SO! The folks here helped me get my Toshiba KT-VS1 as well as another VS1 and AS1 up and running, so to return the favor, I'm doing a full post about the complications and issues to help any future enthusiast (or warn them away) who decides to take on one of these beasts. This information has definitely been posted here before, but I figured it would be nice to consolidate it to one thread. If you see that anything I've posted is incorrect, I more than welcome you to correct me and if you've anything to add from your experience with these units, please do! I want to add here before I get super negative, that if these are working, they sound fantastic! They can get very loud, the sound is clear and the design (in my opinion) is pretty cool. I love the small form factor and the separate belt clip that snugly latches to the player (in the case of the VS1. The AS1 belt clip is scary and I would never trust it) I have experience on the 3 of these units I mentioned, plus 3 more when I was first starting this hobby and barely knowledgeable enough to change a belt. In that time I have learned about 2 problems that are specific to this walkman and any that share it's mechanism (I know there's more out there, but from my perspective the VS and AS are the most common) Obviously these units have more than just these two problems. They also require a belt and a lube and some of the caps are usually nasty, but as those are pretty common, I'm focusing on the 2 unit specific problems. Problem 1: The retainers. This has been mentioned before on this site so I wont go into too much detail. The plastic tries to shrink over the long years and since it's wrapped around a metal shaft, they crack. It's all too common a story for really any walkman, but since the take-up reels are spring loaded, it's more of an issue here. EVERY single one of these walkmans has cracked retainers. Even if you can't see it, even if it doesn't look like it, the retainer is cracked. It should be replaced immediately before the walkman is put to use otherwise you risk losing the 2 very small springs that hide under the take-up reels when the retainer finally goes. Luckily, replacements are made for these! The quality leaves a bit to be desired, and you have to paint them yourself if you want them to match the take-up reel, but they are brand spanking new and function well enough (bit pricey though...). The new retainers pop into the top of the take up reel (no specific orientation since they are a bit smaller than the original on the bottom side) and slide onto the shaft. I've definitely split some from using what I felt was a moderate amount of force, so be careful on the install. Problem 2: The reel gear. (I'm going to say gear a lot in this part) [This is the long one... sorry!] On the flip side of the shaft that the retainers slide on to, is a gear. It should be the second picture (not sure how they'll show up once posted), and if it is, it's the smaller of the 2 that are connected to each other. The small gear (at least from what I've seen) is called the reel gear, and the larger one is the drive gear. Reel gear connects to drive gear, drive gear connects to clutch, clutch connects to capstan, which is driven by the motor / belt. Ideally these all mesh together and make the take up reel spin. Reality is not so nice. The reel gear, like the retainer, is cracked in EVERY single one of these walkmans. I have not seen a cracked drive gear yet but I wouldn't doubt they do it too. In that case a parts unit would be needed as no replacements are made. Same deal though, even if you can't see / tell, it is cracked. Great news! They also sell a replacement for these. Less great news? They are sub-par on the best of days. These install on the bottom of the shaft, I found it easiest to remove the shaft from the player, take off the old gear and put the new one on using the middle of a pair of tweezers as a flat bit of leverage. These are a very tight fit and it's incredibly easy to snap them on the install, so gentle and slow does the trick. While the replacement gears are in one piece, I've found that they slip on the drive gear almost every time. I cannot explain why, but I assume that the edges of the hexagon are too small so with a bit of resistance, i.e. having to turn a full spool of tape, the drive gear will decide to shimmy upwards and skip on the reel gear. This means you've got a slack tape and a nasty sounding walkman. This may just be my experience, but I have tried several sets of these gears on each of my VS1s and on my AS1 and so far, the AS1 has been the only real success. If you seat everything nicely and put it all back, it may work for up to 2 days! but if you play a 90 minute tape you'll start to hear some chattering towards the end of one side, and once it starts it doesn't stop. If you want play, fast forward, and rewind to work, I have not found a surefi If you don't replace the cracked gears, play should work for a while but fast forward and rewind will not due to the crack. If you do replace the gears, fast forward and rewind will work (they're perfectly fine for that) but play will skip as mentioned above. I've read that you can force the original reel gear back together and glue it, but I have had no success with that method. I've tried something new recently though. As you can tell I absolutely adore these walkmans and while I desperately want a fully functional and reliable one, I am happy to settle for a mostly function and reliable one. I want to be clear I AM NOT ADVISING YOU DO THIS WITH YOUR WALKMAN. Walkmans aren't cheap these days and it'd be a shame for you to feel you've wasted your money. I tried this solely as an experiment after a thought hit me like a freight train at work. I have tried using a plastic bonder (namely the tiniest drop of jb weld) to stick the reel and drive gear together. When this is done they stop skipping and fast forward works perfectly, but rewind will never work again (as the two gears need to separate on the play side in order for tape to turn backwards). I am perfectly willing to make this sacrifice on one of my two units in the name of reliable playback. Once again, do not do this unless you're willing to sacrifice rewind.... but in my testing so far (about 3 days worth) the walkman has worked perfectly, with minimal effect on wow and flutter which was never great on these to begin with, and there is absolutely no slipping / chattering from the take up reel. Attached is a link to the replacement gears / retainers I mentioned earlier: https://www.ebay.com/itm/3165787415...BDk6ZOihF+PDGdAjJcyYUWwg==|tkp:Bk9SR-Ddwpu4Zg If you're reading through this and hoping to / already are working on one of these let me know and welcome to the wonderfully flawed world of the Toshiba portable cassette player
Ah beans I put this on the boombox thread and meant to put it on the walkman one. Is there a way to move it or delete / repost it?
