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Old 28th Apr 2019, 11:28 pm   #1
Techman
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Default Ferguson Videostar 3V01

I picked up a Ferguson version of this JVC portable from a clearance sale during the week. I've not opened it up or even taken it out of its outer carry case as yet. It does power up and the sensor light comes on and a motor can be heard, but there's no forward or reverse wind etc., so guessing it'll need belts. I think these are a bit of a collectors item now. Not seen one featured on here before, so here's an example just for the record - all comments welcome.
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Old 29th Apr 2019, 9:09 am   #2
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Default Re: Ferguson Videostar 3V01

Nice find, it will require all the belts to be changed.
I had one many years ago, I seem to remember it had a lot in common with the 3V22 deck, the heads were the same & possibly most of the belts.

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Old 29th Apr 2019, 11:44 am   #3
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Default Re: Ferguson Videostar 3V01

I might have a nos pack of belts that I will never use.Must check.
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Old 29th Apr 2019, 11:50 am   #4
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Default Re: Ferguson Videostar 3V01

I have got a bag of NOS belts that is awaiting inspection to see if there are any worthy of salvage from the goo.
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Old 29th Apr 2019, 12:21 pm   #5
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Default Re: Ferguson Videostar 3V01

Cheers for the replies guys. It would be much appreciated if some belts could be found.

Yes, 3V22 was the model number of the domestic version that I was trying to remember. Annoyingly, I used to have several of those up until around 20 years ago when I moved house. The two things that come to mind with them was the sensor lamp that used to regularly fail and it was replaceable with the same type of wire ended bulb that I used to also use to replace S-meter bulbs and other indicators in CB radios of the day, and were obtainable (and still are) from Johnny Birkett's shop in Lincoln. The other thing I remember was them riding the tape up the guides and creasing the edge.

I expect there's a big old rechargeable battery festering away somewhere inside, if there is, then it's not holding any charge as I left it connected to the mains for a while and it was dead to any functions when I pulled the plug.

There's a large power pack that seems to work fine other than having lost its cosmetic front cover which has come unstuck and fallen off somewhere, the same part on the actual recorder has also come unstuck, but hasn't become lost due to being inside the carry case, but will need sticking back on at some point.

It was one of many items that were left unsold after the auction, so I suppose someone had to offer to take it home for a quid or two.
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Old 29th Apr 2019, 12:28 pm   #6
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Default Re: Ferguson Videostar 3V01

If I remember rightly those had an SLA battery.
They can sometimes be revived by applying 30 volts via a sacrificial resistor or from a limited supply for several days.
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Old 29th Apr 2019, 1:13 pm   #7
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Default Re: Ferguson Videostar 3V01

Yes,I have an unopened Konig VID7506 Kit which says Ferg/JVC 3V00/3V22.
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Old 29th Apr 2019, 3:37 pm   #8
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Default Re: Ferguson Videostar 3V01

Thanks David, I'll get in touch.

There's some good news to report. Perhaps the disappointing bit is that there's no battery inside. The better news is that all the belts are in place, although possibly slightly slack. I hadn't attempted to load a tape when I tried the 'winding' functions and I'd forgotten that although these are very 'mechanical' with their controls, a tape needs to be in the machine - it's been a long time, well that's my excuse!

As can probably be seen in the second picture below, there's a layer of dust and haze on the video head drum, which is why I wanted to inspect it before offering it a tape. There was a lot of dust in the machine and it's obvious that it hadn't seen any use for possibly decades. I took it outside in its dismantled state and gave it a good blow out with the air blower and small paint brush. After bringing it back in, I cleaned the heads, drum and guides etc. with IPA and special fluff-less lens cleaning tissue that I keep for the purpose.

After installing a sacrificial tape, I had forward and reverse wind function with a little 'help', but pressing play resulted in just clicking and then the rewind functions wouldn't work until the larger flywheel had been given a slight rotation resulting in a 'click' which freed the mechanism off once again. I decided to go for a full 'play' and after helping the flywheel round by hand, the tape laced up and all was well with no apparent 'chewing' going on. On pressing 'stop', the wheel had to be helped to get going once again to get the tape to un-lace. I'm not too sure whether this is a belt problem or just dried up grease on the runners, likely to be a bit of both, I think. Obviously a proper service is what's really required.

