Elcaset EL-7 Transport Problem

[Beechwoods]

All,

Just taken delivery of a nice looking EL-7. Electrically it looks OK. All lights work, and without a tape inside it all the bits go backwards and forwards as one would expect.

I have two NOS Type I tapes, and both of these ffwd and rwd OK, though noisily. When I play or record though they start fast and then slow down unevenly over 40 seconds or so until they stall.

The EL-7 is a 3 motor design. The two reels are operated by separate motors. The only belt controls the capstans. Could it be the belt is shot, or have I got a more fundamental problem.

My machine is a US 60Hz model. I'm running it via a 100w step-down transformer from 240v 50Hz UK mains.

Does anyone have any thoughts on this? I'm getting a bunch of other tapes in a few days so will try those as well and see if the problem is down to the tapes themselves.

Thanks for your help.

Nick

[SaSi]

You could check the tapes themselves if the reels rotate freely, but I would suspect the capstan. In Play mode, the reel motors should be driven in low torgue mode and I would expect the supply reel to be driven in reverse for tension, counteracting the take up reel - unless the capstan is firmly enganged by the pinch roller.

Inspect the pinch roller, clean it if you can, and try one of the cassettes. Before every test, rewind the tape and run in from start. Time the time it takes to start having problems and check if cleaning the capstan and pinch roller improves things.

Can you also visually check if the pinch roller is engaging the capstan? If it is not engaged then you should not have proper speed and you should have lot's of wow and flutter.

Another thing to try is FF the tape to the end and rewind a few feet. That way the supply reel has very little torgue on the tape (small diameter) and the take up reel has the highest torgue on the tape. Try play at that point.

Or you could take the covers off and inspect the capstan belt (and clean/rejuvenate that one).

[Beechwoods]

All sorted!

For some reason the capstan mechanism wasn't raising when Play / Record was pressed. I gently pressed upwards on one of the capstans and it dropped into place. Tried it a few times and it seems to have released whatever was stuck or gunged up. Seems to be working fine now.

Thanks for your help. I promised Howie123 some pics and a report so I'll sort that out later!

Cheers!

Nick

[SaSi]

That's good news. I like when problems get sorted out without surgery...

[howie123]

All sorted!

For some reason the capstan mechanism wasn't raising when Play / Record was pressed. I gently pressed upwards on one of the capstans and it dropped into place. Tried it a few times and it seems to have released whatever was stuck or gunged up. Seems to be working fine now.

Thanks for your help. I promised Howie123 some pics and a report so I'll sort that out later!

Cheers!

Nick
Glad you sorted out that issue... :)

Yes, I'd love to see some pics when you get a chance!

[SaSi]

We all would like to see some pics. I am in the lookout for one, probably a Technics version.

[howie123]

I think Beechwoods' is the same as mine (shown below), minus the wood side panels. I believe only newer models (near the end of production in 1980) had them.

http://i514.photobucket.com/albums/t348/howie123_photos/el71-1.jpg

http://i514.photobucket.com/albums/t348/howie123_photos/el70-2.jpg