Thank you both K Lambert and Rich!

I'm going to check both things!

I've already watched the pinch roller restoration tutorial but never been brave enough to do that, only cleaned it with a q-tip and alcohol, but it's time to try and restore it properly!

How can I slightly adjust the tape back tension?

Thanks a lot!

Marco

Hi everybody!

I tried to follow your advices and, clumsy me, I damaged something!

First of all I tried checking the pinch roller...a bit shiny (shows a more polished band, where the tape slides), but not so hard...took it off, washed it with washing up fluid, I haven't got a Dremel for refurbish its surface, mounted it back.

Then, cleaning the rest of the tape path, I found a bit of a little metal "pole" (don't know its name) hanging from a black plastic arm hinged from below to somewhere near feeding spool motor with some springs holding it. That assembly looked like wrongly positioned because in play it wrinkled a bit the tape on the top, so i tried to lower the little pole and give more room for the tape on top, and that's when it broke, plastic holding it was maybe cooked and crumbled with a little touch. I'm with the black plastic arm alone now, since the metal part fell down and I can't find it... Tape plays better than before now, so I think it did actually cause some trouble, but it seems to have some tracking problems...sometimes, especially in play right after some search, picture spins up-down a couple of times before tracking properly. I tried to replace the metallic part with a centimeter and half from a thick paperclip, it seems to hold in place firmly but picture isn't at its best, and I'm afraid it can cause some static buildup as it's not the correct material...

What is that plastic arm there for? What damage can it do running with just plastic and no metal needle? How can I restore its functions? These and many other questions in the next episode of "damaging a Betamax when trying to repair it"!

Cheers

Marco from Italy

Marco:

THAT was the back tension arm you've now damaged.

You really need the Sony SLC003 front and back tape tension cassette to check things properly.

There is a felt band that is used for the back tesnon.

You can more a tiny spring at the top of the back arm but I always do it with the felt band. Some models you can adjust this through and access hole, so preventing the reel deck from being removed to do this. Like I said though that tape is essential.

..............Kevin

Hi Kevin!

I somehow managed to repair the back tension arm! I found and replaced the small metal piece I lost, then I moved the arm spring. As you said tension was too high maybe, so I tried to move the spring to one tooth more towards the feed spool (the last one) and now picture is very very stable!

There is still a minor issue with my Beta...after a (too) deep head cleaning with iso alcohol and chamois tracking has become hard to adjust properly.

It may be unrelated, but before the cleaning, the middle position was good for almost every tape, now I have to adjust it for every tape and it's very hard to get a perfect result. In the minimum and maximum positions I even get scrambled colours now, instead of just streaks. Is there something that can be adjusted?

Marco

Marco:

Well done on the former but it does sound like you 'may' have damage the heads when cleaning them.

I HOPE I'm wrong.

They may be blocked but I wouldn't try cleaning them anymore just in case. I always find using a known good tape and letting it play and reverse searching at intervals cleans them well too.

It also takes away the risk of damage.

.......Kevin

Hi all,

Has anyone got a working DC-DC converter for the C9 for sale please? I've seen a newly designed version on Ebay but the seller wants nearly £90 for it!!! I love my C9, but not that much......

I've not got the tools to open my defective one. Apparently I need A LOT of heat to get the solder to melt so the metal cans can come apart.

Thanks in advance

Rich.

K lambert:

Thanks for the advice!

I have a (british!) tape with a recording that is crystal clear, and I often use it as "benchmark", if it plays ok then my vcr is ok, I'll use a similar one for cleaning the heads!

I've played 10/15 whole tapes since that cleaning, and it doesn't seems to get any better...it isn't unusable at all, it's just difficult to obtain a perfect tracking, and it loses it easily. Can it be something related to tape alignment I can try to adjust?

Thanks for your patience!!

Marco

Rich,

I have found that the easiest way to get the cap off the DC/DC is to mount it in a vice with the CAP (leg side)facing up and use a heat gun to melt the solder and flip the cap off as soon as you can when the solder melts because you dont want to cook the circuit board. Even then some of the leg pins may move a bit and need to be re-seated so they line up with holes in the motherboard after repair.

