I continually marvel at your mechanical,electrical,electronic and plumbing skills its always good to watch you repair things and your banter is always enjoyable too
Hi there always enjoy watching your videos you are very knowledgeable on how to repair vintage equipment there is actually a guy that is on eBay he's from Montana and he does 3D prints of the cams myself I have ordered from him and have fixed my Roberts 771x reel to reel and works great now very nice guy he guarantees them for life so if you ever have any problem he will replace them free of charge
My dad bought one of these, back in 1983. It was an AKAI. It had light-up ☝ VU meters, and a lighted tape head mechanism. It was so COOL 😎. The clear acrylic plastic shield 🛡 was illuminated, which is the part on the outside of the tape transport mechanism. It also had a 4 digit tape counter with green numbers. Any of these were cool 😎 machines back then, but they're probably all in need of a recap job by now 👎. The REAL cool 😎 thing about these reel-to-reel tape decks, was when ya put it into fast forward, or rewind. It would go at such a high 👡 rate of speed, that the emptiest reel could attain very close to 30.000 rpm, before the machine automatically 🚘 stops ✋, when the end of the tape is reached. Please keep 👌 these GREAT reel-to-reel videos 📹 coming!! Your friend, Jeff.
Hi. I'm on a reel to reel facebook club, and the exact same thing happen one of the members Akai R2R. Their Son 3D printed the replacement and it's back in action. If you like I can get the details for you. Or I can get in touch of the person and ask for the STL file as I have a 3D printer too, and I can print it for you for free.
Got a 1710 with a bad FF and rew cam here in India. If the STL file is available I could 3d print them here. Shipping from the US is going upto a 100USD.
@@12voltvids Hi Dave. I found this. cults3d.com/en/cart They want $1.95 Australian for a copy. Do you want me to go ahead with the purchase? I'll print and ship it for free, I only need the $1.95 to download the file. Any thoughts?
I did my apprenticeship with Akai in Australia in the 1980's and some of those cams were becoming unavailable then. Back then there was no alternative but I was going to suggest a 3D print when I read your post. Glad to hear it's possible.
I have exactly the same model. It sat largely unused for round 40 years or more and I got it free after my granddads death. It had exactly the same issue with the play cam having disintegrated which was unfortunate as I was going to capture all my granddads tapes, plus one I made of myself as a kid on another machine. It took a few years but a replacement cam eventually popped up on ebay, now the mechanism works but it very sticky and needs the old grease cleaning off. I also think the pots need a good spray of deoxit as I can only get one channel with the other one being very low and scratchy, I havnt looked in the back at any caps yet. The other cams are made of the same crappy metal and will also go but so far it was the play cam, it was just shattered in the same way as this one, must have more force of it when not in use or something so it breaks sooner than the others. The replacement part I got was metal, I think it was a new casting, it didnt look anything like the metal used here. From what I recall it was approx £20-30 but its been a couple of years since I popped it in. There is someone in the UK 3D printing parts that they describe as "very strong", positive feedback coming from others that have bought the entire kit, however, nothing that explicitly says if they work or not. I may take one for the team and buy the kit to test out, once I have captured these tapes, even if they only work a short while they can be useful for capturing these tapes should any other cams break while I do so as I got this unit for free and working reel-reels go for huge amounts (this model goes above £100 when not working and a working one is at £150 currently with 4 days remaining, I expect it to go to £300 or so like others I have just looked at) and obviously are bulky to transport. During the years I was searching I was constantly bumping into freshly cast aluminium cams for a 4000DS, I have the 4000DB. The 4000DS seemed much more common and when I searched for the 4000DB I kept getting info for the GX version! I have often wondered if the 4000DS and DB have compatible cams, if they do that would have saved me a lot of waiting. Looking at this 3D printed kit, it seems to suggest that they are indeed compatible. I should check the belt, it worked ok but I should take a look in the back. I haven't tried going in the back yet, no idea what I will find! As an aside, my Granddad was a big Glen Miller fan, I have heard a couple of the tapes and I think they are likely Glen Miller broadcasts.
I own a 1970 Akai 4000DS. I bought mine on ebay, it's absolutely amazing how it is all original, all the capacitors and belts are original. I have no idea how but it plays and works fantastic. It does need a main belt which I have no idea where to obtain one. But other then that awesome video as always and the information that was good to know.
At least not for economical repair. Guy that owned it figured if he could get it going for 50 bucks he would be interested. When. I find 3d printed parts for 80us plus shipping and then labour on top he is looking a few hundred minimum to restore he says scrap it. Don't blame him. I bought one of these machines for 30 about 5 years ago.
It brings my memories of fixing a Sony Spool tape recorder in 1980s in India. A cam piece similar to the one in this Akai tape recorder had many cracks and one it broke into many pieces, I collected all those pieces and glued them to bring to the shape. Then created on from bronze scrape metal to replace the broken one. Try to make one your self to replace the broken cam in this tape recorder.
These were sold in the millions of units, I'm sure. I have 2, 1 for parts. I bet an enterprising kid can fabricate parts in solid nylon, in their bedroom on their 3d printer. Those units were nice. Not only sound on sound, but they were good for archiving classes one track at a time T 1 7/8 ips. That was a loooooong time ago.
That sound on sound switch got me yesterday. SOS was in the ON position and as I was testing the machine I thought the entire right channel was dead :D
I had that exact model for many years. It sounded pretty good, though the flutter was pretty high (about 0.15% spec) and you could hear it on piano and violin music. The playback head wore out and I replaced it with a Tandberg TD20A, which I still have. Big improvement!
I fixed these Akai cams with epoxy steel putty. Then should file and make it to working shape It was a 3000D and had both cams cracked. I removed thom and fixed with 2 holes and passing a square U strong steel wire and apply epoxy steel 5 minutes or longer one and let it dry a day. Then file it to shape and fix it. It is still running and the cams are working OK.
Grundig also used pot metal on critical tape recorder mechanism parts in the 1960s. And it is sad to think how many machines were thrown away because of the cracked mechanics.
@@12voltvids if you have a friend with a printer maybe he can print some. All 3d files are on the thingiverse website. I have fixed 2 players like that. I printed solid with ABS plastic. After lubricating everything, this works super good, no wear at all!
If it's a better deck than the one you have maybe your old one uses the same cams and you can swap them in and get it running. You can always order the repopped cams later and get both running. My first reel to Reel was a 4000ds MKII and I never had a problem with it in the time I owned it. It used the same setup so might be a good option for used spare parts too.
Looks like a job for some 3D printing. Be interesting to see how long plastic lasts against pot metal. I suppose it wouldn't crack the same way at least.
I have the DS version of this unit. I replaced all of the capacitors and the known, noisy transistors. (There were A LOT of them). It's good to know that there are replacement parts in case the pot-metal cams ever break on mine. I knew that they were a problem, so I cleaned them and put a thin layer of white lithium grease on them so there is the very least resistance when turning them. If they ever do break, I will replace them. It's a very-good sounding, simple, solid unit.
Love your videos. I have an Akai 4000 that works great that I got from an estate sale. But I found Reel Pro Sound Guys make these cams, 3d printed I think. Anyway all five cams (didn't know they had 5) are listed for $80.00 on their website. I have not ordered from them so I can't attest to their service.
80 is way to much. Guy that owned it scrapped it as soon as I told him the parts were 80 US plus shipping and taxes broker fees ect. He had a 50.00 limit to repair and that included labour.
@@robbywest2k8 people get ripped off on eBay. I have received about 15 reel to reel recorded for free over the last year. Myself i wouldn't pay more than. 30 bucks for one. Of wait i got a gx4000 for 30 bucks.
I'd do some Googling around there is a fella online that makes new cams for the Akai's for this reason alone. I'm not sure he's still doing it, but this was 2-3 years ago when I last read about this and at the time, he was still doing it. Worth a shot. when you opened this up and saw it was a single motor, I knew this was the issue. A place to start is Tapeheads (use Google to search it, put tapeheads in the search parameters).
Seen that happen to capstan flywheels in tape decks. I read that damp and moisture can exacerbate the problem; the unfortunate/ inevitable nature of pot metal. It is what it is..
