UK Vintage Radio Repair and Restoration Powered By Google Custom Search Vintage Radio and TV Service Data

Go Back   UK Vintage Radio Repair and Restoration Discussion Forum > Specific Vintage Equipment > Vintage Tape (Audio), Cassette, Wire and Magnetic Disc Recorders and Players

Notices

Vintage Tape (Audio), Cassette, Wire and Magnetic Disc Recorders and Players Open-reel tape recorders, cassette recorders, 8-track players etc.

Closed Thread
 
Thread Tools
Old 19th Aug 2017, 4:28 pm   #1
TonyDuell
Dekatron
 
Join Date: Jun 2015
Location: Biggin Hill, London, UK.
Posts: 5,188
Default FiCord 1A

I have been looking at the FiCord 1A that I bought from Hammods on this forum. This is a small reel-to-reel tape recorder dating from around 1960.

Let me emphasise from the start that my comments on the design of the machine are not intended as any criticism of Hammods, who posted the machine -- very well packed -- as agreed. My comments are on the design and construction of the machine itself.

There is a BBC Technical Instruction (R11) that covers their version of the machine, but the normal one (which this is) is a little different. The main change is the microphone socket. It's a 4 pin thing, similar to the one on a B114 battery. I will have to raid my junk box for a suitable plug. Two of the pins are for the microphone, the other 2 for a remote control switch.

It is almost essential to unplug the microphone in playback mode. Firstly the microphone is still connected to the amplifier input. But more importantly, owing to the switch wiring, if you close the remote control switch in playback mode, the bias/erase oscillator is powered up. The machine will not record like that, but it will wipe the tape.

Mechanically it's generally well made, although being small it's a bit of a fiddle to work on. I found it easier to remove a lot of the mechanical bits before trying to get the PCB out. One thing I don't like is the fact that the flywheel is pressed onto the capstan shaft, there is no shoulder to locate it. You have to remove it to properly lubricate the bearings and then press it back to the right point -- so that the capstan turns freely with no end shake.

There are 4 belts in there, all need repacing. One to drive the capstan flywheel, one from there to the takeup spindle, and then 2 more small ones in the 2-speed reduction drive on the end of the motor -- the 2 speeds are obtained by shifting the capstan belt between the motor pulley and another pulley in line with it, driven by those 2 extra belts.

One good thing for repairers now is the pinch roller which is an O-ring on a metal hub (with a ball race inside). It's a bit of a job to get it out and back, but O-rings are not hard to get, unlike pinch rollers for obscure/rare machines.

The level indicator is a magic eye, DM160 type of thing. The HT (about 30V I guess) comes from the erase oscillator, the filament is powered by being in series with said oscillator (with a shut resistor in parallel with the filament).

I have the original battery charger, but no cells. The charger is odd. It connects the cells (2V lead acid) in series with 100mA lamps as ballast resistors. Each cell is in series with a 2V 100mA lamp. When the cell is charged, the cell casing inflates, operates a microswitch and replaces the cell/2V bulb with a 4V 100mA bulb. So the chain of 4 cells and lamps appears to be a 16V 100mA load.

But the power supply for that starts with a 50V 50mA transformer followed by a very weak (high internal resistance) voltage doubler. I guess that approximates a constant current supply but the 50mA transformer rating sounds a bit low to me (it is correct, it's shown in that BBC TI I mentioned).

I am not sure if it's original, but there are 2 bits of construction in the charger that I dislike. I will reverse the wires to the mains fuseholder so that that the incoming live wire goes to the back end. And I do not like a knot used as a strain releif on the mains cable!

I will sort out the charger even though I have no cells and I guess any that are found will be sulphated and useless. I will make something to fit in place of the cells in the recorder and let me power it from an 8V PSU.

It's certainly a beautifull little machine though!
TonyDuell is online now  
Old 19th Aug 2017, 5:39 pm   #2
Ted Kendall
Dekatron
 
Join Date: Jul 2008
Location: Kington, Herefordshire, UK.
Posts: 3,657
Default Re: FiCord 1A

It's only fair to point out the state of the art in battery machines at the time.

Standard wear in the BBC was the transistorised version of the EMI L2 - big, heavy, no erase, with wow levels liable to cause embarassment if church bells intruded on an interview. Everything short of the Nagra III, which had just been introduced, used a centrifugal governor to regulate speed, which along with the motor commutator ensured that motor hash was a perpetual problem.

On a fine day with the wind behind it, the 1A could give remarkably good results. It didn't get universally adopted by the BBC, partly because of the small reel capacity, partly because the failure rate of interviews was quite high, largely owing to ham-fisted operators - the EMI did at least have the virtue of being nearly bomb-proof.

The game-changer in the sub-Nagra sector of the market came in 1962, with the introduction of the first Uher 4000 - the S. This was so obviously a thought-through portable recorder that it soon saw off most of the competition, certainly for routine broadcast work, and the introduction of electronic speed regulation with the L version put the icing on the cake. The Fi-Cord 202 was under-specified and clumsy by comparison, and even EMI's belated reply, the L4, failed to catch on. Not that the Uher was perfect, as I'm sure we all know, but its sins were few enough and small enough to keep it and its successors in the front line until quarter inch tape went out of use.
Ted Kendall is offline  
Old 19th Aug 2017, 6:32 pm   #3
TonyDuell
Dekatron
 
Join Date: Jun 2015
Location: Biggin Hill, London, UK.
Posts: 5,188
Default Re: FiCord 1A

Sure, I agree with you to a point. It was one of the first small tape recorders, so I can forgive things like no powered rewind. And to be fair a lot of the engineering is very well done, which is why the odd poor bits stand out.

Having the remote switch start up the erase oscillator in play mode (and indeed having the microphone still connected to the amplfiier in play mode) meant they could use a 4 pole 3 way rotary switch for playback/off/record swtiching. That's a standard switch. There probably wasn't room for the 6 pole one that would have got round the issues. I think you could avoid the first problem with a diode, but small 1A (or so) diodes probably didn't exist when the machine was made.

My comment on that was more a warning for anyone who has such a machine (not the BBC modified version which doesn't have remote control at all) so they don't erase important recordings by accident.

But the idea of positively locating a wheel (the flywheel) on a shaft by turning down the end of the shaft to leave a shoulder had been done for decades if not centuries. I am suprised -- very -- it wasn't used on the capstan in this machine. It would be OK if it never had to be dismantled, but you can't really lubricate the bearings without doing it (the BBC TI I mentioned says that the bearings do need lubrication but it needs specialised dismantlinhg. Given that the complete capstan/bearing unit can be taken out very easily, this I guess refers to getting the flywheel off).

It is of course easy to be wise with hindsight, and to forget just what was, and was not, available when the machine was designed and made. And as I said, I do think it's a beautiful little thing.
TonyDuell is online now  
Old 21st Aug 2017, 10:00 am   #4
TonyDuell
Dekatron
 
Join Date: Jun 2015
Location: Biggin Hill, London, UK.
Posts: 5,188
Default Re: FiCord 1A

I've put some pictures of the inside of this little recorder here :

https://www.***********/photos/tony_d...57687786951736
TonyDuell is online now  
Closed Thread

Thread Tools



All times are GMT +1. The time now is 2:17 pm.


All information and advice on this forum is subject to the WARNING AND DISCLAIMER located at https://www.vintage-radio.net/rules.html.
Failure to heed this warning may result in death or serious injury to yourself and/or others.


Powered by vBulletin®
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, vBulletin Solutions, Inc.
Copyright ©2002 - 2023, Paul Stenning.