Teac A-3340 Maintenance

Not too long ago I applied some oil the the bearings of my A2340, and used those cool little oil-delivery tubes to lube the bearings. But on my A-3340S I don't see the equivalent feature. :scratch2:

Is there an "oil hole" on side of the motors on this machine like there is with the 2340, except that in this case of the 3340, it is simply missing those convenient little oil delivery tubes?

goldear said:

Not too long ago I applied some oil the the bearings of my A2340, and used those cool little oil-delivery tubes to lube the bearings. But on my A-3340S I don't see the equivalent feature. :scratch2:

Is there an "oil hole" on side of the motors on this machine like there is with the 2340, except that in this case of the 3340, it is simply missing those convenient little oil delivery tubes?

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You know, i was wondering the same thing.....the service manual says to oil it through the tubes, but I see no tubes. PM me if you want the SM to look through.

May just be some small little oiling holes..Get yourself a oiler pen with a needle tip.

Hello my TEAC Brothers.
How about that, I have the same two machines as you do! (Well, mine are the 3340S, and A2340R)

I'm always a bit confused of this myself, which exact models have the Oiling Tubes, and which don't, but as far as I know, if you cannot see them on the Reel Motors, they don't have them, then they are permanent sealed Units, but am pretty sure the central Capstan Motor is oilable from inside, and that it has an Oil Port Tube.

"An addition here is never say never I suupose, and as far as I know this machine doesn;t have them, but do inspect very carefully just to be safe".

Other points of Lubrication to remember as well are the Rubber Capstan Axle-Shaft itself, the flat front face Trim cover un screws to Remove Rubber Roller, and then Clean-Lube the Shaft (don't lose any little spacer washers here! It may be stuck-attached to the front face of the Shaft, or on the stud of the little Trim Cover)

And even the Front Trim Ring on the Drive Capstan itself unscrews as well to permit Lubrication on the Inner Capstan Shaft at the front of the machine. (Careful with this one, the Metal Ring is thin material, and if you squeeze it too hard, you may egg-shape-bend the Ring!) Be careful when putting this one back, the threads are very fine.

Hope this helps. Mark

In some cases the oil tube is under the motor instead of on top.

I have a A-2300SR and a A-4300SX that have the oiling tubes on the reel motors as well as the capstan motor. I also have a A-6300 that has only a oiling tube on the capstan motor, there is none on the reel motors. Apparantly some of the motors that Teac used had the tubes and some were completely sealed and lubed for life. I don't know if this was based on model or availability of motor types at the time of build.

Ok, I opened-up both machines simply so that I could see the motors side by side. They look virtually identical, except for those little oiling tubes.

But on the A-2340 the part number on the motor is EM1472, and on the A3340S, the part number is EM1473. So they do indeed seem to be slightly different motors.

David was correct that the sevice manual refers to the non-existent oiling tubes also. My best guess is that the non-"S" version of the 3340 had the oiling tubes, but that the "S" version changed to the EM1473 motors, and does not. Teac probably simply failed to update this fact inside of their service manual. But the question now becomes: How exactly are these motors supposed to be oiled?

Do any of you think that since there arn't any oiling holes or tubes in the motors, that putting a couple drops of oil on the area where the shaft exits the motor, and placing the machine onto its back and spinning the motors would be an effective way to lube these?

goldear said:

My best guess is that the non-"S" version of the 3340 had the oiling tubes, but that the "S" version changed to the EM1473 motors, and does not.

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Its been a long time since I have used one but I think the only difference between the two was the 3340s had Symul-sync while the 3340 did not. The motor difference between the 2340 and 3340 is because the 3340 could play larger 10 inch reels so it needed a larger motor.

goldear said:

Ok, I opened-up both machines simply so that I could see the motors side by side. They look virtually identical, except for those little oiling tubes.

But on the A-2340 the part number on the motor is EM1472, and on the A3340S, the part number is EM1473. So they do indeed seem to be slightly different motors.

David was correct that the sevice manual refers to the non-existent oiling tubes also. My best guess is that the non-"S" version of the 3340 had the oiling tubes, but that the "S" version changed to the EM1473 motors, and does not. Teac probably simply failed to update this fact inside of their service manual. But the question now becomes: How exactly are these motors supposed to be oiled?

Do any of you think that since there arn't any oiling holes or tubes in the motors, that putting a couple drops of oil on the area where the shaft exits the motor, and placing the machine onto its back and spinning the motors would be an effective way to lube these?

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Hello, as far as I know, the sealed Motors are not ever supposed to be oiled, but maybe doubtful that TEAC could foresee that thier Decks would be used 35-40 years into the future as well?

As for trying to lube the shafts, this may add some slight benefit, but I'm sort of wondering, and doubting as well, that the lubricant would get very far? Perhaps others can comment? As long as you used an oil that won't hurt any seals, I can't see any harm being done.

Perhaps something like a very light sewing machine oil from Singer? Wally World I found sells the Singer Oil for about $2 a Bottle in thier linen dept if it has one.