Next, I connected an RF lead from the test telly and with the machine still stood on its end and giving that large wheel a helping hand to start the lace-up, the machine produced a good picture from the old training video being used as a test tape, and shown in the shot in the last picture below:-
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Last edited by Techman; 29th Apr 2019 at 3:43 pm.
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Old 29th Apr 2019, 5:08 pm   #9
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Default Re: Ferguson Videostar 3V01

I believe there are a couple of fundamental differences with the 3V01 portable deck as compared to its 3V00/3V16/3V22 cousins. One of those concerns how the stop solenoid operates. In the 3V00/16/22 it is a two stage device with high current pull in and lower current holding employed. In the portable deck that would be a problem with just battery power, so the solenoid operation is helped mechanically by the impetus of the flywheel. The flywheel has a castellated inner rim that "catches" the stop solenoid mechanism as required and gives it a shove. I would think that it is likely that these are the clicks you are noticing when manually operating the flywheel. I would also imagine that it is all stalling due to a slipping belt or, if you're not using the original power unit, maybe sagging supply current (the original PSU is rated at approaching 2.5A, I think).

Of course, I may be wrong. I used to repair these at Thorn's Edmonton Service Centre, but that was nearly 39 years ago (gosh!) and my memory has faded. I also don't have the manual. I see that you do, so there should be an explanation in there.

The other difference with the portable is a gear/sensor system that forms a frequency generator that provides servo assistance as the machine will be used both horizontally and vertically. Again, the manual should explain all!
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Old 29th Apr 2019, 10:45 pm   #10
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Default Re: Ferguson Videostar 3V01

There might be a loading belt on the top side of the chassis.
The back of a potential loading motor can be seen on the underside view of the chassis.
I have not had the covers off one of those piano key machines since the 1980s.
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Old 30th Apr 2019, 4:46 pm   #11
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Default Re: Ferguson Videostar 3V01

Quote:
Originally Posted by Refugee View Post
If I remember rightly those had an SLA battery.
They can sometimes be revived by applying 30 volts via a sacrificial resistor or from a limited supply for several days.
Yes, it seems that the battery has been removed at some point in time, which may be a blessing as I tend to think that even although they're sealed they still 'breathe' a bit, and by now it might have cause some corrosion to the internals if it were still in there. I've got some old 12 volt gel batteries that I may try, although they may struggle to pass enough current, but worth a go to see what happens. I'm now tempted to look for an appropriate camera to go with this recorder.

David is very kindly sending me a belt service kit for the recorder, so I've popped the covers back on for the time being to prevent any accidental damage/parts getting lost etc. until they arrive.

Acquiring this machine and getting it up and running has prompted me to dig out another old Ferguson recorder that I have which is a rather nice 3V35, which hadn't been powered up for several years and fortunately it performed perfectly. I have the remote, the instructions and the full service manual for this machine. I also have a 3V23 that hasn't been touched for at least 20 years and needed attention when it was put away, so will need even more by now. I also found an instruction book for one of the 3V22 type machines that I used to have, so that'll be ready for when I 'find' another one, no service manual though.

Below is a couple more screen shots from the 3V01 - one from the first video, then one when I took a chance and fed it a Harry Enfield tape before I powered it down and refitted the covers, as the old belts had really started to struggle by that stage. The next three are pages from the three instruction books showing the 3V35, 3V23 and a Multi Broadcast version of the 3V22 (model 8902), reminding me of the difference in the piano keys between the 3V01 and the 3V22 etc.
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Old 30th Apr 2019, 9:43 pm   #12
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Default Re: Ferguson Videostar 3V01

Either that's some impressive trick photography, or that picture is stunning for any kind of recorder! Well done! There can't be too many of those old piano-key machines that have still got much left of what you could call heads ..... Yours obviously has not seen many hours! It's probably a good job there was no battery in it, giving off nasty chemical vapours.
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Old 8th May 2019, 8:18 pm   #13
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Default Re: Ferguson Videostar 3V01

Thanks to HamishBoxer's kindness in sending me the replacement belts, the video recorder is now up and running near enough perfectly. As well as lubricating where advised in the manual, I also removed the pinch roller and gave its bearing a drop of clock oil, also a drop to the main capstan bearing.

