Helpful tip for the clip; you can place a thin piece of Scotch tape above the clip and your tweezers that will catch the clip when it pops off. Worked like a charm for me!
By the way, if you lose the little plastic clip that holds the idler wheels in place, you can use a small C-clip instead. A multipack of different sizes should be cheap and easy to find in a hardware store, or from eBay, Amazon, etc.
Hi Thank you so much for this video! Super helpful when repairing my 246 transport🙏⚡️ Unfortunately I managed to “ping” that little plastic clip and lost it during my repair here… so your saying they are easy to find at a local hardware store? You’re calling it a “C-clip” ? Thanks
this channel is endlessly helpful! do you have any tips for lubricating a noisy 246 idler motor? my unit makes a loud whining sound whenever its in playback mode - belts are all good and tyres make good contact with the takeup reels
Hi Tetrakan, thanks so much for the videos, you put them on youtube exactly when I bought one of those fantastic bad boys (the 244 to be precise) and I obviously had few issues with it. I've just changed the idler tires, they were chewing the tape, I could record 10 second on the tape but then after it would go all crazy, and the forward/backward were doing the exact same. So I've changed the idler, now I can go through a whole tape with backward and forward without trouble, only trouble now is that the recording doesn't seem to happen on the tape and a squeaking sound appears when I play (and sometime on record but not always, anyway it's noisy on record as well). I've been careful to put both wheels against where the old ones were. Maybe for the squeaking I should oil the transport part but I don't get why it doesn't record on the tape anymore? I guess it's the beauty of the tascam, once you fix something, something else breaks :D .
I've just seen this, so apologies I didn't give you an answer sooner...the squeaking is probably the idler tires, if you buy non standard parts sometimes the rubber s hard and rubbing against the plastic parts casues squeaking. Do not oil this! Solution is to agitate the surface of the rubber with sandpaper - look at the video I did adapting plumbing parts for the idler tires, same process. As to your unit no longer recording, mechanical and electrical functions are more or less separate so I guess you disturbed a weak electrical joint when you were replacing the rubber? Hrd to make suggesitons without being there but make sure the record enable switch (top left) is intact, all the cables relating to the magnetic heads are intact, and make sure the record and erase heads are plugged into the correct sockets (check my videos please but from memory the record head should plug into the upper of the two sockets, that plug has red cable trim whereas the erase head plug has black cable trim) Good luck!
great to find you tetrakan , my tascam 244 has been idle for a long time now . after having the 244 serviced it was years i think till i unpacked it to use again and after switching it on i,m only presented with a humming type noise ? cant operate it either it was a great machine for me , is there any chance of a revival ?? thanks mate...tony
Hi Tony, yeah that's probably just the control belt is loose or snapped so you're hearing the motor. The electronics can be tricky but the transport on the 244 is a forgiving beginners project. Follow the first 15 or so videos in this series in order and you'll be fine, the playlist is visible on my RUclips homepage.
@@Tetrakan thank you so much for your reply , i,m all the way from australia mate. i shall follow your suggestions , and if i may i would like to inform you off my results . thanks again , tony lee
Great video. I have a Sanyo m7735 boom box and the cassette doesn’t play. It moves fwd and rew with no problem. The belt looks fine. I notice that the idler wheel doesn’t engage with the upper gear when in play. What can be happening? Thanks for the help.
Hey, I see you've posted a link to the problem elsewhere, so I will comment on the video itself as well but generally speaking nine out of ten transport problems are caused by EITHER a] bad rubber preventing the energy form the motor reaching moving parts (because rubber becomes dry and loose then gooey over time) OR b] bad lubrication limiting the movement of moving parts (because lubricating grease begins to act like glue over time) Occasionally some sort of plastic part will snap, or a motor or a capacitor pertaining to a motor will die. If the rubber is fine and the motor is turning and there is a wheel not engaging, that says "lubrication problem" to me, in which case you're going to need to at least partly dismantle the transport taking plenty of reference photos as you go, clean off the old grease with isopropyl, relubriucate with silicone grease and reassemble. Frankly it is a tedious and nerve racking process, especially with units that have mechanical buttons (the ones with electronic transport buttons are typically easier to dissassemble). Good luck!
