Sony VO-2630 uMatic tape load issue

[drykid_]

Hi,

Firstly I should say that I may well be out of my depth with a complex thing like this Sony, but I picked it up cheap recently (along with twenty or so tapes, apparently from an eighties film festival) and want to at least give it a good go at getting it working. Although I should say that the thing is quite rusty, which suggests poor storage previously and therefore that it might be an uphill struggle...

Anyway the current state of it is that if you insert a cassette it pulls out the tape a little (which I believe is correct.) Then when you hit play it should - from the videos I've seen online - stretch the tape all the way around the drum but instead it just goes about halfway then gives up and pulls it back in again. I made a short video which hopefully illustrates the problem better:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZDlK...ature=youtu.be

Any suggestions on where I should start looking for possible causes? I must admit I haven't got it far apart enough yet to figure out the state of the belts, although it seems at least some of them are still working for it to get as far as it does.

[peterpixel]

Hello drykid,it looks like the threading is sluggish and from memory the threading motor drives through gears including a worm to the threading ring directly without belts. The grease on these gears hardens especially, on the worm,so the first thing I would do is clean the grease off and relubricate. Check that the threading ring can move freely when the gears are out and clean and lubricate it. There are a multitude of things that can cause this including electronic faults so don't be put off finding the fault. Another thing that comes to mind is not to allow bright light to enter the mechanism area with the covers off as this can trigger sensors and produce what you are experiencing. These were very reliable machines but are now about 50 years old. Best of luck, Peter.

[8 Tracker]

Looking at your video, the head drum stops rotating part-way through the loading cycle. I'm not familiar with this model, but if the drum is belt driven, a slack belt could well be the cause.

Have a look at this video. As Peter says, the loading of yours is sluggish, but I would first find out why the head drum is stalling. The control will see that the head has stopped rotating and this will cause the loading cycle to abort.

Best of luck,
Mark.

[dj_fivos_sak]

Hello. The head drum on this model is direct-drive. Does it spin freely when you turn it by hand? It seems like there's no sufficient motor torque or the tape sticks onto the drum and causes it to stall.

[drykid_]

Thanks for the responses everyone

The head drum does spin freely and in fact at one point when I first tried it it was spinning for a long period, even though the tape itself wouldn't thread fully. Not sure why it's doing something different now.

I should also add that rewind and fast-forward aren't functioning either; getting these working is less of a priority but I thought I'd mention it in case it sheds further light on the problem.

I'm beginning to think that the problem may be the tapes themselves as they all have signs of mould on them; the one I pictured is typical (and they all are the same specific 3M type.) But I have noticed that with some it gets a bit further than others, though none of them manage to thread round all the way. Additionally, only the left-hand spool on the cassette turns; I never see any movement on the right-hand one. This makes me wonder if the point it's stopping at is the point where the other reel needs to turn (if that makes sense.) If I do try and turn the reels by hand then they move but there's a lot of resistance, considerably more than with a VHS tape turned by hand (but then again I'm not familiar with u-Matic so this might be normal?)

I'm wondering therefore if I should just give up with these tapes and try to find one that I know definitely plays in another machine. Although the problem with buying off eBay is that it's hard to know what you're getting and whether it's in any better condition than what I have already. If anyone therefore is willing to lend me a known-working tape (without anything priceless on it!) then that would be much appreciated.

[drykid_]

OK so I found a couple of sealed NOS U-matic tapes on eBay; was a bit concerned when I first opened them as they're physically a lot larger than the ones I had previously. My initial assumption was that I'd stupidly bought the wrong thing, but it seems that they come in two sizes and that the machine is designed to play either size cassette (and without needing a VHS-C style tape adapter for the smaller ones either.) I'm sure this is all common knowledge to most people here, but I'm new to the format as you can see

Once I'd realised that they were compatible after all I gave one a go and after two or three attempts I got it to successfully thread a tape around and go into playback mode:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=feqwkzeFCKU

So good progress basically Unfortunately as it's a blank tape there's not much point in trying to connect the machine to a TV at this stage as there won't be a whole lot to watch. Ideally at this point I'd try making a recording of my own to see how that works out, but - as you can see in the video - fast-forward and rewind are still not working. The drum spins round (and continues spinning until you press stop) but there's no movement of the tape itself. And without the ability to rewind it's going to be a little difficult to view the results of any recording I make with it.

Any thoughts on what is most likely to be the issue with fast-forward / rewind? I'm guessing the belt(s) would be the main culprit at this stage, but still haven't taken it apart properly to see how easy these are to get to.

Also need to decide what to do with the twenty or so tapes that came with the machine. I don't want to throw them away without seeing what's on them, but it's clear that they're not going to play easily. Am seriously considering attempting to bake them but the fact that you - apparently - only get one shot at playback after means I need to try and get the machine working reliably before touching these further I guess.

[Refugee]

I would not try any more tapes until the belts are done.
Having not had one of those machines apart since the 1980s I can't remember if you need to swing a board back or not but with the bottom plate off the spool belts are pretty easy to get at. I am pretty sure they have one big motor for the tape movement and another small motor for loading.
I don't think the loading parts need much if any lubrication.
I would wedge the cassette sensor switch/lamp and run the loading cycle a few times and see if it begins to run more smoothly before doing the belts and trying a tape again.
The two piece camcorders used to take only small tapes. The big ones took both sizes with an optional adapter that I have never seen in the flesh.
They work fine without the adapter as you have found.

[peterpixel]

I agree with Refugee not to try anymore tapes until the transport is sorted out. The fact that it runs in playback mode shows that the main belts are working and I would check the one that drives the idler wheel which in turn drives the supply and take up reel turntables. This is accessible from the bottom as explained. Try and obtain a service manual which contains some very good drawings showing the unit opened up. The machine was designed to accept 60 minute and 20 minute cassettes without an adapter and there is a groove in the bottom of both cassettes which mates with a guide in the cassette lift therefore guiding the cassette into its' correct position. The suspect cassettes you have please hang onto them as the material on them may be priceless and there are a few people on this forum who can advise how to recover this material. You've made a good start and lots of patience will be required with what is a 40 year old machine. It was a workhorse in its' day and many are still in use. Peter.