Hello, some of you may have read my recent first thread, explaining my situation with my newly acquired WM-30. My replacement belt arrived today, and I fitted it in the unit. It seems to be about 90% functional. It plays tapes alright. I only have 2 right now to test it on.
Boston plays a bit slower than I am accustomed to. I don't know if this is a result of the player's motor not running up to speed, or if this particular recording was just like this. But I know for a fact, having listened to this album hundreds of times, Brad Delp hits those high notes. Is there any adjustment I may have bumped, that can alter the speed?
My other question is about functionality. When I'm rewinding or fast-forwarding and it comes to the end, is the button supposed to stay in? I would expect it to pop out. The reels do stop, and the battery light goes off, but the button stays pushed-in.
Lastly, sometimes I can hear the magnet head reading the tape while I'm FF/RW. I suspect I need to adjust the magnet head fulcrum arm so that it retracts when not in Play mode.

Since this is my first time being inside a cassette player, I just want to make sure I get everything set up properly. That's why I'm asking so many questions, and telling you my problems. I want to actually repair this the correct way, and not like the scum I bought it from. I appreciate any feedback VERY MUCH!

Glad to hear you are getting the WM-30 working as it should.
To answer your questions:
In fastfoward and rewind it will just cut power to the motor at the end of the tape this is correct, and yes the buttons are meant to stay down.
Also it's quite normal to hear the music during FF and RW as the head is still very close to the tape.
The speed issue could a number of things:
The motor is an open design check there is no old belt debri on the moving parts, and the belt path is clean. Check that none of the moving parts are rubbing against the metal case you will hear a scraping sound if they are.
Another thing is the belt the correct size (49mmX0,6mm), it is very important on these players even slightly to tight and it will too slowly.
Also check the cassette tapes you are using are not tight and can turn freely.
If all these things are ok then you may need to adjust the motor speed, there is a small adjustment pot on the circuit board, I can't remenber where it is, I'll have to dig out a service manual and get back to you.

Thanks for the help Dave! I think I've cleared something else up. The speed issue with my Boston tape must be the tape itself, maybe it's just a bad copy. I bought these tapes at a record store when my Walkman first arrived, so I can't vouch for their quality.

My Genesis tape was also playing slower than normal, but not warbly. I had the wacky idea of popping a fresh battery in, and that seems to have fixed the problem. I didn't realize that the audio would just slow down when the battery was old. It wasn't even an old battery; I was only using it for testing during the repair. This is to be expected?

I must say, this sounds incredible. I know cassettes are a step down from vinyl recordings, fidelity-wise, but it's a noticeable step up from mp3's.

One thing that still has me confused is the operation of the FF/RW buttons. They seem to be going opposite from what I would expect. I push << and it goes forward in the song and vice-versa. Did I screw something up inside or is it supposed to function like that?

Thanks again!
-Steve

on my wm-10's and wm-30 i know the battery is bad when you start hearing sort of a wining noise through the earphones. when it does that it is time for a fresh battery even though the sound will be fine for a short while.

Thanks rerooted, that's a good bit of information. Do you know anything about my FF and RW doing the seemingly opposite things?

I know this sounds daft but did you put the belt on the right way round? I'm assuming this would affect FF/RW direction. Also, did it ever go the right way, could be that the 'seller' put it on wrong too (he ain't that smart).

Let me know if you need me to look inside another WM-30 for you for reference.

I don't recall if it ever went the right way. The thing only worked for about an hour before the belt snapped and I took it all apart. I'm fairly certain that I have the belt on correctly. There wasn't any other way to put it so that it touches both wheels and doesn't rub against itself. The only thing I can figure is that the buttons themselves were physically switched? Maybe this unit had a replacement switch set from a different model? They go...Play, Stop, <<, >>. Is that the same as the typical WM-30?

O.O I just noticed something. <Play points to the left. I suppose that's a european model thing? I guess the << actually means FF then.

OK, here's a 'bonnet up' pic for you...

I don't think it's actually possible to get the belt on wrong. Also, as you can see the button next to the 'stop' button should be FF and the far right one should be RW.

Thanks much for exposing that for me! I think you're right about not being able to get the belt on any other way. And the confusion with the buttons is that I'm used to play and FF pointing to the right. But I'm also used to driving on the right side of the road.

I think there is something not quite right still. After a couple hours on a fresh battery, it seems like the torque gets really lousy. I don't know how long a new battery is supposed to last. Also, switching on the noise-reduction circuit seems to slow the audio down a bit. I'm not sure what this could be.

there's a motor speed adjustment pot that can be fine adjusted ...located on the rear of the player near the left bottom screw 'normally' covered by a round 'sticker' covering the access hole...or if you pop open the shell like in agent's pic it is clearly visible on the exposed side (that doesn't have the big pcb covering it)next to the motor...in agent's pic top right...