Sanyo VTC 5550 tape getting chewed up in reverse search

[dj_fivos_sak]

Hi all. I have a Sanyo VTC 5550 which sometimes chews tapes when using reverse search. From the video I attached, you can see the top edge of the tape comming in contact and riding on the pole next to the A/C head. I tried swapping the pinch roller and the supply reel table from a good working VTC 5000 but the problem still persists. Link to the video:
https://drive.google.com/open?id=1TA...FmX6XYYKEkbi_h
Any ideas on this?

TIA

Fivos

[davyrocket2]

My suggestion would be ask Sanbeta-Kevin Lambert- Betapalsite may be able to suggest how to remedy this

[Sanbeta]

High fivos

I have seen this on a few VTC 5000's & 5150's here in the UK and it's caused by two things.
One is occassionaly the capstan shaft is not entirely flat and you can see this if you remove the capstan assembly slide out the shaft from the motor and run your finger or thumb up and down. You will feel a very slight groove if it's there. Usually around where the pinch roller presses. What causes this is a build up of crud which is left for long periods at the top and bottom of the pinch roller area.
Also the pinch roller needs to be matt (not shiny) and dead flat .
You can gently rub a flat piece of 120 grit paper all over this but keep it flat and slightly at an angle to ensure it does this job correctly. Better still put the grit paper on a flat surface and hold the pinch roller between thumb and finger top and bottom and lightly drag it over the paper turning it gently as you do this until it's all been refreshed.
there is also another area you can make a successful adjustment too The black pinch roller cap. If you turn this towards the right more you can control how much pressure the spring loaded lever put's on the pinch roller on the capstan shaft. You want it slightly less and observe like you have that the tape stays dead flat and doesn't rise up or down in play /forward and reverse search modes at the beginning ,middle and tape end. During reverse search it may also be necessary to very slightly raise up the tape guide nearest the capstan motor but leave that until you've checked and accomplished those areas I mentioned first.
If the capstan shaft does have a significant groove or you can feel a ridge you may have to change it. But try those other things first.
Let us know how it goes.

.....Kev

[dj_fivos_sak]

Hi Kevin and thanks for your reply. I tried adjusting the pinch roller's tension by rotating the black cap on top of it. It helped a little bit but the problem was still there. After further inspection, it turns out the problem was this metal bracket that pushes the pinch roller assy onto the capstan shaft. It was slighly bent and that caused the bottom portion of the pinch roller to not make a good enough contact with the capstan. I bent it back with some pliers and it's now working as it should. Not sure what caused it to bend in the first place. If you have any idea on how that happened, let me know.

Thanks

Fivos

[Sanbeta]

Fivos

Well done. I had a feeling that area was responsible but have not yet come across that bracket being bent.
Seeing as how strong it's made I can only suspect someone has tried to force things down to no unlacing and a tape inside. I'm pretty sure it didn't get that way on it's own.

...Kev

[dj_fivos_sak]

Yeah that's what I'm thinking. I have one more question. Do you have spare idlers and belts? I need two sets for my 5000 and this 5550. It's identical to the 5000 apart from PAL and SECAM recording and playback and 110-240V.

Fivos

[Sanbeta]

Fivos

Do you still have that working clock panel from the 9300 and also a couple of base feet. If so maybe we can do a deal

.Kev

[dj_fivos_sak]

Kev

I'm sure I have it somewhere but you have to wait a few weeks as I have most of my VCR/electronics stuff away from me. It's from a 9350 but it is identical to the 9300 so should work fine.

Fivos

[Sanbeta]

Ok Sounds good to me