Cleaning up the Akai GX-630D-SS QR2R - Oh My!
- Thread starter JonUrban
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Jon,
Since your capstan is now clean.....How is your pinch roller looking? Is it hard or soft feeling and does it have any crusty marks on it?
The reason why I ask, is a machine of that vintage will surely have a hard pinch roller which increases wow and flutter even with a clean capstan. I have over the years have had my pinch rollers rebuilt from 1/4" machines to my 2" machine twice. I use this guy named Terry:
http://www.terrysrubberrollers.com/
He is very reasonable price wise...may take a few weeks to get it done...but you have done so much to refurbish that beautiful machine you may want to go ahead and redo the roller as well...It will pay big audio dividends in the long run and make your tapes sound better because the tape is tracking the heads better.
Just a thought
Mike,
Would this be worth getting as opposed to sending one out for refit?
https://www.ebay.com/itm/AKAI-GX-62...ROLLER-NEW-BEARING-DESIGN-ATHAN-/273068457120
Hey Jon,
Yeah that looks pretty slick.....It also has the advantage of being brass and New! I'm a little concerned the seller wont accept returns, but other than that....the price is similar to what u would pay for a refurbished roller....Great Find!
Yeah that looks pretty slick.....It also has the advantage of being brass and New! I'm a little concerned the seller wont accept returns, but other than that....the price is similar to what u would pay for a refurbished roller....Great Find!
If it's good enough for you then I'm ordering it. If it sucks, I will of course blame you!
PS - ORDERED!
Something else you could do Jon is to take off the roller and soak it overnight in DOT3 brake fluid if you have access to a small amount. There is a guy on Vinyl Engine who even swears on it saving him money on CPAP masks. Wash it thoroughly after amd wipe with alcohol. I have not tried this trick myself bht there have been some positive reviews on restoring rare phono idlers and platter mats.
Maybe I will try that on the other machine, once I get this one rockin'. Thanks for your advice, btw, I really do appreciate it.
So should I have not used those ceramic caps? I thought that they would fit better in the unit than trying to cram 6 cans in there. I really haven't kept up on my electronics over the years. As far as capacitors go, the last time I messed with them was when I was in the Navy and we used to charge them up with meggers and leave them on the bench!
Hey Jon,
Since the new pinch roller is made from polyurethane instead of rubber the seller recommends using their cleaner:
https://www.ebay.com/itm/PINCH-ROLL...480257&hash=item3f5e2c8c73:g:WvgAAOSwa3BaLa-N
Maybe a good purchase to protect your investment
Since the new pinch roller is made from polyurethane instead of rubber the seller recommends using their cleaner:
https://www.ebay.com/itm/PINCH-ROLL...480257&hash=item3f5e2c8c73:g:WvgAAOSwa3BaLa-N
Maybe a good purchase to protect your investment
I like the look of quality in the Athan roller too. I suspect they are hand turned as needed like the Russian seller who was doing Lenco idlers and other hard to get parts. Now if only getting my play head replaced was as easy to do.
The can type ones are supposed to be generally better for motor EMFs but to be honest I cannot see much difference. Just that some folks like to use as close to the original type as possible. So long as you're happy and it works - it is all that matters.
ORDERED! Thanks
Looks like it would not only be a good replacement but a great upgrade as well, will keep watching this thread please post your results. I have a GX630DSS and a GX630DB as well. I might get one or two myself!
So I finally got the new roller wheel in. Here are some pictures for y'all and for posterity.
Here's a comparison shot of the old and new, front and back:
And here's the new wheel going in and on:
Here's a comparison shot of the old and new, front and back:
And here's the new wheel going in and on:
Looks nice, I almost ordered one myself when the seller offered a discount. I'll keep watching and maybe order next time.
Hey Jon,
Looks Great! How does it sound? Can you tell if the tape is rolling thru smoother or not?
Awesome
Looks Great! How does it sound? Can you tell if the tape is rolling thru smoother or not?
Awesome
Well, it was a good start.
Today after living room table testing with everything working great. I took it upstairs (without the wood case) to put it on the PC so I could record in a reel to see how the audio would record. Using a 10" reel, I recorded in a few tunes off the reel, everything going good, when I heard a sort of tick-tick-tick in the rear right channel. Everything else was fine. It was very noticeable between songs. So after flipping a few switches to see if that made a difference, I decided to try a different reel.
Put on a 7" pre-recorded reel, "Holiday" to be exact. It was spooled the same way they came when they were new, so I put a take up reel on the left, the tape on the right, and rewound it so I could play it into the PC. I stopped the rewind when it was almost finished spooling onto the take up reel. Then the **** hit the fan.
The tape played slow. Very slow. I changed the speed setting, it was still slow. I rewound it, I FF'd it, still slow, the speed was all over the place. So then I'm like - ****!
Dragged it back down to the living room table and will look at it tomorrow. I may have to switch to the other machine.
Today after living room table testing with everything working great. I took it upstairs (without the wood case) to put it on the PC so I could record in a reel to see how the audio would record. Using a 10" reel, I recorded in a few tunes off the reel, everything going good, when I heard a sort of tick-tick-tick in the rear right channel. Everything else was fine. It was very noticeable between songs. So after flipping a few switches to see if that made a difference, I decided to try a different reel.
Put on a 7" pre-recorded reel, "Holiday" to be exact. It was spooled the same way they came when they were new, so I put a take up reel on the left, the tape on the right, and rewound it so I could play it into the PC. I stopped the rewind when it was almost finished spooling onto the take up reel. Then the **** hit the fan.
The tape played slow. Very slow. I changed the speed setting, it was still slow. I rewound it, I FF'd it, still slow, the speed was all over the place. So then I'm like - ****!
Dragged it back down to the living room table and will look at it tomorrow. I may have to switch to the other machine.
Oh No!! I think I'm in trouble...
Was the pinch roller grabbing like it was supposed to? If the new roller is the slightest bit smaller it could cause the issue you are talking about.... U may want to pop the old one on just to eliminate that as the reason.......If the speed returns correctly, and maybe if you have some calipers..... check the size of the new roller...It should be the same size or the tiniest bit bigger......Maybe your cap replacement went bad again.....I'm sorry to hear this news...It also could be something simple too...whatever it is I'm sure its fixable
Was the pinch roller grabbing like it was supposed to? If the new roller is the slightest bit smaller it could cause the issue you are talking about.... U may want to pop the old one on just to eliminate that as the reason.......If the speed returns correctly, and maybe if you have some calipers..... check the size of the new roller...It should be the same size or the tiniest bit bigger......Maybe your cap replacement went bad again.....I'm sorry to hear this news...It also could be something simple too...whatever it is I'm sure its fixable
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Are the spring tensioners working ok? I had that cause me a lot of strange issues on my 4000D until I had the machine serviced. They also re-did the tensioners on my GX635D as well when it was serviced a few years ago.
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