Please can anyone help me! (FYI i have read the wmF10 troubleshooting post already)

Anyhow: I have had my WM-F10 for over a year now, when i purchased it, the player needed much help as a battery corroded in it, but I managed to get it working very well. It worked perfectly for about a year now and it all a sudden started to work improperly. It started to play tapes at the wrong speed, it would uniformly speed up and slow over and over very quickly. I have the original WM-F10 repair manual and apon taking it apart I found that the problem was the motor speeding up and slowing down (even the batt light would dim accordingly)...the motor seems to speed up only when the take-up reel spins and activates the "reel switch" (in the center of the take-up reel), apparently the reel switch when activated just completes some circuit? which while the WM-F10 is playing and the take-up reel is spinning, the reel switch is activated half of the time during one spin of the take-up reel. So you can imagine how fast the fluctuation in speed is.

I don't know why my WM-F10 is doing this, Please help if you can or if you have info on anything such as the "reel switch". I would love to fix this cause I am going back to University and I listen to my tapes all the time. If I can't fix it maby someone on here can help me get a sound working wm-10 or wmF-10/II/20 models. Thanks!

Hi and welcome laserdiscs!

I don't personally own exactly the same model, Sony WM-F10II in my case. But maybe we can narrow some thing. I also don't own a service manual so I unfortunately don't know how the circuitry works. Mechanically, their relative simplicity is a great plus but unfortunately their size makes electrical repair really difficult - the SMD components are even more crowded that say many modern computer motherboards!

So, without belt installed, motor runs fine however when you turn reel to complete circuit it speeds up... briefly, your take-up reel spins pretty freely right? One of these I came across had deformed contacts which locked up the reel occasionally, causing problems during movement.

As you know, the brushless motor speeds up in REW/FF mode. Out of curiosity, does the unit operate correctly in these modes and it does stop automatically if you REW without a cassette? The "reel-switch" connects to the motor servo circuitry section and we can only guess that something is wrong with one of those many transistors... This is odd for if it was in FF / REW mode, usually the amps would be muted, and once auto stopped off, it will not reset when you turn reel.

May I ask which WM-F10 you have, the earlier revision (with white transport chassis and latching battery door) or the later one with black chassis and a more conventional battery door? I believe in the white version there is an extra PCB glued to the chassis which I believe contains a clock reference for motor speed. Also the audio ribbon and autostop ribbon cables are separate.

If you are looking for another unit, I would first tell you to try to avoid eBay o_0... I can say that a "working" or boxed model could bid up to a crazy $300 USD nowadays... As you probably know, most of the "broken" ones often have had their belts popped, jamming the motor disc. I haven't looked at Yahoo for a while but that often gets better deals as an alternative - especially if it was from Japan.

Finally, I could tell you I have a spare busted WM-F10 that I collected (previous owner ripped open case, thus ruining volume pot. and the transport controls.) However, I could tell you electrically it works fine, will run the 2-phase brushless motor and amps + DC-DC still give reasonable output and will drive the external lid radio, minus the volume control which I have de-soldered from the board. Unfortunately this is a black WM-F10. I still however have all the necessary ribbons to link up with the volume jack and autostop. The mechanics have been salvaged to repair other WM-10s unfortunately.

Hello, and thanks.

INFO, My WM-F10 is the one with the black metal in the inside (and fyi I also have one mint with the white inside, although it does not work at all, no sign of life), As well I did not notice any difference in the inside between the two. The fast-forward works although it makes a buzzing noise in in earphones when doing so, the re-wind works and does stop after a few seconds when their is no cassette in (fyi the radio works too).

Is their any major differences between a WM-F10 with a black inside and one with white? And the parts unit you have is possible for me to see pics of it, to get a picture of what it is or not? what does "Unfortunately this is a black WM-F10" mean? thanks again!

don't hesitate to contact boardmember DocP (Doc-WM10!) via pm - he'll kno some help !!!

i have purchased 5 or 6 wm-f10's from ebay. they cost 10-35 dollars each and all just had bad belts. they range in condition from average to excellent. i just followed doc. p's instructions and they all are sounding great now and no radio problems. i am beginning to believe at least if 90% are fine except for the old stretched belts. don't pay alot for the box when all you need is a decent player.

Hi, sorry I have exams and don't have much time.

I thought you had the white WM-F10, as they seem the most common, my mistake.