Is there any reason that you wish to Oil? Any noise, grinding, slow speed, or? Mark

I had a "mid generation" 3340s (full solenoid, but not logic control) and it had the tubes, but I can't recall if all the motors had them...could it be TEAC used different motors depending on supply? My 3440 had all sealed reel motors IIRC.

markd51 said:

Hello, as far as I know, the sealed Motors are not ever supposed to be oiled, but maybe doubtful that TEAC could foresee that thier Decks would be used 35-40 years into the future as well?

As for trying to lube the shafts, this may add some slight benefit, but I'm sort of wondering, and doubting as well, that the lubricant would get very far? Perhaps others can comment? As long as you used an oil that won't hurt any seals, I can't see any harm being done.

Perhaps something like a very light sewing machine oil from Singer? Wally World I found sells the Singer Oil for about $2 a Bottle in thier linen dept if it has one.

Is there any reason that you wish to Oil? Any noise, grinding, slow speed, or? Mark

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Mainly because the unit is over 30 years old, and that I know that the whatever oil was once put inside there is likely to have mostly evaporated by now.

Lnerell said:

Its been a long time since I have used one but I think the only difference between the two was the 3340s had Symul-sync while the 3340 did not. The motor difference between the 2340 and 3340 is because the 3340 could play larger 10 inch reels so it needed a larger motor.

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Good guess, but not completely correct. The Service Manual lists the motors as being the same model that are inside of my 2340. And both sets of motors are absoltely identical in size, and appearance with the single exception of this little oiling tube (and corresponding hole).

I'm guessing that teac was having problems with people using the wrong oil inside of their motors (anybody else bet on WD-40?), and that they probably removed the tubes to keep people from ruining their bearings by using the wrong oil.

There is another difference too: The 3440S had a full-logic tranport, wherease the 3440 had that funky lever that you had to flip to put it into play.

<edit> Mis-typed above. Meant 3340s, not 3440s </edit>

I think the 3440 is a totally different animal. It has 3 dc motors in the transport. the 3340 and 3340s have the ac motors and 10 inch reel capacity the 2340 and 2340s are the same with 7 inch reel. The s is all pusbuttons

Something else: The 2230 and 3300 (add suffix/prefix) had the same capstan but different reel motors as far as I can tell. In many cases the oil tubes were hidden by the adjacent run capacitor for that motor. You may actually have to unscrew and move the cap to oil the damn thing. I am currently servicing a very nice A-3300SX for the dragging capstan problem, and in the process, cleaning/lubing/adjusting it. This thread came up and I took note that the oil tubes for the capstan motor were completely concealed by the huge run cap for that motor. I doubt that the motor has been oiled; although it is a super low hour unit, so it may not matter. The reel motors, indeed, have no visible tubes. If I find anything else that is relevant here I will edit this post.

My appreciation for something well constructed is reinforced by this, and other old Teacs- they are built like an Army tank!:thmbsp:

grateful said:

I think the 3440 is a totally different animal. It has 3 dc motors in the transport. the 3340 and 3340s have the ac motors and 10 inch reel capacity the 2340 and 2340s are the same with 7 inch reel. The s is all pusbuttons

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True, the A-3440S I had was full logic control and had DC motors, a huge leap in technology over the A-3340S I had, however I preferred the "vintage" sound of the older machine better.

grateful said:

I think the 3440 is a totally different animal. It has 3 dc motors in the transport. the 3340 and 3340s have the ac motors and 10 inch reel capacity the 2340 and 2340s are the same with 7 inch reel. The s is all pusbuttons

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Oops!!! I mis-typed! I meant 3340s, NOT 3440s. :withstpd:

Mine is definitely the classic AC motor variety. :yes: And I agree that these are far more rubust than many of the DC motor teacs and tascams that followed.

Just oil the capstan-motor bearings front and rear once a year:thmbsp:

vincei said:

True, the A-3440S I had was full logic control and had DC motors, a huge leap in technology over the A-3340S I had, however I preferred the "vintage" sound of the older machine better.

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Vintage, so a 35 year old machine is vintage but a 30 year old machine is not. Just trying to keep this all clear. :yes: Are you sure that "vintage sound" isn't just warn heads? I'm sure by now most of those machines have such problems.

And as for me guessing I guess I am. Its been about 25 years since I've even seen any of those machines. Personally I preferred my 40-4 to any of the above. Much larger motor, none of the symul-sync issues plus it had built in dbx. Of course I was recording music in a studio and not using it in a home stereo setting so maybe it was overkill for such purposes.

Lnerell said:

Vintage, so a 35 year old machine is vintage but a 30 year old machine is not. Just trying to keep this all clear. :yes: Are you sure that "vintage sound" isn't just warn heads? I'm sure by now most of those machines have such problems.

And as for me guessing I guess I am. Its been about 25 years since I've even seen any of those machines. Personally I preferred my 40-4 to any of the above. Much larger motor, none of the symul-sync issues plus it had built in dbx. Of course I was recording music in a studio and not using it in a home stereo setting so maybe it was overkill for such purposes.

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Could have een the heads, but there was definetaly a huge difference in sound and texture between both machines. The 3340 sounded early 70's (crisp and clean) and 3440 early 80's (flat and dull). I tried rebiasing, aligning, ect, nothing came close to the 3340, that is until I got my Tascam 48, now that is a sweet machine! :thmbsp: