I bought my WM-F80 back in 1987 for $200, it broke in half in the 90s due to a couple of drops. I bought another one and a WM-FS495 2 years ago for $35 total including shipping on eBay. I purchased a replacement band for the WM-F80 from an eBay seller in Slovakia for $8.65. I followed your instructions and now I’m listening to my old tapes from my college days again. Thanks!!!
I recently bought one of these and popped it open to see the entire belt drive had wrapped around the motor, so thank you for this video, I didn’t have a clue which way the belt drive went back on! Absolute hero!
I bought one of these back in 1987 and used it all through college and beyond. It's long gone now (wish I'd kept it when it died) but I just bought one from an eBay seller. Hopefully your video will help me get it running again!
Excellent video! Thank you so much for walking through the steps of replacing the drive belt. My WM-F77 from Goodwill is now up and running. I did notice that the drive belt orientation is cleverly printed on the silk layer of the PCB when it's flipped up. You just need to mirror that configuration to install the belt. However, your video made it much clearer. I really needed that information, since my drive belt was a complete mess of goo with very little indication of how it was oriented. As you mentioned, damaging those tiny wires on each side was fraught with danger. Also, the microswitches for various functions needed to be aligned properly as well. Putting the top cover back on the unit was the most challenging part for me. I tried to 3d print a TPU belt, but it was entirely too rigid. The belt that I purchased on ebay was just the right size. It's basically a 1mm x 1mm rubber band! I can't believe those things can hold up at all...an amazing feat of technology. Thanks again!!!
My first and only cassette Walkman. I think I was in fifth grade when I got it. I loved it so, so much. Over the years I’ve always been on that “latest and greatest” upgrade kick but this one I never felt the need to replace. I finally put it down once I switched to CDs relatively late in 1992. That means at most I used it for five, maybe six years. If I count back five years from today that would mean I would’ve gotten it in 2018, which seems like yesterday. But when you’re a kid, five years is an eternity and I was more than happy to have this gem with me at all times.
Got one of these WM-F77's the other day and someone had been in it before mainly because of the melted hole where the DC jack was. I had to rip it off and resolder it because someone thought a suitable repair was superglue. And of course the belt had perished anyways so I have a new one on order to replace it but at least the radio portion works.
@@CT6502 Unfortunately, pretty much almost all of the wires are snapping off thanks to cold solder joints, and one of them snapped off so far inside I cannot get to without doing a full teardown which scares me, so it's being shelved for now since I don't have much time to dedicate for these projects.
@@term-827 Ugh, sorry to hear that. I hope you can get it working in the future. Just be sure to use a filter if you desolder those joints - they probably all used lead based solder.
Hi, thanks for the video! I have this exact model, but I'm having issues with a ticking sound and some wow in the output. Could anyone tell me if the cam gear/shutoff lever is supposed to move back and forth? It makes this clicking sound which distorts the sound somehow, I'd love to hear any ideas, I really love this model! Thanks!
Hmm, I don't recall seeing that lever moving back and forth - that sounds a bit strange. However, it's been a while since I had this open and I was only concentrating on the drive belt. Let's see if anyone else responds...
@@CT6502 Thanks for the reply! I looked into the mechanism and found that one of the cam gear's teeth was bent, so I'm going to try my hand at truing it and see where that takes me!
Common problems with WM-F77 are the idle pulley tires hardened, causing the auto reverse loop. Replacing the tire is easier than it looks, but be careful not to lose the polywasher and always take photos before teardown.
hello, I just got this model on eBay but am having issues with it. whenever I play a cassette it stops after a few seconds. it seems as if one of the of the spindles isn't turning as fast as it should. Any ideas? I'm hoping I only need to change the belt
Hi so I was working on the same model and I got a new belt and it runs but for some reason it still does not want to run any ideas? The belt spins too.
Hmm, yeah, my belt isn't working so great anymore either. I wonder if the belts are actually "new old stock" and are already stretched out. Either that or they're not quite the right size or tension...
Hello. I have a Sony WM-1 with an issue. Maybe you can help. The unit will not power up via batteries unless I put a small piece of aluminum foil on the top of the batteries / underneath the battery compartment lid. Once the foil is there, the unit powers up and plays. However, the battery quickly overheat and expand - a bit dangerous. Any ideas on how to fix this issue? Thanks so much! Love your videos! Extremely helpful!!