Granted, I haven't seen many WM-10s and variants but from the White WM-F10 I clearly noticed that:

* The headphone connection connected to the power amplifier UNDER the PCB, the side that is screwed down. You need to desolder / remove the DC-DC and radio ribbon cables to access this. The Black version has it connected to the solder pads on-top of the PCB (or at least on mine - the connections underneath remain.)
* The auto-stop rotating switch ribbon is a seperate 3-wire on the white version while the black version had it printed on the same ribbon cable to the headphones.
* GLued directly in between the brushless motor and DC-DC convertor roll-up is a servo clock generator, though I cannot confirm this (I don't have an CRO at home, but has a wire linked to "REF" on the PCB.) The Black version I have has completely omitted this seperate PCB and integrated it onto the main PCB.


I don't think there are any more major circuitry differences I can remember - I'll dig up the stuff and post pictures.

Sorry for the delay, but I found out both of my WM-F10 were the same (Black chassis), I completely disassembled both and was able to put together one completely working unit, it worked amazing for one month, and now literally over night the problem arose again.

I don't know what to do I think it may have something to do with the servo circuitry, kkzeder if you sill have spare circuitry board, I would like to arrange a deal for it, if possible, let me know.

Nah, I should be sorry... disappearing for so long.

What I should really have done is post the board revision no. The spare black that I know to work (electronically) has board 1-611-122-13 while the original white one (with original sliding latch battery cover) has 1-611-122-11.

You seem really savvy technically, so may I ask what you did to rebuild your Wm-F10 ?

Certainly I'd arrange for you to get it if you'd like very reasonably. Bear in mind though, that the volume pot has been desoldered for it was damaged - and it was no joke getting it off and thin boards like these tend to lift their traces easily when overheated.

Well ironically enough, since my last post the player started to work again, literally the morning after the re-occurrence of the problem. I think it may have something to do with the humidity, as the day it malfunctioned was very humid and I had it with me all day, and last time the problem occurred (for an extended period) was when I stopped using it for a few weeks last summer.

I even opened it up again to inspect my solders ect. and all looked fine, so lets hope it stays working!

I was thinking about photo documenting my repair procedure, but I was to eager to start. I will try to explain it as best I can, and as condensed as I can...

Literally I had both units completely apart several times together, apart form the 2nd F10's mechanical transport parts (this was very tedious, but I know the F10 inside-out now), I did this while trying to determine which parts worked and did not work on each unit (mechanically & electrically). This posed an interesting problem/solution as I wanted to test my work/solders/revisions while it was mainly still disassembled, so most testing was done while it was not assembled or to its minimal.

Conclusion: I found my first F10, had a broken DC-DC converter, the Mechanical parts were suffering from wear and the Main board started to work once I re-soldered the Servo area (and every thing else worked). The Second (dead) F10 had a working DC-DC converter, very nice new mechanical parts, severed FM connector and the Main board was dead. Because the Main Board was dead I could only assume if the Vol. Pot, motor, FM tuner and switches worked.

Process: While the 1st F10 was fully apart & the 2nd partial apart; I decided to use all the nice Mechanical parts of the 2nd F10 and transport. So I decided to keep it as much as a whole as I could, I removed all connections, boards and motor from the 2nd and then added from the 1st; the Main board with motor still connected, I used all the 2nd F10's connections except the FM connector (was severed). I also used the (chrome) outside part of the supply wheel from the 1st F10, as it moved more freely than the 2nd's.

As for the FM and door, I decided to use the 2nd F10's even though it was untested, had a severed connector (and the 1st worked), reason being: it cosmetically was superior. I was very hard to remove the good FM connector without ruining it as they were glued under the solders (removing the broken one was easy, just made sure I did not ruin the Soldering area on the FM board. I added the good FM connector to the 2nd F10's door and to the Main Board. I found out the chosen FM tuner and door worked! I then fully assembled all parts together.

I had one complete assembled F10 and it worked perfectly, I also had put the unit into the 2nd F10's outer-body much like the FM door it was in new condition.

In the end I had one fully functional WM-F10 that also looked aesthetically new!

I omitted some small maintenance details, if you (or anyone else) needs any other information on the process ect... just ask!

Thanks!

way to go...you learned so much that will apply to other models also.....

Great going! Once you've taken apart a wmf10, servicing these tiny units gets easier and easier! Next time take some pictures as a photo follow through to help fellow members!
best wishes
DocP

Excellent repair job! Glad for you that it worked. I always hated the ultra thin PCB - DocP is so right about traces or joints lifting/breaking. I find odd that of the DC-DC failing but then anything could happen - that was one of the biggest changes made by Sony for the WM-10II: it now sits on solid fibre glass PCB.