I just acquired a Tanburg 3300X reel-to-reel deck.

The electronics and most mechanical systems are cleaned up and running, but I need help with determining what most of the clutch\break pads are made of. (There are two “felt” pads on the reel tables at the center, but something else are being used on the outer edge).

I find what looks like cork or leather (?) pads for breaking and clutch action.

What are left of most of them are piles of “sandy” looking brown and tan looking particles.

I need to know what they where made of, and try and replicate the material and glue it in place.

Thanks in advance. :thmbsp:

Mark T.

I have a 3300X that had the exact problem. I was reluctant to use cork and sttled on a thick leather belt that had been hanging in my closet for years....scribed a double circle and carefully cut out with a drywall knife. glued to tables and worked well. Leather was about 3/16 th " and rough side out. Chuck

I tried to get the parts from Tanberg USA a few years back . What they sold me were cork pads of different thickness , when I needed pads all alike.
I never could resolve it . I like the leather belt... try contact cement to attach the pieces. If you give up, find a Teac .
Don

I have a 3300X in my system. They are good as long as they work, but when problems occur they are a nightmare. I have replaced the cluthes/reel tables with a set from an older model Tandberg because the old ones lasts almost forever. I also replaced the flywheel with an older and heavyer one, but of course that did not cure the buzzing noise from the brushless 2-pole 220 volt AC motor (maybe yours are 115 volt). I had a lot of corrosion problems on all the connections on the circuit board, and at last i had to cut off all the plugs and solder the wires to the board. I have given up to get it to record properly. Many tapes are made to prevent the magnetic field to "go through" the tape ("print through"?), but that is exactly how the "Cross Field" recording system works. The result is that on many tapes only the lowest frequencys will be recorded properly. This is not a tape recorder for a hifi system, but it does well together with a mid 70s European amp/receiver as system you just have for display most of the time.

I got mine off ebay about a year ago 'as working'. I was dissapointed at the cosmetics (teak finish in an awful state and smoke 'tar' on front panel. Never did get a sound from the tape that came with it. I decided to see if I could clean it up prior to trouble shooting it. Got it looking pretty clean, but never have jumped into the electronics. It is still setting under my work bench and will probably end up in AK classifieds soon! Chuck

Thanks for all your input!

I could see that this is only a "mid fi" machine, but with reel to reels getting harder to get, it seemed a shame to trash it before giving it a tryout (I got it free anyway, I have a Teac A-3340S and X-3 machines).

The lamp\photo transistor auto-stop was not working, I fixed that by removing the 5.6K resistor at the transistor base lead\phototransistor circuit junction with a 20K and it works fine now.

As for the print through issue, maybe the tapes have a thicker backing? (I don't know much about this, I do also have an Akai X-1800XD RR that also plays\records 8 track, also a "crossfield" design).

I get little or no noise from the motor (115 vac).

Now I need to find an old leather belt.... Hmmmm.. why are my pants not staying up? Hey Jethro... you got another rope? :lmao:

Thanks!

Mark T.

AK 47

Thanks for the tip, the leather belt idea worked like a champ, I now have good breaking action and full FF\RW again! :banana:

Head alignment was OK, I have an Ampex test tape for that, and I tested the record\play frequency response with one of those "spectrum analyzers" with the blue green displays and "pink noise" generators built in (not "pro" test equipment but has worked well for me every time I have used it).

I will put the deck into my system perhaps this weekend and compare it to my Teac X-3 machine.
(I'm re-doing my system and putting the Sansui 1000A receiver in place of an Onkyo receiver, and supplementing the Sansui's fewer inputs with a Furman PB-40 RCA patch bay).

Thanks again! (I have been spelling Tanbe(u)rg wrong before!) :sigh:

Mark T.

Does anybody have an owners manual for this? I have trouble understanding how the "source/tape" (green switches ) switches work on playback mode.

I've been working on my 33-year old 3500x. I tried using two layers of 1/8" cork for the clutch pads, but apparently it was too thick, so I bought a cheap leather belt and will try that tomorrow. Not surprisingly after all this time the machine's rubber belts seem loose - where can I buy replacements? And when I removed the takeup reel plate I didn't notice the path the belt goes over the pulleys in the back. On which side of the spindle that moves toward a felt pad does the belt go? Is there anything else to check if it still doesn't play/ff when all that is properly in place? Thanks.