These things were noisy as hell. When playing music at a low level, my Akai 4000 was louder than the music. Sold it and bought a completely silent Sony.
There are a slew of these vintage tape machines out there, still in working condition. However finding parts is often very difficult or impossible since the manufacturer often discontinues replacements after so many years after a machine was in production. NOS is more common to finding parts now.
It's not just Also, Philips used pot metal gears on some old tube radios, they also fail. Don't had tiny little pot metal gears on the loading carriage on their C9 beta machines, lots of examples I'm sure. What I need is an idler wheel for a lovely old Tandberg 1600 ... They come up occasionally but at silly money for a vintage used part that is also of unknown state until it arrives! Nice video, thanks
A lot of models are fit with this mechanism. Maybe a good idea to advise when you buy such thing to take the front plate off, and apply lots of fresh grease around the steel ball and cam. That will surely easy tension on that thing. I have repaired a lot of them, I worked at the distributors shop in our country, but never saw this back then in the '70.
I'm dealing with the whole "no replacement parts" thing myself, the back tension band in my JVC HR-7100U VCR is shot and there just aren't any replacements to buy, or even affordable parts machines.
The sad fact of the matter is, pot metal does not like shock or stress and will eventually crack. Or you have zinc impurities in it and it crumbles into grains. Thousands of dollars worth of collectible die-cast models have gone this way, despite being kept in cabinets and in their original boxes.
"Pot metal" I am just to that part in the video. Yes, of course. The cheap pot metal whammy bar bridges play ok for the first 6 months to a year. If you didn't scope it hard, you would think "ok, nice." They fall apart soon thereafter. As for my Japanese guitars, the real deal, decades and decades and it would be impossible to tell it has even been used. I beat on my axes and am whammy freak more than anyone out there, too. Of course, proper maintenance is always key as well, like chapstick lipbalm on the knife edges that meet the posts. :)
I have the cams from the Akai 1721W and it does match this one. I worked on fixing the left channel last week, and what I did is that the record/playback head is started to break, and it has a tiny gap on it and the left is lost while recording and playback. I just ordered another reel-to-reel machine which is a Sony TC-105 and I hope I can get the thing working soon.
This metal is an alloy called Zamak, Zinc,Aluminum, magnesium copper, with the years and humidity of the environment what is called Zink pest is generated, which is extreme corrosion, it will depend on the lead impurities and the environmental conditions, it is knew that the zamak factory improved the process using almost 100% zinc to avoid this problem and a better manufacturing, the striking thing is that AKAI has this problem is incredible, one would think that there was extreme quality, I saw Fisher decks of 3 heads with this same problem. The dashboard and speedometer housing of my Citroen 3cv (Argentine 2cv6 version) is made of Zamak and is in perfect condition being from 1974, I think it must be a manufacturing problem as indicated.
what actually is pot metal someone else on youtube fixed a Magnavox turntable by drilling out a similar part that he used to replace the cam pin bracket for the cycling gear wheel
Dave, you are going to laugh at me to the fullest. I already know this because I am at myself (both in good and bad way.) My laser in the cd changer I have was STILL acting weird. It would play perfectly, then come back next day without tweaks, and would not play well again STILL. (Temperature as in warm up was ruled out. I considered both warmed up state and not.) Do you want to know what I did? I knew I would not ever want to use the unit this way - so I did an experiment. I am a tobacco user and 420. I took the floating base assembly out of the unit once again and poured alcohol all over it like a madman. Then I did it again, so as to let it get right at the internal parts (I think there is mirror inside.) The result is that it is the least touchy, most on point it has been yet. Also, the sweet spot of the RF Power adjustment is far lower than it used to be before I did this. I am not recommending this technique but I am recommending it to try on a laser assembly that is of little to no value to you or a customer. In other words, try it on one that you comdemn and see if it works for you too. haha It takes a WHILE to dry but a hair dryer helps. If it is not dry enough, disc no spin so wait it out in this case.
@@12voltvids I put the unit back where it goes normally. It is perhaps 95% on point now. Plays everything very well, dirty discs cleaned then play well too. It is still not what can be considered perfect, as here or there, it just decides it wants to distort (scratchy sound.). I have a gang of 220uF 25V and 100uF 50V Nichicons on their way here, all 105 degrees C, for the RF circuitry. My gut instinct (no ESR meter here) is that this is going to seal the deal. :) The voltage in the area is precisely to a tee @ 5v.
Now I don’t use my Akai 1721W anymore, because the of the record/playback head is shot and the cams are still pot metal, I finally got my hands on my Panasonic RS-765US reel-to-reel tape recorder and it finally works. I got it off of eBay a few days ago, and it is way better than the Akai. I put a new belt for the rewind mechanism, because the original belt was shot, the fast forward and playback runs, and the rewind doesn’t run before I put belt in. After testing the recording, the playback runs good, the right channel plays on the VU meter while the left channel was weak. So I did checked one of the bias condensers on the bottom inside of the circuit board and I adjust it to make the VU meter looks a lot better on the left channel when playing a tape. Everything works perfectly and it is ready to record and play a tape. If you want to see it in action, check out my video.
no worrys mate problem solved. take yours as a blueprint for a 3D print and it will run again. Perhaps a video will be viewed by many if you take it on
My guess is if you’re going to get an Akai, stick to the ones that have solenoid controls but don’t accidentally buy one with a bad bias oscillator so you can’t erase or record tapes like I did when I was 11 years younger and didn’t know any better...
@@Musicradio77Network that’s for sure. In June I was given two reel to reel decks. A Sony and an Akai. the Sony quadraphonic deck works just fine. while the AkaI runs fine for a few minutes but slows down probably due to a motor capacitor issue.
I have 3 akai r2r machines and 7 cassette decks also akai not counting a flat type gxc-38D...they are built like tanks and all still work just fine. R2r machines started to loose channels last year - cant blame them though considering their age!...Love those glass heads!
It's the awful Zamak. A lot's early and late 70's RTR and cassette deck, have this mechanism with this material. And some 80's cassette deck have the flywheel Capstan in Zamak too.
Always consider cams and transistors as guaranteed dead when buying solid state pre-80s Akai. All is replaceable but factor it into your price. If the cams aren't already broken they are on borrowed time and it's probably easiest to replace them during the overhaul.
I have been buying and selling Akai's now for 20 years and have yet to see one with a broken cam! I make the early 70's the earliest I will buy though, that might have something to do with it? I find the Akai's with less wrong with them, and more likely to get working with just doing simple fixes - they seem to be lasting well into the 2020's. I own an Akai X2000SD which has Reel to Reel, 8 track Tape Player and Compact Cassette Player in one unit. I use it every w/e and it have a spare one for parts which I haven't needed (the spare one has a blown channel)
Zinc pest is an interesting beast, two identical ZAMAK items can exhibit wildly different rates of decay or even be completely unaffected. Anecdotal evidence suggest the 60s models are the worst affected like the M series. No doubt there were composition changes during the years.
BTW the pot metal will last forever if you don't monkey with it and treat your reel-to-reel nicely. It is a mechanical unit with lots of moving parts the transport should be lightly oiled once every 40 YEARS haha! Anyway the only thing I see on the 1722 II series that ever goes bad is the electronics... again after 40 years a capacitor will blow. Otherwise they should make it to 100 if you treat them nice and don't force moving parts in ways they're not supposed to go, etc.
6:22 : So, given the propensity of these things to break due to age and fatigue (understandable given that they did not belong in the higher price echelons when they first came out), has anyone attempted to get such a part custom made by a machinist or 3D-printed? It only takes one person having the skills and interest for restoring such decks to give an extra lease of life to many of these decks (until sth harder to replace fails that is...). :(
These parts are available as fresh casts or 3D printed parts already, they generally are compatible with a large range of models which helps make them easier to sell. A year ago I replaced my play/rec cam (the one that broke here) with a newly cast replacement, works fine now. I have noticed the other cams are going the same way, but they will last a little longer. I do have one other broken cam, the C-2 cam. No idea what that does but it didnt really affect anything I did with the machine this afternoon when I decided to test its functions. I'm going to replace all the cams with 3D printed replacements, apart from the play/rec one as thats a new metal part. I dont think that the 3D printed cams will have much of a problem, there is not a huge amount of force in the mechanism.
