Hi all,
The problem on my DCC 951: The capstans keep running. The immediately start running when I turn on the device. When I insert a tape it tries to play it, shows time, makes squeeking noises, CLEAN HEAD.
Where to start? Could this be the solenoid being stuck, or some other switch? Capacitors have not been changed (as far as I know) but the look okay, no signs of leakage yet. But they are on the list to be replaced.
Hi rgrs and welcome to the DCC forum.
The squeeking noise comes from the felt pad in the DCC cassette that pushes the tape against the DCC head. Please try other tapes to see if it goes away. If you do not have other tapes, try to clean the felt pad with a bit of alcohol. Do not soak it, and let it dry completely before trying to play the cassette in the recorder. You can also try to wind and rewind the tape a couple of times.
The capstans normally stop running after 3 seconds at power on. If that circuit has a failure, it probably won’t play your tapes correctly. But it is the first time I hear of such a ‘failure‘.
Kind regards,
Henrie
Hi Henrie, thanks.
De casssette has been eaten by the deck. So we need not to worry about that anymore. I will use the tape for testing, for now.
Here is a video of the issue iCloud Photos - Apple iCloud
Although I have no experience with this specific fault, this might be a issue with the white timing gear under the deck (not the small gear between the reels).
I can’t find anything physically wrong with the gears. everything seems lubed and well working.
I have no clue as what to do next to be honest. This could be caused by so much. Bad switch, bad caps, bad transistor, bad ddu or other IC.
Switches have been cleaned. I noticed the drive belt is warn out, it tends to slip. The solenoid sounds weak too, but it solenoids.
I replaced both belts. Now the player goes through the motions correctly, but the capstans keep running. Could it be the DDU board thats defective?
Well, I found something. As the pcb’s of the tape unit are conveniently sandwiched together, I managed to take them apart and have the deck running. On the PCB with the DDC-TDC label, closest to the drive a transistor gets 80c. I think thats the culprit. Hope it didn’t take out that large custom Phillips IC. Happy to have found at least something. Lets see if I can fix it.
This is the culprit: iCloud Photos - Apple iCloud its single top pin is shorted to another pin.
Well, it wasn’t that. I replaced it temporarily with a 3906, does the same thing, but the 3906 doesn’t get hot. I need to start from the main IC (7500) pin 13 I guess.
