work in resolution, like a normal paper printer with 300dpi or something, only in a 3D. If the resolution isn’t high enough the plastic will be very soft, or won’t even form correctly. The other way to make pieces is to order them from China or somewhere using a plastic mold in the same way that Sony used to. These are made for 2000 cycles, so you can make 2000 pieces from 1 mold for example and they cost £2000 (example). So if you can sell 2000 pieces the game is worth playing! There is also the chance another unit has the same part, a different model. But the easiest way is a broken identical model
When I get a chance I'll open up my Sony M-7 and see if there's something similar. I've also got some other mono microcassette players that might make great cheap donor units. I feel like the play mechanism is basically the same for any of the Sony Mono or Stereo Units. I just changed the belt in one of my Sony M-1000 Stereo Microcassette Players and it looks about the same but I don't own your model yet.
Okay, thanks for the suggestions. I'll try looking for a cheap Sony M-7 or M-9, especially the latter looks like it has an identical mechanism.
Just got and opened up and M-7 last week, and I can confirm that it does have an identical mechanism.
That's good to know. However, I've not been able to find an M-7 for a reasonable price, the M-9 seems to use the identical mechanism too, based on the location of screws on the case and the button layout. I've found one of those, bought it. I'll post an update when it gets to me, should be next week.
They must have sold a lot of Sony M-7's over here, I see them all the time for around $5-10 USD. Post photos when you can, these micro cassette players are starting to earn some respect and it's cool to see the insides, one of these days I'll find your model.
Well, here, you don't really see many Sony devices from the 80's, they are pretty hard to find. Most of the models I could find were from the mid 90's. That said, I did find a Sony M-9G. It's faulty - has something like a 4kHz tone constantly coming through the speaker. Mechanically, however, it's in much better condition than my M-1PD. I changed the entire flywheel, didn't even take the gear off it, just because it looked brand new. After changing it, the speed has gone back to normal - the wow and flutter is now in spec. Thanks for pointing me in the right direction in search of for that gear. Now I just need some metal tapes - these normal ones sure have a ton of hiss..
I think guys are loading their own metal, using a full size metal cassette and loading it into the microcassette shell, otherwise microcassette metal tapes go for silly money.
Yeah, one guy from Russia is selling custom made ones for $15 a piece. They probably sound better than original metal microcassettes too.
That's a nice little business and pretty cool if your looking for specific brands. I highly doubt they are original and wonder how he gets around copyright infringement. It took me forever to find a metal microcassette but now that I have a few players I might do the same and load my own and get a little more response out of them.
It's definitely something worth trying. Though I won't get any until I get my Aiwa CS-M1 fixed, because that Sony has a worn head so they won't sound that good anyway.
