A not quite step-by-step guide on how to replace the belts in the Philips FC931 cassette deck. The same basic technique applies to many other decks from the 1990s, such as from Sony and Pioneer.
Пікірлер: 168
@blue3874 жыл бұрын
Techmoan and VWestlife keeping the rubber belt industrial complex alive
@UrOpinionsSucc3 жыл бұрын
Me too, cause i buy packs of belts in case i need them. However my walkman might need them soon.
@scaleop43 жыл бұрын
yea your not wrong
@fdski3 жыл бұрын
Guilty... replacing the belts on my Onkyo TA-2056 today...
@8_Bit4 жыл бұрын
This is probably obvious, but I take a bunch of pictures from multiple angles whenever I disassemble stuff, and sometimes even shoot video of it (slow and steady!). Sometimes those pictures are invaluable when I'm trying to get it back together again. I also got a pair of those magnifying goggles Adrian Black uses, and they make a huge difference; repairing things is almost fun again!
@afzaalkhan.m4 жыл бұрын
Indeed more so with old folks like self
@dack65283 жыл бұрын
Yeah pretty obvious, but still needs to be repeated, as I (like Afzaal Khan.M i'm old now 60) and forget stuff. Took something (I can't even remember that) apart a few months ago and forgot where the bits I took apart went. Had to throw it out. EDIT Took a few hours, I remembered it was a toaster.
@spytromics4 жыл бұрын
I bought belts from the same eBay guy in Portugal. He has good quality belts, and you don't have to do any work. Yes, generic belts are cheaper. But for under $20, it's not a big deal. I'll order from him again if necessary.
@rosemeyer19394 жыл бұрын
Yep. Same here. Especially useful if the original belts have perished so its not clear what the correct size is. I just order the right pack.
@64bakes4 жыл бұрын
The Web Spare Parts seller is active on the TapeHeads forum (Julio). Has a good reputation for decent quality belts at a reasonable price. Great for decks like these that aren't ridiculously sensitive to w&f specs.
@ESDI804 жыл бұрын
I've had good luck boiling belts for 5 minutes in water and than wiping them good with belt / rubber conditioner. I did this on a couple of CD Players I have and it fixed the issue with the tray not opening.
@svenschwingel86324 жыл бұрын
This only works with neoprene belts and other synthetic compounds. Rubber will just melt down.
@spankysmp4 жыл бұрын
Handy video. Belts are a nightmare sometimes especially on radio cassettes which are not really designed to be fixed as they were sold as throw away items. Proper decks like this aren't so bad. Good job on the swap and relatively straight forward thankfully.
@mushroomsamba824 жыл бұрын
Digging that song at the end
@joeclayton28754 жыл бұрын
Me too. Great track
@joseherrera57774 жыл бұрын
I just want to say Vwestlife that you're one of my favorite KZfaqrs hands-down. You're down to earth and straight to the point, and I as well as many others appreciate that greatly. Keep it up! You're the reason I love stuff like this!
@ralphhoskins21154 жыл бұрын
Jose Herrera he is truly fantastic!!!i have been a fan for years...
@troyconnolly9053 Жыл бұрын
Well said
@ThriftyAV4 жыл бұрын
Very nice demonstration of belt replacement on clam-shell design cassette mechanism. I recently attempted to do a belt replacement on a Maganavox all-in-one stereo that had a plastic mechanism that was held together with brittle clips and adhesive, no screws in sight. With it's disposable-by-design nature, my project was a failure, and the vid got shelved.
@esecallum4 жыл бұрын
just prise it apart and use superglue or uv resin to put it back together..
@richardmorgan15884 жыл бұрын
Your videos are great therapy! I enjoy them very much!
@100Underscores4 жыл бұрын
Richard Morgan his voice is so relaxing
@mayshack4 жыл бұрын
After 25 years, I've gone egg-shaped too.
@burtobm4 жыл бұрын
And I've warped
@Jackpkmn4 жыл бұрын
Lucky you, i went all potato shaped.
@EC18FEA30B4 жыл бұрын
Northernlion, is that you?
@mz73153 жыл бұрын
This needs way more likes lol!
@clemsonbloke4 жыл бұрын
One thing those Sony's have that I like very much is the "Auto Cal" button that sets the decks bias to the tape exactly, it works great and makes any tape sound great. I think that is what that "Auto Bias" is on that Philips of yours. Nice deck Kevin. -Kevin
@kubiakWU4 жыл бұрын
This is great! Love seeing stuff like this taken apart and fixed. The music was really good too. I'll check them out!