Does it have to be aluminum foil? If it works with just a thick piece of paper, then it sounds like your battery compartment is just not closing far enough to keep the batteries in place and making contact. In that case, maybe you can just use some masking tape to make a "shim" - hopefully that won't conduct as much heat and the batteries won't overheat. If it actually requires aluminum foil, then you've got something else going on - that would suggest a loose battery contact and I'm not sure what to recommend... One other thing you could try is see if you can force the battery contacts at either end to be "stronger" by either gently bending the metal tabs at one end, or pulling the springs out slightly to make them "sproingier" (technical term there). Best of luck, and please post a followup with your results.
@@CT6502 thank you for the reply. I will try extending the pieces in the battery compartment - but I think it may be the piece underneath the lid that goes on top of the batteries - I think one of those metal pieces may not be touching the battery. That’s why it works with aluminum foil underneath the lid. Thoughts?
@@kevinestrada4498 Hmm, that sounds different than mine. The battery lid on mine is just plastic - there isn't any metal. I don't see anything wrong with your approach in general. I don't know if aluminum foil is the best material as it's thin - maybe you could try a couple of pieces of thin sheet metal to get the same effect. Sounds like you'll just have to experiment. Good luck!
Hi, I bought a Sony wm-F80, almost the exact same model, but when I hit play I can hear a grinding noise. New belts have been put in. FF and REV work. Is there any way to fix this? If so thank you
Hmm, a grinding noise sounds bad. Maybe one of the gears is worn or missing a tooth. You will probably have to take it apart and examine everything. Good luck!
A friend gave me a WM-F80 to see if I could get the tape working, it's the belt,its very similar to yours except it has the graphic equalizer so there is a ribbon connector from the front door to the circuit board, I unplugged that ribbon connector and took out the 2 screws on the circuit board but I still cant get the circuit board up far enough to get to the belt wheels,any ideas?
The circuit board might just be snagged on a piece of plastic or something. Try gently lifting up each corner of the board, and see if you can figure out what's stopping it. Don't "flex" the board too much, or you risk damaging one of the small wire "traces" on the circuit board. Also, if you're trying to use a tool to lift up the board, be sure to use something made of plastic/wood so you don't gouge anything. I hope you can get yours working!
Did you ever get that circuit board out? im struggling with the same thing. I can feel it getting stuck right around the headphone jack area but cant see anything thats causing it to get snagged
Hmm, good questions. I've got to imagine there's some hole-in-the-wall shop in New York City that repairs old electronics. If the motor still spins, and you're still getting some sort of audio buzz out of the headphones, then it's a good bet that the belt has gone bad.
Hmm, that's strange - those circuit boards aren't very complex. Does that one do recording? If so, you could try to record onto a tape and see if the tape plays back (you might need another tape player to test). Also, make sure that the headphone jack isn't full of pocket lint. Those are the only things that I can think of, other than just looking at the circuit board for obvious damage...
@@CT6502 no it doesn’t even have a radio. When I first got it a few weeks ago, the battery compartment was eroded, so I tried to see if it worked by plugging a charger in the 6 volt power adapter. However, instead of grabbing the 6 volt adapter I grabbed a very similar looking 90 wat charger. After a short session of confusion as to why everything was moving so fast, there was a loud pop. I think one of the compacitors enploded
@@joshuaclaywilliams6141 Ah, well that sounds like it might indeed be the circuit board. The good thing is that the board is going to be fairly simple. The bad thing is that putting that much current/power through it might have fried a few things. However, I would say just take a look at the board. A "pop" usually indicates a capacitor, and if you're lucky, it will have just burned out the "first" one in the chain and the rest of the circuit is okay. If you have a soldering iron, it's not too difficult to replace capacitors, assuming that you can figure out the capacitance value. Best of luck!
i decided to take the entire thing apart due to speeding ahead and going for it instead of watching a video like this one. i pretty much took the front off entirety. can you provide some advice, or a video on how to get the radio tuning belt back on. I can’t find anything anywhere!
Ugh, I'm not sure - I didn't take the radio tuning belt apart, although I remember it did slip off at one point. I think you're going to have to just try to carefully put it back on. Don't get frustrated, that will only lead to something getting broken. Just take your time, and it should hopefully go back together. Sometimes these old parts (like the belts) are already in the correct "shape" just from sitting so long, so you might get some clues from that. Best of luck!
