4.) Final shot... End view showing the bush, the crack, my external brass ring, and the traps. Total time was maybe 5 minutes. Is that long enough to warrant a ? ...I think so! As soon as the holiday post lines die down, I will have this off to Jacques, as well as some pre-cut rings so he can repair and spare his own as a backup... after all, this is untested!

Looks to be a fine repair.
Definitely sturdier than the plastic and I'm sure it will work fine.
Good job, let's hear how it works once mounted.

Martin

Hello!

The drillings to stop the cracks is a genius's idea! Congratulations Jeff!

Thank you so much for that!

Jacques

Another problem I've just become aware of is that when I record there is wow, and a piano note sounds like a bell or a Hammond organ...

Otherwise the sound is great, lots of nice treble detail and good imaging, even with Dolby on (this is an IEC version). Bass is good too.

With my pre-recorded tapes this is not really audible, I suppose that when recording and playing on the same deck the defect is amplified (created) by an additive process somehow. On music with no obviously sustained notes the sound is perfect. It also seems to depend on cassettes: the effect is more pronounced on some of them (I use TDK, SAX and AD, Sony UXS).

What is your verdict please? The SM quotes several wow frequencies, but it's difficult to say by ear.

Thanks,

Jacques

Edit: the end of tape shows no wow, the piano sustained notes being fine. 

Okay, I think I've figured out the problem: the bearing housing of the cracked part has two bearings in fact. The lower one was pushed too far inside the housing, hence the white pulley being too close to the flying wheel and this caused the belt fouling the flywheel permanently. Oh dear.

It seems that on Jeff's part the bearing is a little too far inside too: it should be about half a millimetre above the edge of the housing. Restoring this on my (still broken) part has cured completely the wow issue.

I shall of course keep you informed.

Also, I had a bad audio contact somewhere, one channel or the other disappearing randomly... A gentle tap on the alu panel seemed to re-establish the contact somehow. Bad solder? Nope, after re-soldering so many joints (with no avail) I realized it was the @é§ççà dolby relay (RL1 on PCB 2) whose playback contacts were oxidised! Better still, I then gained better treble sound!

A Happy New Year to you all!

Jacques

chartz:

Okay, I think I've figured out the problem: the bearing housing of the cracked part has two bearings in fact. The lower one was pushed too far inside the housing, hence the white pulley being too close to the flying wheel and this caused the belt fouling the flywheel permanently. Oh dear.

It seems that on Jeff's part the bearing is a little too far inside too: it should be about half a millimetre above the edge of the housing. Restoring this on my (still broken) part has cured completely the wow issue.

Hmmm... Part is on the way, so go ahead and mod it however you see fit!

Yes of course Jeff, I will! Once again, I think this mech is great, but the plastics weren't too reliable. But then again, did they think crazy people would still be using them thirty years later? Anyway my Beocord sounds absolutely superb. 

Cheers,

Jacques

chartz:

Yes of course Jeff, I will! Once again, I think this mech is great, but the plastics weren't too reliable. But then again, did they think crazy people would still be using them thirty years later? Anyway my Beocord sounds absolutely superb. 

Cheers,

Jacques

We may need to keep that our little secret!

The BC's, especially of this series... are real gems with fantastic sound. IMHO, the warmth of an LP and the *near* convenience of CD's. Prices are incredibly low for them as well as for the media.

Love 'em!

Hello,

I have just received Jeff's part, but I will have little spare time to install it till next week. The part looks great; I just had to slightly draw the bearings out of the housing (yes there are two!) by one third of a mm (the actual height of the chamfers) because both pulleys were rubbing against the top and the bottom of the housing. 

A nice repair!

Job done successfully! Jeff, anytime. How much do I owe you by the way?

One last (I dare not say final!) problem: I think the level of the deck is far too low, although the two pots underneath the deck are set for max output. Also, and this may be related, hiss from the output amp is too high (I can hear it through the speakers when there's no music).  

Any thoughts?

Thanks,

Jacques