I am servicing the above Aiwa portable cassette player. I have replaced the motor and capstan belt, new speed adjustment potentiometer but there is still terrible flutter at the correct speed. If I adjust the speed to higher velocity, the flutter seems to go away. What could be the issue? I am trying to find out how to replace the capstan rollers. There aren't seem to be any mention of it in the service manual. Any help appreciated!
The rubber capstan rollers should be next. If there isn't the right amount of traction between three things: the rubber roller, the tape and the capstan shaft, there will be tape speed problems.
Thanks for your reply. I have since replaced the 2 pinch rollers. Issue improves but still have flutter at around 3%. Strange thing is that it works better with the old belt than the new ones. Am I looking at motor issue or capacitor need to re cap?
I'm not familiar with the mechanism in the HS-G370. If you can run the player with the motor exposed, you could press on the pulley a bit to see if loading the motor makes it worse... But you said you replaced the motor. Unlikely (but possible) two motors would have the same problem. You MAY be able to lubricate the motor. But the motors on the 2ME-7 mechanism I work on, have no oil port. Or check the rest of the gearing to see if anything is not as free to rotate as it should be. Make sure all the belt grooves on the pulleys are clean and the bushings are lubricated. The belt has to be just the right tension. So make sure you have the correct one. I get mine from fixyouraudio. The units I'm familiar with have a tape speed regulator. I suppose it's possible a player with that system could have a faulty speed system. The only way to check is to get another one and start swapping parts. This is always a good excuse to grow your collection anyway. Oh, and try different cassettes. When I started this I was led astray by several ancient Ampex cassettes that wouldn't play or wind. I did a lot of troubleshooting on the mechanism before finding the tape coating was rubbing off between the capstan and the pinch roller.
