A couple of weeks ago when I got the Walkman, the button was latching properly. After doing some repairs, I noticed that it no longer latches correctly. I have tried this repair: https://stereo2go.com/forums/threads/sony-dd-series-play-ff-rew-buttons-not-latching.7524/ but it didn’t help. I also tried inserting the FF button into the REW slot to check whether the button itself was the problem, but that didn’t make any difference. Is there anything else I can try?
Have you checked what's mentioned at post #3 in the thread ? Is that lever with lighter spring moving freely and coming back on its own ? Note that sometimes cleaning those levers is not enough, you need to sand them in certain areas or even bend in some places to make them move freely. This is why it's a good idea to test the latching of all 3 buttons before re-assemblying the mechanism. Also in the area where buttons press there shouldn't be any clearance between the 2 levers and none of the them should have sharp edges (otherwise the lever won't catch into the button groove). There's nothing else to "try", you need to investigate those levers and see where the issue is: friction between them or bend/sharp edges where the button engages. If sanding is needed use 800 grit sandpaper.
Play button FF button REW button The latch on the REW button seems to protrude less into the hole compared to the other buttons. I removed the metal sliders and didn’t find anything obviously wrong with them. They move freely without any resistance. However, I did notice that the position of the slider is slightly different to the other sockets. I initially posted this in the wrong thread I am sorry if that caused any inconvenience.
See the difference in slider position, at first glance it looks to protrude enough to make the button lock. Question is: when you have the button installed and press it, what happens to the lever ? Does it move back at all ? When operating correctly, the lever should retract, then go back when it locks into the button shaft recess. So should be pretty easy to tell what exactly happens by observing the movement of this lever when pressing REW. Regarding the other thread, you can delete the post there. Individual posts can be deleted by the user who posted, only entire threads require an admin to do so. Also note you don't need to quote previous messages. It's simpler to type in the box below the post and press "Post Reply" instead of using Reply button which quotes automatically.
I wasn’t able to visually see any difference between the other buttons and the REW button in how the lever moves. Maybe I’m just not looking in the right place. However, I remembered that before this issue, I was able to press the FF and REW buttons simultaneously and they would both latch and stay down. (I did this to put the front cover back on more easily.) I tried doing that again, but this time both buttons came back up. To me, this confirms that the REW button is not latching at all and is pushing the lever back out, which also unlatches the FF button. There might be something blocking the button from going all the way down into its socket, preventing it from reaching the latch, so I will try cleaning it again. But as you can see in the image, this might be one of the cleanest components in the Walkman by now.
Would check that lever into the button slot, maybe the edges need a little bit of sanding to fit better into the slot. If the levers are moving the same it's not a travel problem. That's something you would also feel by hand if the button would move just half-way.
Hello, I finally fixed the issue! It turned out that the grease underneath the lever, which resets the buttons when opening the door, had dried up. I fixed it by applying some IPA and gently heating it. After repeating this a couple of times, it should move smoothly again. It might be a good idea to add this information to the “buttons not latching” thread. For further details, please refer to this thread (Amnon’s messages in particular): https://www.tapeheads.net/threads/help-please-dd30-play-ff-rw-buttons-dont-engage.34391/.
Yes I will mention it more explicitly in the thread. Looking at it, cleaning that is already mentioned in the last picture of first post, but not in the text. Added it now in NOTE 3.
