Believe it or not, this Sony WM-FX481 was another dumpster find from March 15 of this year. I hesitate to tell the story and post the pictures, but, basically, a portion of an elderly man's (dementia) possessions were being discarded by the daughter and long divorced wife etc., There were a lot of other cool gadgets as well including two "boomboxes". See last picture in the series at end of this post. I had just sent for two replacement gears for a Panasonic RX DT-707 (that thread will be coming in the next week or so) from fixyouraudio in Slovakia a few days prior to this FX481 showing up. Great. Now I have to place another order and pay the shipping again? The thread How to disassemble and lubricate SONY WM-EX/FX/GX motor was timely reading material. But, as you will see, the motor used on this WM-FX481 turned out to be a different style. It simply opened / split into two parts without tools and no destructive effort! Surely a superior motor design... from a few years previous maybe? I was impressed with the motor. This motor could, theoretically, last a long time if opened up and cleaned / oiled every now and again. (But everything else would probably fail around it anyway...) I remembered to take at least a few pictures so as to maybe help someone out there. Tip #1: Get the service manual. Use an old credit card to open the Walkman. The service manual will show that there are no screws at all. All clips. Open battery compartment door and, using finger nails, open up a crack, insert credit card, work around the edges. All the way around 360. Worked very well and not a single broken clip! No pictures of that of course. Sorry. Tip #2: You will need a soldering iron to de-solder 4 wires to the motor. In order to lift the circuit board off to get to the belt. Yes, just to replace the belt, need soldering. Tip #3: Clean all residue of the old belt. All black goo left in the plastic pulley grooves and brass motor pulley too. Essential. Has to be done. Toothpick and alcohol wipe 70% is what I used. Time and effort. Check and double check. Conclusion: A horrible ugly Walkman from the declining final years of the Walkman. I would never buy one from e-bay. But a Dumpster find is a Dumpster find. I always feel obligated to save whatever junk I find for free. The button layout is stupid and annoying. TV band does not work of course - but neither does the Weather band it seems. FM reception has a local and pseudo "DX" default mode and is generally poor, though headphones with a long cord may help here. Have not tested the W&F but it "sounded good" and better than the inferior WM-FX-197 that was the 2022 Dumpster find. (Placed out beside the bin in a bag with an assortment of pure wool scarves etc,. nice! The 191 suffered from excess wear and loose Capstan pulley which imparted a brutal W&F. Even with correct "best belt" from fixyouraudio. The only thing I did not do was remove the motor and check it. If that FX-191 uses the same motor as this FX-481 then... worth doing maybe?) No SMD capacitors here. Curious. Why not? Did someone get the Memo that just about all SMD capacitors are garbage that leak in no time? IQ's must have went up somewhere. A couple of decades too late. Red arrows point to the remnants of the old belt Both Capstans need oiling. But I only took picture of one. Use hair fine "drug needle" syringe loaded with speck of oil. Gently lift up the white plastic pulley and Capstan to reveal a small gap into which the needle is placed... right at the tip of the red arrow. Apply drop of oil. Uh oh, here it is, the craptacular piece of junk motor. You know, the kind of motor Sony liked to use in their declining years; Cheap, nasty and ready let you down. But wait... A miracle! The motor isn't so bad after all... it comes apart with little effort! Maintenance is possible! What could have lead to this "oversight" by Sony? /sarc Oil syringe standing by. Synthetic "liquid bearings" oil. Spudger's were sulking off to the side since they were not needed... I always use a blunt soft object to pull the new belt into place. The problem with using a cotton swab is, obviously, the danger of cotton fibers sticking and remaining, so watch for them and flush them away carefully and fully. Bonus picture of "the dumpster" after I half emptied it. About 6 shopping carts worth removed for later sifting through. Tons of DVD's and CD's.
