A classic mistake? Attempting to fix up a Sharp GF-9191

[@Roberob1189]

Idk why but this guys vids since at least 2016 ish has always made me feel comfortable or relaxed. I go on and off watching over the years but always come back. Idk if it’s his voice and manners. Or his content idk.

[@revivedfears]

Techmoan is a legend. Been watching since way back when he only reviewed cameras. If you like this kind of stuff I recommend Vwestlife too. Very similar content.

[@neilcaldwell870]

Wow... Just wow! My Dad had a GF9191 when I was an early teen (im 57 now). Remember taking this to bits about 25 years ago as the tape sounded wobbly. This floods back those days. So I got it to bits, took 1 look at the tape mech, cleaned what I could, put it all back together again and that was me done. It was a bit better. My Dad bought this from Hira House, Elizabeth St, Cheetham Hill, Manchester. They had a huge Sharp sign on yhe warehouse.(now Texet) and I think it was trade only, but his friend David Preece worked at Ameltone House nearby got it home with trade discount. Lovely piece of kit. Great sound and really good built in stereo mics. Sharp had a big presence on the 80s and had a big warehouse in Newton Heath, Manchester.

[@donthuis]

Another reason can be the disappearance of manufacturers: this morning I tried my Revox cassette player with Dolby B & C and now a playback amplifier inside has failed. The same channel already had recording limitations. Revox mechanics are still working fine (I once found a UK supplier for the capstan rollers and the rest is far from worn), but for electronics no manufacturer or repair specialist still survives. Studer Revox withdrew from consumer markets and many years I was warned on this inside the shop having a few million electronic parts in stock and now also gone from the market. Fortunately my very first deck, the Tandberg TCD300 still works, but it only has the Dolby B system to play my Dolby C recording with, not ideal of course. BTW Tandberg and their impeccable service organisation has gone too. Summing up: whether in boomboxes or in high end audio, manufacturers having gone are a problem too...

[@michael5089]

Thanks for your words. I'm 57 and relate to what you say.😊

[@Jon-ug3le]

I have no interest in owning a cassette boom box yet I happily watched this from start to end. Thanks for the diversions

[@razzorbladz]

ABS plastic is so easy to repair all it takes is acetone and it melts back together. I used this trick to repair motorcycle fairings. Melt some scrap abs in acetone to make putty to fill missing bits.

[@thomaskendall452]

Nasty flutter was a trademark of those mid-1980's ghetto blasters, even when they were brand new. Fun video, Techmoan!

[@retrorenovo]

If you think this “takes the biscuit” you should see the late 70s Nakamichi classic 2 head transport mechanisms. I repaired 3 of them about 8 years ago and there were zero tutorial videos. I didn’t record it unfortunately. Most amazingly, however, there are STILL zero videos out there. Nakamichi complexity is off the charts and it has set the baseline for me in terms of patience and effort.

[@donthuis]

Nakamichi only tried to reach the maximum performance on cassettes without regard to the usual standards and practices: equalisation curves were non-standard and lifting the pad with the cassette held in an upside down position were their specific choices (for the very expensive Dragon machine). My Revox was far from cheap, but still a better buy IMHO with the exception that I did not realize Revox consumer would one day go belly up. Revox electronic choices were originally aimed at using tapes with standardised equalisation values, which never came about. And mechanical choices for the tape drive evaded wear issues, while the frequency curves went slightly up on purpose, so that after 15 years of usage they would've become flat instead of dropping down by wear! Theoretically I may be able to repair this machine IF the problem resides in failing capacitors, but why bother, I seldomly used it anyway now with Spotify around

[@georgecarlinismytribe]

What I used to love about electronics from that era, is the plethora of Inputs/Outputs to experiment with. These days you're lucky to get a headphone socket.

[@janhanchenmichelsen2627]

Chain linking several not very good ’boxes, all with dodgy batteries, to make a mighty racket on the move was the true sound of the very early eighties.

