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Vintage Tape (Audio), Cassette, Wire and Magnetic Disc Recorders and Players Open-reel tape recorders, cassette recorders, 8-track players etc.

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Old 21st May 2018, 6:44 pm   #1
Michele3918
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Default Philips RK36 EL3547A

Hello everyone.
Last month, I brought back home my dad's Philips RK36 Model: EL3547A /00 from Belgium. (I live in south Florida)

The problem I have is that the tapes I brought with me plays a little too fast.
(The voltage is not the issue)
I tested the tape on another machine and it played fine.

A local forum suggested machining the pulley down it's circumference by 20 percent for 60Hz operation. Also, I would need to rewire the motor. (See pic)
(The manual talks about these very steps as well)

I am not clear with step 5, I had hoped someone could clarify a little.

Here are the translated steps.
1 From 50 to 60
2 unpack the appliance
3 unscrew the screws 138 holding the motor unit
4 remove the pulley 18 and install a 60 c / s pulley code number wt 897 11
this pulley must be mounted at the same height as the old one
5 Solder motor connection wires
from 3 to 2 and from 3' to 2'
from 4 to 3 and from 4' to 3'

Thx.
Michele
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Old 21st May 2018, 7:32 pm   #2
Cobaltblue
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Default Re: Philips RK36 EL3547A

Hi Michele

There are two steps for different reasons

Step 4 changes the speed its a synchonous motor and the speed is determined by the frequency 60Hz in US 50Hz in Europe.

Without changing the pulley the motor runs too fast.

Step 5 changes the Voltage from 220 to 240 in Europe to 110V in The US

Effectively it alters 2 coils in series to European voltages to parallel for US

Cheers

Mike T
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Old 22nd May 2018, 11:33 am   #3
ricard
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Default Re: Philips RK36 EL3547A

Don't know how helpful this is, but if you manage to obtain the pulley from the little brother of the EL3547, the EL3546, the two grooves in its motor pulley are for 3 3/4 ips operation at 50 and 60 Hz (it's a single speed machine). However, in that case you'd loose the lower speed (1 7/8 ips) and the speed selector essentially becomes a frequency selector.
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Old 22nd May 2018, 3:51 pm   #4
Michele3918
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Default Re: Philips RK36 EL3547A

Hum...I would characterize this as a creative approach, very good thinking.
Thanks.

There is a update as of last night. I've located a Canadian spec pulley on Ebay for $15.00 so I obviously pulled the trigger.
In theory it should be a 60hz unit but I will measure both mine and the new one to confirm.

I will keep you informed...

Thank you again for the feedback.

Michele
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Old 22nd May 2018, 4:20 pm   #5
Michele3918
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Default Re: Philips RK36 EL3547A

Quote:
Originally Posted by Cobaltblue View Post
Hi Michele

There are two steps for different reasons

Step 4 changes the speed its a synchonous motor and the speed is determined by the frequency 60Hz in US 50Hz in Europe.

Without changing the pulley the motor runs too fast.

Step 5 changes the Voltage from 220 to 240 in Europe to 110V in The US

Effectively it alters 2 coils in series to European voltages to parallel for US

Cheers

Mike T

Mike,
thanks for the clarification.
One more thing. I should still move the external voltage selector to 110V correct? (See picture. Ignore were it is set at the moment)

Thanks,
Michele
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Old 23rd May 2018, 10:18 am   #6
ricard
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Default Re: Philips RK36 EL3547A

Hm, thinking about this, the instructions to move connections to the motor probably have to do with the fact that at 60 Hz the higher frequency will effectively increase the efficiency of the motor/transformer (while it is a motor, extra windings make it function as a power transformer for the electronics as well), so the windings need to be adjusted to compensate for that. The voltage selector in the back compartment is what acomplishes the actual parallel/series coil switching that Mike is talking about.
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Old 26th May 2018, 3:00 pm   #7
Michele3918
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Default Re: Philips RK36 EL3547A

Thanks for the feedback.

Meanwhile the pulley I received from Canada was unfortunately the same size as mine. I'm a little confused about that because Canada is 60hz.
(The seller could not locate the data plate with specs.)
Still, I installed anyway just in case I missed something...No joy.

I may have it machined 20% smaller but I have to confirm that amount first and I assume the belt will then be loose.

Then I thought about something. If I was to ignore the hardware issue and go a different route.

I think I could simply transfer my tapes from a US deck to my deck.
In my mind I believe it should work fine. Any thoughts...
I realize I will loose some quality in the transfer but I'm ok with that.

This might be the slowest but easiest solution.
I'm not comfortable with changing the motor wiring because the schematic I have does not seem to match my deck.