do you happened to know the diameter inside and outside for those idler tires ? I am trying to order them from eBay , the seller proclaims that they are slightly different diameter on older models vs newer... I've got Tascam 246 European power model with the fuses. thanks in advance , cheers, Dimitri
I've had about a dozen 246s and at least fifty 244s, the idlers were all the same, see this video for advice on sizes ruclips.net/video/CnejGIuJfg4/видео.html
this might be a dumb question but is the tire supposed to be able to slide around the wheel? for example, if i hold the idler wheel in place, should I be able to move the tire around the wheel? I'm on my second set of replacement tires and they still arent solving my issue of uneven ff/rewind/play
Hi . I have a Tascam 133 , just bought used. Needs belt. But the weird thing is when I tested the ff/REW , the REW actually FFW, as did counter. One time it actually engaged and rewound. But sometimes the idler won't engage the platter wheel. FF doesn't engage at all. The idler tyres look cracked and aged. Would this attribute the weird ff when I hit rew?? It's very similar to the one on this video.
I'm not familiar with that model... Is there a potentiometer mounted to a plate on the rear of the transport? If so, check the white plastic clip on the spindle of the potentiometer. Is it intact and connected to the plastic gears below?
@@Tetrakan I think I figured it out. The solenoid that clicks the idlers back and forth was not engaging fully. There were several joints and bits that interconnect to the idler cradle and I put a drop of wd40 on each metal joint. Seemed to have done the trick. My belt has gone though and that's next on repair. When i hit play the take up spindle spins quite fast. Much faster than normal play speed. I know the capstan controls the tape speed through the pinch roller, when belt is installed, so does that spindle slip or something because its spinning much quicker than the capstan. Is a clutch managing the difference in speed?
@rcary if there are solenoids in there it's a significantly different design to what im used to, so im not sure how useful my description of the 244 mechanism will be to you, but here goes- on the 244 it's normal for the reel motor to want to turn the take-up reel faster than the capstan and pinch poller, that ensures the tape between the capstan and take-up reel is taught and does not get chewed up; there is no slippage or clutch on the 244, rather friction between the serrated edge of the take-up reel and the rubber idler tires forces the reel motor to slow to the same speed of the capstan.
@@Tetrakan ok, I knew the take-up reel ran quicker. I'd say 4 to 1 quicker. I just wondered if that would cause strain on the motor that runs to the idler. There is another motor that runs to the belt/capstan. There is also a speed switch to run the tape at 3.75 inches so maybe that's why. Maybe in over thinking it. Lol
Please can someone help, I have replaced my idler tires but there is still not enough power transferred from the brass spindle for the tape to play smoothly. The problem only occurs when the top wheel is replaced with the spring, not when running a single idler tire. . So what are my best options… replace the spring? Replace the lower idler wheel? Can I remove that beige washer thing that sits under both idler wheels to reduce friction? I have silicone greased the spindle as well but that did nothing…
I cant say without being there what other factors may be contributing to your issue but silicone grease will destroy the friction between the rubber part and the brass part. You need to get any trace of silicone grease or any other lubricant away from that mechanism, it relies on friction. I'm not sure what solvent you'd use to get it off the brass though.
@@Tetrakan thanks , no grease got near the brass part, and what minuscule amount that was on the tires spindle has been removed. I followed your excellent ‘how to’ manufacturer idler tyres video and made a slightly taller tire that works. The next problem to solve is play and fast forward are almost the same speed. The speed selector does nothing… is there any forums or places other than the comments to talk to awesome people? Thanks for your work thus far.
@blutaq play and ffwrd speed the same is usually due to the pinch roller isn't making firm contact with the capstan pin. There is a trimpot on the back of the control boards which can be used to ensure that play mode is the maximum height the head array can travel to, though often bad grease will stop the head array going all the way to the top.
hey, do you happen to have a source or replacement idea for the idler wheels themselves? i managed to find plumbing materials for the tires and it works fine
The white plastic wheels the tires are fitted to? If that's what you mean then no, you'd have to buy a spares unit or wait til someone can 3D print them
Legend. Just gifted a 246 from a passed relative. Only need to do this belt and tire fix and i'll be golden
Mate, these videos you’ve made are excellent!
thanks hun, nice feedback like this makes it all worth while x x x
Helpful tip for the clip; you can place a thin piece of Scotch tape above the clip and your tweezers that will catch the clip when it pops off. Worked like a charm for me!
Good idea! I'll definitely try that
Thank you sir this video really helped me out
Tetrakan! Tetrakan!! Woo!
Very grateful for this! Thanks for all your helpful videos.
wow this is cool! i love using the plumbing parts. thanks for making
thank you for making these vids
Thanks for watching!