[@hadibq]

True

[@AseGarcia]

100% agree. As a kid I had a Sony Beta VCR that had audio dubbing & video editing features and the back was plenty of I/O connectors. Those were fun times!

[@frankowalker4662]

That's why I designed and built my own stereo with 8 inputs and 4 outputs. (Although, I forgot to put a headphone socket in there and it's too much trouble to unplug everything and install one. LOL)

[@bsadewitz]

​@@AseGarciaYeah, they were. When I was a kid I made videos of like NES gameplay with an audio mixer and dubbed in music and narration and stuff lol.

[@alanguile8945]

One thing stood out to me, it was HONEST!!! Good speakers , real tweeters , good cassette for the time, very good microphones, nothing pretending to be better than it was. It's still amazing to me that today you can buy the belts, wheels etc for a unit built in 1984! Great video, loved the panic at twice the speed try!

[@AnnaVannieuwenhuyse]

You can buy the belts and wheels because they're fairly standard parts. That's a great thing!

[@mrnmrn1]

@@AnnaVannieuwenhuyse That's not quite the reason. These parts are available now because there's demand for them from the retro audio community, so some enthusiasts and the Chinese are producing these pinch rollers, idler tires and belts and gears. Most of these *were* standard parts, but they are not used anymore in todays electronics. Today, good quality flat belts in high quantities are only produced for turntables, and I can't think of anything else mass produced consumer electronics that uses belts, apart from the tray mechanism of CD/DVD/BD players. The belts, idler tires and gears in these high quality repair kits are being manufactured in low quantities in Slovakia, Hungary, Poland, maybe Germany and I guess probably also in the US. And you can also get the cheap but questionable quality ones from China. I think pinch rollers are only being made in China, some of them are of good quality, these European parts sellers source them from reliable Chinese producers and usually test them one by one prior to selling them. Chinese belts are not recommended, I tried multiple sources and usually 1 out of 10 produces bearable wow&flutter.

[@AnnaVannieuwenhuyse]

@@mrnmrn1 small belts are still used in devices made today, so they are in demand because they are being used. And if it exists, why not use it?

[@user-mv5bu2kk8b]

Way ahead of amstrad junk

[@mrnmrn1]

@@AnnaVannieuwenhuyse Yes, that's what I said. Tray mechanism of CD/DVD/BD players. I can't come up with anything else that uses belts nowadays.

[@jimdayton8837]

I love these repair/restoration videos. They are quite handy as I'm learning how to repair old stereo equipment myself.

[@John_Ridley]

Matt your confidence on repairing this stuff is so much improved. I remember years ago you were hesitant to open or touch anything, now you're ripping into this complex device without a worry.

[@doohuh]

Exactly my thoughts. He used to say "I don't do repairs, just some minor touchups" but look at him now! Really awesome to see

[@keithkneeland6849]

Agreed! If that were me that tape deck would have never gone back together 😂

[@DjZelous]

Mend it Matt

[@RebeccaTurner-ny1xx]

@@DjZelous ... but without Mark's awesome workshop and decades of experience!

[@adriangreen6462]

Hi great repair ,I’ve got to tackle mine yet ,just working on a hitachi,the sharp gf 9191 was the boombox used in the clash rock the casbah,they only made it in silver and grey but in the video it’s red so it must have been custom painted,cheers Ade

[@rodd555]

good job. fixing that tape mech was the most satisfying thing ive seen all day.

[@MsSteve70]

50mins of Techmoan! What a treat - my weekend is complete.

[@nohrtillman8734]

Good gosh, it is! Been happily watching not even paying attention that it’s been near an hour.

[@MarkBrydondrums85]

Best techmoan channel ever!!

[@RetroHQ]

Given the title, I thought defeat was indeed going to be snatched from the jaws of victory at the last moment! With your videos it’s never a given that there is success at the end, but it’s always the journey which makes it worth watching. Fascinating as ever, any kind of repair like this is great to see in its un-glorified form, disinterred belts and all!