@nornironpete4 ай бұрын
Just replaced the belts in a Philips FC731 thanks to this video. Unfortunately it didn't resolve the problem I.e. the deck won't fast forward or rewind. If anybody has managed to fix this I'd be grateful for the solution. Thanks again for taking the time to make this video.
@renejansen59394 жыл бұрын
Wow! Nice deck! I Have the CD player from that series, still working fine.
@troyconnolly9053 Жыл бұрын
You can’t go wrong with any 900 series CD player . Nice
@stefanrodic53984 жыл бұрын
I got a laugh from the thumbnail
@RetroPCUser4 жыл бұрын
Same here.
@darthbubba8664 жыл бұрын
Yup, loved the thumbnail !
@gamermine554 жыл бұрын
There is instructions to replace the belts in my Pioneer CT-225 service manual
@svenschwingel86324 жыл бұрын
A few drops of oil to the capstan bearings can also help to reduce W&F on an aging deck
@andrewp41844 жыл бұрын
You have created an excellent how to belt replacement guide. Better than most I have seen. I wonder how long it would take most people to find that small Phillips screw that was still holding the thing together. Great video, interesting as usual.
@FSCforal4 жыл бұрын
ive ordered belts from that manufacture and their pretty good ive used loads your videos are so amazing i watch them regularly ! Daniel UK
@eDoc20204 жыл бұрын
Oddly enough I just replaced a drive belt, although mine was in a vacuum cleaner. The old belt was stretched so badly the lettering on it was visibly stretched. Replacing it was stupidly easy, it would be great if cassette belts were that easy, too. Fortunately all the cassette equipment at my home seems to be working fine now. Although if I had known about cassette belts years ago we might have been able to save my father's old Harman Kardon deck from 1984.
@garypoole7164 жыл бұрын
Nice job👌. Good to see a Panasonic motor in there! They get everywhere,excellent motors. Keep safe😃
@DRDCC4 жыл бұрын
You had me @ the belt pic. Very cool.
@migalito19553 жыл бұрын
Thanks. I have two identical decks to re-belt. One is branded Pioneer and the other Optimus but they are identical. Maybe like you said I should practice on a less important deck, but all I have is a 90's Sony Boom box and they are often very hard to expose the mechanisim well enough to work on it because they are so tightly packed.
@JonGallon4 жыл бұрын
Lots of ground wires.. It's a very 'down to earth' cassete deck unit indeed.
@timemerson41624 жыл бұрын
I don't think i've ever seen so many lol.
@rennethjarrett45803 жыл бұрын
Good one, very wise and helpful. A bit of advice to all users of mechanical things. You need to use them once in a while or they have troubles. Case in point; CD/DVD decks on your computer. Most have a little belt that is the part that opens and closes that drawer, if it sets for to long it gets stuck in' it's egg shape and will just spin there. Cars can also have their problems, if they set to long.
@okbridges4 жыл бұрын
I've got a Tascam CC-222 Mk II introduced 10 years after your Philips and it's interesting to see how much better quality your 10yr older deck is. The Tascam does not even have weighted capstan flywheels, so the wow & flutter is horrible, even with a fresh belt.
@waynehickman83174 жыл бұрын
I'm so glad my two main Technics decks are quartz locked direct drive without any belts whatsoever.. well apart from one of them has automatic eject and close which is belt driven but that belt is very easy to get to and near enough any similar sized belt would do its job
@omegasalmonfish4 жыл бұрын
The test song is my favorite of his 👍
@verastaki4 жыл бұрын
I have a SONY Tape Deck I purchased brand new at Best Buy's in 2005, and it uses no belts except for the take up reel. The Capstans are actually tips of the direct drive motors. Never had any problems with it, since the belts are eliminated. Wish they used similar technology on older decks.
@nickwallette62014 жыл бұрын
Convenient, but the belts are not there by accident - they _could_ have been designed out (as you see on yours). For one, it's a torque limiter -- mostly in case something bad happens. It's one way to stop the tape from spooling if it binds, the end-of-tape sensor isn't working correctly, etc. More typically, it's a buffer between the motor and the drive mechanism, so any small variations in speed cause contractions and expansions of the belt and reduce the impact to the speed of the tape.
