In the last post I discussed the TEAC A360S cassette deck that I picked up at an estate sale. Well, the first test has been completed and it turns out that the machine is thoroughly dead. When I turned it on I could hear the motor running and the lights illuminated, but that was no other action. Nothing else happened.
I found a service manual online and was able to open the deck without serious problems and discovered that the main drive belt was missing. In my experience, that is very odd. Belts don’t usually just disappear. When I got a closer look I found some mysterious goo around the capstan. In the photo on the right you can see the motor and capstan, and if you look closely you will see some weird dark stuff on the capstan.
The photo on the right shows the underside of the flywheel plate. This piece secures the flywheel in position. Note the nylon bearing with a little brown-ish grease. The plate also has quite a bit of black goo on it. That black junk is the remains for the drive belt. Over the last 50 years the belt disintegrated.
This is something that I had not experienced before so I looked up the problem and, sure enough, disintegrating belts is an actual “thing” with old cassette decks. I cleaned the plate and the other parts of the cassette deck where the belt goo had dripped. Then ordered a new set of belts.
The A360S has four belts. The drive belt is nearly 1/4″ wide and a pretty serious belt as belts go. The other three belts are very much what you would expect in a cassette machine. They are fairly thin and somewhat stretchy, but not too much, of course.
When dealing with something as old as this cassette deck is it makes no sense to skimp on something as inexpensive as belts. I ordered a set of four. Once they are in we shall see if the machine actually plays tapes.