[@tenchuu007]

The complexity is eye watering. I can't imagine the assembly line.

[@qlue7881]

I think a lot of the assembly was automated A lot of that automation is lost technology now

[@richardhart9204]

@@qlue7881 … nope. Apart from the circuit board printing, these units were entirely assembled by hand.

[@adammcmichael4799]

This boombox is actually quite simple internally compared to many others, and there was never any automation in the assembly of boomboxes

[@richardhart9204]

@@adammcmichael4799 They’re all relatively simple internally, even the top end models. The first time I saw a JVC RCM 90 opened up, I was very surprised by how basic its innards were.

[@looking_33]

I assume when you would be working the line for 12 hours a day it would become much simpler than it looks

[@ADCowie]

My version of a 'proper' 1970s radio cassette player was a Crown CSC-640F. I bought it when I worked at a hi-fi store and the salesman let me have it wholesale, so I paid something like £80 for it instead of £130, which was a lot of money in 1978. I had it for about twenty years and I absolutely loved it. First the cassette mechanism packed in and then the switches on the top stopped working so I eventually binned it but it went everywhere with me as I moved around different parts of the country and it is still probably the nicest piece of audio equipment I have ever owned.

[@Super8Rescue]

I had this very machine in 1979, I chose this because it had the phono input on the front. I used a garrard sp25 to play records with it. It had the most amazing sound quality. I would love one today. I bought it from my sisters littlewoods catalogue, couple of quid a week. The FM radio sounded good, it made great tapes, the loudness control gave it a good kick. I used to record the Adrian Juste show on radio 1 every week with this. Radio one went to FM at 1pm on a saturday for his show.

[@peterhurst]

I had the GF8585 around the same time, great sound qulity

[@hadibq]

Very uncommon but indeed useful to have a phono properly plugged in 😊

[@taxirob2248]

What I'd like to know is if there was a Sharp portable phonograph designed specifically for this boombox

[@tverdislavrolensky3597]

An am station switched to FM for one program?

[@bsadewitz]

​@@taxirob2248lol probably not. But i don't know what that would have looked like. A record player doesn't really care what you plug it into.

[@alejandrolorenzonieto6688]

What a good example of old-time outstanding engineering and craftmanship. 40 years ago they weren't scared to complicate things to make perfect function and great ease of use.

[@Atomshamradio]

This is a treat from my youth from my grade school days

[@LellePrinter82]

I rescued a GF-9191 and a GF-9494 many years ago. Both have the same problem as yours, on the 9494 the audio sometimes doesn't work on one channel. I will fix this someday. Great video sir.

[@MarkBrydondrums85]

Techmoan does the best vids ever on tech!!

[@suheshalavil]

29:56 that date on the motor. That's the day I was born, My birthday. Thank you. 😃😃

[@DoktorBayerischeMotorenWerke]

Great video, enjoyed watching it, thanks mate!

[@richshipley7893]

I have a few cassette mechanisms that I want to refurbish soon and things like this give me some confidence to do it. Thanks!

[@lakrids-pibe]

"The rattling sound is a bit of a concern" A promising start haha

[@robotbootyhunter6878]

The exasperated sigh when he first tipped it was a mood.

[@lessgoofyone]

I read that in Blackadder's voice

[@QuintusAntonious]

When the screws fell out, I heard DankPods voice in my head saying, "Someone's been in 'ere!"

[@scott8919]

Cars, electronics, packages in the mail containing glass... three things where I've said the same thing.

[@LotoTheHero]

It always amazes me how complicated the mechanisms are to make these cassette boomboxes work. so many gears, wheels, belts, and a mess of wires inside. Even though I grew up with cassettes, I do not miss them. I was very happy when optical media came around.

[@spaniyell]

Toothbrushes are ace for cleaning the buttons and textured metal. I always have them in the cleaning kit.

[@john_barnett]

never throw out old toothbrushes!

