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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 16th Sep 2019, 1:13 pm   #1
Techman
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Default Webster 228 wire recorder

I was brought one of these for repair over the weekend. I worked on it while its owner waited so that he could take it away with him and I didn't have it hanging around. Several hours were spent on it and it turned out to be a bit of a 'cap fest' and I ended up replacing just about all of them in the end. There were some American tubular colour coded types that I'd not come across before. These follow the resistor colour code and while I was working on the recorder, its owner, who had brought his lap top with him, was asking about them on an internet discussion site somewhere, where they were telling him that they were valuable and that he could sell them on to amplifier enthusiasts I did find that the odd one differed from its value marked in the circuit diagram, and although I'm not one to dive in replacing capacitors, these really did need replacing to optimise the machines performance, which I often find is the case with tape recorders. I put all the originals in a bag so that he could keep them for historical sake. I also found that the output valve was not the original type of 6AR5, which, according to my data book has no exact equivalent. The replacement which had been fitted in the very distant past (which I've forgotten what it was just now, but will probably remember later), was a near enough equivalent to work. I've never worked on a wire recorder before, but it was all sorted out including the recording side - it was nearly hi-fi Various other faults showed up along the way, such as the mains on/off switch suddenly going open circuit, but these were all dealt with. We then spent an hour or two soak testing the machine, playing the old wires with their strange recordings, including Lord Haw Haw
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Old 16th Sep 2019, 2:44 pm   #2
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Default Re: Webster 228 wire recorder

Nice one! I've always liked the look of these, but that one is a real corker - is it the original paint-job as far as you know?
Looking at the cct it looks like it uses AC bias, but following those switches was not easy.
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Old 17th Sep 2019, 10:51 pm   #3
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Default Re: Webster 228 wire recorder

Yes, it is AC, HF bias from an oscillator. The paint finish is original and the unit is in very good condition for its age. As the unit arrived to me, the story was that he had only recently obtained it and had already powered it up, as the person he'd got it from had already done so anyway. He heard some weak sound from it, but then the fuse blew and he didn't have another one of that type to replace it with, and fortunately didn't try wrapping it with silver paper to try again. Looking at the circuit, I identified a couple, or maybe three capacitors that I considered 'critical' to the recorders operation and replaced those first, which got the unit working quite well and probably would have been good enough for most purposes, I also made some voltage measurements. However, recording didn't seem that good, so I looked a bit further and identified several more capacitors that could have an effect and replaced them too, a number of them were split down their length, letting in moisture from the atmosphere. After replacing the final couple of capacitors around the recording circuit, we found that on record, as soon as you started to speak into the microphone, the thing sprang into oscillation at some sub audio frequency, putting the recording level neon on full until switched back to play, which it haden't done previously. Careful adjustment of the pre-set 500k pot restored normal operation, and good (for a wire recorder) quality recording was obtained.

If this machine was mine, I would have probably messed about with it over several days and perhaps in the end only replaced capacitors that were really going to affect performance, but time was tight and the recorders owner wanted it working so as to play the old recordings on the wire reels. He doesn't drive, so as he lives in the city and I'm out in the villages, he got his friend to drop him off while he went out to Sunday lunch with other friends, and then pick him up again later, so it was a case of getting it going in the shortest time possible, which may have meant that I replaced a number of capacitors in one go to save on time, which proved successful in this case. He did ring his friend to delay him coming to pick him up to give us more time, particularly to listen to some of the recordings. Some clock oil was applied to certain mechanical parts, particularly the rise and fall head mechanism. The copper plated chassis strengthener needed to be removed (two screws on each side) to gain access to some of the components.

The unit is housed in a carry case and a modification that had been done, probably when new, was that the four screws holding the bottom of the machine on had been replaced with much longer ones, and the carry case bottom drilled so that these fixed the unit permanently into its case. He didn't want it to be permanently fixed into the case and after checking their length, I had to shorten one of them so that it didn't come into contact with vital internal parts. These screws turned out to be made from hardened steel and I was glad I only decided to cut one of them!
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Old 17th Sep 2019, 11:14 pm   #4
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Default Re: Webster 228 wire recorder

I didn't have time to mess about with the scanner, but I did take photos of all the pages of the manual, which I'm guessing probably isn't available anywhere else. This will take three posts:-
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Old 17th Sep 2019, 11:17 pm   #5
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Default Re: Webster 228 wire recorder

Some more of the manual:-
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Old 17th Sep 2019, 11:19 pm   #6
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Default Re: Webster 228 wire recorder

The final pages of the manual:-
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Old 17th Sep 2019, 11:37 pm   #7
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Default Re: Webster 228 wire recorder

Just getting back to the possible non-original valve I mentioned in the first post on this thread, it was a Tung-Sol, whereas the others were Brimar. The replacement was a 6AQ5, I think, the same as an EL90, anyway. One is a pentode and the other a beam tetrode, but the pin out is the same and the valve seemed to be working fine. I seem to remember that there was somewhere around 16 volts on the cathode when I was doing some voltage checks.

When I was replacing the first couple of capacitors, I demonstrated to the recorders owner how there was around 76 volts on one side of a bad capacitor and something like I think 14 volts on the other side. When I replaced the capacitor, I then demonstrated that there was still the same voltage on one side of the capacitor, possibly a volt or so higher due to not being dragged down by leakage, but zero volts on the other side of the new capacitor.
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Old 18th Sep 2019, 8:55 pm   #8
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Default Re: Webster 228 wire recorder

Hi!

A Sams "Photofact" Service Manual Folder is available here:-

http://lcweb2.loc.gov/master/mbrs/re...odel%20228.pdf

. . .in case the OP sees it again!

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Old 23rd Sep 2019, 10:09 pm   #9
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Default Re: Webster 228 wire recorder

And indeed what a fantastic machine it is ! Im supprised by the audio quality of the unit
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Old 25th Sep 2019, 1:40 am   #10
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Default Re: Webster 228 wire recorder

Many thanks for posting that link, Chris. That now completes the information on what I would say is a fairly rare recording machine. I've downloaded and saved a copy of that manual. The owner of the recorder in question is good at dealing with the mechanical side of things, it's just the electronic side that he needed to get help with. He's also got another wire recorder which is an Agaphone. I've not seen it in the flesh as he's fixed that one himself. It apparently needed a lot of mechanical work but he tells me the electronics are in perfect working order, although I did warn him that there may be the odd critical leaking capacitor lurking.
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