I have been trying to get my old F770 running right but predictably enough I have run into a problem and wish I hadn't started: Idler wheel now has a new tyre on it, first attempt I didn't get the tyre on quite correctly, out of round. I have now tried a second tim and things didn't go according to plan. The wheel is held in place by a light speing, a washer then a sort of split washer/circlip thingy. just a small washer with a slot so you can get it into a recess on the 2 mm diameter shaft. Well that split washer / clip is somewhere deep inside the mechanism, I can't see it and don't want to remove any more mechanism, head slide is off, along with various bits, still can't see the washer thing and daren't go any further. Where can I get another tiny clip thing, designed to keep things on a 2 mm diameter shaft? On EBay I haven't found anything like the little washer with a slot on one side. I don't really want to write off the deck as that damn washer is the only thing wrong with it!
You said the magic word "Circlip" so you just look on Ebay https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/0-8mm-1-...hash=item41efb1bd96:m:m5UvMwJme3ohWPpu5yWl9-w Alternatively you look in any scrap equipment you have for something suitable p.s I have a Sony CFS210 in the garage which has been waiting about eight years for a new idler tyre. Where do you get those ?
Oh well, did some more dismantling, no sign of the missing circlip thing, been trying to re-assemble it, I have been struggling to get things back together without springs falling out of the damn thing. Then a blue wire came off whatever it was on. I think the next move is the bin. Note to self: Don't try and fix things, it gets expensive looking for replacements!
Phil Wood, there's some tricks of the trade with the small delicate tape deck mechanisms. When removing circlips, put the post and clip in a clear plastic bag first and then remove, they have a tendency to fly across the room. When they get lost I use an antenna style magnet, that I get at the hardware store, to fish around the inside. If you have a vacuum, wrapping the nozzle with panty-hose or similar porous cloth, might also be able to find the part without losing it in the bag. It looks like a great deck but we all have similar issues. HiFi Engine has the service manual, it might help with the wire location. https://www.hifiengine.com/manual_library/aiwa/ad-f770.shtml
OK. Tomorrow things get serious, to replace the circlip I bought one off EBay, which came with I think 159 more just in case I lose another. The plan is to disconnect the mechanicals, all 5 or 6 connectors, once seperated I should be able to trace the disconnected wire and solder it back on, then re-assemble the mechanical bits. Then it should just be a case of very slow, careful re-assemblage, hopefully without copious swearing and consigning it to landfill! At least it is almost redundant now that I have a top flight Sony Minidisc deck but I do like the thing!
OK, so far so scary, lots of connectors disconnected, also nearly pulled a three wire block that wasn't a connector off one of the PCBs. I have managed to completely remove the mechanism so I can rebuild it properly. Also found where the blue wire had parted, that will be a nice easy solder as it was between 2 PCBs in the spaghetti, nice and accessible. It is now time to try and get the mechanical bits back together, Place your bets Ladles and Gentlephones! am I confident? not any more! Captains log supplemental: After about an hour of frustration (I need small hands, not trotters) I succeeded in reassembling the idler , put the mechanicals back together, mostly. Soldered the yellow wire back on the reel motor, now the only mechanical bit to re-assemble is the white plastic reel brake thing, wish I could remember how that fitted in and more importantly, I wish I could find the accompanying spring. Now time for dinner then to search the table and other debris to try and find that spring. Trying to get all the connectors back together and get the deck working again is going to take a lot of luck, the video footage of what connectors I disconnected and probably tears!
I take a lot of photos, the hardest are the little screws but everything else usually goes back in one spot. I tend to forget a screw and I usually have to rip it all back apart to put that screw in so I get pretty good at dissassembly.
I was videoing the dismantling to give me some chance of figuring out which connector goes where. Pity the camera was still paused for part of it! still with the circuit diagram I might manage it. Also found the spring that was hiding. Leaving it for today. will at least complete the mechanicals tomorrow then might start the rebuild. The F770 really is a nightmare to work on, I hate to think what the F990 must be like, with the electronic recording level thing, probably yet another circuit board stuffed in somehow! I'm less pessimistic than I was!
I got one of mine fully taken apart to find a small rubber wheel on the drive motor had turned to goo. It was under a hood and had to be fully taken apart to see, or replace it. I don't have that wheel so I had to put it all back without fixing it. Always put them back together even if your not done, otherwise it is impossible to try to figure out how everything goes back. Good luck, it sounds like your making some progress, these things are pretty complicated and fixing them is turning into a forgotten skill.
