Since the last post the belt for the TEAC A360S cassette deck arrived and I was able to slip them into place very easily. For some reason I neglected to take a photo of the main drive belt, so the picture on the right will have to do. You can see the motor and capstan on the left and the large flywheel on the right. Two thin belts are visible.
The motor and capstan drive the flywheel with via the main belt and the flywheel then drives a smaller pulley that causes the white pulley toward the bottom of the phot which, in turn, causes other pulleys to turn by belts. It is not as complicated as it sounds.
The nice thing about the TEAC A360S is that it is a large machine and that gives you plenty of room to work on the belts once you are inside.
Once the new belts were in place it was time to test the machine the cassette deck was still dead. The tapes actually ran forward at normal speed, and in fast-forward and fast-reverse. But there was no sound at all.
That means there is an electronics problem and it was time to check the insides of the machine in more detail. The photo on the right shows the main circuit board and, to be blunt, it is enough to make one reconsider one’s hobbies. This is a pre-integrated circuit cassette deck. All the parts are hand-soldered in place.
It is now time to study the service manual in detail.