@kepler6664 жыл бұрын
Ten points for the thumbnail
@superotterboy79373 жыл бұрын
"Somewhat straight" ...if only Linus, if only! Hahaha
@XMguy4 жыл бұрын
I bought a Clarion ADX5655z at a junk yard. It’s a car stereo with a full logic tape deck. I modified the power to support a cigarette lighter plug, and wired it with an aux out cable to play in my ‘04 Envoy. I still use and MAKE mix tapes in 2020.
@the_rubbish_bin4 жыл бұрын
I bought a few kits from web spare parts for cassette decks, highly recommend!
@ralphreinhardt60204 жыл бұрын
Job well done there VW.👍👍
@FifoF4 жыл бұрын
That thumbnail! 😂😂
@Nantawat_Kittiwarakul4 жыл бұрын
What I really don't like about this kind of mediocore transport is the lack of real weight in the flywheel, just hollow plastic or a thin piece of stamped sheet steel. It must be mechanically perfect in order to have W&F just within its tolerance. Once the belt had aged up (like in this case) W&F will be immediately gone busted.
@marcswanson70664 жыл бұрын
Beautiful, but it deeply saddens me to see high quality tape decks reduced to the status of rare finds. Man too often throws out the baby with the bath water when he moves ahead technologically. If only a new Edison could arise and figure out how to control both spindles and the capstan with three dedicated motors. Do away with belts altogether. Although the electronics would obviously be highly advanced, there would be a beauty in resulting simplicity--no more clockwork mechanisms to go haywire in a few years. We could finally return to our beloved format using machines that sounded great and no longer ate tapes.
@mikehall39764 жыл бұрын
There's no way that WOULDN'T be possible. Look at the engineering that went into the controls for the laser on a CD player. If we put that much effort into tape decks, we'd surely have switched by now!
@AaronSmart.online4 жыл бұрын
Direct drive tape decks exist, it's just a price vs. performance thing. And adding more motors brings more complexity and less reliability in other ways.
@BretFrohwein4 жыл бұрын
Very similar to my Harmon Kardon CD-91. Except there was an additional belt for the analog counter. out of the 4 decks I have that all needed belts. I ended up choosing the HK because the other three would require extensive levels of disassembly.
@coondogtheman4 жыл бұрын
I just bought belts for all my machines. The only one working are a small sony cassette corder and an RCA desktop cassette recorder. All my other machines have weak belts but they do work but rewind is very weak and I have to do the pencil trick.
@smashthings13 жыл бұрын
Very informative video! Got a few vintage portable stereos with faulty cassette decks. How difficult is doing this process on them? I know they're full of spaghetti wires.
@rarbiart4 жыл бұрын
i like the classical music in the background. Was that to fight the air condition?
@EddieJazzFan4 жыл бұрын
That tape deck looks like it was made in the last batch of quality machines that manufactures put out right before they started to make crap, unfix-able poor spec tape decks. But Philips is a pretty good company. I bought a 32 inch flat screen Philips TV in 2007. I use it every day for at least an hour and it works perfectly. It also has "front firing" speakers that helps with sound clarity. Most flat screen TVs now have the down or side firing speakers which always sound muddy to me.
@5roundsrapid2634 жыл бұрын
After the mid to late ‘90s, everything became disposable.
@MC-bu6ez5 ай бұрын
No this is pretty much crap too The mechanism is garbage, the display is ugly. More importantly sounds inspiring.
@ralphhoskins21154 жыл бұрын
What a nice design on those decks!!! I have changed a lot of belts,,, never anything this simple.... I have a fisher deck that has five,, dam belts in it...number five is hidden inside the mechanics.... and I would have never seen it if I hadn’t of ripped the entire deck apart... total nightmare
@mattydevine14 жыл бұрын
Great Ep!
@RowanBird7792 жыл бұрын
This video was release on my birthday
@kozkoz77763 жыл бұрын
Great hand to eye dexterity in reverse engineering i do like your tutorials .l was wondering if you know of tanberg 3014 i do have one in mint condition original owner my plight is im afraid to turn it ON maybe the belts have melted what should i do?
@michaelturner44574 жыл бұрын
To straighten the belt and make sure it's not going to come off before reassembly, couldn't you just have turned the motor and pulleys by hand?
@clemsonbloke4 жыл бұрын
Love the counter on that Philips, the look is different than the Sonys with those dotted lines. I have a couple of Sonys I need to replace the belts on, not looking forward to that!
