I picked this up in a part of a larger lot of video stuff from a house clearance, got a dozen Betacam SP tapes as well.

Bad news is she won't work, accepts a tape, no response to controls, wont eject the tape.

Oh well it would have been nice if it had worked, *sigh*

http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8181/7908332812_947486a9e2_b.jpg

See, it lights up.....

http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8437/7910340714_7d1910ca49_b.jpg

Wow, That is a nice VCR! I'm kinda jealous. You planning to try and fix it? If you are I'd start off by getting new rubber belts for the mechanism(if it uses belts).

I wish I could find one of those for a price I could afford even if it needed repair :sigh:....

Wow, That is a nice VCR! I'm kinda jealous. You planning to try and fix it? If you are I'd start off by getting new rubber belts for the mechanism(if it uses belts).

I wish I could find one of those for a price I could afford even if it needed repair :sigh:....

I have had a good look round and i can only see one belt, and that is for the threading mechanism, and that seems fine, the head drum and the capstan use there own direct drive motors, the tape reels seem to share a motor and use an idler tire, but it is pretty well sealed and i cant see a belt anywhere, so maybe its a one belt machine.

I think the fault lies in the power supply or the system controll, and is therefore way above my skill level.

I have not given up yet tho.......i may plug it in tomorrow and it will work fine........it's happened before.

It sure was a bargain at a few bucks, i will just keep it as a cool and very rare Beta machine.

Even if i never get it to work.

Power supply issues are common on the late 80s Betamax. There is a STK module in the power supply that likes to go bad. ED Betas are pretty darned rare. Even broken that machine can fetch a pretty good sum.

Power supply issues are common on the late 80s Betamax. There is a STK module in the power supply that likes to go bad. ED Betas are pretty darned rare. Even broken that machine can fetch a pretty good sum.

I spotted that STK module.

Watch this space for developments.

Thought this might interest you....
http://www.studiosoundelectronics.com/mbk-47.htm

Thought this might interest you....
http://www.studiosoundelectronics.com/mbk-47.htm

Thanks for that, i have lots of replacement belts in my stash, i will try a few later today and see it it makes any difference to the tape loading, maybe the belt that is in there now has not got the torque to complete the tape wrap, and therefore the machine does not know a tape is loaded ( clutching at straws here )

Well when i got up after thinking long and hard i found this......
A tiny spring was not hooked to anything and i could not see anything to hook it to, but i could see the spring was the tensioner for the Betamax style magnetic tape end sensor ( optical in VHS ) so i fooled the machine into lacing up with no tape in and pushed the magnetic sensor, and hey presto the main solenoid kicked in and the machine came to life head drum spin and capstan spin , it was happily playing a none existent cassette.

I found the tiny bit of plastic that's broken off, i have glued it with plastic cement but i may have to glue it with 2 part epoxy.

Tape loaded for real now and playing normally !!!!

http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8179/7922144570_87033de926_b.jpg

http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8306/7922145812_5cd1810227_b.jpg

http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8178/7922147228_a923d763dd_b.jpg

Thanks guys for your help.

:banana:

Awesome!:thmbsp: Good detective work.

Awesome!:thmbsp: Good detective work.

The eject mech is a bit sticky, but it is full of grease, and i do mean full of the stuff, i think a through clean of the cogs ect is in order.

Might want to regrease it too. If there is a hobby shop near you look for Labelle silicone grease. I forget which type number I use, but it works great on VCRs and many other older mechanisms. Often just adding it to the old greased parts restores normal behavior.

Might want to regrease it too. If there is a hobby shop near you look for Labelle silicone grease. I forget which type number I use, but it works great on VCRs and many other older mechanisms. Often just adding it to the old greased parts restores normal behavior.

I have got some Lithium grease, i am going to clean it all off first, someone has put like half a tube on it !