@@dlarge6502 This is great to know. Any idea if the material of the new casts is the same as before? Or whether it's upgraded to sth fancier, e.g. aluminium? I reckon 3D replacements will be an improvement. The material should be less brittle and have better frictional properties for the task. It'll probably be both harder and more elastic (if that makes any sense) than the cast zinc alloy used and will be less likely to corrode. All in all I'd expect a longer lifespan and better function. Where can someone find these?
If you don't force it well... most pot metal just needs a tiny bit of lube every few decades. But still it will probably never break if you're nice to it.
If the die-cast cams are available in 3D printed nylon and they work well, that’s probably the cheapest solution. But another solution is machining new cams from aluminum billet, or if one is into overkill, stainless steel. I have an AKAI 770x I bought new in 1978 and all it’s cams are still intact. Looking at them as a machinist, they are not that complex and even manually machining new ones would not be that hard. I plan to do that for my machine before they do finally give up the ghost.
I'm sure someone could but that someone is not me. Anything can be rebuilt for anyone with deep pockets but the average person doesn't care enough about this old gear to spend the money on it. They are a dime a dozen anywhere but epay
There are products out there to either: - glue the parts together (e.g. I found "Tech Bond" on youtube - maybe there are others) - solder them together (e.g. "Muggyweld" products that use a low melting temperature solder) I'm not sure how reliable repairs using these products would turn out to be, given the amount of repeated stress these part are subjected to. I'd guess the repairs would not last but I thought I'd post this in case anyone has experience with using these products for repairing mechanical (rather than decorative) parts.
I was given an Akai X-150D. Everything right now seems to work fine, but of course this model used freakin pot metal cams too. So far no issues YET. Better enjoy it while it lasts I guess.
Don't you hate it when a customer tries to repair their appliance themselves? I had a Fostex 4 track come in and the customer said, "It keeps blowing fuses" Right then I knew he had been in it, turns out it was only the full wave bridge rectifier had a bad diode in it. Replaced it and discovered it had 2.9 amps going through it, and it was the round "non-heatsinked" variety. Bad design. I just replaced it with OEM and never heard back. Guess it still works.
I completely hear you 100% (I am not pro by trade.) I can EASILY place myself in your shoes and I understand 100% - but do you fix your car? Change tires? Oil? Maybe even brakes? Ever mess something up because you're not a pro? (I am not mechanic either, but nobody is perfect - not even pros.) It all comes down to point of view. If I worked in repair, I would probably tell the customer there can be a non-existant, small or large surcharge, depending on my findings of difficulty they created or didn't.
@@MrChrisRP ^^^ female Japanese and I replaced my own Mazda's alternator. It was humourous when the shop techs kept asking me if I needed it done for me & I just said no "I got this". The only question if I could repair something on my vehicle is is I could provide the torque required for proper belt tension. This was ugly and I feel bad for 12voltvids for not being able to complete it, but you can not have in stock every part of every media device.
Sure. People ate selling 3d printed parts for about 100 plus shipping. Last time I ordered an 85.00 usd part for a TV ot cost 30 in shipping and then FedEx sent me a 49.00 broker bull on top. Cost the owner 350 to fix his TV that could have been replaced for that.
This is the second time I see this, both on a 4000DS. I've seen more sony machines with issues though, but that doesn't say that much because I only get the ones that people have thrown out. Interestingly none of my (12 or so) 4000DS machines have this issue.
A lot of models are fit with this mechanism. Maybe a good idea to take the front plate off, and apply lots of fresh grease around the steel ball and cam. That will surely easy tension on that thing when you activate it. In the video is clearly to see how to get there, and there's not a lot that can go wrong in applying.
This mechanism was only used in the cheaper models of AKAIs but even there only a part have this problem. I own two models with this gear and both are fine. When it comes to this deccay of the material there is no solution then to exchange. It crumbles in thousand pieces.
Not worth repairing not a single person i have mentioned 3d printed replacements for about 100usd for the part plus shipping and installation they have all thrown the machine out.
@@12voltvids Good, thank you very much for the advice! If you don't mind a second question: do you believe that 4 tracks recording quality will still be nice to listen? I'm a musician and I'm looking for one machine yo experiment recording in my studio. Thanks so much!!
@@eduugr If you are looking for a very good sounding, literally studio quality reel to reel look for a Teac 3340. I have one, they sound amazing. 4 independent tracks with simusync. So you can listen to your playback tracks from the record head as you add additional layers on another track. True 4 track recording. It also has 15IPS and is is built like a tank. If you are looking for home studio recording on 1/4 4 track this is what you should be looking for, or the 8 track version, or fostek is another brand that made high quality. Akai farted around with that cross field recording to improve the frequency response of 3 3/4 speed but anyone doing any type of instrument recording isn 't farting around with slow tape speeds. You want to use the fastest speed the machine has. 15IPS does a dam good job.
As long as the heads are ok, meaning no wear at all! Any R2R is repairable with origional parts even! R2R 's everywhere. Good heads for most if not all consumerdecks, as good as unobtainable. Not new, not NOS, not parted out available,. nada! Buy only a deck with no physical wear on the heads: Or make shure you can source / buy them ot have a spare head or complete set if needed. Othe then that. Eveything that wears out is being newly manufactured for most decks. And complete decks with bad heads you stumble over online especially! R2R's big bulky roomy, easy to work at.
It would be nice to look into the situation and see if the piece is available from at least somewhere, and if not, attempt to fuse the metal back together in some fashion
@@rawr51919 It cost $80 but save the hassle of 3D printing. www.ebay.com/itm/Akai-Cams-Set-Reel-To-Reel-NEW-Lifetime-Replacement-Warranty-/133290230136
@@DunQuDeYi 90 US, thats what about 130 CDN now, and then don't forget broker fees and tax brings it to close to 180. I bought a working Akai 4000 for 30.00
The part is Zinc die cast part and they can fail, especially if they are used with rough hands. I see there is a seller in the UK Ebay offering them for £28 + postage
The Pot metal cam for the head adjustment going bad and cracking and falling apart is what unfortunately put my Akai M-8 out of commission. ☹️ Why Akai thought it was a good idea to make these cams out of this evil stuff I don’t know...The same goes to for 1926 and later Victrola tonearm brackets, and post 1908 Edison phonograph mandrel bearings!
Fortunately this crapy part can be made (moulded) with a metal or nylon version. You have to make them yourself of course, its just a quarter circle with a square hole. Takes some time but absolutely doable. Same with the belt, i replaced the crappy flat version with a 3D printer ribbed belt. Your choice.
But at what cost. Last I checked over 100 for the cams by the time they are delivered to Canada. Customer will not pay that they want stuff fixed for 100 total. Can't work for free
@@12voltvids It was bout 30 dollars delivered for the play/record cam. And the comment was not aimed at you, its for people like me that fix their own stuff. And you videos are Great.
Hey love your vids as always, I just bought an Akai M-10 and the mechanism is in great working order but the preamp/has problem with the right channel is low and distorted at the RCA output, as well as the VU meter and the internal speaker makes no sounds, left channel takes some time to wake up but sounds fine afterwards and even works with the internal speaker any ideas? I am thinking lazy Capacitors for the left channel, and either bad caps or transistors for the right channel, any ideas?
Transistors used on those old units are very problematic. Transistors in the 70s weren't really reliable. Many old devices had transistors in sockets so they could be rapidly swapped. I was given an x360 that won't record. A project for another day I guess.
folks, any idea how to align the tape path on these akai 4000's? i have the DS mk.II, I already fixed the pinch reel and one of the switches, however, often times the tape slips off the pinch reel and gets all twisted and stretched. there's also a squeaky sound coming from that guide below the supply reel... any help is appreciated!
