Hi all, recently got a neglected non working Philips D8814 "Elephant". i have got, it now basically working, good radio and Phono and Aux. Best sounding unit i have ever come across. i have a problem with cassette unit however and it seems to be quite common with Philips units in that one small beige coloured gear is basically disintegrating. i have removed the cassette unit and identified the problem and i intend to either make from scratch or mod a similar gear. the problem is that even with the service manual, i simply cannot work out how to remove this gear. i cannot work out how to disassemble. anyone with experience of this or any useful advice would be appreciated. many thanks Brian
I don't have that model but a few guys have worked on it recently here, hopefully they'll give some guidance. I'm trying to pull a motor out of a Bobcat tonight and having similar issues.
I just wanted to let you know that there is a guy at ebay selling Philips gears in all sizes. They are remade from polyurethane and not 3D printed. I recently bought from him and the gear fits and is good quality. In case you want to skip the step of making your own ...
@VinylBox - could you, PLEASE provide a link to the seller of that nasty gear? I am accidentally 'famous' by posting my Elephant resurrection here, and Boomboxery folks ask me for some guidance. But, miraculously, my Elephant had all the gears still intact. I lost my beloved Beast, but have another Elephant donated to me by St. Nick (@nickeccles), he (D8814, not St.Nick!) is now hiding under my desk this time I will try to buy all the needed belts and gears before going into the black-hole of Elephant Surgery
I still have to figure which gears fit the "Elephant", but here is the link provided by @VinylBox : https://ebay.de/usr/appleof666sodom
@Daniela I wasn't sure if the forum rules allow links to ebay but Jorge already has provided the link.
Thanks for finding these. Regarding eBay listings the http://stereo2go.com/forums/threads/cool-stuff-for-sale-mega-thread.3023/page-36 is mainly eBay listings. It is a good idea to put a photo with each one as eBay links break after about six months and the earliest listings are from 2018. Maybe less so with things like the gears providing the supplier still has stock.
Thought it was time to finish this thread. i attach a pdf of the disassembly procedure and a brief how i made the replacement gears. If its any use to anyone else.
It's amazing all the plastic in Philips cassette mechanisms. Most other manufacturers stuck with cheap pot metal (after abandoning the heavier zinc-plated steel).
They were obsessed with plastic and it did nothing for their reputation. Have a look at the last post in this thread https://www.vintage-radio.net/forum/showthread.php?t=166797
yes, i have since found a few other units from different manufacturers with similar gearing. it does seem possible that some of these gears were in fact made from a soft PU deliberately as nylon gears were noisy as i have found in my Philips unit where i made a replacement gear from machinable hard nylon. you can hear it as it generates quite a bit of noise.
