I have taken apart an Aiwa TP-26 I have recently inherited along with a few other, more high-end Walkmans, and the screws connecting the circuit board and the belt-area seem to have melted, along with the belt. Is there anything I can do about this, or is it done for? Circuit board pictured here. Thanks, Theo.
I can't see the circuit board mounting screws, I highly doubt they melted. That board should have a few screws in it and then lift off to reveal the belt pulleys, don't pull with too much force, you might be missing a screw. It may have posts that were melted to rivet the board down but this isn't common in these older units.
The mechanism of this Aiwa is kinda on the more complex side of things. You'll have to remove the main PCB to rebelt, because the flywheel bracket spans the length of the walkman. That means desoldering the head & motor wires. While not that complex, I'd perhaps suggest getting the hang of rebelting easier walkmans first, if you're new to this? Melted belts are to be expected, and is easy fix, albeit a bit annoying. You just need to clean anywhere the gooey stuff is. Melted screws though? Perhaps you mean stripped screws? I rebelted a similar Aiwa, and the screws do strip quite easily. Best to try the best-fitting screwdriver, but even totally tripped screws can still be unscrewed with some other tools. I carefully used some small pliers. On top of rebelting, though, mine did have leaked caps which caused a lost of output sound. So you may want to check on that as well.