The process akai used for the cams is called power metallurgy , it was a cheap way of making complex parts without machining . What it consisted of was aluminium powder that was mixed with a powdered glue. The power mix was poured into a mould , then pressed to about 20t . The formed part was then put in an oven and baked. The glue powder melted and bound the aluminium together . A lot of things were made using that process from buttons to bezels and way more. The trouble with this process is a broken part can’t be solder or welded as the material is a powder with glue through it . Problems arise with age with this process, as early glue technology was organic . What happens is the glue breaks down over time and the part starts to crumble and fall to bits . I’ve see flywheels on small tape recorders look like they’re cracking and swelling up due to the glue binder failing
Hello, I have a problem about my Old VCR. Why does it only plays about 5 secs and stops? It doesn't turn off itself but just stops the mechanism and have to press play over and over again. I tried doing rewinding and forwarding the tape as suggested online, but still no changes. I was also surprised when I tried to push the carbon piece above the tape head that wasn't touching it and the tape played until I stopped pushing it, but after that I tried doing it again it doesn't work anymore. Is there any way I can fix my JVC VCR? Because the tape head work just well but the mechanism is just the problem.
You can't win them all. I don't understand the thumbs down either. It is what it is, if a complex part is no longer made or you don't have a spare machine you can do nothing.
The Sony decks are not without their demons either. I have a Sony TC-399 sitting in the back store room that has noisy transistors in the front end. I have owned it since new, bought it in 1983 or thereabouts. Do you know which ones are typically the problem with these? It sounds like standing next to a waterfall with no tape running through it. I also have an outboard Dolby B unit by Teac. It is a model AN-60, I am in the process of doing a visual inspection of the solder joints and the insides for bulging electrolytics or anything obvious. Haven't decided to sell it or recap it and keep it.
hi there is 3D print parts now i have used them the only thing they cost i never seen bad cam's i only seen 1 bad gear in rs-x 101 cassette deck out of alot of them betacam sp has bad rubber part and parts that are not working right
Dang you're good. No kidding. Do you ever do PCB soldering. I need to have a chip remove from board and put on to another board. If you do this please let me know what you charge I can tell you more if you're interested I live in Ohio. Keith Kuhn
Not enough resolution to look at complex waveforms such as video or the eye pattern on cd players or RF envelope on VCRs ect. It is a pretty usess scope. Would have never bought it if I knew it's limitation but the shop wouldnt take it back. So I wasted about 700 on it.
You'd think that akai would've used better quality materials. Those cams have alot of stress on them. I've seen 8 or 10 already with bad cams. I'm astonished that you can print a new one now . Alien technology.!
For the 4000 I have it's 75.00 us plus shipping. Not worth fixing. These old units sell pretty cheap. One was sitting on Facebook. Started at 400 and down at 130 now and no bites. I paid 30 for mine and it works.
I'm sure some people are trying to do that. This cost money if someone wanted to put $500 into fixing one of these old machines and possibly you could get 3D printed replacement cams in fact I know you can because people are selling them for about a hundred bucks us. Convert that to Canadian that's around 138 these days, then there's another 60 or so dollars in taxes and broker fees tacked on to that, you're up to about 200 bucks just to get the part. Then there's the time taken to disassemble and replace the parts another $150. So now we're at $350 to fix an old tape deck, one that I picked up in identical unit to this less the Dolby for $30. So $350 to fix a tape recorder that would sell for about 30 bucks doesn't make a lot of sense to me nor anybody that I know that has any brains. You hear of people spending huge amounts of money repairing old vintage equipment and the only thing that comes to mind is more money than brains. I don't have those customers here generally because people out my neck of the woods are a little bit more careful with their money. They won't spend their money fixing some old piece of junk like this no they'll take that money that they were going to spend to fix something old like this and pay someone like me to transfer their media to digital and be done with the old obsolete media. I have more old tape recorders kicking around here that people abandoned because they didn't want to spend the money to fix it. None of this stuff is worth anywhere close to what people think it is. It's only fake eBay sales that drives the hype and gets people into thinking that this old equipment is worth a lot of money. They look at past sales that have sold in the thousands for certain pieces of equipment and believe that that is what it is worth. What they don't realize is that a lot of this stuff that sold for high dollars on eBay didn't even exist, it was criminals putting up pretend ads to sell pretend equipment between their associates in themselves for the purpose of money laundering through PayPal. Why do you think PayPal's policies have changed requiring everyone who sells product to report income of over $600 per year? I guess PayPal has made a lot of money and so has eBay through those transactions. The person laundering their money sees the transaction fees is just a cost of doing business to exchange dirty money for clean. But what it does is it creates a false sense that this old equipment is worth a lot of money and everyone thinks that the old receiver that they've had sitting in their cabinet for the past 40 years it's going to fund their retirement. only a true fool would actually buy something at those prices!
I continually marvel at your mechanical,electrical,electronic and plumbing skills its always good to watch you repair things and your banter is always enjoyable too
Hi there always enjoy watching your videos you are very knowledgeable on how to repair vintage equipment there is actually a guy that is on eBay he's from Montana and he does 3D prints of the cams myself I have ordered from him and have fixed my Roberts 771x reel to reel and works great now very nice guy he guarantees them for life so if you ever have any problem he will replace them free of charge
My dad bought one of these, back in 1983. It was an AKAI. It had light-up ☝ VU meters, and a lighted tape head mechanism. It was so COOL 😎. The clear acrylic plastic shield 🛡 was illuminated, which is the part on the outside of the tape transport mechanism. It also had a 4 digit tape counter with green numbers. Any of these were cool 😎 machines back then, but they're probably all in need of a recap job by now 👎. The REAL cool 😎 thing about these reel-to-reel tape decks, was when ya put it into fast forward, or rewind. It would go at such a high 👡 rate of speed, that the emptiest reel could attain very close to 30.000 rpm, before the machine automatically 🚘 stops ✋, when the end of the tape is reached. Please keep 👌 these GREAT reel-to-reel videos 📹 coming!! Your friend, Jeff.
I'll be very gentle then with my Akair 1721L. I've had that for about 15 years and it's been super-reliable so far.
Hi. I'm on a reel to reel facebook club, and the exact same thing happen one of the members Akai R2R. Their Son 3D printed the replacement and it's back in action. If you like I can get the details for you. Or I can get in touch of the person and ask for the STL file as I have a 3D printer too, and I can print it for you for free.
Bingo! Make sure the kid doesn't get ripped off. He should charge a premium price for his service.
Cool
Got a 1710 with a bad FF and rew cam here in India. If the STL file is available I could 3d print them here. Shipping from the US is going upto a 100USD.
@@12voltvids Hi Dave. I found this. cults3d.com/en/cart They want $1.95 Australian for a copy. Do you want me to go ahead with the purchase? I'll print and ship it for free, I only need the $1.95 to download the file. Any thoughts?
I did my apprenticeship with Akai in Australia in the 1980's and some of those cams were becoming unavailable then. Back then there was no alternative but I was going to suggest a 3D print when I read your post. Glad to hear it's possible.
I have exactly the same model. It sat largely unused for round 40 years or more and I got it free after my granddads death. It had exactly the same issue with the play cam having disintegrated which was unfortunate as I was going to capture all my granddads tapes, plus one I made of myself as a kid on another machine.
It took a few years but a replacement cam eventually popped up on ebay, now the mechanism works but it very sticky and needs the old grease cleaning off. I also think the pots need a good spray of deoxit as I can only get one channel with the other one being very low and scratchy, I havnt looked in the back at any caps yet. The other cams are made of the same crappy metal and will also go but so far it was the play cam, it was just shattered in the same way as this one, must have more force of it when not in use or something so it breaks sooner than the others.
The replacement part I got was metal, I think it was a new casting, it didnt look anything like the metal used here. From what I recall it was approx £20-30 but its been a couple of years since I popped it in.
There is someone in the UK 3D printing parts that they describe as "very strong", positive feedback coming from others that have bought the entire kit, however, nothing that explicitly says if they work or not. I may take one for the team and buy the kit to test out, once I have captured these tapes, even if they only work a short while they can be useful for capturing these tapes should any other cams break while I do so as I got this unit for free and working reel-reels go for huge amounts (this model goes above £100 when not working and a working one is at £150 currently with 4 days remaining, I expect it to go to £300 or so like others I have just looked at) and obviously are bulky to transport.