That sounds like the same problem I am trying to fix, the idler wheel tyre. You can get a replacement tyre of EBay, not dear. To get the best access to the idler wheel you need to extract the mechanical bits, Take the cover off, remove the six screws that hold the mechanism and remove the door, Remove the screw and then move the power switch out of the way. With a bit of careful wangling you can manoeuvre the mechanism out of the deck so that it is resting on top. A bit of careful, judiciously applied brute force removed the cassette holdy thing. I tried to replace the tyre in this position and failed because the circlips and springs were too much of a problem with the mechanism balanced on top of the circuit boards. If doing it again I would partially dismantle the mechanism so I could access the wheel. There is an angled metal brake actuator thing held on by one screw which is easy to remove, then a plate holding the head mounting plate in place. That has one screw holding it but holds a tiny ball bearing which would be easy to lose, luckily for me there was grease holding the ball in place. Once they are removed you can remove the coil spring followed by the plate that the heads are mounted on. You then have access to replace the tyre. If you still cannot replace the tyre because of the various bits it presses on then remove the white plastic brake and spring, remove the two cross head screws. You have now released the reel motor and can access the idler mechanism from the back, it is a simple job then to remove the idler on it's axle so you can replace the tyre in comfort. Then put it back together. I ended up doing more dismantling trying to find a tiny circlip, which I never did find. The re-assembly seemed to be going well but I have paused, I seem to have grown a second ball bearing and have no idea where it came from! Now to pore over the manuals to try and get a clue before going any further. Progressing slowly but surely...
Progress! It sounds like my experience, weight savings through parts removal. Cars are even more fun when you get it all together and find that one bolt that goes on the bottom.....
Just for reference, I bought the new idler tyre off an EBay dealer called phonohifishop, it was under £10 and came in a few days. Now just waiting for a wee tube of grease before the final mechanical assembly, then the second nightmare, the reconnection of electrical spaghetti! Will it live again? who can tell?
Things moving on, slowly, mechanicals now re-assembled, with both balls in the right places. Latest wire to pop off, traced and re-soldered. Once I build up the courage, it will be the great plugging in of the bits to try and get the electrical gubbins to all speak to each other. Make or break time approaches! Meantime my latest acquisition arrived, Minidisc walkman number 5, a direct replacement for number 1 which just stopped working. It's a bla bla bla 707. I prefer the controls on the 707 to any of the others I have. Too late tonight to figure out model numbers!
Took the plunge today, got the mechanism, spent a few hours sorting out the spaghetti and plugging everything I could see in, not helped by two 5 pin connectors, exactly the same, with exactly the same coloured wires on the same pins. (Thanks Aiwa!) All bits into the machine and loosely screwed the front together to hold the thing from falling to bits when I move it. Plugged in, no flames. Switched on, no flames, no smoke or nasty smells. Lighty uppy bits all lit up and behaved themselves. Hatch wouldn't open properly, I sort of expected that as it seems to happen a lot with these. Stuck a tape in and the demagnetising and fast wind/rewind all worked perfectly, so I have sorted my idler wheel problem. It ain't right though, the servo that pushes the heads up and pinch rollers isn't doing the pushy thing. So the deck still doesn't work. I give up! for now anyway. Time to keep hold of my temper and cook dinner once I get the lid on the thing to keep it cat proof.
I feel for you, I popped open one of my big ones to replace the belts the other night. There's about 30 screws to get to the belts and the worse thing happened, I don't have the right size belt, I should have checked my box of 100's but I'm all out of the size I need. Did you check the grease around the servo, sometimes it really hardens up and parts just don't move good. I'm also good at breaking the little tiny wires that control the switches.
Hi, The job started out as new belts, I managed that and was using the deck but it wasn't brilliant, then I found out about the idler, mine was worn/slipping. That was the start of my current adventure, changed the tyre and got the deck back togethrt but it was running badly, I think the tyre was not on right and maybe I ghadn't got everything in the right places leading to the brakes binding. Second attempt, at start of reassembly the wee circlip escaped, never to be seen again. Then a wire popped off something. Much dismantling later, no sign of the circlip, another wire broke off something. Today, the three wires are all back were they popped off of, the new circlip is in place, every thing seemed good, solenoid moving bits were moving freely, I have a horrible feeling the none actuation might have something to do with one of the cames in the middle of the deck, I can't see any more missing/broken wires, I seem to remember reading about someone else having the same problem. I also have run into the problems others have had with the cassette holder catching, At least I have my minidiscs, the only reason I want the deck now is to playback so I can dub to minidisc, since I have done most of the stuff I can't replace and am noiw digging through thirty year old cassettes I suppose my PC55; will be a good enough playback machine if I can't save the F770. I haven't given up yet though! Not quite!
After sticking the case back on it and giving up for the present, this afternoon, what have I spotted lying on the table? that tiny circlip! I don't know what I have done to this cassette deck to upset it, but I think it hates me!