By the way, if you lose the little plastic clip that holds the idler wheels in place, you can use a small C-clip instead. A multipack of different sizes should be cheap and easy to find in a hardware store, or from eBay, Amazon, etc.
Hi
Thank you so much for this video! Super helpful when repairing my 246 transport🙏⚡️
Unfortunately I managed to “ping” that little plastic clip and lost it during my repair here… so your saying they are easy to find at a local hardware store?
You’re calling it a “C-clip” ?
Thanks
Aliexpress has these tires for about €5 for a 4-pack. They're the H-type with 14-3-3mm dimensions. Just an FYI!
Thanks! 😁
this channel is endlessly helpful! do you have any tips for lubricating a noisy 246 idler motor? my unit makes a loud whining sound whenever its in playback mode - belts are all good and tyres make good contact with the takeup reels
Hi Tetrakan,
thanks so much for the videos, you put them on youtube exactly when I bought one of those fantastic bad boys (the 244 to be precise) and I obviously had few issues with it.
I've just changed the idler tires, they were chewing the tape, I could record 10 second on the tape but then after it would go all crazy, and the forward/backward were doing the exact same. So I've changed the idler, now I can go through a whole tape with backward and forward without trouble, only trouble now is that the recording doesn't seem to happen on the tape and a squeaking sound appears when I play (and sometime on record but not always, anyway it's noisy on record as well). I've been careful to put both wheels against where the old ones were.
Maybe for the squeaking I should oil the transport part but I don't get why it doesn't record on the tape anymore? I guess it's the beauty of the tascam, once you fix something, something else breaks :D .
I've just seen this, so apologies I didn't give you an answer sooner...the squeaking is probably the idler tires, if you buy non standard parts sometimes the rubber s hard and rubbing against the plastic parts casues squeaking. Do not oil this! Solution is to agitate the surface of the rubber with sandpaper - look at the video I did adapting plumbing parts for the idler tires, same process. As to your unit no longer recording, mechanical and electrical functions are more or less separate so I guess you disturbed a weak electrical joint when you were replacing the rubber? Hrd to make suggesitons without being there but make sure the record enable switch (top left) is intact, all the cables relating to the magnetic heads are intact, and make sure the record and erase heads are plugged into the correct sockets (check my videos please but from memory the record head should plug into the upper of the two sockets, that plug has red cable trim whereas the erase head plug has black cable trim) Good luck!
great to find you tetrakan , my tascam 244 has been idle for a long time now . after having the 244 serviced it was years i think till i unpacked it to use again and after switching it on i,m only presented with a humming type noise ? cant operate it either it was a great machine for me , is there any chance of a revival ?? thanks mate...tony
Hi Tony, yeah that's probably just the control belt is loose or snapped so you're hearing the motor. The electronics can be tricky but the transport on the 244 is a forgiving beginners project. Follow the first 15 or so videos in this series in order and you'll be fine, the playlist is visible on my RUclips homepage.
@@Tetrakan thank you so much for your reply , i,m all the way from australia mate. i shall follow your suggestions , and if i may i would like to inform you off my results . thanks again , tony lee
Please do, good luck!
Great video. I have a Sanyo m7735 boom box and the cassette doesn’t play. It moves fwd and rew with no problem. The belt looks fine. I notice that the idler wheel doesn’t engage with the upper gear when in play. What can be happening? Thanks for the help.
Hey, I see you've posted a link to the problem elsewhere, so I will comment on the video itself as well but generally speaking nine out of ten transport problems are caused by EITHER a] bad rubber preventing the energy form the motor reaching moving parts (because rubber becomes dry and loose then gooey over time) OR b] bad lubrication limiting the movement of moving parts (because lubricating grease begins to act like glue over time) Occasionally some sort of plastic part will snap, or a motor or a capacitor pertaining to a motor will die. If the rubber is fine and the motor is turning and there is a wheel not engaging, that says "lubrication problem" to me, in which case you're going to need to at least partly dismantle the transport taking plenty of reference photos as you go, clean off the old grease with isopropyl, relubriucate with silicone grease and reassemble. Frankly it is a tedious and nerve racking process, especially with units that have mechanical buttons (the ones with electronic transport buttons are typically easier to dissassemble). Good luck!
do you happened to know the diameter inside and outside for those idler tires ? I am trying to order them from eBay , the seller proclaims that they are slightly different diameter on older models vs newer... I've got Tascam 246 European power model with the fuses. thanks in advance , cheers, Dimitri
I've had about a dozen 246s and at least fifty 244s, the idlers were all the same, see this video for advice on sizes ruclips.net/video/CnejGIuJfg4/видео.html
this might be a dumb question but is the tire supposed to be able to slide around the wheel? for example, if i hold the idler wheel in place, should I be able to move the tire around the wheel? I'm on my second set of replacement tires and they still arent solving my issue of uneven ff/rewind/play
They shouldn’t slide around the plastic wheel, no, they should be tighter than that
If an idler tyre ( or rubber ) cannot be sourced , simply use an o ring . It works better .
