Panasonic RX-CS780 Belt Replacement

[magnetics]

Replaced the belts the other day with a kit I got from Reverb. I managed to get the belts replaced easy enough. When I had the belts off, I re-lubed the mech and made sure all parts were spinning freely and easily. Even with the old belts on, this was a stiff mech. But now with the new belts, it played for about a minute, slowing down until it eventually died and the tape was no longer moving. Then I got no action from the cassette deck, not even motor noise. I left it for about a day and it worked again but did the exact same thing. So it works cold for about half a minute to a min and it slows to a crawl before dying. Then the motor just doesn’t engage after that. Anyone have any experience with these units and difficulties with the cassette mech or just getting tapes to run? Right now I’m using the aux in with a Walkman I restored to play tapes but would rather get this CS780 going. It otherwise works great. Nice and loud and boomy.

 

[hopey]

Yes the pinch rollers are soft.

 

[magnetics]

Yes the pinch rollers are soft.

I know what a soft pinch roller does and cassettes wouldn’t play perfectly if the pinch roller was soft. Prior to replacing the belts, it played fine until the main drive belt would start to slip and make these awful squealing noises.

As stated, the mech was already stiff/tight to begin with. I honestly just think the motor is shot, as that would make the most sense.

Chalk it up to piss poor design and I’ll just leave this CS780 in the junk bin. Have already moved on to something else. Not the greatest mini system ever and I didn’t pay much for it so no love lost.

Thanks anyways.

 

[Transistorized]

Test for voltage at the motor. If it has voltage, you have a dying motor. They can fail when they heat up. They can fail where they slow down or speed up when they get hot. They can also periodically stop and/or have speed fluctuations.