[@dorfschmidt4833]

I got myself an old Oral B Pulsonic Slim toothbrush, the battery needs replacing, well I use it for cleaning small things, it's not a miracle tool though.

[@YS_Production]

Also used interdental brushes would've been great for cleaning that gunked up capstan hole.

[@mauritsvw]

@@YS_Production Yes, using all those sticks seemed a bit of a waste to me.

[@mauritsvw]

Also paint brushes for more gentle cleaning.

[@adriancozma6102]

I sometimes repair film cameras, and a trick I learned to make the plastics look good to great is to use car plastic polish. It helps quite a lot, especially with the matting.

[@mackpines]

12:36 Blowing out some fluff! Fantastic video! I couldn’t do a complex repair like this. I don’t have the patience nor the nimbleness to do all these steps. It’s amazing though that people used to carry these heavy beasts everywhere back in the 80’s.

[@1234567zeek]

This is an amazing amount of knowledge. Thank you.

[@KeithCassidy]

40 years old... 40 years before this was made was the end of WW2.. I only say that to make myself feel old. Carry on.

[@Jul-66]

Almost to the day to boot!

[@gold27b]

That’s cheered me up no end!

[@skywind007]

Let's give this guy a thumbs up for all the trouble making this video.

[@DaveWeb-g2]

42:39 - you just can't get away from this lie

[@FloatingOurBoat]

Too true!

[@gabrielv.4358]

I love the fixes on this channel. You learn a lot of stuff. Love your videos mate! Greetings from Brazil! (it's 6am here also ;-) Great channel!

[@Ravedaze.]

I really enjoyed this video , my older brother had the sharp GF8989 back in the 80,s and I wasn’t allowed to touch it, I always wanted to take it apart to see how it worked ha ha!

[@1975Loeven]

This past summer I did some similar work on a 1975 Sharp GF-4000 and that thing is a beast being a mono-box! Very fun to work on, replaced the belts following a speed adjustment and a thorough clean out. The sound is fantastic and it also has an early version of that APSS-gadget. I will, however, need to do a recap on it at some point as it tends to loose power when doing more than just playing a cassette or the radio (recording off the radio for instance). But it's a fun machine and considering me and the GF-4000 are about the same age, one of us are in better condition - and it ain't me 😀

[@LEKProductions]

I have the GF-9090 from 1976 (very similar looking machine), which is also due a belt service. It can be seen at the end of my Studio Revamp video if you're interested.

[@TonyPlumb]

Brilliant as usual! Better than anything the BBC put out.

[@dankline9162]

I have a sharp gf9494 that i picked up at a garge sale some years ago for next to nothing. It's impressive as is, but needs this treatment too. Thanks for the video!

[@ocularcavity8412]

MAN that Thing is AWESOME!!! would have KILLED for one like that when i was growing up, Glad you saved it, this repair has made me relieved I never had to do that repair

[@marcbraunschweiler3021]

nice work in restoring it

[@AhmedSalam]

It’s really concerning that I rarely get any ad before or during ur videos , Matt , it is a good thing for me to have no ads on my favorite vintage stuff channel but it means ur channel is not being favored by the algorithm to run ads on.

[@Blackadder75]

use adblock and have 0 ads . if you want to support a youtuber you can use their program, they all have something

[@valcocimihail180]

You remember me from my childhood, my neighbor have one of this types, we spot on the window and guess what, max level and we dance on snap music. For this '84 still work today. ❤

[@211teitake]

@17:50 I see the massive rubber gunk on the wheel under the black gear. I think the wheel touches the rubber wheel and was transferred the gunk on to it. It may be contributing to the wobbliness.

[@JazzittapdaFunk]

I see something.

[@namaenonamae]

@17:26 too.

[@taetohwa]

17:28 It almost like there was a rubber belt of some sort.