During the years I was searching I was constantly bumping into freshly cast aluminium cams for a 4000DS, I have the 4000DB. The 4000DS seemed much more common and when I searched for the 4000DB I kept getting info for the GX version! I have often wondered if the 4000DS and DB have compatible cams, if they do that would have saved me a lot of waiting. Looking at this 3D printed kit, it seems to suggest that they are indeed compatible.
I should check the belt, it worked ok but I should take a look in the back. I haven't tried going in the back yet, no idea what I will find!
As an aside, my Granddad was a big Glen Miller fan, I have heard a couple of the tapes and I think they are likely Glen Miller broadcasts.
I own a 1970 Akai 4000DS. I bought mine on ebay, it's absolutely amazing how it is all original, all the capacitors and belts are original. I have no idea how but it plays and works fantastic. It does need a main belt which I have no idea where to obtain one. But other then that awesome video as always and the information that was good to know.
Ebay, you will find belt kits on ebay, there are just two.
Or you can get it on amazon also.
Great that you understood the fault and troubleshoot. But feeling sorry as parts are not available for repair.
At least not for economical repair. Guy that owned it figured if he could get it going for 50 bucks he would be interested. When. I find 3d printed parts for 80us plus shipping and then labour on top he is looking a few hundred minimum to restore he says scrap it. Don't blame him. I bought one of these machines for 30 about 5 years ago.
It brings my memories of fixing a Sony Spool tape recorder in 1980s in India. A cam piece similar to the one in this Akai tape recorder had many cracks and one it broke into many pieces,
I collected all those pieces and glued them to bring to the shape. Then created on from bronze scrape metal to replace the broken one. Try to make one your self to replace the broken cam in this tape recorder.
These were sold in the millions of units, I'm sure. I have 2, 1 for parts. I bet an enterprising kid can fabricate parts in solid nylon, in their bedroom on their 3d printer. Those units were nice. Not only sound on sound, but they were good for archiving classes one track at a time T 1 7/8 ips. That was a loooooong time ago.
That sound on sound switch got me yesterday. SOS was in the ON position and as I was testing the machine I thought the entire right channel was dead :D
Faced the same problem. The part was glued together and then soaked in epoxy. Not the most elegant solution, it but it worked.
I had that exact model for many years. It sounded pretty good, though the flutter was pretty high (about 0.15% spec) and you could hear it on piano and violin music. The playback head wore out and I replaced it with a Tandberg TD20A, which I still have. Big improvement!
I fixed these Akai cams with epoxy steel putty. Then should file and make it to working shape It was a 3000D and had both cams cracked. I removed thom and fixed with 2 holes and passing a square U strong steel wire and apply epoxy steel 5 minutes or longer one and let it dry a day. Then file it to shape and fix it. It is still running and the cams are working OK.
Job Well done Sir. Those old AKAI Reel to Reel with those giant levers (that most break) scare the hell out of me.
Grundig also used pot metal on critical tape recorder mechanism parts in the 1960s. And it is sad to think how many machines were thrown away because of the cracked mechanics.
Dave, I just saw that you can order these on ebay, about $80.00 USD !
Well it's mine now, so perhaps I will do that some day.
@@12voltvids if you have a friend with a printer maybe he can print some. All 3d files are on the thingiverse website. I have fixed 2 players like that. I printed solid with ABS plastic. After lubricating everything, this works super good, no wear at all!
If it's a better deck than the one you have maybe your old one uses the same cams and you can swap them in and get it running. You can always order the repopped cams later and get both running.
My first reel to Reel was a 4000ds MKII and I never had a problem with it in the time I owned it. It used the same setup so might be a good option for used spare parts too.
@@69Dartman Its the same, just Dolby NR
@@12voltvids Hopefully you should update on the Akai 4000DB with a new 3D printed cam replacement, and it will work perfectly.
I love all the destructive videos at the beginning! 😂 that was awesome. And thanks for the knowledge about these old decks. Cheers!
Glad you enjoyed!
Looks like a job for some 3D printing. Be interesting to see how long plastic lasts against pot metal. I suppose it wouldn't crack the same way at least.
no need. easy. It is generally available for sale.
IIRC someone did model up the part and do this - last I heard it was still working fine.
The harder plastics do fine. There is a 3d printed part for this I listed it above.
I bought one "working" with the crumbled cam problem. A friend 3-D printed me a new one. He found the design on the Thingyverse. Worked a treat!
I have the DS version of this unit. I replaced all of the capacitors and the known, noisy transistors. (There were A LOT of them).
It's good to know that there are replacement parts in case the pot-metal cams ever break on mine. I knew that they were a problem, so I cleaned them and put a thin layer of white lithium grease on them so there is the very least resistance when turning them.
If they ever do break, I will replace them. It's a very-good sounding, simple, solid unit.
I did the same thing with my 4000DS. Works great again!
Love your videos. I have an Akai 4000 that works great that I got from an estate sale. But I found Reel Pro Sound Guys make these cams, 3d printed I think. Anyway all five cams (didn't know they had 5) are listed for $80.00 on their website. I have not ordered from them so I can't attest to their service.
80 is way to much. Guy that owned it scrapped it as soon as I told him the parts were 80 US plus shipping and taxes broker fees ect. He had a 50.00 limit to repair and that included labour.
@@12voltvids Guy should look at how much these sell for on Ebay. Just sayin.
@@robbywest2k8 people get ripped off on eBay. I have received about 15 reel to reel recorded for free over the last year. Myself i wouldn't pay more than. 30 bucks for one. Of wait i got a gx4000 for 30 bucks.
I. like to have my tape akai no sound?
@@josecastejon8428wore heads? Dirty heads
Thanks
I have akai boombox
I like your repairing videos
Love from india 🙏
I'd do some Googling around there is a fella online that makes new cams for the Akai's for this reason alone. I'm not sure he's still doing it, but this was 2-3 years ago when I last read about this and at the time, he was still doing it. Worth a shot. when you opened this up and saw it was a single motor, I knew this was the issue.
A place to start is Tapeheads (use Google to search it, put tapeheads in the search parameters).
Yes still doing it. Still selling it.
Seen that happen to capstan flywheels in tape decks. I read that damp and moisture can exacerbate the problem; the unfortunate/ inevitable nature of pot metal. It is what it is..
These things were noisy as hell. When playing music at a low level, my Akai 4000 was louder than the music. Sold it and bought a completely silent Sony.
Akai had shitty transistors. Even my old tube 1710w is noisy.
There are a slew of these vintage tape machines out there, still in working condition. However finding parts is often very difficult or impossible since the manufacturer often discontinues replacements after so many years after a machine was in production. NOS is more common to finding parts now.
It's not just Also, Philips used pot metal gears on some old tube radios, they also fail. Don't had tiny little pot metal gears on the loading carriage on their C9 beta machines, lots of examples I'm sure. What I need is an idler wheel for a lovely old Tandberg 1600 ... They come up occasionally but at silly money for a vintage used part that is also of unknown state until it arrives! Nice video, thanks
A lot of models are fit with this mechanism. Maybe a good idea to advise when you buy such thing to take the front plate off, and apply lots of fresh grease around the steel ball and cam. That will surely easy tension on that thing. I have repaired a lot of them, I worked at the distributors shop in our country, but never saw this back then in the '70.
I'm dealing with the whole "no replacement parts" thing myself, the back tension band in my JVC HR-7100U VCR is shot and there just aren't any replacements to buy, or even affordable parts machines.
Damn pot metal. Ive seen other weird metal in 70's rtr machines of several brands
The sad fact of the matter is, pot metal does not like shock or stress and will eventually crack. Or you have zinc impurities in it and it crumbles into grains. Thousands of dollars worth of collectible die-cast models have gone this way, despite being kept in cabinets and in their original boxes.
