Roberts Reel to Reel Model 1725 Restoration
ฝัง
- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 4 ต.ค. 2024
- While visiting my mother I came across her tape recorder that she got when she was in high school and decided that I would restore it as a side project. The challenge will be that I will have no tools or test equipment with me, I will only be able to order parts and steal what I can from my brother to do the job.
The project will start with a complete disassembly and inspection. There is many years of dust and the unit is a maze to disassemble. Joining to assist in the project is my mother to provide commentary as well as Mason and Sadie to help with quality control.
Inspection shows which caps will need to be swapped from the unit, an order goes our as soon as possible, also I bought some QD contact cleaner and lube from home depot. All of the pots and switches get treated. Silver polish was used to clean the headphone jacks.
Each tube will be removed and carefully cleaned. Then the chassis will have the dust removed, finally the tube sockets and tube contacts get cleaned with contact cleaner. Date codes bring this recorder to around 1966.
The mechanical portion of the recorder is cleaned and then completely re-lubricated. Sadie inspects everything and determines my work to be satisfactory. In the mean time, an empty reel, and a 'blank MP3' arrives for mason to inspect, also new rubber real holders were ordered.
All of the outer components were cleaned to remove grime, that includes the metal and tolex. It came out surprisingly nice. Mason approved.
The capacitor swap was much fun with a tiny hobby radio shack soldering iron, but I got by. eventually all of the old caps were replaced, albeit, slowly. With that Assembly started in the reverse ensuring not to damage anything with the metal clips. Also the tape heads were serviced.
Smoke test was good for about 2 minutes until the 2uf cap exploded. It is non polarized........ I put the old one back in and will have to replace it. I know the old one will not last long.
With the rest of reassembly done, testing begins with some simple recording. Also the tape will be played through so that it can be tensioned.
Finally the big demo presentation is done as the tape is moved into the living room on the shelf reserved for this unit.
I have an old Brenell STB2 (from the 60's). It worked when I put it away 15 years ago and just plugged it in, no smoke, reels turn but no audio. All the tubes are on. Watching this video has gotten me to start to tinker with this old beast.
Find a good schematic and jump in!
VERY WELL DONE
Thanks.
Just finished a very similar restore a few months ago! Roberts 1630! Great work!
Thank you.
Thank you for this inspiring video. I'm thinking on restoring my Tandberg 741X recorder from 1968. The X is a cross field bias head opposite the record head to increase frequencies. Therefore it has 4 heads: record, playback, erase, and cross field. I think it might need belts, a couple of tubes, and maybe a head or two. I used to play it about four hours a day between 1968 and 1985. At that time I switched to CDs and started collecting them. I replaced all my albums on tape with the new commercially available CDs. Currently I own about 3000 CDs. For albums that never came out on CD I have a Teac CD recorder which I'm using to record albums from TH-cam. The frequency response is reduced because of the limiting factor of TH-cam, but I figure that is better getting old music that way than not having the old music at all. I edit the music using the Audacity program on my computer. All the music is loaded onto my computer in 5 music libraries and downloaded onto 5 iPods. Thanks again for your helpful video.
Very cool kids,future audio technicians.I hope you are passing on some of your skills to them,somebody has to keep this stuff running.I worked on Roberts R-R tape decks back in the 70's.Well made and still running.
I have the 1720w with build in speakers .... had 2 akai speakers with transmission line, sold them.. The other was a 4000 mk II gave it away. Now I see that they are worth a lot.
It's also a good idea to try and pull apart as much of the mechanical moving parts and clean off all the old grease and oil and replace with new grease and oil... Makes a huge difference in performance and takes away strain from belts while making the transport silent... Would have loved to see more work done on this machine, as in taking it back home where you have all your test equipment... But I guess beggars can't be choosers LoL... Great job by the way considering the limited tools, pity that you didn't get footage of the exploding capacitor...
Ill admit this was a rare situation having little to nothing to work with I was happy with the overall result though.
I just picked up one of these models recently. I had to order a couple of missing tubes. Took some coaxing but the motor started up. No sound yet, but that's most likely the missing tubes I assume.
Yes the tubes are of significant importance to the function
Just digging out my dad’s old Roberts tape recorder the exact same one I’m afraid to plug it in
Good.... The caps have all probably failed and need replacing.
16:48 - That's the run capacitor for the motor. It needs to be non-polarized!
18:50 - predicted!
Great video! I'm looking to do the same thing on an Akai 1710 I picked up. It's the exact same (well, almost) reel-to-reel as the the Roberts; just a different name. I started to take it apart but then I saw those large capacitors and got kinda worried. Did you do anything to discharge the capacitors before you started working on it?
Mine was off for 30 years, I wasn't concerned, but if I was, I would shunt a 1 MOHM resistor across the positive leads to ground and wait a few minutes.
did Akai build these for Roberts?... the Akai 1710 is the exact same unit... and that unit should play on its back just fine... and get a motor run cap from any place that sells ceiling fans...
I believe at some point Akai bought Roberts.
20:14 - tilting it back slightly also works.
I know nothing about electricity beyond changing batteries in my flashlights. I have a Roberts1725I-W, I purchased in March of 1968 after I left the service. I get my unit out every 10 years or so. It always starts up fine but there is squeaking seemingly from the mechanical parts. My question is regarding your constant mention of capacitors and your choosing to replace them all. I do understand they hold a charge but should I worry about disassembly and cleaning of the machine and lubricating the moving parts without dealing with the capacitors if everything appears to work? Thanks in advance regarding any comments.
They work until they dont, do so at your own peril.its about 60 years old.
На двигателе бумажный конденсатор стоит, там ток переменный, электролит туда нельзя, взорвётся.
Это биполярный конденсатор
Hello. Would you have ANY idea where I could find the rubber holders for the reel to reel tape? I have a Roberts 1725 8L my dad had. The tape holder dried out. Any ideas?
They are all over ebay
@@retrotechandelectronics Thanks! I'll give a look.
That motor capacitor replacement you used is questionable….The proper type would be available as used in modern ceiling fans. The work duty of a motor start or motor run capacitor is much more robust and as you stated isn’t a polarized type.
The cap I used exceeds the ratings and is also not polarized. Also not trouble for years. What issue is questionable exactly.
Hey there, im having some issues with my Roberts 1630. Was playing fine a few weeks ago but now heads are seemingly slow. Is this a magnetization issue (im new to tape reel to reel)? Any help would be greatly appreciated
Original capacitors?
Very confusing for us Brits. Roberts is a name that we know infamous for radios from the 50's and still going today although made of junk Chinese parts.
Actually, I couldn't tell you with any certainty if there was in fact no correlation. Roberts at the time was owned by Rheem, and then sold of to Akai. Its possible that the Roberts name came from the UK company as a subsidiary at the time, long before they put their logos on cheap Chinese shitboxen.
@@retrotechandelectronics Rheem is still around in Australia but they are into hot water systems today. It's not music to my ears but at least it makes having a shower enjoyable lol... If only they combined the two together, we would have an MP3 playing hot water system... It would definitely save me from bringing the Boombox into the bathroom because a shower with music is definitely better than just the shower on it's own.... Yeah I know.... First world problems LOL.