[@Ancientreapers]

18:33 Yeah I was going to say before getting to this part that rubber (even with the dirt) did not look too healthy just eyeballing it. 19:43 Brings back the memories from cleaning any equipment with rubber belts 😄 24:19 They definitely didn't design these things for easy repair or replacement. It's on the same level of opening up Pandora's box. All just to replace the pinch roller.

[@robertsteel3563]

30:00 4 days from now, that motor will be 40 years old!

[@dmues5s]

Just missed it 😂

[@nomadicsynth]

42:04 "The front's not gonna fall off." Famous last words...

[@honkyvanwildebeest8926]

Praise be to the gods of old technology! Nearly 50 minutes of Techmoan doing repairs!

[@moto-jeff]

Fascinating, entertaining and informative. Top stuff.

[@mattrobinson973]

This is peak Techmoan, amazing stuff

[@markST24]

I have one of these...Perfect working order but has a few battle scars... Proper old skool boombox...10 D...

[@insurrectionindustries1706]

Matt, great video, I’m sure you are way ahead of me in this one but I noticed the capstan flywheel didn’t have completely free movement after cleaning with that tubing in place. I wonder if that is somehow not quite the same diameter as factory and is creating resistance to the capstan movement. Very nice work and great looking piece!

[@davidjames666]

this was the music source for my grandparents wedding.

[@SmokeyEdits]

stoked to see a video this long from my favorite repair chap

[@magnolia972]

For the cleaning of small holes i use pipe cleaners. They’re cheap and come in handy for almost everything.

[@simonmpoulton]

You did miss out a key point of lubrication - the capstan bearing would have most certainly needed some oil after it got covered with all that gunk and then cleaned up. The motor bearings would also benefit from some lubrication. Both of these parts being lubricated should help the W&F.

[@darinb.3273]

I would have to confirm by watching the video again, but I think I remember seeing a pop-up note in the lower right corner that he said he lubricated everything he just didn't show himself lubricating the moving parts. It was already a very long video for his typical length videos. Anyway perhaps when you have time you can watch it again and look for said pop-up in the right lower corner 😊.

[@raymondkitchen6137]

Thank you for not stopping on Rod Stewart.

[@guileukow]

Great video as usual! I often repair cassette mechanisms, record players, and anything with belts. What I’ve found is that the belts we buy nowadays are sometimes already worn out and defective. I tend to be very cautious now when buying ‘new’ belts...

[@mauritsvw]

The problem is probably that the new belts are not manufactured to tight tolerances.

[@Carl-G]

Excellent work from Techmoan i think 👍 I would of given up once i saw one of the screws fall out :D It looked EXCELLENT once all cleaned up to 😎 + it's AMAZING how they make all these things in the past & nowadays(MIND-BOGGLING for my little mind) :D

[@andrewgamblin7264]

Hi Matt, another smashing Saturday morning video treat. Instead of using your screwdriver to keep the screw-holes patent while rebuilding them with Sugru would it have been better to use the screws themselves. You could lightly oil them to ensure the Sugru does stick to it and the screws would create their own internal thread as you build-up the pegs.

[@brianthomson6012]

Was thinking the same thing, I used to occasionally use a 2 part rawl plug putty and would put the screw in when the putty was soft to create a thread then take it out as the putty firmed up a little, then re-attach with whatever I was trying to fix to the wall once the putty was fully hard.

[@curmudgeon1933]

@@brianthomson6012 . Rawlplastic is no longer available, at least, I couldn't find it online...I believe it used to contain asbestos.

