Hi guys,
I’m in the process of refurbishing my DCC730.
Upon recording on side B, as time progresses , more and more dropouts occur.
By about the middle of the tape (side B) , dropouts are becoming very frequent.
This happens on all cassettes (DCC) I put in the deck. Recording on Side A goes without any issue.
Upon investigating further, I noticed that when running a tape on side B, the capstan motor exhibits regular drops in speed. About once a second, you can hear a little whine from the capstan motor, as it seemingly need to adjust its speed. This does not occur when running side A.
What I’ve done so far :
- Taken out the capstan flywheels, clean the shafts and relube them
- Cleaned the capstan belt : there is still sufficient tension on the belt as far as I can tell
- Applied a small drop of oil to the capstan motor shaft en guide roller
- placed new pinch rollers
I would appreciate any assistance on what could be causing this, and how to solve the issue. It would seem to me that there is an issue with the speed control / FG servo /… of this motor. Bad caps?
As a background : I have a lot of experience with fully restoring reel to reel decks (including recapping, ugrading transistors etc…) and to a lesser degree cassette decks, so don’t hesitate to go full technical with me
Edit : I’ve also cheked the reel tables’ motor, and those gears look OK (not cracked). The main black gear between the capstan flywheels has been re-greased after removing the old white grease.
If a video or sound rec. of the issue is needed, just let me know. Thanks!