Hii I bought a sony Walkman the newer version of the walkman,with usb port,small n slick, It's water damaged,sony refused to fix it,Is there any repair?,Btw love ur videos
That's a good question - if it has a USB port then it must be a lot newer than this model. I've only fixed this one, and that's it. I would look around on the web or youtube for some tear downs. Good luck!
I'm not quite sure. For mine, it just lifted right up. Maybe yours is caught on some piece of plastic, or the metal "spring" for the battery is catching? Just don't yank it - you definitely don't want to pull off any of the wires. Good luck!
@@CT6502 Yeah I was having the same issue and found that my spring was getting caught (on the bottom one) all you have to do is move it around gently pulling up will release it. The other place that it got stuck was the wiring, you'll need to remove the tape that was holding it otherwise you'll end up snaping the wires.
@@CT6502 On the repair, I've noticed that you have bought two bands did you only use 1 for the repair? I've replaced the part but the track isn't rotating very fast and is slipping up.
@@mhmmmmmmm Hmm, that's interesting. I only used one band (it came with 2), but you're right - mine is sometimes slipping. Maybe we should try 2 bands?! That doesn't make a whole lot of sense, but maybe the band isn't actually the correct one, so 2 will work better.
I bought my WM-F80 back in 1987 for $200, it broke in half in the 90s due to a couple of drops. I bought another one and a WM-FS495 2 years ago for $35 total including shipping on eBay. I purchased a replacement band for the WM-F80 from an eBay seller in Slovakia for $8.65. I followed your instructions and now I’m listening to my old tapes from my college days again. Thanks!!!
Hey, that's great to hear! I'm so glad that this video helped. Have fun!
I recently bought one of these and popped it open to see the entire belt drive had wrapped around the motor, so thank you for this video, I didn’t have a clue which way the belt drive went back on! Absolute hero!
I'm really glad to hear that! Thanks for watching.
I bought one of these back in 1987 and used it all through college and beyond. It's long gone now (wish I'd kept it when it died) but I just bought one from an eBay seller. Hopefully your video will help me get it running again!
Nice! I hope you get it running smoothly. Mine is still a bit warbly sounding - I'm not sure if it's the drive belt or maybe just dirty...
Excellent video! Thank you so much for walking through the steps of replacing the drive belt. My WM-F77 from Goodwill is now up and running. I did notice that the drive belt orientation is cleverly printed on the silk layer of the PCB when it's flipped up. You just need to mirror that configuration to install the belt. However, your video made it much clearer. I really needed that information, since my drive belt was a complete mess of goo with very little indication of how it was oriented. As you mentioned, damaging those tiny wires on each side was fraught with danger. Also, the microswitches for various functions needed to be aligned properly as well. Putting the top cover back on the unit was the most challenging part for me. I tried to 3d print a TPU belt, but it was entirely too rigid. The belt that I purchased on ebay was just the right size. It's basically a 1mm x 1mm rubber band! I can't believe those things can hold up at all...an amazing feat of technology. Thanks again!!!
You're welcome! I'm glad everything worked out well. It's fun to be able to bring these old things back to life, without having to buy something new.
My first and only cassette Walkman. I think I was in fifth grade when I got it. I loved it so, so much. Over the years I’ve always been on that “latest and greatest” upgrade kick but this one I never felt the need to replace. I finally put it down once I switched to CDs relatively late in 1992. That means at most I used it for five, maybe six years. If I count back five years from today that would mean I would’ve gotten it in 2018, which seems like yesterday. But when you’re a kid, five years is an eternity and I was more than happy to have this gem with me at all times.
Cool, that's a great story, thanks for sharing!
Got one of these WM-F77's the other day and someone had been in it before mainly because of the melted hole where the DC jack was. I had to rip it off and resolder it because someone thought a suitable repair was superglue. And of course the belt had perished anyways so I have a new one on order to replace it but at least the radio portion works.
Sounds like you're well on your way. Best of luck with the repairs!
@@CT6502 Unfortunately, pretty much almost all of the wires are snapping off thanks to cold solder joints, and one of them snapped off so far inside I cannot get to without doing a full teardown which scares me, so it's being shelved for now since I don't have much time to dedicate for these projects.
@@term-827 Ugh, sorry to hear that. I hope you can get it working in the future. Just be sure to use a filter if you desolder those joints - they probably all used lead based solder.
