Hey all, so I’ve been busy repairing my DC2 walkman, the usual stuff - new drive gear, new small reel gear, new capstan rubber (may even go pinch roller too) Having stripped it all down and got to the barebones of the drive gear I dismantled it and placed the 3 x clear plastic washer clips in a line on my work mat. and guess what. I’ve lost one. While I was reassembling I was telling myself “I’m sure you had 3 of those and now there’s only 2” I’ve been on my hands and knees with a torch for hours looking on the carpet and around my work area. Cannot for the life of me find it. So this is a plea, to anyone out there with spare parts for these DD walkmans! I can’t find any info online about buying a replacement. Can’t believe a seemingly inconsequential part could ruin my dreams of a click-free DC2!
These seem a lot thinner than that one. I’m not sure if it would hinder the movement being too thick? I’ve been googling all last night and can’t find anything. I’m wondering if I could make my own using some thin plastic and leather punches
The thickness could be adjusted with a file or sandpaper. The problem is the center hole diameter, which is too large. The one in the post I deleted seemed bigger since it was for the capstan, so I don't think it's suitable. You could certainly make your own as a last resort. But I would search for the lost one a little more, maybe you find it. Also search in the mechanism itself, it could be stuck somewhere and hold in place by oil or grease.
Hi ... Sometimes I solved it like this ... With a needle punch a hole in a plastic bottle, enlarge the hole to your liking ... then cut out the piece of bottle bigger than you need. .. finally modify to your liking. .and mount it
Ahh a plastic bottle! You’re a genius. I was thinking of ordering a sheet of plastic off ebay. I’ve got some leather hole punches and found two that will make pretty much the perfect inner and outer holes. Maybe I start selling these things on my ebay shop!
we all lost those plastic washers at some point, So welcome to the club @automatom its a good idea to make the part yourself but most probably wont work well. I have done this before, spent a lot of time out of curiosity to create this washer but the performance was not as good as original washer. and to make it the most important thing is the exact size hole puncher. Sony used these type of washers in other walkman units too. I discovered some from different walkman that I use for parts, They look slightly different but diameter of the whole is exactly same size.
Ahah thank you @Boodokhan I feel privileged to be part of the elite gang! Sooo, what do you mean by don’t work as well? as in the mechanism pops loose and you’ve got to open it up all over again? Which is the least critical one? I’m thinking that middle one is to be honest because the buttons help keep it in place too. Don’t suppose you’ve got a spare you could post me? I was thinking of finding out which other Walkman’s use them and get the cheapest possible broken model, but then that also makes me feel like a crazy person.
I didn't use a hole puncher , instead I used a hot needle to make the hole to make sure the hole is well rounded. It works and doesn't pop out but I feel some form of resistance for the moving parts. If you were my neighbor probably I would hand you couple of those washers but nowadays I don't go to post office and you are located in England. anyway, try the whole puncher and also hot needle to create a hole in the plastic and let us know about your experience. let us know about your experience, I might find out about the other walkman that you can recover something similar like these washers once I dig into my spare part box.
Put some panty hose on a vacuum, sometimes you can suck it up. This type of plastic will get soft at 130 degrees F and start melting 20-30 degrees more. If you made a little jig, you could pin the center and rotate it around sandpaper to get the perfect diameter. You might need wood or metal plates with a slightly smaller diameter to keep it flat.
Okay guys an update, I made some washer clips from an old plastic tray and, while a few were a bit wonky, I managed to make one seemingly perfect and it doesn’t pop off. I even tried applying some pressure with tweezers and it feels pretty sturdy? Gonna give it a go..
Congratulations, @automatom ! It looks almost identical to the original ones. Now this is a good reference for people loosing these washers, which happens to everyone at some point in time. What method have you used for making the center hole ?
So this was what I used. It was a plastic tray I got a PS2 hard drive adaptor in!.. and some hole punches. The trick was not to hit the hammer too hard so it didn’t deform the plastic, had to get the perfect amount of pressure
What are the specifications of these 2 hole punchers? Can you place a link on Ebay ? specially the little one!
Sorry for the late reply. So the outer punch is 4mm and the inner is 1mm. I imagine 0.9mm would’ve made it a factory fit (and probably need an edge splitting with a knife) but this one seems to be holding firm so far. My soldering iron flaked out on me so I can’t solder the battery wires back on yet, but a new one should be arriving tomorrow. Looking forward to finally getting this thing back together and giving it a whirl! Incidentally, I have a new pinch roller to fit, but the old one looks pretty good now I’ve cleaned it up. Is there a trick to replace it? Worth doing? It looks like you have to dismantle the whole swingarm mechanism which looks a right pain!
Hey all, I’ve hit a bit of trouble putting this thing back together. That is, I couldn’t remember where the orange wire went! I tried to look at an old pic I took when I was taking it apart but it was too low quality to make out. So I’m wondering if I got the wiring right? I don’t want to put batteries in to test it until I do! Cheers
