I brought a TCS 310 on Ebay while the play and stop buttons do work the owner neglected to mention fast forward, rewind and record doesnt work. I could hear the motor going when pressing fast forward and rewind so the idler tire was clearly working but not engaging with the drive wheel for some reason. I opened it up, desoldered a few jumper wires to get to the Mechanics after a while of inspection and fiddling around I found the problem. The Fast Forward and Rewind buttons push a plastic yellow arm which is suppose to tug a hook that causes the yellow FR lever to pull the idler tire towards the drive wheel and fast forward or rewind through the tape depending on an internal switch that is pushed down. However on mine there is no hook and a piece of plastic that surrounds the hole where the hook attaches to looks like it broke off somehow So I have no idea how to fix it or how to create a makeshift hook as the hole is open so it wouldnt stay in place and I dont know what to use as a hook, and it's such a tight squeeze . I've attached an image of the broken hole of where something is supposed to go to hook onto the yellow arm in the red circle I've also attached how it's supposed to look like according to the service manual Anyone know how I can fix it?? I'm not so concerned about the recording functionality (although I have a vague idea of what's wrong with regards to that) as I'll primarily be using it to play cassettes
Hi PaperSkin , It's been a long time ago since I repaired a few walkmans and TCS's from that era , quite understandable that the aging plastic part brakes after years of spring load. This is from memory and maybe I'm missing something from the mechanism function , nevertheless here is a solution that might work for you also. The spring lever (at the side of the broken point) has to be positioned under tension to position B , the missing broken plastic part was keeping the spring there. If the lever has enough length to pass the U opening you can drill a hole and glue a pin underside to keep the spring in position. That's in theory , in practice you have to figure out the proper position of the hole and the length and diameter of the pin , not too thin so it can take the spring load. There are one or two other ways but I think this is the simplest. Noticed two points in your picture that look like cracks (green circles) , maybe they need attention too.
Uh huh so basically if I want to listen to cassettes I should just build my own Walkman from scratch lol I was hoping this would be an easy fix I didnt even notice those other cracks my Walkman I didn't think my Walkman would be having a DD moment. That actually sounds like a good idea though. But I'm squeamish about drilling holes. What wod be the best tool to use to drill the hole? I have Araldite epoxy glue adhesive I originally brought to use on the capacitors of another Walkman before I broke it because I'm guessing Prit Stick wouldn't be enough. would it be good to just break off the plastic since it'll eventually fall off and use the glue? Aswell as using the glue to put the pin beneath? Just to confirm is this what it should look like or is it on the opposite side? Because I'm wondering how would the yellow arm on the right pull the lever then??
I meant the opposite side but maybe I'm wrong, as I said before this is from memory , the spring/lever assembly should engage an idler against the spools when pushing Forward or Rewind button , if that can help to configure how it should function correctly. A Dremel should do , or something similar but cheaper if you do not intend to use it at anything else , just be certain that this method is suitable for this particular repair before start buying tools . As a rule of thumb I try not to break a half broken part for alignment and handling reasons during gluing . If you mean to glue the pin without drilling a hole it might work but just might , in long term. Wish I could be more helpful but am away from my collection so I can't open my TCS310 to confirm and describe with pictures.
I dont want to be too rash so I'll just use glue as a temporary measure and maybe when you're able to get back to your collection you can do me a solid and confirm please?
Certainly , edited my post above to avoid confusion and kept the basic idea for the repair. It seems I messed up the position of the broken point that holds the spring which , in short , is where the pin is to be placed.
I think I'm gonna have to try what you said before. Doing what I said I was gonna do in reality is much harder than I thought it'd be because it's such a tight squeeze to get between the yellow levers and metal bracket considering my sausage fingers.
Ok wait I think I've found a good solution I used a Pen spring and twisted it into the loop so that it tugs on what's left of the hole. I'll use adhesive glue to glue the other end to the yellow lever so when I press fast forward or rewind the idler tire moves into position. I'm just scared the tension from the spring will break off what's left of the plastic..
