Sony SL-F30:

Machine fails to load or unload tape as a lever at the left-rear of the tape bay (as seen from the front) fails to actuate.

The machine was working OK other than intermittently slow fast-forward/rewind. After playing a tape the rewind went slow but finished but then the tape wouldn't unload with the unload motor gear spinning but the tape not unwinding from the capstan. Manually shifting the lever allowed the tape to unload. Similarly, if I load a tape manually moving the lever allows it to load.

The technical page on this site says "brake solenoid" but as there are no details about where it is or how to reach it that's useless information.

Does anyone have a service manual or knowledge to help with the repair?

Stephen,

I just repaired an SLF30 that exhibited the problem that it would not properly load the tape and would stop when the leading guide was about two inches from the end.

It turned out that the mounting post for that rear switch was slightly bent and by moving it to the left normal operation resumed. Strange if yours has the same issue.

The brake solenoid is under the rear edge of the reel motor assembly.

You can view if it is operating or not with the machine playing a tape while on its edge or upside down and the base circuit board, if there is one covering it lifted up (I don't remember exact layout) as you can see if the plunger tries to operate then drops out.

The solenoids have a momentary operate higher power winding then a hold winding which stays on once the magnetic circuit is closed. There is a fuse in the hold circuit which opens at excess temperature. Maybe it just fails with time also.

You can prove this out using a multimeter on ohms range to see if there is resistance to the ground or common connection from both windings.

I can email some circuit diagram pictures if necessary. You can contact me through my betaheaven.com website.

regards Noel (in Melbourne, Australia)

Thanks Noel,

I managed to fix the machine last night.

It seems as if the problem was that one of the gears on the bottom of the gearbox wasn't meshing with the gear below but was instead resting on top and the drive between the two was merely the friction between the surfaces. Looks like a manufacturing assembly error.

I attempted to lift the gearbox out but to look underneath but the cables prevented me doing so, so I refit it and there was a slight clunk as I reseated it and the gearbox dropped by a couple of millimetres. After full reassembly the ring assembly, and hence the tape load/unload worked perfectly.

Stephen,

Great that you got it going. I think you were lucky the loading ring slide and the capstan support rail were still in sync.

Sometimes that is an issue after taking out the load motor although the assembly is a little different in the SLF30.

regards Noel

Hi everyone,

I am in great need of a service manual for the GCS-1 Betamovie if anyone has one available. I�m in the US and it would need to be for the NTSC version, though I�m not sure any other standard existed�

Thanks!

Hi everyone and best regards to palsite members

Actually let me right to my issue with my superbetamax in middle east is sl 700 mkii but in yours superbetamax sl s600

The main issue have at the moment the speed of ff is slower than Rewind due to i dont have SM i dont know the real voltage i test capstan the 5 pins except fg 4 pins the 2nd pin after b+ is 12vdc for REW is 9volt And FF is 6 volt !also I 've checked the whole sections of motor drive and capstan and servo section pls fo you have sm or face with this problem

Thanks in advance

Mehrdad Hatami

Hi Mehrdad, I have owned several SL-700ME machines. The fast-forward is very slow, not much faster than picture search. This isn't a fault. It's the design of the machine. It's a very cheap latter day model. If you switch between PAL and NTSC, the motor speeds up slightly during fast-forward!

Dear Stephen:

thanks a lot for your reply and precious advice I wonder if you could help me to tell technical advice for improving the speed of ff on sl 700 mkII.

waiting for your reply in due time

Best wishes

M.H

Message for Simon

Sorry for the confusion.

....Kevin

Hi,

I have a sony betamax sl-c7 where the 400v capacitors have been replaced (panasonic capacitors) and the 2sc2335 (were defective), the resistor and the known chip. now everything worked, but after 30 minutes, it was broken again, the 2sc2335 were broken again.

now i read that this happens more often, is there a solution for this?

greetings rob

Mehrdad,

The SL-700ME has a slow fast forward in it's design. There is nothing that can be fixed. I think the specification in the user manual states six minutes for fast-forward/rewind of a L-500 length tape.

Regards, Stephen

Hi, I live in Livermore, Ca and have two beta machines, and about 800 tapes. Tapes are free and would sell both machines for $100. They worked great last time I used them (been several years). Would like them to go together, family said I have two weeks to find them a good home. Would need to live somewhat close, no way to ship it all. Text me please if you are interested. First come first serve.

I have an SL-HF300 Betamax in pristine condition that has been in proper storage since 1987. I have the manual as well. I would like to sell it. I am hoping someone in the Bay Area would like it as shipping costs are expensive. It was hardly used prior to being stored. I would like $300.

I purchased a Sony Betamax SL-800ME to convert my tapes to digital. A fantastic machine and all has gone well for twenty or so tapes and then suddenly after removing one tape and inserting another there is almost no sound (RF-out). It's not the tape and I re-inserted others that I had successfully copied and they too had no sound out. I tested the audio lead on another unit (DVD player) and that's fine also. It's definitely the Betamax.I tried cleaning the audio heads and the sound is still extremely low (About 5%).

i am working on a sanyo vtc 5400p betamax

i would like to know where the capstan adjusting configuring or how to adjust the speed of the capstan so it doesn't run so slow or shut down every 5 seconds

i have replaced the belts and idler tyre

so far but still cant get it working

any help would be great

I have a Sony SL-F25UB an am puzzled how to switch it to line in thanks for any help. cheers Barry.

Hi guys, this is my first post here, so please go easy with me!. I hope that this isn't too far off topic as it is regarding a NTSC machine.

I'm trying to find a reel motor and reel idler for a Sanyo VCR-7250 SuperBeta machine. This is the first one of these that I've encountered, and the deck mechanism is totally different from the British VTC-5000 series that I'm reasonably familiar with.

Could anyone let me know of any possible sources for these parts, or failing that is thise mechanism used in any other Sanyo betas?.

Thanks.

Sony SL-C80

Hello,

I have a Sony Betamax Sl-C80E, and it has some problems.

It was stopped for many years, and I turned it on again.

There was a problem with the cassette loading gear, but I've already repaired the gear.

However, the charging motor does not receive power.

I can load the cassette manually and all the controls work.

Can you help me to get power back to the charging motor?

Thanks,

Nuno

I have for sale a Sony slhf950 turns on fine but playback has errors selling for �260 plus a few pounds for post.

Just to confirm price for the slhf950 is 260 pounds