Bush TP79 cassette

[TonyDuell]

I always use IPA on tape heads (that's isopropyl alcohol, aka propan-2-ol, of course). It is recomended in many computer disk drive service manuals for cleaning those heads, and I have never had any problems using it on tape recorder heads.

[Martin Bush]

Thanks Tony.

I have no reason to doubt meths would be ok, but I dislike it - I think I must have been cavalier in my use of it in the past while decorating as the thought of it makes me feel a bit queazy now

[paulsherwin]

Either will be equally good for this. Meths will leave a deposit if you don't clean it all off, whereas IPA won't, but any deposit doesn't normally matter and just wears off. Meths is cheaper than IPA and the BBC used it for tape path cleaning right through the analogue era, but if you have some IPA you might as well use it. You only need a tiny amount in either case.

[TonyDuell]

I suspect that pure ethanol would be fine (but of course it is difficult to get due to the posibility of making drinkable spirits with it). So would methanol (but I seem to remember that is toxic). Meths is mostly ethanonl with a bit of methanol (it is not pure methanol, no matter what some people claim), something to make it undrinkable, and purple dye. It's the last that would worry me using it for cleaning tape heads, I am not at all convinced that it will leave no residue

[paulsherwin]

It does leave a residue if it just dries, but the tape abrasion removes this almost instantly in normal use.

Modern meths doesn't actually contain any alcohol other than ethanol. People will drink meths whatever you do with it, and you don't want them to die or go blind or whatever, so it's now made with industrial ethanol plus some additives that make it look and taste absolutely horrible.

If people choose to drink the stuff despite the disgusting additives then it won't kill them, though if they're that far gone then they'll probably die of something else quite soon.

[Martin Bush]

I have established that the tape player works and I will be cleaning it up shortly, replacing the belts when the kit I have ordered arrives (from China, so may be 2019!).

I am also keen to see how it sounds through my hi-fi and have read in the service data that pins 1 and 4 are aux out. I am taking this to mean they are left and right audio out - would that be right? If so would it be as simple as cutting the end from an old phono lead and soldering one channel to each and one to ground (pin 3?).

[paulsherwin]

I don't know this player - some photos and/or a partial scan of the service info would help. If the player is stereo, then the socket will be as you expect. If it's mono, then both pins will carry the same signal.

Don't expect this to sound particularly wonderful through a hifi system. There are plenty of good hifi cassette decks available for little money or even FOC if you want to explore the cassette world.

[Martin Bush]

I have attached the part of the data that I am looking at.

As for whether I want to get into the cassette world... well I didn't, but I am intrigued by this player.

Anyone who has met me will know that I am enthusiastic but short on time and space, so doing some work on a little player like this appeals to me.

Musically I am also from a bit of a "lo-fi" background so can see the charm in this type of player. I had a pre-rec Neil Young cassette on last night and enjoyed it in all its muffled mono glory.

That's not to say I won't get a decent deck at some point. But for now this one at least gets me dismantling and soldering with some goal in sight.

[paulsherwin]

That is standard wiring for a 5 pin DIN socket on mono equipment. It means it can be connected to stereo equipment and will record from and playback to it (in mono). It will also work with a 3 pin DIN mono cable.

[Martin Bush]

Thanks Paul. Much appreciated.

[sobell1980]

Really pleased to hear you are making good progress on this cassette player. Great work and keep it up. These small projects are great for when time is short and fairly quick rewarding results can be achieved.
Dave.

[Martin Bush]

I thought I would report back after doing a bit of work on this one.

I managed to open it up with the help of the service data and, to my eyes, the belts look and feel in good condition. I have a set on order but is it worth changing them just yet?

I have cleaned the tape path and got a surprising amount of muck off the heads and rollers.

And, after getting it back to front first time round, I've wired up a lead to get it playing through my hi fi.

I suppose now I'm wondering if that's it. The speed sounds fine, not too much wow considering the age of the player and tape.

I have to say I find DIN plugs horrible to solder up. But that aside this has been a pretty simple one.

[paulsherwin]

If it's working normally and the belts aren't slipping then you might as well leave them alone. You can always replace them later if problems develop. It's always a good idea to keep a bag of generic belts handy in any case, so your money won't have been wasted. You'll find yourself using them for all sorts of things - I used one to replace a DVD player tray eject belt a few months ago.

[Martin Bush]

Thanks Paul.

This is only my third real achievement so far. All three have been simple services and fixes on working-ish items, but it's nice all the same.

[Gulliver]

Meths, IPA, vodka....you can clean tape heads with all of the above as long as you know IPA is isopropyl alcohol and not India pale ale

Back in the day, most "tape head cleaning solutions" were 60-70% IPA. You could get "zero residue" tape head cleaner which was probably close to 100% IPA. You can still get this in a handy spray can under the Servisol brand. This is my preference these days.

Once I had to resort to absinthe at 95% ethanol....it seemed to work!

[Nickthedentist]

Great work, Martin.

I agree with you about soldering DIN plugs. The pins are quite close to one another and the plastic softens as soon as you apply an iron which means you can end up with the pins at jaunty angles. My way of avoiding this is to insert the plug into a scrap socket held in a vice (or similar) while doing the soldering.

The other problem is that terminals of the modern, Chinese ones don't take solder very well at all and often need to be abraded and tinned before you stand any chance of making a good connection. The older, German(?) ones didn't have this problem, though the pins were silver plated and often went horribly black.

This is before we even get onto the problem of manufacturers not adhering to the DIN wiring conventions or levels standards...

Nick

[Martin Bush]

My technique, if you can call it technique, was to hold the pins in the clip on my helping hands thing and do all my prep in advance.

Then once I'd got a wire on a pin just leave it - I usually try to be neat but I knew the consequences of going back to try to tidy up. I expect my plug is a good one as I got it off the market as part of some odd lead.

Of course the lead I made is too short and now I've decided I want a play and record one, so I will have to buy another DIN plug anyway.

[emeritus]

The instruction book of the Russian camera I bought in the 1960's recommended using eau de cologne as an alternative to alcohol for removing grease from the lens. I never did, but did use some Brut aftershave to clean the head of my rtr tape recorder when away from home with no meths handy. It certainly got rid of the oxide.

[Martin Bush]

Funny you should say that. I used my remaining IPA as aftershave...

Seriously though, thanks to everyone one for pitching in on this one.

I'm now wondering whether there's any of these very small players that could be considered in any way hi-fi. I don't have space for a full sized deck and I like these little ones. Last year I passed up the chance to pick up a nice little Decca one which I regret now.

[paulsherwin]

The vast majority of hifi decks are the standard width of 17" or thereabouts to match other full sized separates. There are some smaller decks made to match midi or micro systems but they aren't very common and may have mechanical issues. If you want something really small you could go for a high quality Walkman type player, though most of these don't record. One of the Walkman Professional models would be ideal (they do record) but you won't find one of those for £2.

http://www.walkmancentral.com/products/wm-d6c