Hi all, My Walkman is struggling to play side B (as in when the side B LED is on). I can hear the poor thing slowing down playback and the LED even fades a little bit. Inside, the motor seems to be turning at the same speed no matter which side is playing. New, fully charged battery does not help. The tape is not heavy to turn or anything. Tried with several good tapes. Flipping the tape and making sure side A LED is on is the only way to listen at normal speed. Belt is new. Bought it from DeckTech on eBay for my model. Also replaced the pinch rollers. Capstans are clean and straight. No distortions or any issues whatsoever when playing with side A LED on. Not sure what is going on. Any ideas?
Yeah the standard usual you know. Take it apart. Service it. Clean it lubricate it put new belts in you know something like this picture here you know. Get all intimate with it. Here's a picture. Maybe not exactly what you have because I don't know what you have because all I know is some model numbers. I'd have to go search the internet to see what it looks like. But here I'll give you an idea as to what I've got and what I'm working on I am holding a Sony wm- fq01 I wish you had posted a picture of whatever a Sony 600 looks like that'd give me a lot better idea how to know what to look for. Maybe I have one without having to search the internet to understand what model it is.
Thanks for the prompt reply. Here is a picture and a video of my Walkman. I had to zip the video or it wouldn't let me upload.
Sorry, I can't play a WhatsApp video I don't have that application on my phone. If you were to upload your video to YouTube then I can watch it.
The WM-600 uses a 700 series mechanism, there are 2 things I would check: - do the table reels turn freely by hand ? Old grease is a common problem on the reel gears on these models. See picture attached. - FWD pinch roller is not fully disengaging, creating a lot of drag. The distance between pinch rollers and capstans in stop mode is very small in these units. Does the unit manifest the same problem if you run it without a tape inserted ?
Thank you, Valentin. The reel which activates when side B LED is on does feel a bit heavier than the other one when turned by hand. Without a tape inserted I can't tell if it's slower or not by just eyeballing because it's only slightly slower than side A, and the mechanism doesn't make any more or less noise without the tape inserted. I will take it apart on the weekend and check all the gears. I already have silicone grease I can use for the plastic gears, unless you recommend something better? This is a good unit with great sound. I want to do my best to keep it working.
I asked about behavior with no tape because you stated unit is struggling so bad the LED becomes dimmer. If so, is the LED still dim with no cassette in ? As for lubrication, I recommend watch oil and a good cleaning.
Let me clarify: Side B is always a bit slow from the moment I pick up the Walkman after a day without playing. But it seems that while playing for a while, let's say for about 40 minutes, side B becomes even slower and the LED starts to dim a bit, at which point It will dim even with no tape inside. Side A still plays just fine. I tried replacing the battery when this happens, but it doesn't help. I will follow your advice and give it a good clean and lubrication.
So I took it apart today. It was surprisingly easy. No de-soldering needed to remove the PCB. Thank you, Sony. I cleaned the gears and lubricated with a drop of WD40 using a syringe and needle. That's the only thin oil I have right now. If I made a mistake I will need to revisit it later. I could not remove the capstans. I'm afraid to break something. They are moving freely, however I noticed both have some play in the shaft. There was a small piece of old belt gunk inside the motor casing. Lucky I decided to remove the cover to take a look and found it. The motor is turning free, no noise or anything. I didn't have the guts to try and take it apart though. Used IPA and cotton tips to give all a good clean. See the yellow gears in the picture? They fell right off when I removed the mechanism. They are are not held in place by anything. Is this normal? Lubrication itself seems to keep them in place now. Initial testing looks promising. So far so good. Side B plays just as good as side A.
Update: Problem came back after about 90 minutes of continuous playback, at which point I could hear the motor struggling via my headphones. Decided to remove the capstans, clean and lubricate. Tested again and tape speed was pretty high, indicating the capstans were causing a lot of drag before. Adjusted speed. The mechanism sounds a lot more quiet now. Hopefully this will fix the problem.
I think he'd be surprised how cleaning and lubrication works for just about anything in the world. The funny thing is people expect things to work forever without ever cleaning or servicing and they are just nuts when they think that.