@104d_3rr0r_vince4 жыл бұрын
Dunno if I said that before in the previous video but I have one of these. The main problem is that the panel acts like crazy.
@vfletes14 жыл бұрын
On my deck an Onkyo TA WR 255 on the recording sise ot seems that it tends to sounds like it needs batteries and wants to eat the tape i notice with a couple of tape. The other side playes just fine... I have no places near me that can fix this problem. Any ideas as to it might be.
@mercuryoak24 жыл бұрын
Very informative I never really changed belt on cassette deck. liked that thumbnail pic I thought very good pun there. Lol
@musicnerd724 жыл бұрын
Did Philips manufacture their own mechanisms? Haven't seen one like that before.
@rustpage2 жыл бұрын
what is the size of the belts in centimeters?
@d.jswaheely402 жыл бұрын
Where'd you buy the belts?
@elviradark690210 ай бұрын
Please tell me how to remove the cassette window to adjust the azimuth? Should I disassemble the whole cassette module?
@domlimited12644 жыл бұрын
good selection of music
@troyconnolly9053 Жыл бұрын
Mechanism looks to be a bit better than a lot of 90s cassette decks .
@giuseppelavecchia7753 жыл бұрын
Un buon lavoro.le cinghiette vecchie,da cambiare,ma perfettamente intatte,questo fa vedere e CAPIRE il livello qualitativo della philips,altro che il pastrocchio di colla di cinghiette fuse che ho visto spesso
11 ай бұрын
Amazingky good work. It is impossible and reallly expensive to get belts in Patagonia Argentina, and no servive for these things at all, so we have to recycle them or go to the trash *sighs*. You have to work +12 hs to get one belt.
@alvarbilly4 жыл бұрын
It's one of those things you gotta have patience for, or else haha.
@mchabbi4 жыл бұрын
Can you tell us how you removed the black cable with the pins going to the mechanism (shown at 4:32)? The white plastic piece that holds that kind of cable is difficult to lift.
@vwestlife4 жыл бұрын
You pry up the edges of the white retaining clip to unlock it, and then you can easily pull out the black cable.
@canisaureus4939 Жыл бұрын
question how did you record the music on your camera? just with your phone listening to the speaker? or did you plug direct audio in electronically?
@vwestlife Жыл бұрын
A direct connection to the camcorder's microphone input via an attenuation cable.
@PhantomRKPL Жыл бұрын
where i can buy belts for Philips FC951??
@csleeut3 жыл бұрын
what is the size of the belt?
@DavidB-rx3km4 жыл бұрын
I’ve heard that slugbug music on your channel a few times and I like it, it’s quite quirky, are they still going?
@Fuzy2K4 жыл бұрын
I'm pretty sure he's still making music. He also has a KZfaq channel. 'pdmillar'
@Trebliw83 күн бұрын
Thanks - I’m going to attempt a belt replacement for a Fisher ph-w803 cassette deck and hoping that it is NOT a clamshell design because this didn’t look easy at all
@KLM8173 жыл бұрын
I started to try and change some belts in a few old decks I have. None of them have kits available so I have to use generic belts. I am not sure on how tight the belts are supposed to be. Is there supposed to be any slack or do they have to be super tight?
@vwestlife3 жыл бұрын
There should be some flex to the belt when you push or pull on it -- not super tight.
@KLM8173 жыл бұрын
@@vwestlife Thank you for the info!!
@HunterSkowronPDX4 жыл бұрын
what did you film this video on?
@vwestlife4 жыл бұрын
A Canon Vixia HF200 camcorder, the same as I usually use.
@MC-bu6ez4 ай бұрын
The mechanism is noisy when playing forward, any ideas why?
@Madness8324 жыл бұрын
Think while I had it apart, I would've just replaced both.
@xaenon4 жыл бұрын
I agree with this 100 percent.
@5roundsrapid2634 жыл бұрын
I probably would have too. However, the left deck is in spec, and if wow and flutter is critical, he can just use the right one.
@marcelofreitas20824 жыл бұрын
Tenho um FC 731 ele toca normal mais na isso não avança e nem retrocede girei uma engrenagem que fica na ponta ele avançou e retrpcedeu mais o play ficou avançando. Tem alguma idéia
@marcelofreitas20823 жыл бұрын
for english: i have a philips FC 731 double deck all ok functions except forward and reverse does not work. Any idea of the problem.Thank you
@nornironpete4 ай бұрын
Did you ever find a fix for this? I've just replaced the belts in mine hoping it would be the solution for the same problem you were having but no luck.
