Replaced the belt in my WM-2 today. Popped a cassette in and it worked, sounded great, for a while anyways. I get a whine/squeal from the machine and no spindle movement sometimes with a tape in it. It'll play for a couple minutes just fine but then just stop and squeal, whether I'm rewinding, playing or fast forwarding (hitting stop between each button press). Aside from mechanical noise of probably needing lube, the spindles spin freely with no tape when the buttons are pressed. I could be mid tape and the spindles stop for no reason. Though, I noticed I can fully FF and then Rewind an entire cassette with no issue at times, without interrupting it by pressing "Stop" and letting it hit the end of the tape at each cycle of FFing and RWDing though, there is a bit of whining along with it but seems to work. I do also notice the whining/squealing kinda picks up in speed when near the end/beginning of the cassette. After doing this, hitting Play seems to work just fine. So the whole issue is kinda confusing me. This is also the earlier version of the WM-2 with "FWD" on the play button, if that makes any difference. So, I'm wondering what could be causing the issues.
Ok, so there are a couple of things that need to be cleared: 1. There are 2 types of center gears used in WM-2, one is full plastic, the other has a metal disc with a plastic gear molded on it. For reference (as there is a thread about this), please state the serial number on your WM-2 . There is a picture on this thread (https://stereo2go.com/forums/threads/sony-wm-2-problem.1940/), post #8 with the WM-2 that has a full plastic gear. Since you mentioned nothing about a clicking sound, I assume this is the type of gear you have in your WM-2. 2.When the whining/squeal noise appears, does that capstan still rotate ? You mention that the spindle (I assume you are reffering to the takeup reel) stops rotating. Does this problem disappear/get better if you hold the walkman in a different position ? (try turning it upside down)
Slightly off topic, but good timing as I have a WM-2 open on my desk that has the full plastic gear. After a good cleaning, I seem to have a mystery washer (red arrow) that has appeared on my work area. I can't seem to find a home for it except underneath the split washer on the centre gear. I don't recall it being there when disassembling or it doesn't seem to be present on the photo that Valentin references above. The Service manual also seems to have the metal disc version described and the clutch configuration is different I believe. The photo included has the assembly order I am thinking it is in. It is however possible that it is unrelated but I seem to be stalled. Does anyone have an experience with this or recognize the washer? Thanks in advance.
That washer doesn't look like it would fit where you put it in the picture, because the center hole is too large. If it were to sit below the split washer (which I have never seen on this type of mech), the center hole would have be just slightly larger than the one on split washer (about 0.1-0.15mm larger). In your picture the hole on that washer looks ~4 times larger than the one on the split washer. My opinion is its unrelated, I can't see where it would fit and I disassembled this type of mech completely many times (you can find reference pictures on forum's gallery).
Thank you Valentin, I reached the same conclusion putting it back together last night. If you look at the main gear, the yellowish plastic of inner sleeve is actually raised up above the black outer plastic about the same amount as this washer thickness. The washer fits over the yellow part nicely and sits on the black. However, I think that is just coincidence and agree it was not there originally. Maybe someone used it as a shim or something. I am pretty lucky, this WM-2 looks like it has never been opened, only missing a hinge screw (which will be a challenge), no cracked gear(s). Thanks again.
1) Opened it up again, I'm assuming the white number on the left of that picture is the Serial Number, mine was 230406. I looked in with the flashlight on my phone and I could see a black plastic gear under the main board. Yea, no clicking sound. I know the metal/plastic gears have a habit of breaking cause of the plastic shrinking, seen a Techmoan video about that with his DD Walkman. 2) Yea, the capstan still rotates, when the cassette stops and the machine squeals/whines. The sound does change a bit when I turn the player upside down, side ways, etc.
Thanks for the serial number ! If there is no clicking sound, there is no breaking in the center gear, meaning you have a full plastic gear, not a plastic on metal disc one. You still did not answer what exactly happens: the capstan is still rotating and the takeup reel stops rotating while the device stars squeeling ? I think it's better to record the squeeling sound and post an mp3 file of the recording. Squeeling does not make sense, cause that means a metal-to-metal contact. The only parts that are metal on metal are the capstan and the motor, which are obviously not the problem since they still rotate. I suspect something with either the center gear itself or the clutch not making perfect contact with the takeup reel gear. But that would create a scraping noise, not a squeal. Of course, in reality all the rotating parts should be relubricated, just a belt replacement won't be enough. But if the problem you're having does not sound as a lack of lubrication issue, at least not from what you are describing.
