Fi-Cord 1A miniature tape recorder

[Pamphonica]

Has anyone restored one of these small recorders?
My recently acquired example has inevitable bad rubber belts so I’ll have to find replacements somewhere. Any ideas where? The main belt is a half-round profile, not flat.
But if I move the tape by hand with 8V applied I do get sound on replay. Good news I think!
And as for batteries I think some ingenuity will be called for. I have to make up four batteries giving 2V each. Not 1.5. I wonder what sort they were. I have four original batteries.
Any hints from those who have gone before?
Thanks
Jeremy

[TonyDuell]

I've not done mine yet, but I have looked around inside, stripped it down, etc. So I might be able to comment.

The good news is that the pinch roller is trivial to replace. It's an O-ring on a metal hub. So that you can get.

The belts are more of a problem and I've not done mine yet. Note that the 2 speeds (oddly 1+7/8 and 7+1/2 ips) are selected by a belt shifting linkage. So the belts are quite critical.

The original batteres (not surprisingly given they were 2V each) were tiny lead acid cells. Do you have the charger? There's a microswitch on each cell position that is operated when the cell housings swell as they outgas when they are fully charged (!). There's one of these machines in the Dulwich museum and it has the original cells with it. So if you want to see them that is one possibility.

The 4 cells are simply linked in series in the recorder, and I _think_ it will run off 9V safely. Or perhaps 9V with a diode-drop would be safer.

I think there was some comment here a few months back about the jack sockets. They are 1/8", not 3.5mm. Good luck...

Is yours an original or a BBC one? The original has a 4 pin microphone socket, similar to the socket used on some HT/LT dry batteries. I think the BBC one has a DIN socket. If it's the original, beware. If you close the remote control switch on the microphone with the unit switched to playback, the bias/erase oscillator comes to life with the obvious result. I think this 'feature' saved a switch contact.

There's a BBC EI for this machine out there somewhere. Not very technical, but it does include the circuit diagram of the BBC version. I reverse-engineered mine (original version), I can send you that diagram if you need it.

[llama]

Just found this:

http://www.bbceng.info/ti/non-eqpt/T...0Recorders.pdf

which may be useful.
Graham

[TonyDuell]

That's the BBC document I had in mind. I got confused between 'TI' and 'EI'.

[Pamphonica]

I think mine is ex-BBC as it has a sort of screw DIN connector. The two tiny belts for the two speed system seem fine, amazingly. The main half-round belt is no use at all; crisp and loose!
The small take up spool belt that crosses over is also too loose to function.
Tony, I did find your posts re this machine. Useful information! You are versatile - HP80 series computer guru and small tape recorders and ...
As for power, I just put 8V in from an external supply and that was fine. It allowed me to wind some tape manually past the head and get sound out. I don’t have the charger unit.
So I think I’ll have to experiment with some belts from eBay or wherever, to see what works. The speed-change mechanism is fairly self-explanatory, but looks like it needs a fairly chunky belt to work properly. We’ll see!
Not top priority now as I’m doing a major furniture change-around to see if I can get in some shelving for larger Pamphonic items to go on display instead of being stacked!
Thanks all for the leads.
-Jeremy