17-01-2021, 02:39 PM
I have a fairly old stereo system made up of bits. None of it is high end stuff but it suits our needs. It's now not used a lot and probably the least used part is the cassette deck. As something to do during lock down I thought I would try to to bring it back to a working state. Probably the most used part is the cd player. It had a sticking drawer but replacing the belt on this cured it. However, when I went to use the tape deck no tape would play nor was there any FF or RW. I assumed this was due to fatigued belts. I tried to find a service manual for it but could only find one for the Aiwa AD-F410 (at least for free) but this seems very similar to the AD-F450. I also found a useful YouTube video. I sent off for belts and fitted both the drive and counter belts. I was lucky with the drive belt as the original was simply loose rather than having turned to goo as was described on some stuff I found on the web. Fitting the drive belt was a bit of a fiddle and I had to manufacture a little hook in order to get the belt onto the motor pulley. Now when tested FF, RW and play all work however, with some tapes there's notably slow play mainly at the start of the tape. However this is not consistent from tape to tape. Some tapes play perfectly. I cleaned the capstan, the pinch roller and the heads when I had the mechanism apart but they probably didn't need it. The heads don't look worn and the pinch roller does not look "glazed". Having read a thread on problems with the cassettes themselves I wondered this could be at least part of the problem. I think some of the tapes I'm tying have not been played for 10 years or more. Any ideas on what the problem might be would be appreciated.
Regards,
Ken.
Regards,
Ken.