@Helderhugo4 жыл бұрын
Assembled in Portugal?? Wow I never knew that!
@troyconnolly9053 Жыл бұрын
900 series was made all over Europe CD players were made in Belgium.
@HDXFH4 жыл бұрын
So thats a great idea with those pegs
@artyalexeev61264 жыл бұрын
What's the name of the song which begins from nintendo chiptune?
@vwestlife4 жыл бұрын
It's all part of the same song.
@dack65283 жыл бұрын
Just found out I can save this (in KZfaq), so have in case I lose it again.
@magiuster14 жыл бұрын
Nice video. It was made in Portugal I suppose in a Grundig factory: at that time Grundig was controlled by Philips and some audio and videorecorder in Philips european catalog were made in Grundig factories. Inside is not Phlips at all, it is 100% Grundig.Tape deck is Japan made.
@Roflcopter1004 жыл бұрын
12:42 do I see a future where vwestlife shitposts? Love the content btw
@moviebod4 жыл бұрын
Very good
@Nico934 жыл бұрын
Did anyone else hear that linn drum action?
@zzyzxRDFwy152 жыл бұрын
10:55 But I care for all cassette decks... And I found the "Somewhat Straight" Easter Egg at around 11:27 and the "Tapes Tapes" at 12:42 in this video. Do I win a prize?
@dimashanin14833 жыл бұрын
Good synesthesia video
@UrOpinionsSucc4 жыл бұрын
Wonder if he has belts for a sony auto-reverse deck.
@vwestlife4 жыл бұрын
Not on hand, but I have replaced the belts in a Sony deck before. It's similar to this one.
@UrOpinionsSucc4 жыл бұрын
@@vwestlife ahh i see.
@bluemantom774 жыл бұрын
I got a old Onkyo double cassette ta-rw313 I got a new one 1993 with a matching receiver tx-sv313pro and I still got it it was my first real stereo before that I have my father's old quasar self-contained stereo that had an axillary input that I use my first cd player
@sugumarans.k.1302 жыл бұрын
Nice.sir.
@p.saikia33314 жыл бұрын
Love from #Assam
@DAVIDGREGORYKERR4 жыл бұрын
I have a Philips DCC900 which no longer works because the capacitors have dried out but won't even play digital tapes.
@michvod4 жыл бұрын
The capacitors have actually leaked out and corroded the PCB. Needs not just a recap, but a cleanup job as well! This happens on DCC machines.
@dennisfook27173 жыл бұрын
clean head with spirits ...and run it on fast speed a few times. i never hear stupid things like this. but rubber ...is just like a new track boots it have to break in alittle.
@hamzhezaheri94594 жыл бұрын
سلام.ضبط فیلیپس دولبه رابخواهیم چجوری باید تهیه کرد.
@RealSmartHawk4 жыл бұрын
16$ ? you've got ripped big time bro!
@sbrazenor23 жыл бұрын
I have an old deck I need to replace belts for, but I'm that combination of lazy and busy that makes it harder to get around to it. 😐
@cjmarsh5044 жыл бұрын
Wow!
@RealityTrailers4 жыл бұрын
Interesting. Have several dual cassette decks. They all power on but won't play. Probably toss them soon.
@codebeat4192 Жыл бұрын
Hmmm, someone have the FC930 and those mechanisms are made from plastic. There is also a cheese gear inside that needs to be replaced.
@5roundsrapid2634 жыл бұрын
It seems like everything had Torx screws in the mid-‘90s.
@theotherchannel22794 жыл бұрын
I use Webspareparts all the time for belts, the one time I did not, because he did not have them, they were wrong.
@JoaoVitor-cw2vg4 жыл бұрын
Like for the thumbnail
@GP11384 жыл бұрын
Slugbug sounds like what would happen if the guys from They Might Be Giants had a love child together.
@hughjanus69756 ай бұрын
I remember one time I was adjusting the speed on my technics deck and when I inserted the screwdriver the whole thing died! Instead of running the motor faster it just murdered it.
@7JANEWAY4 жыл бұрын
Belt degradation is a reason to go with a direct drive turntable (wouldn’t it be nice if they had a direct drive cassette player???!!!).
@b2d3274 жыл бұрын
They do make them. Sony, Nakamichi and Denon each have models I’m aware of