Hello all, thanks for the add. I have a vintage CA-W80 that I need belts for. Does anyone have any intel on what belts I need, where to buy, and the routing diagram? I downloaded the service manual but it doesn’t show the belt routing or have belt P/N’s.
Aiwa CA-W80 portable component radio
- Thread starter Lowdrag82
- Start date
hopey
Inactive
I would start with a simple deck this one is not easy. The belts your looking for would cost more than the box is worth.
Worth is not a factor, I bought this unit myself around 1988 and I want it back up and running. It’s ok to say you don’t know, but if money was no object, where would you go to get the belts and belt diagram? I would also be interested in buying another AIWA CA-W80 for parts or for reference.
I love restoring old stuff, I’m not really concerned about ROI, I’m keeping my radio I bought back in 88, the return is the pleasure of restoring the radio back being usable the way I remember it. I’ll try to post some before and after pics.
As I mentioned in my earlier post, I'm not sure why Hopey said what he said, but as this is a boombox forum, maintaining, restoring and repairing boomboxes is what we do here.
As for your boombox, you already have the service manual so you have the same information that any of us would be using as a guide. No, these publications almost never provide hand holding and presume that the user is a technician with good mechanical aptitude. Generally speaking, you would have to just dive in using the instructions on how to remove the cassette assembly from the boombox. At that point, you'd be well advised to snap lots of photos as breadcrumbs to put it back together again. Unless the belt is completely missing or disintegrated, the routing should be obvious. If not, you can generally figure it out. The service diagram does show how the drive belt is configured and the general shape. Due to the manner in how these exploded views of the mechanical section is, it's not really possible to show the belts being routed (very few do, they almost always show the belt floating in mid air, but they will be pointed in the general direction of the pulley they will be attached to. Sometimes, the whole belt isn't even shown, just the ends cut off but pointing to the pulley they will go to).
As for belts, I'm not sure what service manual you are looking at but my copy does have the P/N, which you can either cross reference online via sites like turntableneedles, or you can simply measure by looping a thread through the belt path, spead it out and measure it, and deduct about 10-15%, which should get you right into the ballpark. The pulley size and shape generally tells you if it's going to be a small, medium or flat belt.
Lots of boombox hobbyists have experimented like this and sometimes, it may take several tries to get it correct. Just work at it, persistence and elbow grease, and you should be able to get it working again.
As for your boombox, you already have the service manual so you have the same information that any of us would be using as a guide. No, these publications almost never provide hand holding and presume that the user is a technician with good mechanical aptitude. Generally speaking, you would have to just dive in using the instructions on how to remove the cassette assembly from the boombox. At that point, you'd be well advised to snap lots of photos as breadcrumbs to put it back together again. Unless the belt is completely missing or disintegrated, the routing should be obvious. If not, you can generally figure it out. The service diagram does show how the drive belt is configured and the general shape. Due to the manner in how these exploded views of the mechanical section is, it's not really possible to show the belts being routed (very few do, they almost always show the belt floating in mid air, but they will be pointed in the general direction of the pulley they will be attached to. Sometimes, the whole belt isn't even shown, just the ends cut off but pointing to the pulley they will go to).
As for belts, I'm not sure what service manual you are looking at but my copy does have the P/N, which you can either cross reference online via sites like turntableneedles, or you can simply measure by looping a thread through the belt path, spead it out and measure it, and deduct about 10-15%, which should get you right into the ballpark. The pulley size and shape generally tells you if it's going to be a small, medium or flat belt.
Lots of boombox hobbyists have experimented like this and sometimes, it may take several tries to get it correct. Just work at it, persistence and elbow grease, and you should be able to get it working again.