This is the tenth video in a series of over thirty, which includes several videos about adapting O- rings. Thanks for watching.
Hi . I have a Tascam 133 , just bought used. Needs belt. But the weird thing is when I tested the ff/REW , the REW actually FFW, as did counter. One time it actually engaged and rewound. But sometimes the idler won't engage the platter wheel. FF doesn't engage at all. The idler tyres look cracked and aged. Would this attribute the weird ff when I hit rew?? It's very similar to the one on this video.
I'm not familiar with that model... Is there a potentiometer mounted to a plate on the rear of the transport? If so, check the white plastic clip on the spindle of the potentiometer. Is it intact and connected to the plastic gears below?
@@Tetrakan I think I figured it out. The solenoid that clicks the idlers back and forth was not engaging fully. There were several joints and bits that interconnect to the idler cradle and I put a drop of wd40 on each metal joint. Seemed to have done the trick.
My belt has gone though and that's next on repair. When i hit play the take up spindle spins quite fast. Much faster than normal play speed. I know the capstan controls the tape speed through the pinch roller, when belt is installed, so does that spindle slip or something because its spinning much quicker than the capstan. Is a clutch managing the difference in speed?
@rcary if there are solenoids in there it's a significantly different design to what im used to, so im not sure how useful my description of the 244 mechanism will be to you, but here goes- on the 244 it's normal for the reel motor to want to turn the take-up reel faster than the capstan and pinch poller, that ensures the tape between the capstan and take-up reel is taught and does not get chewed up; there is no slippage or clutch on the 244, rather friction between the serrated edge of the take-up reel and the rubber idler tires forces the reel motor to slow to the same speed of the capstan.
@@Tetrakan ok, I knew the take-up reel ran quicker. I'd say 4 to 1 quicker. I just wondered if that would cause strain on the motor that runs to the idler. There is another motor that runs to the belt/capstan. There is also a speed switch to run the tape at 3.75 inches so maybe that's why. Maybe in over thinking it. Lol
Please can someone help,
I have replaced my idler tires but there is still not enough power transferred from the brass spindle for the tape to play smoothly.
The problem only occurs when the top wheel is replaced with the spring, not when running a single idler tire. .
So what are my best options… replace the spring? Replace the lower idler wheel? Can I remove that beige washer thing that sits under both idler wheels to reduce friction?
I have silicone greased the spindle as well but that did nothing…
I cant say without being there what other factors may be contributing to your issue but silicone grease will destroy the friction between the rubber part and the brass part. You need to get any trace of silicone grease or any other lubricant away from that mechanism, it relies on friction. I'm not sure what solvent you'd use to get it off the brass though.
@@Tetrakan thanks , no grease got near the brass part, and what minuscule amount that was on the tires spindle has been removed. I followed your excellent ‘how to’ manufacturer idler tyres video and made a slightly taller tire that works. The next problem to solve is play and fast forward are almost the same speed. The speed selector does nothing… is there any forums or places other than the comments to talk to awesome people?
Thanks for your work thus far.
@blutaq play and ffwrd speed the same is usually due to the pinch roller isn't making firm contact with the capstan pin. There is a trimpot on the back of the control boards which can be used to ensure that play mode is the maximum height the head array can travel to, though often bad grease will stop the head array going all the way to the top.
hey, do you happen to have a source or replacement idea for the idler wheels themselves? i managed to find plumbing materials for the tires and it works fine
The white plastic wheels the tires are fitted to? If that's what you mean then no, you'd have to buy a spares unit or wait til someone can 3D print them
@@Tetrakan yea.. I thought about 3d printing but then you'd need an accurate scan or 3d model
@@julesnominal1804 I have spares if someone could scan them, msg me on Facebook
how do u file the o ring down?
Two drills. See this video, 2 minutes in ruclips.net/video/CnejGIuJfg4/видео.html
@@Tetrakan thank you :)