Any other idea are much appreciated.
Thanks,
Michele
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Old 26th May 2018, 8:36 pm   #8
Maarten
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Default Re: Philips RK36 EL3547A

Just for completeness sake: it is unlikely there ever was a model with both the RK36 and the EL3547A/00 designations. RK36 was a catalog designation for the German market only, with most RKxx sets having the /22 execution suffix on the model number. Some German language sites unfortunately lump all designations together.
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Old 26th May 2018, 8:44 pm   #9
Maarten
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Default Re: Philips RK36 EL3547A

Quote:
Originally Posted by Michele3918 View Post
thanks for the clarification.
One more thing. I should still move the external voltage selector to 110V correct? (See picture. Ignore were it is set at the moment)
The US mains voltage is 120V nominal as far as I know, so 127V may be a better setting.
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Old 27th May 2018, 2:17 am   #10
Michele3918
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Default Re: Philips RK36 EL3547A

Quote:
Originally Posted by Maarten View Post
Just for completeness sake: it is unlikely there ever was a model with both the RK36 and the EL3547A/00 designations. RK36 was a catalog designation for the German market only, with most RKxx sets having the /22 execution suffix on the model number. Some German language sites unfortunately lump all designations together.
I never knew that,
thanks for the detailed explanation.
Meanwhile I found out the pulley I got from Canada was from a 50hz deck.
I kind of thought that but its now confirmed...

Thanks,
Michele.
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Old 27th May 2018, 2:23 am   #11
Michele3918
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Default Re: Philips RK36 EL3547A

I thought I would post the result of a quick test I made.
Basically I wanted to confirm the speed would be correct and get an idea of the quality.

This was from Itunes on a laptop to the record player input on the deck via
a Mini-to-RCA Cable and a 5 pin din adapter.

https://youtu.be/5HFIciB9Zto

Next I will do the opposite and see if I can record a tape to the computer
and decrease the speed with Audacity...

Good weekend.
Michele
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Old 28th May 2018, 9:39 am   #12
ricard
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Default Re: Philips RK36 EL3547A

Quote:
Originally Posted by Maarten View Post
Just for completeness sake: it is unlikely there ever was a model with both the RK36 and the EL3547A/00 designations. RK36 was a catalog designation for the German market only, with most RKxx sets having the /22 execution suffix on the model number. Some German language sites unfortunately lump all designations together.
I always thought the EL3547 type designation was always the 'real' one, with RK36 just being a short form, i.e. as you say a catalog designation. Where the machines ever labeled anything but EL3547 on their type labels?
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Old 28th May 2018, 9:48 am   #13
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Default Re: Philips RK36 EL3547A

Quote:
Originally Posted by Michele3918 View Post
Meanwhile the pulley I received from Canada was unfortunately the same size as mine. I'm a little confused about that because Canada is 60hz.

I may have it machined 20% smaller but I have to confirm that amount first and I assume the belt will then be loose.
Yes that is strange. Perhaps the seller's machine was also hand carried into the country from Europe.

Having two pulleys now means that if you fail machining one of them down you still have the other one.

The belt will be a bit looser, but the difference should be negligible. The belts tend to become loose over time anyway; a quick fix is simply to cut off half an inch or so of the belt and glue the remaining ends together with superglue.
Quote:
I think I could simply transfer my tapes from a US deck to my deck.
In my mind I believe it should work fine. Any thoughts...
I realize I will loose some quality in the transfer but I'm ok with that.

This might be the slowest but easiest solution.
That's certainly an option but it does sound rather tedious.

Quote:
I'm not comfortable with changing the motor wiring because the schematic I have does not seem to match my deck.
Probably a wise thought, as you could get the machine into a state from which it might be hard to restore it from.

Another idea would be to get one of those power converters which not only convert voltage but also frequency. They do tend to be fairly expensive though, especially those that output a (more or less) pure sinewave, which I think would be necessary for the motor to work properly. Prices have come down over time so I don't think it's completely unreasonable, but cost wise it'll probably be more than the tape recorder is worth.
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Old 3rd Jun 2018, 4:51 pm   #14
Maarten
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Default Re: Philips RK36 EL3547A

Quote:
Originally Posted by ricard View Post
Quote:
Originally Posted by Maarten View Post
Just for completeness sake: it is unlikely there ever was a model with both the RK36 and the EL3547A/00 designations. RK36 was a catalog designation for the German market only, with most RKxx sets having the /22 execution suffix on the model number. Some German language sites unfortunately lump all designations together.
I always thought the EL3547 type designation was always the 'real' one, with RK36 just being a short form, i.e. as you say a catalog designation. Where the machines ever labeled anything but EL3547 on their type labels?
Machines for Germany (and probably often also made in Germany) often had the catalog designation and a 7 number order code on the type label, but always the main type designation ELxxxx/xx with the suffix often /22 since that means 'for Germany'. Some machines imported to Germany may have only had the catalog designation and the 7NC on the box label and not on the normal type label.
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Old 4th Jun 2018, 1:13 am   #15
Maarten
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Default Re: Philips RK36 EL3547A

For example the type labels in picture 1760629 in https://www.radiomuseum.org/r/philip...l_3547_a2.html

This machne was made in Austria, destined for Germany for which it has the /22 execution suffix. In the spot reserved for a brand logo, they printed RK36 and on the revision/date label they printed the 7NC order number 443.3600. The EL3547A/00 or other executions won't have those.
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