"Pot metal" I am just to that part in the video. Yes, of course. The cheap pot metal whammy bar bridges play ok for the first 6 months to a year. If you didn't scope it hard, you would think "ok, nice." They fall apart soon thereafter. As for my Japanese guitars, the real deal, decades and decades and it would be impossible to tell it has even been used. I beat on my axes and am whammy freak more than anyone out there, too. Of course, proper maintenance is always key as well, like chapstick lipbalm on the knife edges that meet the posts. :)
I have the cams from the Akai 1721W and it does match this one. I worked on fixing the left channel last week, and what I did is that the record/playback head is started to break, and it has a tiny gap on it and the left is lost while recording and playback.
I just ordered another reel-to-reel machine which is a Sony TC-105 and I hope I can get the thing working soon.
I still have the machine. Sitting on the floor over by the door.
This metal is an alloy called Zamak, Zinc,Aluminum, magnesium copper, with the years and humidity of the environment what is called Zink pest is generated, which is extreme corrosion, it will depend on the lead impurities and the environmental conditions, it is knew that the zamak factory improved the process using almost 100% zinc to avoid this problem and a better manufacturing, the striking thing is that AKAI has this problem is incredible, one would think that there was extreme quality, I saw Fisher decks of 3 heads with this same problem.
The dashboard and speedometer housing of my Citroen 3cv (Argentine 2cv6 version) is made of Zamak and is in perfect condition being from 1974, I think it must be a manufacturing problem as indicated.
Great mastery
Could a replacement cam be 3-D printed?
what actually is pot metal someone else on youtube fixed a Magnavox turntable by drilling out a similar part that he used to replace the cam pin bracket for the cycling gear wheel
Dave, you are going to laugh at me to the fullest. I already know this because I am at myself (both in good and bad way.) My laser in the cd changer I have was STILL acting weird. It would play perfectly, then come back next day without tweaks, and would not play well again STILL. (Temperature as in warm up was ruled out. I considered both warmed up state and not.) Do you want to know what I did? I knew I would not ever want to use the unit this way - so I did an experiment. I am a tobacco user and 420. I took the floating base assembly out of the unit once again and poured alcohol all over it like a madman. Then I did it again, so as to let it get right at the internal parts (I think there is mirror inside.) The result is that it is the least touchy, most on point it has been yet. Also, the sweet spot of the RF Power adjustment is far lower than it used to be before I did this. I am not recommending this technique but I am recommending it to try on a laser assembly that is of little to no value to you or a customer. In other words, try it on one that you comdemn and see if it works for you too. haha It takes a WHILE to dry but a hair dryer helps. If it is not dry enough, disc no spin so wait it out in this case.
If it works and it is scrap otherwise why not. There is a mirror in there under the lens and in smoke environment it will get dirty.
@@12voltvids I put the unit back where it goes normally. It is perhaps 95% on point now. Plays everything very well, dirty discs cleaned then play well too. It is still not what can be considered perfect, as here or there, it just decides it wants to distort (scratchy sound.). I have a gang of 220uF 25V and 100uF 50V Nichicons on their way here, all 105 degrees C, for the RF circuitry. My gut instinct (no ESR meter here) is that this is going to seal the deal. :) The voltage in the area is precisely to a tee @ 5v.
I own an Akai X-1810D (c.1973) and the on switch has become loose. I am going to try to fix it myself.
Now I don’t use my Akai 1721W anymore, because the of the record/playback head is shot and the cams are still pot metal, I finally got my hands on my Panasonic RS-765US reel-to-reel tape recorder and it finally works. I got it off of eBay a few days ago, and it is way better than the Akai. I put a new belt for the rewind mechanism, because the original belt was shot, the fast forward and playback runs, and the rewind doesn’t run before I put belt in. After testing the recording, the playback runs good, the right channel plays on the VU meter while the left channel was weak. So I did checked one of the bias condensers on the bottom inside of the circuit board and I adjust it to make the VU meter looks a lot better on the left channel when playing a tape. Everything works perfectly and it is ready to record and play a tape. If you want to see it in action, check out my video.
no worrys mate problem solved. take yours as a blueprint for a 3D print and it will run again. Perhaps a video will be viewed by many if you take it on
My guess is if you’re going to get an Akai, stick to the ones that have solenoid controls but don’t accidentally buy one with a bad bias oscillator so you can’t erase or record tapes like I did when I was 11 years younger and didn’t know any better...
Sony is way better than Akai. Sony was the king of reel-to-reel tape recorders, and Akai was Sony’s cousin, so does Concord, Panasonic and Teac.
@@Musicradio77Network that’s for sure. In June I was given two reel to reel decks. A Sony and an Akai. the Sony quadraphonic deck works just fine. while the AkaI runs fine for a few minutes but slows down probably due to a motor capacitor issue.
No on the solenoids omg.
JB Weld to the rescue!
I have 3 akai r2r machines and 7 cassette decks also akai not counting a flat type gxc-38D...they are built like tanks and all still work just fine. R2r machines started to loose channels last year - cant blame them though considering their age!...Love those glass heads!
glue, epoxy, brazing, welding?
The cams are literally expanding from the inside like a balloon due to lead impurities. Gluing them together wont solve that.
Had the same nightmare back in 2011 when I had one!!! Got rid of it but kept my trusty Teac 4010....👍😂
It is not the crappy part Akai installed it, it is the animal who use it that broke it.
Get the pieces out, bond them together, and find someone who can make a sand mold to recast with aluminum.
Pieces are missing from one of them
So what you are saying is spend 250.00 to get it working and then sell for 30!
It's the awful Zamak. A lot's early and late 70's RTR and cassette deck,
have this mechanism with this material. And some 80's cassette deck
have the flywheel Capstan in Zamak too.
AKAI X-201D very reliable, never breaks.
Always consider cams and transistors as guaranteed dead when buying solid state pre-80s Akai. All is replaceable but factor it into your price. If the cams aren't already broken they are on borrowed time and it's probably easiest to replace them during the overhaul.
I have been buying and selling Akai's now for 20 years and have yet to see one with a broken cam! I make the early 70's the earliest I will buy though, that might have something to do with it?
I find the Akai's with less wrong with them, and more likely to get working with just doing simple fixes - they seem to be lasting well into the 2020's.
I own an Akai X2000SD which has Reel to Reel, 8 track Tape Player and Compact Cassette Player in one unit.
I use it every w/e and it have a spare one for parts which I haven't needed (the spare one has a blown channel)
Zinc pest is an interesting beast, two identical ZAMAK items can exhibit wildly different rates of decay or even be completely unaffected. Anecdotal evidence suggest the 60s models are the worst affected like the M series. No doubt there were composition changes during the years.
Just curious, did you ever some cams? Are there 3d printed ones availble?
BTW the pot metal will last forever if you don't monkey with it and treat your reel-to-reel nicely. It is a mechanical unit with lots of moving parts the transport should be lightly oiled once every 40 YEARS haha! Anyway the only thing I see on the 1722 II series that ever goes bad is the electronics... again after 40 years a capacitor will blow. Otherwise they should make it to 100 if you treat them nice and don't force moving parts in ways they're not supposed to go, etc.
Here's to the era when they only used pot-metal to make the HEAD-COVER! :)
6:22 : So, given the propensity of these things to break due to age and fatigue (understandable given that they did not belong in the higher price echelons when they first came out), has anyone attempted to get such a part custom made by a machinist or 3D-printed? It only takes one person having the skills and interest for restoring such decks to give an extra lease of life to many of these decks (until sth harder to replace fails that is...). :(
These parts are available as fresh casts or 3D printed parts already, they generally are compatible with a large range of models which helps make them easier to sell.
A year ago I replaced my play/rec cam (the one that broke here) with a newly cast replacement, works fine now. I have noticed the other cams are going the same way, but they will last a little longer. I do have one other broken cam, the C-2 cam. No idea what that does but it didnt really affect anything I did with the machine this afternoon when I decided to test its functions.
I'm going to replace all the cams with 3D printed replacements, apart from the play/rec one as thats a new metal part. I dont think that the 3D printed cams will have much of a problem, there is not a huge amount of force in the mechanism.
@@dlarge6502 This is great to know. Any idea if the material of the new casts is the same as before? Or whether it's upgraded to sth fancier, e.g. aluminium?