Hi, thanks for the video! I have this exact model, but I'm having issues with a ticking sound and some wow in the output. Could anyone tell me if the cam gear/shutoff lever is supposed to move back and forth? It makes this clicking sound which distorts the sound somehow, I'd love to hear any ideas, I really love this model! Thanks!
Hmm, I don't recall seeing that lever moving back and forth - that sounds a bit strange. However, it's been a while since I had this open and I was only concentrating on the drive belt. Let's see if anyone else responds...
@@CT6502 Thanks for the reply! I looked into the mechanism and found that one of the cam gear's teeth was bent, so I'm going to try my hand at truing it and see where that takes me!
@@dre4614 Cool! Let us know how it turns out, in case others have the same problem.
@@CT6502 Success! Thanks again!
Common problems with WM-F77 are the idle pulley tires hardened, causing the auto reverse loop. Replacing the tire is easier than it looks, but be careful not to lose the polywasher and always take photos before teardown.
Thanks for those tips - mine still wasn't working great and I wonder if that's part of the problem...
Nice video. Brought back a lot of memories!
Thanks, glad to hear that!
hello, I just got this model on eBay but am having issues with it. whenever I play a cassette it stops after a few seconds. it seems as if one of the of the spindles isn't turning as fast as it should. Any ideas? I'm hoping I only need to change the belt
Hmm, I’m not sure. The belts are cheap so it’s probably worth just trying that first. Best of luck!
Hi so I was working on the same model and I got a new belt and it runs but for some reason it still does not want to run any ideas? The belt spins too.
Hmm, yeah, my belt isn't working so great anymore either. I wonder if the belts are actually "new old stock" and are already stretched out. Either that or they're not quite the right size or tension...
Hello. I have a Sony WM-1 with an issue. Maybe you can help. The unit will not power up via batteries unless I put a small piece of aluminum foil on the top of the batteries / underneath the battery compartment lid. Once the foil is there, the unit powers up and plays. However, the battery quickly overheat and expand - a bit dangerous. Any ideas on how to fix this issue? Thanks so much! Love your videos! Extremely helpful!!
Does it have to be aluminum foil? If it works with just a thick piece of paper, then it sounds like your battery compartment is just not closing far enough to keep the batteries in place and making contact. In that case, maybe you can just use some masking tape to make a "shim" - hopefully that won't conduct as much heat and the batteries won't overheat. If it actually requires aluminum foil, then you've got something else going on - that would suggest a loose battery contact and I'm not sure what to recommend... One other thing you could try is see if you can force the battery contacts at either end to be "stronger" by either gently bending the metal tabs at one end, or pulling the springs out slightly to make them "sproingier" (technical term there). Best of luck, and please post a followup with your results.
@@CT6502 thank you for the reply. I will try extending the pieces in the battery compartment - but I think it may be the piece underneath the lid that goes on top of the batteries - I think one of those metal pieces may not be touching the battery. That’s why it works with aluminum foil underneath the lid. Thoughts?
@@kevinestrada4498 Hmm, that sounds different than mine. The battery lid on mine is just plastic - there isn't any metal. I don't see anything wrong with your approach in general. I don't know if aluminum foil is the best material as it's thin - maybe you could try a couple of pieces of thin sheet metal to get the same effect. Sounds like you'll just have to experiment. Good luck!
Hi, I bought a Sony wm-F80, almost the exact same model, but when I hit play I can hear a grinding noise. New belts have been put in. FF and REV work. Is there any way to fix this? If so thank you
Hmm, a grinding noise sounds bad. Maybe one of the gears is worn or missing a tooth. You will probably have to take it apart and examine everything. Good luck!
Found out this happens when auto reverse kicks in, so I might only have to grease it.
@@talentrujillo4400 Cool! thanks for replying, in case other have the same issue
A friend gave me a WM-F80 to see if I could get the tape working, it's the belt,its very similar to yours except it has the graphic equalizer so there is a ribbon connector from the front door to the circuit board, I unplugged that ribbon connector and took out the 2 screws on the circuit board but I still cant get the circuit board up far enough to get to the belt wheels,any ideas?
