Hi, I'm hoping you all can help me figure out the next steps in troubleshooting the high wow & flutter in my WM-D3. I acquired it a few months ago with a broken gear, and since then, I've replaced the center gear, small reel gear, and capstan tire (all from Marian). I followed the guide and cleaned and lubricated all recommended points. I ordered the test tone tape from Marian as well, and downloaded WFGUI. I'm getting W&F readings of 0.18-0.22. It's bad. I've tried tightening/loosening the capstan screw, and can still not lower the W&F. I'm at a loss as to what I should try next. Any help would be greatly appreciated!
Not a dumb question because I’m certainly no expert with this. I did check it and it seemed okay to me, but I’ll try to take a close-up photo when I get a chance later.
Id suggest using Zippo lighter fluid on a cotton swab. The owners manual should specify the procedure. Pretty much swipping the rubber with fluid soaked cotton swabs until it comes out clean
I'll give that a shot! I don't see the procedure in the service manual, but it sounds straight-forward enough. Do I clean it off afterwards? Or just wipe it/let the lighter fluid dry?
It'll dry. The end product is that the pinch roller should look like rubber and not crusty. Alternatively, you could just replace the pinch roller.
Done. Looks much better now, like new rubber. I think there is some improvement in W&F but it is still quite bad. However, it's odd because it's not too bad on some tapes, and is really bad on others. It's almost as if the motor has trouble turning some tapes. Part of what makes me think this is these tapes will sometimes just stop in the middle of rewinding or fast forwarding, as if it thinks it's hit the end of the tape. A quick unplug and plug back in of the power cord starts the spinning again, and then it will do the same thing again after a few seconds. It only does this on the same tapes with which the W&F is really bad. At first I though maybe because they're old, but it's not just old tapes. Some of the bad sounding ones are brand new, while some are old. It was at that point that I thought I would try replacing/tightening the capstan, but that hasn't seemed to help.
I think your other thread said you replaced the belts. If your belts had gotten gooey, small chunks of them can get into the gears and shafts and cause friction. This can be difficult to see due to access, but I use isopropyl alcohol on a swab and clean around the shafts. If you see any black, you may have some left over chunks. If it looks like tar it may take a long time to get it clean, I've had 1/4" rollers turn to goo that take a very long time to clean up. I think we're also finding that some lower-quality cassette cases are starting to bind over time. If they're not stored properly the plastic might "creep", some of the plastics used on the cases have a pretty low melting temperature so exposure to heat may cause friction between the case and hubs.
Yeah. I have a D3 just back from the repairer. They are tricky. Mine sometimes won't play. I have to FF and then press Play to get it going. I think maybe increasing the capstan tension. Might fix that but W&F not bad. If yours is worse on some cassettes and not every time the same you have to think it's tape drag or slippage. Isopropyl alcohol is recommended to clean pinch rollers because it doesn't dry them out to the point where they become harder. It does sound like a new pinch roller is needed. Also check your installation of the new reel gear to make sure it runs without resistance
Don`t use lighter fluid for cleaning pinch roller, lighter fluid is gasoline and gasoline melts rubber. Use alcohol instead.
