fixed CD player- here's how

nadams

Guys,
I was having a problem with my BSR cd player (which I purchased for $50 from eBay a few months ago) where it wouldn't recognise the CD when you put it in, or if it did, it wouldn't track correctly.

After looking at it for a while, I realised that the transport was not.... transporting. The eye wouldn't move around at all. So I moved it out the track a little by hand, and when I turned it on, it came back to the home position, and stayed there. After doing this a few times while looking at different things, I noticed that the band that connects the transport motor to a pully had a "bow" in it where it had sat stretched around the small pully on the motor. Sliding the rubber band a little without moving the pullies (so that the bow was in a different place than the home position) fixed the initial CD read, as the transport was now able to move out of home to read the TOC on the CD.

It still gets stuck if the bow comes around to the motor, so I still need to replace the band. I just need to find one that's the exact length of the current one. I guess the original band is just getting a little dry, so it formed around the motor. An easy fix for a CD player that I thought was going to have to be junked!

gidrah

That's some pretty good thinking and experimenting you got going on there buddy. I'm glad it's working.

You may be able to substitute a smaller band of lower elasticity, or removing it and manually working the bend a little. A little shot of automotive belt dressing might help.

Good luck.

George Grand

Go to the dollar store. They have large bags of elastic hair bands, in an assortment of sizes. That's where I find a lot of small belts for electronics. I steal them off my daughters.

George Grand (of the Jerey Grand's)

nadams

Thanks guys. I'll try a few things for a replacement belt. I'm guessing that this is probably more common than you think on older equipment that uses rubber band-like things as drives. Especially on things that don't have a wide range of motion, and that return to the same place all the time (such as the transport on the CD player), as it wears in if it sits idle for a long time.

Just thought I'd post the fix in case someone else has a player that doesn't work, this could easily be the problem .

BTW- it's been working great since. I've been playing CDs on it for about 3 hours tonight, and not a single glitch. Always reads it first try, and never skips when tracking. It's a beautiful thing

Tour2ma

Appreciate the thread nadams. I've got a Denon and an Audio Alchemy with disc read issues...