I reckon 3D replacements will be an improvement. The material should be less brittle and have better frictional properties for the task. It'll probably be both harder and more elastic (if that makes any sense) than the cast zinc alloy used and will be less likely to corrode. All in all I'd expect a longer lifespan and better function.
Where can someone find these?
My Akai 1721W doesn’t have any problem, but it has pot metal on the switch, and nothing has broken, it works just fine.
Your point? My 4000 also still works right now, but tomorrow it could break an so could yours.
I should rather use my Concord 220 and it still works like a charm with no mechanical problem.
If you don't force it well... most pot metal just needs a tiny bit of lube every few decades. But still it will probably never break if you're nice to it.
Was the Akai GX-4000D a better machine? Been wanting one but wanted to know if it has a better mechanism.
If the die-cast cams are available in 3D printed nylon and they work well, that’s probably the cheapest solution. But another solution is machining new cams from aluminum billet, or if one is into overkill, stainless steel. I have an AKAI 770x I bought new in 1978 and all it’s cams are still intact. Looking at them as a machinist, they are not that complex and even manually machining new ones would not be that hard. I plan to do that for my machine before they do finally give up the ghost.
By 78 they should be aluminum as opposed to the stintered crap from the 60s
Opps. I meant I bought it in 1968, not ‘78.
@@garylacom737 big difference. Yes those one have the stintered cams.
Just a thought. Could you make a new one out of a solid piece of aluminium?
I'm sure someone could but that someone is not me.
Anything can be rebuilt for anyone with deep pockets but the average person doesn't care enough about this old gear to spend the money on it. They are a dime a dozen anywhere but epay
Surly there's an STL file for it so you can print the parts.
can you use something like JB Weld epoxy on them or wouldn't that be strong enough?
I have used regular jb weld with good results.
i have the 4000DS , but it is missing the storage pin for the speed piece. how is it stuck to the front panel?
There are products out there to either:
- glue the parts together (e.g. I found "Tech Bond" on youtube - maybe there are others)
- solder them together (e.g. "Muggyweld" products that use a low melting temperature solder)
I'm not sure how reliable repairs using these products would turn out to be, given the amount of repeated stress these part are subjected to.
I'd guess the repairs would not last but I thought I'd post this in case anyone has experience with using these products for repairing mechanical (rather than decorative) parts.
I was given an Akai X-150D. Everything right now seems to work fine, but of course this model used freakin pot metal cams too. So far no issues YET. Better enjoy it while it lasts I guess.
Lube it slightly and it'll probably last 100 years.
Don't you hate it when a customer tries to repair their appliance themselves?
I had a Fostex 4 track come in and the customer said, "It keeps blowing fuses"
Right then I knew he had been in it, turns out it was only the full wave bridge rectifier had a bad diode in it.
Replaced it and discovered it had 2.9 amps going through it, and it was the round "non-heatsinked" variety. Bad design.
I just replaced it with OEM and never heard back. Guess it still works.
I completely hear you 100% (I am not pro by trade.) I can EASILY place myself in your shoes and I understand 100% - but do you fix your car? Change tires? Oil? Maybe even brakes? Ever mess something up because you're not a pro? (I am not mechanic either, but nobody is perfect - not even pros.) It all comes down to point of view. If I worked in repair, I would probably tell the customer there can be a non-existant, small or large surcharge, depending on my findings of difficulty they created or didn't.
@@MrChrisRP ^^^ female Japanese and I replaced my own Mazda's alternator.
It was humourous when the shop techs kept asking me if I needed it done for me & I just said no "I got this".
The only question if I could repair something on my vehicle is is I could provide the torque required for proper belt tension.
This was ugly and I feel bad for 12voltvids for not being able to complete it, but you can not have in stock every part of every media device.
@@MikinessAnalog MIJ (that means "Made In Japan") I only play guitars and only use capacitors from your country. :) Respect.
Oh, and Sony!!! :)
@@MrChrisRP I guess you remember the capacitor failure debacle from the early 2000s techs had to deal with, but hey, it was easy work.
Those chunky knobs encourage forcing when jammed.
Dual1219 Record player on there switch's can become damaged if not cleaned proper and lubed Proper
Thank You Very Much for the Advice!
Is it Possible to replace those broken parts with 3D printed ones?
Sure. People ate selling 3d printed parts for about 100 plus shipping. Last time I ordered an 85.00 usd part for a TV ot cost 30 in shipping and then FedEx sent me a 49.00 broker bull on top. Cost the owner 350 to fix his TV that could have been replaced for that.
And Now we have metal printing !!! Anyone thought of drawing this part in CAD ??
What actually is the alloy "pot metal" made from?
Zamak, well a version of zamak that has impurities. Zamak is very common, but with lead impurities this is what happens with it.
This is the second time I see this, both on a 4000DS.
I've seen more sony machines with issues though, but that doesn't say that much because I only get the ones that people have thrown out.
Interestingly none of my (12 or so) 4000DS machines have this issue.
A lot of models are fit with this mechanism. Maybe a good idea to take the front plate off, and apply lots of fresh grease around the steel ball and cam. That will surely easy tension on that thing when you activate it. In the video is clearly to see how to get there, and there's not a lot that can go wrong in applying.
3d print a cam from good quality nylon filament?
it might be economical to 3d print a new cam.
This mechanism was only used in the cheaper models of AKAIs but even there only a part have this problem. I own two models with this gear and both are fine. When it comes to this deccay of the material there is no solution then to exchange. It crumbles in thousand pieces.
Not worth repairing not a single person i have mentioned 3d printed replacements for about 100usd for the part plus shipping and installation they have all thrown the machine out.
Your videos are amazing! What is your opinion of the AKAI M8? I'm about to buy one for quedio recording my piano und things un tope. Thanks!
For real to real I would really say stick with Sony. All those that guy units with the lever controlled mechanisms have those cams that fall apart.
@@12voltvids Good, thank you very much for the advice! If you don't mind a second question: do you believe that 4 tracks recording quality will still be nice to listen? I'm a musician and I'm looking for one machine yo experiment recording in my studio. Thanks so much!!
@@eduugr If you are looking for a very good sounding, literally studio quality reel to reel look for a Teac 3340. I have one, they sound amazing. 4 independent tracks with simusync. So you can listen to your playback tracks from the record head as you add additional layers on another track. True 4 track recording. It also has 15IPS and is is built like a tank. If you are looking for home studio recording on 1/4 4 track this is what you should be looking for, or the 8 track version, or fostek is another brand that made high quality. Akai farted around with that cross field recording to improve the frequency response of 3 3/4 speed but anyone doing any type of instrument recording isn
't farting around with slow tape speeds. You want to use the fastest speed the machine has. 15IPS does a dam good job.
@@12voltvids thank you very much!!! 🙏🙏
As long as the heads are ok, meaning no wear at all! Any R2R is repairable with origional parts even! R2R 's everywhere. Good heads for most if not all consumerdecks, as good as unobtainable. Not new, not NOS, not parted out available,. nada! Buy only a deck with no physical wear on the heads: Or make shure you can source / buy them ot have a spare head or complete set if needed. Othe then that. Eveything that wears out is being newly manufactured for most decks. And complete decks with bad heads you stumble over online especially!
R2R's big bulky roomy, easy to work at.
It would be nice to look into the situation and see if the piece is available from at least somewhere, and if not, attempt to fuse the metal back together in some fashion
easy. It is generally available for sale.
@@DunQuDeYi any places that come to mind that have the pieces, incl. this broken one?
@@rawr51919 It cost $80 but save the hassle of 3D printing. www.ebay.com/itm/Akai-Cams-Set-Reel-To-Reel-NEW-Lifetime-Replacement-Warranty-/133290230136
@@DunQuDeYi 90 US, thats what about 130 CDN now, and then don't forget broker fees and tax brings it to close to 180. I bought a working Akai 4000 for 30.00
The part is Zinc die cast part and they can fail, especially if they are used with rough hands.
