Hello all, I've replaced the belt on a 'sleeping' RQ-S30 and after re-assembly, have had partial success in reviving the old girl. "Forward" direction (at least the direction which plays when the unit is first switched on) works perfectly. Like, really good - I'm pleasantly surprised at how good it sounds. When I press and hold the play button to flip sides, the following happens: - Mechanism switches gears - Pinchhead rollers swap over - Motor changes direction and the reverse drive starts to play - A faint beep is heard through the headphones (not the same as the controls beep, something from the audio circuitry) - Player stops Pressing play again plays the tape in the forward direction. It does this regardless of there being a tape in the machine (with the tape present microswitch activated). Now, I've not been in this repair game for long enough (3 days!) to think of possible causes but the following are on my suspects list: 1. Some kind of movement/speed detector that doesn't work in reverse direction. 2. Something to do with the pinchhead roller. The 'reverse' (right hand, as you look in the case) pinchhead roller is deformed from the capstan sitting against it, presumably after a failed shutdown many years ago and it's been left in position. 3. The direction switch in the PCB, although I've checked that and I'm happy that it's in the correct position. I'd very much appreciate your combined experience in working out what's going on here. I'm reluctant to de-solder the PCB again if it's unnecessary and to be honest, I'm not sure I'm going to see anything wrong under there that would cause this to happen. Oh and if anyone knows of a compatible pinchhead roller for these, that shared knowledge would be appreciated. Thanks, guys and girls! W.
Further diagnostics: I know have a "known good" player of the same model. It would appear that the above behaviour is standard operation if there's no cassette in the machine, but the tape presence microswitch is made. That leads me to believe that there's either a) some kind of load detection in the reverse direction that's triggering a "stop" b) it thinks there's no tape in the machine when playing in reverse direction, so stops. Would a deformed pinch roller cause something like this? It's the next easiest to replace so I'm going to attempt that. Does anyone know if the pinch rollers are the same across the AR90IV mechanisms? W.
It is very likely this device has a mode switch, which tells the microcontroller in which state the mech is in (forward, reverse, stop or just forward/reverse). The alignment of the switch with the mechanism (which can go misaligned after a belt replacement) and the switch itself are potential suspects. I can't seem to find the service manual of this particular unit at first glance, so some pictures with the board might be helpful to guide you. Most of these walkmans have a switch to loop continuosly through forward reverse or just stop after one side is finished. Depending on that switch's position and a misaligned mode switch, it may manifest exactly the symptom you are describing. As far as rotation sensors go, there is usually just one (as if there is tape, the other table reel will be rotating as well), so that can't explain the symptom. The pinch roller itself can be an issue only if it has a very big indentation mark and it effectively stops the mechanism from rotating (this will be obvious with the naked eye).
Thanks Valentin. The direction mode switch is good, I checked that a a few times. It's pretty hard to see what's going on so I added a tiny white spot to the surface edge of the pinch roller with the indentation caused by the capstan. With a cassette in it was pretty clear to see that nothing was turning, so that just had to be the problem. I swapped over a pinch roller from another unit and this has indeed fixed it! I'm really pleased, I didn't want to have to de-solder the board to poke around in the gears. I've ordered some rubber parts for the rollers from Marian. They're not going to be fun to replace but if I succeed, that'll be two working units instead of 1 + a parts machine. For a 20 year old unit with no other maintenance, I'm amazed at how good it sounds. A little oil for the capstans and a new set of rollers should see it a few more years. I can see this becoming an addiction...
Just an update, for anyone interested in this is a repair. I've replaced the two pinch head rollers (or at least, the rubber part) with spares from FYA. The PHR is the same as many other in the Panasonic AR90IV series and Marian supplied me with rollers that are listed for RQ-S80 - they're identical specification. I'd rate this job as pretty straightforward. Don't be tempted to lever out the rollers, use a SIM card ejection tool or something similar to push out the axle whilst supporting the assembly in a vice (to allow the pin to push through). I think the pin can only be removed from one side, the one that's flush with the surface of the assembly. No need to push it all the way out, I chose to leave the pin in for ease of re-assembly. Notice that the carrier/hub for the wheel isn't symmetrical, it's slightly thicker at one end. Take photos! The rubbers are a fairly tight fit but can be pushed off the plastic hub. Heat them a little (gently, no fire!!!) if they're hard or if you're very careful, make a small cut and peel them off. Reassembly is the reverse, and the new rubbers went on easily. Remember to put the roller back in the correct orientation and push the pin back into place. Panasonic RQ-S30 pinch roller replacement by wallacio posted Dec 14, 2021 at 1:18 PM Panasonic RQ-S30 pinch roller replacement by wallacio posted Dec 14, 2021 at 1:18 PM Panasonic RQ-S30 pinch roller replacement by wallacio posted Dec 14, 2021 at 1:18 PM
This behaviour that Panasonic from S series is not starting to play or stops just seconds after playing, changing playing direction is one of the things I had such mixed feelings about them. I would try to change rollers, but I tried to change them on S60 and SX33 and I broke the plastic. And I really tried to be careful, especially the second time. I will probably try to do it on a spare Walkman again. I have few Ses that are behaving like that.
Excellent photos of the pinch roller change! Process makes sense, and showing the proper orientation is great!
Yesterday I destroyed not working Panasonic RQ S33 trying changing pinch rollers. I used a bit too much force. Today I've changed 2 rollers in S35 and it went great and was quite easy (I've unscreewed the door, then only removed pin and changed gum on the roller). It seems that problem with reverse side not angaging in my S35 is not related to roller - or at least it works ok on 10 minute tape, but not on 80 minute one. I guess I will try lubricate capstans with oil. I hope it will help.
