OK, BoomBoxDeluxe is here! A fellow member of the VZ club, within the Worldwide Getto Massive.
The other day, (1st July 2010) I decided to have a go at playing (with the line-in) some tunes on my VZ-2000e. Since I have had this, the turntable has never worked, BUT I could turn it on, and hear the motor spin, and move the needles backwards and forwards, and drop them onto the record. Obviously there was no sound because the record wasn't turning. It was on this day when I tried to move the needles...........Nothing happened.
Is that it? Has my VZ's turntable died completely now? It appeared to be having operational errors, and performing erratically. I Just assumed that, through the erratic operations that the VZs 'brain' had given up after all these years of not being used. :'-(
Well, today, I decided to have a go at opening up the turntable mechanism, and at least trying to find out what makes an extremely complex turntable like this work.
I started by taking off the front of the door, so that I can see all of the workings in there.....what makes the needle go backwards and forwards, and see if the mechanism was in there for dropping the needle onto the record. It was. Because VZs are BSLT (Both Sides, Linear Tracking) I knew that there was another mechanism similar to this inside the boombox. Taking out more screws and plastic panels, I discovered the other one.
This is the bit that intrigued me: Linking both needle-arms, is a steel wire, running around on some complex pulley system. There had to be a motor somewhere for all of this. But where? I decided that more screws needed to come out of this box.
A few more screws later, and two suspension springs, the whole turntable mechanism and chassis was loose and just hanging in there by its wires. Carefully easing the whole mechanism out of the unit, being careful not to stress any wires, I could see TWO motors!
They both have pulleys, and one of them has a black plastic pulley, a cam on it, which operates some kind of micro-switch, and....steel wire on the pulley!
From the black pulley to the motor, there it is. A small flimsy rubber drive belt. *THIS* was the reason that my needles weren't moving anymore! The motor runs, but it cannot turn the pulley, line up the needles, and drop them onto the vinyl. A crappy little drive belt!
Looking around inside the cabinet of the VZ, I noticed this big ball of mashed-up, stickey gooey liquorice. That, I was thinking must be the other drive belt that spins the vinyl. There's no belt on the huge pulley behind the vinyl, but there's gooey stuff on the small motor pulley.
I am just glad that my VZs turntable problems are mechanical, and not electronic! To fix this, all I need, is two drive belts.
The little pokey one which moves the needles back-and forwards, and the huge one that goes round the large pulley to spin the vinyl.
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If you are having trouble with vinyl spinning, and non-movement of the needles like my VZ is, then you'll need two replacement drive belts to get this box going again.
I am not sure how I am going to re-belt this box though....While looking around in there, there wasn't much space in order to see the bits and pieces. The wires to the turntable mechanism aren't too long, and even then, it will need further dismantling so that I can get the large drive belt around the huge pulley.
I think, when I tackle this re-belt, I may have to have the whole front of this box off.
The front? Not the back?
Well, I have heard that these VZs are "Rear-Mount". i.e. everything is fixed to the back and its the front which pulls off. Of course, that will mean removing all of the sliders, the two big dial knobs, and I think that the cassette door has to come off also, by unscrewing those two little retainer screws on the front there. Just turn them by hand. Oh, and those suspension springs underneath will need to be removed also, when pulling the front off.
All I need now, is a place that sells *BOTH* of the replacement belts.
I am feeling a bit happier today, knowing that the repair of my VZ is an easy mechanical re-belt, instead of complex electronic-brain surgery! YAY.
I hope that you can get your VZ going again.
-BoomBoxDeluxe.
Trouble is I cant get the turntable to spin or either of it's duel arms to move. From what I hear it's most likeley a belt problem. 