I see there is a seller in the UK Ebay offering them for £28 + postage
zinc pest :)
The Pot metal cam for the head adjustment going bad and cracking and falling apart is what unfortunately put my Akai M-8 out of commission. ☹️ Why Akai thought it was a good idea to make these cams out of this evil stuff I don’t know...The same goes to for 1926 and later Victrola tonearm brackets, and post 1908 Edison phonograph mandrel bearings!
Its what this stuff (Zamak) is made from, even today. What has happened is the Akai cams have lead impurities in them, this is the result.
Fortunately this crapy part can be made (moulded) with a metal or nylon version. You have to make them yourself of course, its just a quarter circle with a square hole. Takes some time but absolutely doable. Same with the belt, i replaced the crappy flat version with a 3D printer ribbed belt. Your choice.
Those cams are available again 3D printed from Analogue Classics. I installed one in a Akai x-200d and it works great.
But at what cost. Last I checked over 100 for the cams by the time they are delivered to Canada. Customer will not pay that they want stuff fixed for 100 total. Can't work for free
@@12voltvids It was bout 30 dollars delivered for the play/record cam. And the comment was not aimed at you, its for people like me that fix their own stuff. And you videos are Great.
@@mobileauto when i last checked they were 60 usd each so 120uad for both. That would be 160 cdn plus shipping
@@12voltvids FULL KIT £45 EBAY UK JUST GOT THEM FOR MINE, GREAT QUALITY
Hey love your vids as always, I just bought an Akai M-10 and the mechanism is in great working order but the preamp/has problem with the right channel is low and distorted at the RCA output, as well as the VU meter and the internal speaker makes no sounds, left channel takes some time to wake up but sounds fine afterwards and even works with the internal speaker any ideas? I am thinking lazy Capacitors for the left channel, and either bad caps or transistors for the right channel, any ideas?
Transistors used on those old units are very problematic. Transistors in the 70s weren't really reliable. Many old devices had transistors in sockets so they could be rapidly swapped. I was given an x360 that won't record. A project for another day I guess.
In his time,that part was not offered as a remplacement.
Mazak (zinc/ally) I think, like some cheap foreign carbs used to be, no strength in it at all.
folks, any idea how to align the tape path on these akai 4000's? i have the DS mk.II, I already fixed the pinch reel and one of the switches, however, often times the tape slips off the pinch reel and gets all twisted and stretched. there's also a squeaky sound coming from that guide below the supply reel... any help is appreciated!
The process akai used for the cams is called power metallurgy , it was a cheap way of making complex parts without machining . What it consisted of was aluminium powder that was mixed with a powdered glue. The power mix was poured into a mould , then pressed to about 20t . The formed part was then put in an oven and baked. The glue powder melted and bound the aluminium together . A lot of things were made using that process from buttons to bezels and way more. The trouble with this process is a broken part can’t be solder or welded as the material is a powder with glue through it . Problems arise with age with this process, as early glue technology was organic . What happens is the glue breaks down over time and the part starts to crumble and fall to bits . I’ve see flywheels on small tape recorders look like they’re cracking and swelling up due to the glue binder failing
I remember my parents telling me if it was made in Japan it was cheap garbage. Sound familiar ?
Hello, I have a problem about my Old VCR. Why does it only plays about 5 secs and stops? It doesn't turn off itself but just stops the mechanism and have to press play over and over again. I tried doing rewinding and forwarding the tape as suggested online, but still no changes. I was also surprised when I tried to push the carbon piece above the tape head that wasn't touching it and the tape played until I stopped pushing it, but after that I tried doing it again it doesn't work anymore. Is there any way I can fix my JVC VCR? Because the tape head work just well but the mechanism is just the problem.
You can't win them all. I don't understand the thumbs down either. It is what it is, if a complex part is no longer made or you don't have a spare machine you can do nothing.
Well, the replacement part has been available via google search for years now.
The Sony decks are not without their demons either. I have a Sony TC-399 sitting in the back store room that has noisy transistors in the front end. I have owned it since new, bought it in 1983 or thereabouts. Do you know which ones are typically the problem with these? It sounds like standing next to a waterfall with no tape running through it.
I also have an outboard Dolby B unit by Teac. It is a model AN-60, I am in the process of doing a visual inspection of the solder joints and the insides for bulging electrolytics or anything obvious. Haven't decided to sell it or recap it and keep it.
If you can identify the first 2 play=preamp transistors, it's probably them.
I had seen a pair on ebay not sure if they still have it try looking on ebay
hi there is 3D print parts now i have used them the only thing they cost i never seen bad cam's
i only seen 1 bad gear in rs-x 101 cassette deck out of alot of them
betacam sp has bad rubber part and parts that are not working right
I hate pot metal. Do they make repro's today?
Did you, look on Amazon.com?
Dang you're good.
No kidding.
Do you ever do PCB soldering.
I need to have a chip remove from board and put on to another board.
If you do this please let me know what you charge I can tell you more if you're interested I live in Ohio.
Keith Kuhn
Hello...am looking for Akai vs 2 eg VCR player 1982...any luck?
why is your digital scope not suitable for use as apposed to your analouge scope
Not enough resolution to look at complex waveforms such as video or the eye pattern on cd players or RF envelope on VCRs ect. It is a pretty usess scope. Would have never bought it if I knew it's limitation but the shop wouldnt take it back. So I wasted about 700 on it.
You'd think that akai would've used better quality materials. Those cams have alot of stress on them. I've seen 8 or 10 already with bad cams. I'm astonished that you can print a new one now . Alien technology.!
I can't because i don't have a 3d printer and have no plans to get one.
@@12voltvids And they probably are expensive to purchase.
The cams can now be found as a 3d printed part. Paid 20$ for my play cam to be printed and now I'm putting it back together
For the 4000 I have it's 75.00 us plus shipping. Not worth fixing.
These old units sell pretty cheap. One was sitting on Facebook. Started at 400 and down at 130 now and no bites. I paid 30 for mine and it works.
@@12voltvids I paid 5 st a yard sale 6 years ago.
Couldn't 3D printing the broken parts be a solution here?
I'm sure some people are trying to do that. This cost money if someone wanted to put $500 into fixing one of these old machines and possibly you could get 3D printed replacement cams in fact I know you can because people are selling them for about a hundred bucks us. Convert that to Canadian that's around 138 these days, then there's another 60 or so dollars in taxes and broker fees tacked on to that, you're up to about 200 bucks just to get the part. Then there's the time taken to disassemble and replace the parts another $150. So now we're at $350 to fix an old tape deck, one that I picked up in identical unit to this less the Dolby for $30. So $350 to fix a tape recorder that would sell for about 30 bucks doesn't make a lot of sense to me nor anybody that I know that has any brains. You hear of people spending huge amounts of money repairing old vintage equipment and the only thing that comes to mind is more money than brains. I don't have those customers here generally because people out my neck of the woods are a little bit more careful with their money. They won't spend their money fixing some old piece of junk like this no they'll take that money that they were going to spend to fix something old like this and pay someone like me to transfer their media to digital and be done with the old obsolete media. I have more old tape recorders kicking around here that people abandoned because they didn't want to spend the money to fix it. None of this stuff is worth anywhere close to what people think it is. It's only fake eBay sales that drives the hype and gets people into thinking that this old equipment is worth a lot of money. They look at past sales that have sold in the thousands for certain pieces of equipment and believe that that is what it is worth. What they don't realize is that a lot of this stuff that sold for high dollars on eBay didn't even exist, it was criminals putting up pretend ads to sell pretend equipment between their associates in themselves for the purpose of money laundering through PayPal. Why do you think PayPal's policies have changed requiring everyone who sells product to report income of over $600 per year? I guess PayPal has made a lot of money and so has eBay through those transactions. The person laundering their money sees the transaction fees is just a cost of doing business to exchange dirty money for clean. But what it does is it creates a false sense that this old equipment is worth a lot of money and everyone thinks that the old receiver that they've had sitting in their cabinet for the past 40 years it's going to fund their retirement. only a true fool would actually buy something at those prices!
A machinist could make you a replacement part.... would be expensive, though.. You could ask Keith Rucker or Abom79....