You are sure it's slipping on the hexagon and not on the shaft ? It's possible the hole of new gear is slightly larger (to avoid cracking), case in which gear needs to be glued to metal shaft. If it's slipping at the hexagon, it means the new gears are not usable and the seller made a design mistake. Good part is old ones can be repaired, but it's more involved. Another aspect regarding the retariners (seen this in original ones) is this: the hexagon is a little bit eccentric. So, if the retainer is to be repaired (hole enlarged + glued) one will need to mark the position of the retainer and install it in the same position, otherwise the table reel will be eccentric. Haven't tested these new gears and retainers, but from your post it's not too promising. I am on the same opinion about glueing the drive gear to the small gear, wouldn't recommend it since one will loose FF/REW functions. Rather, if the new gear set has a design flaw, I would repair the original ones instead. Done this sucessfully many times. As for moving, we can ask @Mister X to move it in the walkman section.
I am absolutely certain that it is slipping on the hexagon. I couldn't get a video due to the angle and my phone not focusing, but I watched multiple times as the drive gear would move upwards, disengage from the reel gear, slip over a notch, and come back down and repeat repeat repeat. At first i believed this was a fault of my drive gear, so I got a parts unit just to see the exact same thing happening. I am also absolutely certain that these replacement gears are meant to be press fit like the originals both because of the force required to install them as well as I've never seen it slip. Regarding the retainers, the replacements are not eccentric. They fit whichever way they are installed, however due to their smaller size there is some small play instead of the firm lock between the two pieces of the original, but not enough play that the reel might slip around the retainer. I have not yet seen this cause a problem. I have managed to repair the retainers before, although they broke again within a month. I have not managed to repair the gears before. From what I understand the process is drill out the hole with a 2mm drill bit, put glue in the crack, clamp the gear. Once it's dry you put glue on the shaft and install the gear. Am I missing a step? I have attempted before but bent the teeth of the gear when I was clamping it. I will try again with the gears I got out of this most recent unit While the gears may be disappointing, I am glad to be able to buy new retainers, even if they don't match the rest of the plastic. I firmly believe that each set of gears I have gotten has been different, hence why the ones I used in my AS1 seem to work just fine.
This is very disappointing in regard to the new gears. I suggest contacting the seller and let him know about this problem, as it seems very likely to be a design or manufacturing fault. Haven't worked on all the models with this mechanism design, so can't tell for sure if there are different gears in different models. While it is possible that this is the case, it seems unlikely. More likely the gear has a design flaw or the manufacturing tolerances are too high. Fact new retainers are not eccentric is good, but for the price of this kit the gears should be usable too. The reapir is done as follows: 1. You enlarge the hole until it's no longer a press fit. 2. Add glue in the hole and glue the shaft to the retainer/gear. 3. Clamp the gear to the shaft. Clamp on the flat side of the gear, not on the teeth. There's no need to glue the crack, this is a step that can be skipped entirely.
I see. I gave it a shot last night but unfortunately I ended up enlarging the shaft / flat side enough that the drive gear would not move smoothly up and down. Very involved indeed!
