Hello. I'm following this forum for some time, because I like old walkmans and there is a lot of informations about them. I'm trying to repair a Toshiba KT-R2 model and have a problem with tape mechanism. I cleaned it and removed all off old grease, then lubricated it and changed the belt. Finally got it to work, partially... FF, REW and Stop are working ok, but a Play is strugling to work. I checked a part of mechanism (picture 1) and cleaned old rubber ring with alcohol, but it is still not perfect. Does anybody know if a part/rubber is available to change with new one (picture 2) because original seems to be glued on? Also one of gear (picture 3) does not spin so freely, it does have some resistance (in compare to everyone else), which puzzles me a lot. Is this suppose to be normal? I would really appriciate any help. Thanks and kind regards.
Not aware of that entire pulley being available for sale. The idler itself might be available by dimension, but you need to measure it first. However what I recommend is to take a pice of sandpaper (800 grit) and rub the rubber against it on a flat surface until the surface of the rubber is not shiny anymore. Then clean it with IPA thoroughly. Given there aren't cracks in the rubber (can't see any in the pictures), think restoring the old rubber is the way to go. And by the way, would do the same with the second idler as well even if it seems to work fine.
No suggestions re the idler tyre but if that plastic gear (pic 3) has resistance when rotating about that fixed post after you removed the lubrication then it's no surprise. Remove it from the post, clean both the post and bore and re-lube using Molykote. If it still has rotational resistance then remove and re-bore the gear. You will need to measure the bore then use a very slightly larger drillbit to precisely enlarge the bore. By slightly I mean that you will have a very thin shaving of plastic left on the drillbit after doing it by hand. Reamer tools for this won't work as it's plastic.
Valentin: thanks for the 'rubber restore', I will try it. Chris_D: thanks for suggestion, but I already tried that. When I completely cleaned everything, I put a little sewing machine oil in it and nothing, still the same. I wanted to remove it, but it doesn't have a washer on it and I have no idea how to remove it... I'm afraid to use any force so that I won't brake it... Here are some more pictures, if someone could figure out how to remove it...
It can't be removed, unless you destroy one side of that pin and the find another solution to hold it. But wouldn't recommend this. Rather, I would try to get alcohol in there, even soak the assembly in alcohol if needed. Problem is, if the gear has indeed shrinked, you will have to remove it from the shaft to enlarge the hole.
OK. I assumed it was held in place on the other side with a c-clip or such. It looks like its been stud-rivetted in place. Whoever decided on that wasn't thinking about maintenance were they, lol! Valentin is correct in suggesting you would have to destroy one side of the pin to release the gear. You could try and find a replacement if indeed it's a stud. How resistant is it exactly? I assume you are measuring by feel. I'd suggest trying to clean the assembly in gentle steps rather than going straight in with drenching it in alcohol however. Try a degreaser such as warm water/washing up liquid first, preferably in a sonic bath if you have one? If you don't have one and do this type of tinkering on a regular basis then it's a very good investment If that doesnt improve things then before cleaning again try and drop some liquid silicone grease in there and let capillary action take place, then work it in by rotating. If that doesn't free it up then go for a hit of alcohol as Valentin suggests. I doubt actually that you would be able to work Molykote grease in there so try silicone or for best results get hold of some PDP-65. It aint cheap but it's worth it's weight in gold when used correctly. Good luck
Hello. Thank you both, Valentin and Chris_D... Resistance, to be honest, it does not spin freely, but you have to rotate with finger. Sadly, I do not have a sonic bath, because I occasionally find some interesting model and try my best to restore it, for my pleasure and then save it to my collection. I will try as you both suggested, to soak it with some cleaner and then relubricate it and then see what happens., About the rubber, sanding did the trick. Thanks...