The circuit board might just be snagged on a piece of plastic or something. Try gently lifting up each corner of the board, and see if you can figure out what's stopping it. Don't "flex" the board too much, or you risk damaging one of the small wire "traces" on the circuit board. Also, if you're trying to use a tool to lift up the board, be sure to use something made of plastic/wood so you don't gouge anything. I hope you can get yours working!
Did you ever get that circuit board out? im struggling with the same thing. I can feel it getting stuck right around the headphone jack area but cant see anything thats causing it to get snagged
Thank you so much. It really helped me a lot.
Awesome, glad to hear that!
Anyone know of a Walkman repair shop? I have a black Walkman WM-R2. How can you tell if it is the belt?
Hmm, good questions. I've got to imagine there's some hole-in-the-wall shop in New York City that repairs old electronics. If the motor still spins, and you're still getting some sort of audio buzz out of the headphones, then it's a good bet that the belt has gone bad.
i have a WM-1 from 1981. the belts run fine, but I can't seem to get any sound out of the audio jacks. Could it be something in the circuit board????
Hmm, that's strange - those circuit boards aren't very complex. Does that one do recording? If so, you could try to record onto a tape and see if the tape plays back (you might need another tape player to test). Also, make sure that the headphone jack isn't full of pocket lint. Those are the only things that I can think of, other than just looking at the circuit board for obvious damage...
@@CT6502 no it doesn’t even have a radio. When I first got it a few weeks ago, the battery compartment was eroded, so I tried to see if it worked by plugging a charger in the 6 volt power adapter. However, instead of grabbing the 6 volt adapter I grabbed a very similar looking 90 wat charger. After a short session of confusion as to why everything was moving so fast, there was a loud pop. I think one of the compacitors enploded
@@CT6502 everything else seems to work I.e., gears, lights,etc. just no sound?
@@joshuaclaywilliams6141 Ah, well that sounds like it might indeed be the circuit board. The good thing is that the board is going to be fairly simple. The bad thing is that putting that much current/power through it might have fried a few things. However, I would say just take a look at the board. A "pop" usually indicates a capacitor, and if you're lucky, it will have just burned out the "first" one in the chain and the rest of the circuit is okay. If you have a soldering iron, it's not too difficult to replace capacitors, assuming that you can figure out the capacitance value. Best of luck!
i decided to take the entire thing apart due to speeding ahead and going for it instead of watching a video like this one. i pretty much took the front off entirety. can you provide some advice, or a video on how to get the radio tuning belt back on. I can’t find anything anywhere!
Ugh, I'm not sure - I didn't take the radio tuning belt apart, although I remember it did slip off at one point. I think you're going to have to just try to carefully put it back on. Don't get frustrated, that will only lead to something getting broken. Just take your time, and it should hopefully go back together. Sometimes these old parts (like the belts) are already in the correct "shape" just from sitting so long, so you might get some clues from that. Best of luck!
Hii I bought a sony Walkman the newer version of the walkman,with usb port,small n slick, It's water damaged,sony refused to fix it,Is there any repair?,Btw love ur videos
That's a good question - if it has a USB port then it must be a lot newer than this model. I've only fixed this one, and that's it. I would look around on the web or youtube for some tear downs. Good luck!
How did u lift the circuit board? For me it’s halfway open. I have same model as you
I'm not quite sure. For mine, it just lifted right up. Maybe yours is caught on some piece of plastic, or the metal "spring" for the battery is catching? Just don't yank it - you definitely don't want to pull off any of the wires. Good luck!
@@CT6502 Yeah I was having the same issue and found that my spring was getting caught (on the bottom one) all you have to do is move it around gently pulling up will release it. The other place that it got stuck was the wiring, you'll need to remove the tape that was holding it otherwise you'll end up snaping the wires.
@@mhmmmmmmm Thanks Matthew for the tips - hopefully that will help people lift the circuit board.
@@CT6502 On the repair, I've noticed that you have bought two bands did you only use 1 for the repair? I've replaced the part but the track isn't rotating very fast and is slipping up.
@@mhmmmmmmm Hmm, that's interesting. I only used one band (it came with 2), but you're right - mine is sometimes slipping. Maybe we should try 2 bands?! That doesn't make a whole lot of sense, but maybe the band isn't actually the correct one, so 2 will work better.
Good job 👍
Thanks! It still sounds a bit warbly but at least it works.
Be carefull and demagnetise the screwdriver before adjusting the speed 😉 just saying
Excellent suggestion - thanks!