Re purposing Old Hi Fi project

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We are soon to have a new "sideboard" in the living room. In an attempt to part fill said unit... I'm considering dusting off my old "hi-fi" separates from the loft. A motley low-end collection from the '80s and 90s. i can then proceed to do something I've been wanting to do for years... digitize my old cassettes and demo tapes from back in the day... the plan is to run the tapes from cassette deck through a da converter to a laptop hard drive and edit the decent bits, restore/remaster what audio I can amd then trash the cassettes once and for all. I'm fully aware some of the tapes may have already deteriorated beyond use which will be a shame but hey ho!

 

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Re:

So a rummage in the loft and ive found most components though i coukdnt find my amp :? .
The tape deck is a Sony TC -K490 from 1992 last used around 20 years ago :!: :?:

When i power it up it makes this whirring sound ... i don't recall it doing this ... or maybe it did?

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8JWW4SVkVg8&feature=youtu.be[/youtube]

The heads look ok, but the capstan looks a bit grubby. whats the best way tpo clean these parts?
can the front pop out cassette holder be removed to ease cleaning of the gubbins ?



i dont recall ever cleaning this so probably due

 

[Captain Stupido]

Re:

Here's my experience:

The good news is cassettes generally last surprisingly well as long as they haven't suffered abuse and have been stored considerately. In fact by some fluke it seems that most popular audio cassette formulations were not prone to the same "sticky shed" issues that plague many professional reel to reel tapes. IMO your material is probably just as safe on cassette as it would be on a PC hard drive... but the process of archiving can be fun - I have done my "precious" stuff like band recordings, taped gigs, demos, etc.

The less good news is that that era of Sony deck is not all that reliable IME. Servicing is usually expensive, too.

If it were me, I'd probably look for another deck that's known to be solid. Late model Yamahas are great, I like a lot of really old stuff too... my "workhorse" is a 70s Pioneer that has never chewed a tape and just keeps on going. Your Sony might be fine, but it's likely to pack up when you put it back into service and if you're unlucky one or more of your tapes may be destroyed in the process.

Yes you want to clean the heads - also pinch roller, and that capstan looks particularly grubby. Use cotton buds and isopropyl alcohol. The door will clip off and if you can trick it into playing with no cassette loaded so the roller and capstan go round it will make the process much easier.

 

[enc]

Re: Re:

Here's my experience:

The good news is cassettes generally last surprisingly well as long as they haven't suffered abuse and have been stored considerately. In fact by some fluke it seems that most popular audio cassette formulations were not prone to the same "sticky shed" issues that plague many professional reel to reel tapes. IMO your material is probably just as safe on cassette as it would be on a PC hard drive... but the process of archiving can be fun - I have done my "precious" stuff like band recordings, taped gigs, demos, etc.

The less good news is that that era of Sony deck is not all that reliable IME. Servicing is usually expensive, too.

If it were me, I'd probably look for another deck that's known to be solid. Late model Yamahas are great, I like a lot of really old stuff too... my "workhorse" is a 70s Pioneer that has never chewed a tape and just keeps on going. Your Sony might be fine, but it's likely to pack up when you put it back into service and if you're unlucky one or more of your tapes may be destroyed in the process.

Yes you want to clean the heads - also pinch roller, and that capstan looks particularly grubby. Use cotton buds and isopropyl alcohol. The door will clip off and if you can trick it into playing with no cassette loaded so the roller and capstan go round it will make the process much easier.

Thanks for the info

ive found some "rubbing alcohol" is that ok for cleaning the gubbins ?

cant see any obvious way to unclip the cassette door :? guess ill have to go in from the top

 

[Captain Stupido]

Re:

Rubbing alcohol should be OK. If in doubt avoid using it on the rubber roller - an ex-BBC engineer once advised me that "spit" is the best thing to use on pinch rollers... Methylated spirit is safe and works well, too.

If memory serves the door slides up and pulls forwards on those. It may not improve access much anyway... As I say the trick is to get those rollers going round - you might have to trick it into thinking there's a cassette loaded.

 

[MatBH5]

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I have the same model (from memory), up in my Mum’s loft! Boxed and possibly with instructions...

 

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er - an ex-BBC engineer once advised me that "spit" is the best thing to use on pinch rollers... M
d.

:shock: ill give that one a miss.

looking online, service kits are available for this deck so thats handy.

 

[enc]

Re: Re:

I have the same model (from memory), up in my Mum’s loft! Boxed and possibly with instructions...

 

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so ive knocked up some stands using old offcuts. I wasn't expecting them to be very stable and to maybe make something better with decent timber later but they are surprisingly sturdy. think ill use them for now. maybe paint them black or rub down and stain...

 

[mattr]

Thats crying out for some halved squash balls for isolators/feet............. go full homemade!