Tascam ATR-60.......advice needed.

I have a friend with a sick Tascam ATR-60, in that it's "take up reel" doesn't take up.

Locally, finding a tech for this kind of thing would be like finding rocking horse shit and it would more likely that the machine would have to be taken 160klms to Sydney...........consequently I am hoping someone here may have some advice as to the likely cause of the problem or be able to guide us through a trouble shooting exercise.

If we can get it fixed, it is possible that the machine may come to live in our studio for a while, (if not permanently).

NOTE: I will be repeating this post at a couple of other forums.

First thing to check is that the capstan motor is spinning and that the pinch roller is not glossed over with tape crud.

Second, is the take up motor spinning? i.e. if you hold the tape tension arms so it thinks there is tape loaded and push play, does the right hand motor spin?

Kevin.

Hey Kev,

Great to see you here..........I actually put a link to your gallery in a post here the other day.

ChrisO aka Ausrock.

Hey Aus - Yeah, this is the only board I have found time to even lurk at lately The home made gallery can be linked a little easier through this:

http://www.lsfsound.com/homemade.php

It does need some serious updating... one of these days.

Good luck with the deck, I'd love to upgrade my MS16 to an ATR60. If you run across any extra reel clamps & tables for it let me know, the ATR has better (metal) ones then the MS16 (plastic), I'd love to upgrade them.

Cheers
Kevin. :guinness:

I think Eddie C. has these spares somewhere at his page - tangible technology.

(EDIT)

Here: http://www.tangible-technology.com/ms16/ms16_1.html

Jakob E.

Jakob - Thanks, that is where I first heard that the parts can be interchanged but they need to be purchased from Tascam. Definatly on my wish list but not in the budget at the moment :?

Thanks again
Kevin.

See if you are getting any dc to the take up motor.
Those motors are pretty beefy, so I bet the problem is somewhere else.

OK, so far we have checked and OK'd fuses, braking mechanism, solenoids, motor to hub connections, most of the supply path from the specific circuit fuse to the "Joint PCB's" just before the motors. Considering the motor in question is the RH (Take Up) Reel Mtr and the LH (Rewind) Reel Mtr is working OK, I swapped the supply leads around and immediately had the RH Mtr working so that too has been eliminated from the list of possible causes.

The transport system is designed so that when activated in either direction, the motors are initially supplied with 24V DC to get them up to speed as smoothly and as quickly as possible, the supply then reverts to a steady 12V DC although I have been getting readings of approx., 16 and 32 Volts.

The motors are connected to the "Joint PCB" by 3 wires (Red, White and Black which appears to be 0V). When turned on but "at rest" I checked voltages at the point on the "Joint PCB's" where the motor leads are connected, both showed 16V on the Red and White. Once the LH (Rewind) was activated, the voltage on White dropped to zero while the Red went to 32V..........doing the same on the RH motor showed no change in the voltages.

I have attached a link to the portion of the schematic covering the Joint PCBs, motors and what to me is the mysterious "TR PCB", if anyone can shed any light on this or has any futher suggestions they would be greatly appreciated.

http://www.homerecording.com/bbs/attachment.php?attachmentid=10234&stc=1

This pic is on another BBS where I was also getting some help.