Sony TC-230 Tapecorder
SeleniumFalcon
Posts: 3,764
My wife helps out with an annual charity auction and a friend of ours donated her husband's Sony TC-230 open reel tape player. I help out by checking out items that are donated and verify that they work correctly. In the past there have been everything from HP oscilloscopes to small transistor radios, something for everyone. I found out that this Sony's tape transport wasn't working, a common problem caused by gummed up lubrication.
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The problem was centered on the main transport linkage, the shaft that works to lever the entire play mechanism.
In order to get this lubricated again I used some Liquid Wrench penetrating oil applied with a small screwdriver blade to the shaft. I would then try and engage the play control a few times. I repeated this process over 10 days, each day getting the mechanism a little more unfrozen each day.
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Of course, by this time I'd looked over the complete deck and had begun bonding with the mechanism, seeing how each piece interlocked with the next to drive the tape, fast forward and rewind. This is a single AC motor transport, one motor providing capstan drive and doing all the other functions necessary using pulleys and a belt. So, I ended up buying the Sony and started taking things apart and seeing how much I could learn about how it works.
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The deck is now able to play tapes. I replaced the VU meters, motor run capacitor, checked the power supply filter capacitor, replaced the capstan roller (actually replaced the tire using the original hub), the capstan drive idler, the fast forward idler and the tape counter belt. I've thoroughly cleaned and polished everything that I can and re-lubricated all the linkage and bearings. I've tested the playback response (surprisingly even and fairly wide range for a combination record/playback head) and the record capability using Scotch 150 tape.
I have a few theories as to why this deck sounds so good (I mean really good). Firstly, it's a single motor machine, instead of three (my Tandberg TD20 has four motors) this means less stray magnetic fields to interact with the circuits and wiring. There are no solenoids or relays, which are also sources of small magnetic fields. The idler drive for the capstan involves no belts and once cleaned and refreshed is a constantly driven flywheel. Also I believe a horizontally spinning flywheel is potentially better than a vertically moving one. I carefully adjusted the four feet to make sure the flywheel is as level as possible. Lastly, the Sony heads. This uses the original Sony Permalloy head which have a reputation of sounding good (granted they wear out faster than ferrite heads). I believe the magnetic fields generated inside the coils of this head form and collapse better than later head designs. I'm hearing much more inner details, such as studio echo and wall reflections than I've ever head before on very well known tapes. For example the delicate brush work on the Miles Davis Kind of Blue is clearly heard for what it is.
The next step is to connect the tape head directly to external playback circuitry.
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This shows the very mechanical linkages of the transport, which in later decks was replaced with switches, solenoids relays and motors. I liken this early transport to the Lenco turntables which sound good due to the advantages of an idler driven platter.
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This is another fun read. Thanks.
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DOF and Bokeh for days!
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^ Had to look that one up.
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So did I..... Jeesh some people's kids
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I have had mine since new but it has not been used for the last 16 years so the info on cleaning and re lubrication, especially the tape transport mechanism and pressure pads, is most helpful as it is really sticky. What grease remover to you recommend? What new grease do you recommend? Is it possible to get new felt pressure pads? The erase and play heads are very worn. Does anyone have advice on replacing and re-calibrating, please?
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Hello,
Welcome to Polk's forum. While there are probably several choices, I start off with Goo Gone and if that isn't working I go to Acetone to remove old dried grease. For lubrication I use Lubriplate 105 after things are clean. You can use 8 track cartridge repair kits that contain replacement pressure pads to replace worn ones. Replacing heads is going to be difficult since they are very scarce. You might be able to contact: http://www.jrfmagnetics.com/index.html?JRF_mainframe=/JRF_relapping.html about relapping your heads. Relapping involves carefully sanding the worn head profile back to an original shape. I believe there are relapping kits that allow an owner to do it, a general Google search should be helpful. Sony's service manuals are pretty good at describing how to calibrate their decks and can be found online.
I hope this is helpful information.
