It's been some time since I started to collect, but I always refused to open those small beauties because of bad experiences in the past with such complex machines as 80's walkmans. they definitely are similar to a wrist watch in terms of complexitiy indeed...

But past week I was enjoying a tape in my loved SONY TC-D5 Pro and suddenly it eated the tape 

I was very surprised because it's brand new and it's a DD machine (Direct Drive, no belts). So... how can a DD machine eat the tape?

A quick check revealed that the problem was that is had not enough force to roll the tape. So... time to get the service manual and the screwdriver!

I opened it:

disoldered some cables and voila:

surprise! two belts inside! After some minutes inspecting it and doing checks, I thought it was the right belt, so I disoldered some more cables and removed a metallic piece over it until I could change it with a brand new from our friend DOCP.

Soldered them again and check... and surprise again! the problem remains the same. Hmm. The old belt was in very good condition, so it makes sense. So more checks until I realize it was this belt:

It was in good condition, but it had some sort of oil rests, so I cleaned it with isoprophilic alcohol carefully as well as the white disc where it do pressure.

Soldered and screwed again..

OMG! There's a cable that has broken!

After examining it, I could see that it was in bad condition (just the broken point) and carefully examining the board I found where it went, so I soldered it...

And now it works wonderfully again! 

Good.

Now you can turn your hand over to all those non-working AIWA you own

posts have lost the plot     

And finally I opened a Panasonic SX60 that looks to have also the belt bad, as I can hear the motor spinning...

After opening it (very easy), I found this:

The problem is that after removing the screws you see here, the PCB won't pull off.

I suspect there's soldering in some point, but I don't have the service manual and don't know how to continue.

Looking at the other side, I can see this

Removing the only screw doesn't give you acces under the PCB. So, does anyone know how to continue to the belt?

After my first repair, I went on with  some other models. First a Toshiba G710. I opened it and saw the belt melted.

After cleaning it

I tried to acess the motor rotor but could not open this board. It looks that it is also soldered by some point internally but it's almost impossible to see where.

In the other side, I tried to remove the screws

But I ended here:

And looks that temoving this screws won't solve the problem, so I finally leaved it...

So I didn't sucess here 

Then I picked up an EX5. This is easy to open and to remove the belt, that was a bit loosen

I easily replaced it

But, although it works, it makes a sound (a clac-clac repeatedly) that makes a huge wow&flutter. Seems that some disc makes the capstan to slip again and again..

Good for you hugo.

I had such a 1450 battery!, that green/orange one!, I missplaced it a few years ago and I really would like to get another one!

where did you get that one?? 

Walkgirl, mine it is not new, but still works. I received it in a package of a 2nd hand walkman I bought in ebay

well, to achieve a level like yours, replacing caps is not that easy... 

How do you remove the tin from the cap's pins? (I'm not sure that 'tin' is the proper translation of 'estaño', the spanish word for referring to the metal used for soldering that  converts in a fluid when it's very hot)

In fact I have a too. That it's like a big syringe that vacuums the tin, but I don't know how to use it yet. Is there any good tutorial in youtube or the web?

After viewing some, I found this one to be very good one: