[ApogeeUK]

Okay, so I've opend her back up, swapped all the drive belts for new and oiled the capstan wheel, the pinch roller and the motors. The capstan wheel turns quietly and very steadily. When not loaded with tape being played on a reel both motors seem fine, too. Alas, the problem persists.

After close study it looks like the real issue appears to lie with the mechanism that's designed to lift the pinch roller into position. Upon pressing play, the motor turns but this elongated mount part shows no movement at all. The tape is pulled across the heads unhindered by any contact from the rubber wheel. I can physically lift it upwards into contact by pushing down on the counterweight on the left and this definitely slows the sound down from chipmunk speed, but whatever process is designed to do this automatically and with precision doesn't appear to be functioning.

At first I thought there might be another belt missing (I had one left over) but after studing a schematic this doesn't seem to the be the case - There should be one belt for the capstan, one each for the two motors and one for the tape counter.

If someone could give me a clue where to concetrate my efforts next that would be great. I frankly thought it doubtful I'd get this far, so once again, much appreciated.