Toshiba Rt-8290s aka bombeat 12mkii

[Matche]

This is my first post. I look forward to being an active member. I bought the above mentioned box a year ago and use it endlessly. The play button all of a sudden stopped working (but FF AND RR both work). This mission to fix my box has been a blast with the learning and all.

When I opened up the box today I found a broken belt inside. It appears to need to go around one of the heads, but I can't find a motor or anything else to attach the belt to! Does anyone have a photo of what is should look like? If not can you help in anyway to describe what I may try next? I have searched the internet endlessly.

Also, the second belt is wrapped around the other tape head and it routed to a "spindle" located under the tape counter. This belt still works and it turns the head and tape counter. I wish this belt broke instead! It is extremely loose though and I will change it out while inside. See photo.

I'll also add deoxit 5 to the pots while it's open. Are there any other preventative maintenance items you recommend?

Also I just won a prosonic pqr-9250 on eBay. Should be getting it in a week....my second box! My collection may be small but my tape collection is vast .

Also what is the deal with the teac reel cassettes? Are they mostly for aesthetics, cause they do look good! Why $50 for a single tape? What are they used for?

This is a lot of questions, but whatever you can answer is extremely appreciated.

Regards,
Mike T

 

[superlew]

Whoa - another member from the Wu-City???

Pics will help big time. I'm not familiar with the model, but I'm sure plenty of other members are.
As for the reel cassettes, there are so many manufacturers with various levels of quality. If you're talking about the one with the aluminum housing and interchangeable reels, that's a pretty good price.
I have loads of belts, but they're in variety packs, so I don't know the exact sizes. PM me if you need a couple (I've belted tons of decks).

 

[Matche]

Wow from the same town huh. Ended up here for work....just spent last decade in California. I was going to go to "you odd it electronics" in needham to see if they can help me out with belts, deox, etc. if they don't have the right belts I was going to purchase on turntableneedles.com.

If you got any to sell, I would def buy them. I'm hoping that the store in needham can help me replacement my belts....or then I don't know what to do. Let me see if I can host a picture.

 

[Matche]

If more pictures will help let me know. Turntable needle.com indicates 4 belts are needed (3 different sizes), but I only see evidence of 2 belts (which are the same size). One of these belts is attached and shown in the photo (but loose), while the other belt was broken in the box when I opened it up. Where are the other two belts....I don't see them!

In the second photo there are two spindles that both turn when I get play or FF/ RR (I point to one of the in the photo). I assume these extra two belts may go around these, as they don't currently serve any purpose.

Mike

 

[Matche]

Hey superlew, I have attached a few more pictures for you. If you have any time, I would LOVE for you to take a look at my box. I'm really trying to learn about maintenance and repair and you may have some knowledge to help me.

I could give you something for your efforts. pm what your into. I do have the following 5 cassettes I would give you.

Cappadonna the pillage
2 live crew the real one
Memphis bleek coming of age
The MADD rapper tell em why u MADD
Deep cover album from the motion picture.

These are cassettes I have no need for...but maybe they interest you some.

I would LOVE some help. It could be as quick as needed.

After living in Sam Francisco / Oakland, i feel like I live in the witness protection program out here. People are very insular and haven't many people.

Regards,
Mike

 

[Matche]

Sorry, one was meant to show the front of the box. It's by baby....got a real good deal on eBay. Constantly searching for more. Maybe you have some you want to sell.

I'm very interested in the sharp gf series of boxes.

 

[superlew]

Looks like the other 2-3 belts will be on the back side of the deck. In most cases, the drive belts are behind the deck while the counter belt is in front.
Looks to be a very typical layout. Being an auto-reverse unit, the main belt will drive two flywheels - one inside the belt, the other outside.
Don't order any belts yet. Like I said, I have tons.

 

[JT Techno]

Hi Matche,
Those spinning spindles are the capstans - see here for a good terminology discussion - http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tape_transport
The capstans do not have belts directly attached to them but the reverse side of them usually have a flywheel that takes a belt from the tape motor. I don't have an autoreverse deck, so likely they may be different again, but all the drive belts will be on reverse of the mechanism your photographs show, as superlew said
Unfortunately, this requires a bit more dismantling of the whole deck mechanism from the innards of the box ... just be careful you are removing the mechanism mounting screws rather than screws that hold the mechanism itself together, as usually all it needs is to remove the whole mechanism and flip it around and then some more pics taken to get some further advice here from members as to which belt goes where etc.
Let us know if you can post more pics of other side of the tape deck mechanism - hope this helps.

 

[Matche]

This all helps a lot. Thank you. I will post an update at the end of the week. Im hoping it is fixed by then. My cassettes are lonely!

 

[Matche]

I'm meeting with superlew (it's a small world) before i attempt to do some dismantling of the deck mechanism to get to the drive. Once I do that I will take photos whether or not I need more help. Regardless the photos will be good information for others.

 

[Matche]

I want to say thanks to superlew. Great guy. We met up and he was able to show me how to take out the cassette box and find / replace the belts. Then we had a problem with the auto-stop kicking in after hitting the play button. He offered to take the box home to diagnose the problem. Turned out one of the belts turned to goo, and caused a disruption with the spindle. He corrected the issue and now the box is back to working. Phyched. He also did a little cleaning of the unit while inside.

Appreciate the help, and his knowledge.

 

[-GZ-]

....and that's how its done on boomboxery.

 

[superlew]

Fixed.

I'll post a pic of the belt routing later today. It's actually a pretty easy deck to work on. The belt tolerances are pretty stingy, so there was a lot of trial and error to find just the right combo. Once the belts were installed, the auto-stop kept kicking in when a tape was inserted and played in reverse mode. The culprit was an old piece of gooey belt that was stuck to the back side of the reverse spindle. Without a tape it would chug along, but between the belt goo and a 90 min. cassette, there was enough resistance to engage the auto-stop. Once the goo was discovered and cleaned up, it did exactly what it was supposed to do.

It's a neat deck, auto-reverse, continuous play -pretty cool for a mechanical deck.

What I learned: Very stingy belt tolerances; Very sensitive auto-stop mechanism.
Other than that, it's fairly straight-forward.

I'm sure Mike (Matche) will want to post pics too, when he's back in town.

Edit: No problem, Mike (I saw your post after I posted this reply - it's still very early )

 

[JT Techno]

Glad you got it sorted between you - as soon as I heard you were near superlew, I guessed it wouldn't remain broken for long - top work - can't have cassettes feeling left unplayed for too long

 

[superlew]

Here's a good look at the front of the deck:




Back:






Here's the label inside the back case. There's a similar label on the front case too. Both were molded on the same date.
'Lot o' chemicals involved in the manufacturing of a box.: