Hello! I have recently gotten a Sony WM-d3 that I plan on fully servicing. However I can’t service it right now as I am busy with other things. Surprisingly when I fist turned it on it seemed to play tapes fine even though you can hear that the center gear has already been cracked. I’ve even made a recording on a tape and played it back on another machine and it played pretty well, not perfect but well. So my worry is if I keep using it in this state will I make it worse? Will I end up stressing and breaking other internal gears of this Walkman? Do I run the risk of completely breaking it due to still using it even though it has not been serviced yet?
In general, it depends on the particular model if it's a risk to use it unserviced or not. On many models which may only require re-lubrication and a new belt there's obviously no immediate risk in using the device as-is. However, even in those cases there are many situations where for example the motor requires lubrication (like in the case of WM-EX/FX seris, WM-700 series, WM-150 type ones, etc.) and not doing that lubrication will only increase the play in its bushing with time. I'm stating this for other people reading this thread. Now, about the WM-D3 and this applies to all the series with a center gear mechanism (WM-DD, WM-DDII, WM-DDIII, WM-D3, WM-DC2, WM-DD100, WM-DD30, WM-DD33, also some variants WM-2 and WM-5): Using the unit as-is will create wear on the driving gear on the flywheel. This gear cannot be replaced separately and if it's worn the entire capstan/flywheel assy has to be replaced. It's certainly not a good idea to use it as-is. For 10-20minutes it won't be an issue, but if you plan to use it long-term then chances are you will create wear on the other gears especially the driving one. You won't completely break anything, but... If I was in your situation, I would put it aside, order a new center gear, a new capstan ring, a new pinch roller, a new small reel gear (on the WM-D3 these break a lot more than in other DDs). The small reel gear will come with a counter belt as well. Then when I have the time, I would thoroughly service it. There are quite a few things that need to be done on these: 1. Mechanism cleaning and re-lubrication. 2. Auto-stop levers cleaned and adjusted. It's not uncommon for these to need some bending back into position, sanding to make the slide free. 3. Glueing the takeup reel plastic support (takeup reel needs to be removed). This should be glued even if not broken yet as that plastic part tends to break. FF will skip when it breaks. 4. Repairing the plastic slider. Despite most of them are not broken yet, the spring must be bent down in order to avoid it breaking in the future. 5. Center gear adjustment. Most center discs are molded a bit eccentric on the middle plastic bushing, so the gear usually requires filing on the inside and correct adjustment to eliminate that eccentricity. Failing to do this step will result in periodic gear noise in the mechanism. 6. Motor needs to be lubricated and its position adjusted in order to have the spindle perpendicular to the flywheel. Flywheel thrust play should be ajusted prior to this. Both of these adjustments affect wow&flutter. 7. Switches and potentiometers need cleaning. REC/PB, volume, REC level, EQ, Dolby, etc. must all be cleaned. I recommend Kontakt 60. 8. Some capacitors need to be replaced with larger values in order to have flat frequency response in the bass. C111/C211 need to be replaced with 47uF and C124/C224 need to be replaced with 330uF or higher. This kit can be used: https://fixyouraudio.com/product/sony-wm-dd3-capacitor-upgrade-kit/, although only the 4 above mentioned capacitors will be needed from it. 9. Dolby levels will need adjustment for proper Dolby decoding. For proper recording, a calibration of bias and rec level should also be done, although the rec calibration from factory is ok. 10. Bent pinch roller brackets are very common on these DD units. Another thing that must be done when replacing the pinch roller. For more info, please check the link in my signature.