There's a total of seven belts in this machine, and the last photo below shows all the old belts removed from the machine. The new set had eight belts, the 'spare' unused belt is shown on the right of the picture. I believe this belt is an extra size variant for the tape counter when it's possibly mounted in a different position on some other model variants of the machines covered by the kit - unless I'm a real 'silly billy' and missed one!

Below pictures show the machine playing the old Harry Enfield tape again, and it really does perform well, as said in an above post, it probably hasn't seen a huge amount of hours usage, and likely not the usage that the domestic model with tuner would have seen recording the soaps week in week out. Removing the cassette loading mechanism gave me the chance to make a more thorough job of cleaning all the heads again. The mechanism performs silently and I would now dare feed this machine with even the most valuable of tapes. I tried it on record and it works on that too, so a good result and what I consider to be quite a rare machine saved to be run and used another day - just need the camera to go with it now!
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Old 9th May 2019, 11:52 am   #14
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Default Re: Ferguson Videostar 3V01

Quote:
it probably hasn't seen a huge amount of hours usage, and likely not the usage that the domestic model with tuner would have seen recording the soaps week in week out.
It certainly looks good, and may have seen little use, however these were designed to be used as a home VCR with the matching tuner/timer unit.
As yours came with the carry case it may have just been used with a camera, it should be easy enough to find one on ebay, although these old cameras don't produce a very good quality picture.

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Old 10th May 2019, 2:00 pm   #15
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Default Re: Ferguson Videostar 3V01

I'm very pleased with the performance of this machine considering its age.

The thing I particularly remember about the ordinary 'home' version of these with the built in tuner (3V22 etc.) was the amount of tapes that were ruined in examples of them that had seen a lot of use and 'screwdrivers', often the tape having the edge chewed up during record, so it wasn't obvious what was happening until it was too late. The machine I have shows no sign of tape chewing. Just to prove a point, I turned it over and swung it around while playing, I even operated it upside down and it carried on playing perfectly - other than when the power plug from the power pack dropped out of the side of the recorder as it isn't a very tight fit, so anyone trying the same on a machine like this would need to hold it in place while doing it. Obviously it's designed to operate at all angles being a portable while running from its internal battery and not from the power pack as I was doing. I've found a gel battery that might fit in, except I need to find the appropriate connector plug to fit the socket in the battery compartment which has quite a large centre pin, similar to a phono. It'll be interesting to see it running from a battery. I read somewhere that you only got 20 minutes running time from a battery back in the day, and that was the proper battery.

There is a fault with the machine which I noticed originally, but forgot about while I had it apart, but have just noticed that it's still there. The 'pause' control doesn't work on 'play', but it works as it should when recording - very strange!
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Old 10th May 2019, 3:39 pm   #16
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Default Re: Ferguson Videostar 3V01

I think that is correct about the pause on play,sure it only works on record rings a bell.
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Old 10th May 2019, 3:41 pm   #17
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Default Re: Ferguson Videostar 3V01

On my 3V22, the pause control paused the tape in play; but it blanked out the picture, as opposed to showing a still picture.
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Old 10th May 2019, 3:51 pm   #18
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Default Re: Ferguson Videostar 3V01

Yes, it's a strange one. I'm sure I also remember the 'home-domestic' version being able to be paused on play. To give a better description of the issue - on play the pause control blanks both picture and sound, but doesn't stop the tape transport from running the tape through the machine, while on record, the tape transport is stopped. It may well be correct in the way it operates - I'll have to study the manual again.
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Old 10th Sep 2019, 11:59 pm   #19
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Default Re: Ferguson Videostar 3V01

Quote:
Originally Posted by mark pirate View Post
Nice find, it will require all the belts to be changed.
I had one many years ago, I seem to remember it had a lot in common with the 3V22 deck, the heads were the same & possibly most of the belts.
Open up and remove bottom board
Use isopropanol to clean up the belts and also the pulleys
Normal they dry and stretch
Vinegar will help then clean

Back in the 1980 I worked on these along with the video star cameras
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