I have managed to open one "cold" by running a stanley knife around the sides of the cap in the soldered gap, but you need to be really careful that you don't cut yourself if you slip and/ or the blade breaks. Good luck!

regards Noel

Hi Noel,

Thanks for that information!

It would seem they are very tricky to get open.

I'll report back when/if I can get it open to repair it.

Thanks again,

Rich.

Marco, alchool is not very good for pinch rollers, it can even get things worse. There is a miracle product for restoring pinch rollers, it is called Rubber Renue, from MG Chemicals, check Ebay.

Hi all

Just an update on my faulty DC-DC converter that failed in my C9.

I removed it but couldn't get it open so I sent it off to be repaired.

Apparently it was drawing 128mA. The electrolytics and polyester caps were changed (the transistor and transformer were both ok) and it's now drawing 60mA and working superbly. It's a Mk1 version converter.

Thanks all and have a very Happy Christmas!

Rich.

Rich,

That's good news about the DC/DC being repaired. It is not hard to upgrade the Mk1. Even if you don't add the protection circuit for the driver transistor the case can have ventilation holes added to assist cooling. The heat affects capacitor and component aging and also efficient operation.

regards Noel

P.S. - Merry Christmas to all the Palsite and chat page users from Australia "down under".

MERRY CHRISTMAS Beta fans/users!

Hope 2020 brings us just as much pleasure.........

.......Kev

Merry Christmas to you, Kev, and everyone else who's been helping me this year with advice and suggestions to keep these wonderful vcrs going.

Cheers all,

Rich.

Hello all,

Does anyone have experience with repairs on the Sony model SLHF150 when it does not respond to turn on? The supply regulator is good and the issue seems to be in the display/timer assembly. The clock display is also on.

regards Noel

Noel:

Might sound obvious but is the area around the ON button OK? No cracks /dry joints.

The PSU voltage regulator is usually the culprit but you've checked that over.

.....Kevin

Kevin,

Thanks for the input. No I have seen that happen with a damaged front panel board before. In this case the signal is getting to the servo board and it is communicating with the tuner board which latches to give a "lock power up" control to the timer board but that board (IC301?) is not giving the power up signal (which is actually is a 0 voltage coming down from 5V signal to the power supply) to enable the "switched" voltages.

Changing over the timer module for a spare cures the problem so I will have to analyse further to see if i can be sure its the IC and not another issue on the board.

I did find out that the N5 fuse in the power supply when it blows causes loss of the -10V rail which takes out the VU display. I have seen that on two machines now.

cheers Noel

Noel,

Have you checked the cristals/resonators on your suspected board? Or any reset/power fail subcircuit? These two issues might prevent any microprocessor to run.

I have seen that fault on some VHS machines but never in the HF150.

Please let us know your progress.

Gabriel

Gabriel,

Nice suggestion, I never thought of that. The machine I was repairing is gone but I still have the faulty board that I can check in another machine. I will let you know if it turns out to be the problem.

I am fixing Toshiba V33A models at the moment. I like the Sanyo and Sony models more. These are so primitive by comparison.

Just got given a link to this machine on eBay. I didn't even know they existed!!! https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/Sony-Super-Betamax-SL-S3000-RARE-Video-Cassette-Recorder-Pal/153833480135?hash=item23d1309fc7:g:E5gAAOSwOFFeR63v

regards Noel

Noel,

Great, if you come across that fault on the HF150, it will be finally interesting to know the root of the problem.

As per the Toshibas, yes I agree they seem more rudimentary in general. Anyway, I also like to work on different machines other than Sonys or Sanyos. Even the vintage VHS are fun to service!

Regarding the link on that SuperBeta SL-S3000: well spotted, it is a rare and overall nice machine but lacks hifi sound. Very little info is available about them on the net. All I know is that they belong to the latest models developed by Sony (sure when they were already aware the format battle was lost). Most probably chassis 711B3 which I don't personally like because it's more fragile than the old ones: mode switch and loading mechanism prone to failures. There was also a variant with no reel motor, it was just driven from the capstan via toothed belt. In Spain, the exact equivalent to that beta was the SL-F75. I have serviced that video in the past but I have no images of it and right now there are no available ones while googling them. I am sure it was seldom sold by that time.

Greetings,

Gabriel