Hello! I'm new here in terms of technology repair and Walkmans in general. I got this Walkman online for $30 to surprise my sister's birthday as she's a fan of the 13 Reasons Why series that appears the now-famous WM-41. I would like to know if there's any advice on how I can fix the machine with no experience of engineering repairing. I've fixed the battery terminals (as it was the easiest one to fix), replaced the bands with some cheap $1 bands (not smart but I didn't had any of the recommended bands for it ) and it works slightly with the batteries on with the motor running but there's no sound at all with the headphones plugged in! The battery terminals of the thing are still corroded so that's one clue ... Here are some pictures for anyone that is interested for the help... Thanks for your time and the help. Here are some picture for any reference. P.s. I'm scared and don't know how to open the front of the Walkman
If you haven't gotten the service manual go to here, sign up and download a copy, it tells you how to take off the front. https://www.hifiengine.com/manual_library/sony/wm-41.shtml If your talking about opening it to put a cassette in, the door might be jammed, I don't think there's an EJECT button on this model. The corrosion in the battery compartment is pretty bad, sand them down as good as you can This unit will also take wall power, you can buy a universal wall wart with different voltages and end connectors for under $20, just make sure it goes down to 3 volts. Pull the whole board out, it looks like it snaps in/out, turn it over and look at the connection around the green headphone jack, these take a lot of abuse and the solder cracks which prevents a signal going to the headphones.
Ok. So I could take out the whole board (yay). Here are some photos of the opening process and maybe if you could detect any problems. I did try to sand them but I'm not sure if they are suppose to remove all the oxidation. Before I cleaned the corrison, it was all blue and the motor worked when cleaning it but no sound appears when I put on the cassette :/ Also. I hope I didn't break the front door...;3
By the way, the sanding did work. Now there's sound! But I'm not sure if it's normal if the thing has a warbling effect on the audio since these things are old. I know this one is an '80s model compare to the '90s ones which sound 10x better but I want to know if I need to sand it more or there's more to this process... I'll check and see if I need to sand it more...
It looks like J302 is where the headphones plug in, put the phones in and wiggle the headphone jack to see if there any movement on the solder, your looking for something like the photo below, cracks around the center pin. Sometimes the inside of the jack on the Walkman will also get rust and corrosion where the metal touches the headphone male jack. That needs to get cleaned off but it can be much harder since access is limited. Either of these will also affect sound. The warbling may have to do with inconsistant voltage from the corrosion but those belts look really big and the motor might not be able to move them consistantly. Can you get it loosely together with batteries to watch it run? Sometimes there's a metal rod at the top of the cassette tray that needs to be pushed so the unit will play (it's sensing a cassette and saving batteries if a button is accidentally pushed). http://www.discovercircuits.com/dc-mag/Issue_11/pg-3.htm
Ok. Sorry for the late reply, but I've ordered some belts from Amazon (cheap!) But I would like to know---If any possibility---you know what is the width of the belts for this particular model. I know I've read your latest post, but I would like to know some information on the belt before I start your advice.
This model is an entry-level for Sony, there's not much information on it, I'd get the grab bag of belts and find one that not too tight or loose and you should be fine.
I've. Put on the newer belts and they work really fine as shown and the soldering is in good condition. Although, there is some old gunk around the J302 solders ... Could that be the case of the warbling? Yeah, there is still warbling despite putting the appropriate belts for the thing... I don't know if you can see them here, but here ya' go:
The solder joints look great, don't worry about the brownish stuff, it's common on circuit boards. The belt might not be the right size, the motor might need some oil or the rubber wheels for the tape might be hard causing the warbling. Clean the pulleys and rubber wheels with isopropyl alchohol, the closer to 99% the better. The other 1%+ is water and it's not good on the metal parts. If you see any old pieces of belt in the player, they must be cleaned out. The older the belts get, the more likely they will turn into a nasty, soft, sticky goop. It will stick to the new belt causing jerking during playback. I'm assuming the sound is good except for the warbling?
The sound is alright...ish. It's just the warbling that effects it. I did clean the wheels which the dirt of the wheels did cause the the audio to stop playing for a few times (which I forgot to mention that) but after the cleaning it, it plays fully in a high to low volume level.
Great, it sounds like it had belt goop, that stuff can be hard to find and it gets everywhere, take an LED light and microscope to see if you can find more. I had a full size tape deck that took a box of Q-Tips to get all of the residue out, it was everywhere.