[@VB-bk1lh]

I had a similar model apart a while back and got pretty much the same results. The problem is that today the parts we find for these older tape mechanisms are not very accurate. That rubber 'tire' over the capstan shaft and the new tire are likely the issue, as could be stretch in the new belts. The 'kits' that I got for those gave me basically just a piece of rubber tubing for the shaft tire which was not properly round. Nor was the tire on the transfer wheel. Any variations in the roundness of either translates to tape speed issues. I have little doubt that who ever is making up most of these kits simply found a piece of windshield washer hose or fuel hose that matched the correct ID and OD. What I did on the one I had here was do do the same but ended up using a tubing that was better formed and more concentric. Getting it perfectly round is more important than it being the exact size as there should be a speed adjustment on the board to set the play speed when your done. Getting to within a few thousandth's or so of the correct size is fine. Being a full millimeter or so off though would be too much to adjust for. Belt diameter can also affect speed as the belts will ride higher or lower in the pulley grooves. Flat belts tend to be more speed stable than square belts. A few drops of light lube on the mechanism also helps, with those top button models the mechanism sees a ton of dirt and dust over its life and often is a bit bound up with dust after 40+ years of use. Wear depends on how and where is was used. I find that usually if the unit looks fairly decent overall, the wear on the mechanism won't be as bad, but it it looks like it lived in a barn or construction site its whole life, your better off just moving on and leaving that one where you found it. The machine to find is one that sat on a shelf in someone's apartment its whole life with the worst thing it ever saw was some dust atop of it and a few tapes once in a while. Avoid nicotine stained, faded, or heavily worn units at all costs. While anything can be fixed, keep in mind these things were made huge numbers and unless you have a particular attachment to a certain model, keep looking until you find the right one.

[@n2n8sda]

For times when you have a million different screws all different sizes just get a piece of cardboard and draw the shape of the think you are taking apart on it with a marker and make circles where the screws go, then as you remove a screw push it through the cardboard.

[@Kevin75668]

I use Sharpie markers. A mark next to each hole and on the screw. Learned that trick doing recall circuit boards in Honda stereo/ nav headunits years ago. So many screws in those things, almost none of them the same.

[@keithmockett3810]

Wow! Always enjoy your videos but this one represents something of a pinnacle for me! Close to a cautionary tale for sure but also a fitting testimony to those who can be bothered! Cheers! ❤

[@bobbuilder3687]

49 minutes!!! Now we're talking 👏👏👏

[@chrissimons9733]

Another great vid to watch on a lazy ozzie Sunday

[@mecha417]

For anything that has a texturized surface like the cassette deck buttons, I would really recommend a decommissioned toothbrush. They are GODSENT for cleaning tiny nooks and crannies!

[@Slay1337pl]

Even better still, an old head from an electric toothbrush!

[@bsadewitz]

Lol "decommissioned". I love reading the comments section of this channel.

[@kenmore01]

...or your current one. Just be sure to get the food particles out of it first. 😬

[@hyperverbal]

I mentioned it before, I like the new camera, you look great 👍🏼😃

[@jongmans38]

Wee tip, if you can glue the pedestal posts parts back in again, put a bit of shrink tubing over it to add strength without adding width that may be a problem.

[@juslitor]

Personally would have glued the posts back together when possible and secured them with suitable size zip ties, they can take a lot of strain.

[@davidrowley-ic6dx]

I was very impressed that the Sugru repair worked at all!, … the original plastic looks like it was most likely a Polystyrene … which does degrade over time. Personally, I suspect someone had previously opened the thing up to try and fix the tape … quickly given up and then not been careful enough when refitting the screws … you have to remember the original holes were simply blank pilot holes and the screws are self-tapping … it’s very easy to cross thread them when replacing them. In addition, the strength of the plastic will have aged such that the threads will easily strip and the posts will burst apart (as seen!) if over tightened. Getting a good adhesive bond to this degraded polystyrene is difficult … surfaces need to be really clean (need to thoroughly degrease with IPA), lightly abrade to roughen up any smooth surfaces … another IPA wash and choose a good epoxy based system to mould the new posts. I wouldn’t recommend using the broken bits as they will still turn to dust when you try screwing into them … the threads will simply strip out. I think the best option would be to create simple moulds to reproduce the largest diameter of post possible (10mm ??) centred on each stump, then pot the mould to build a solid post of epoxy (5 minute Araldite should be ok if you’re impatient) … let the epoxy cure, then drill out new pilot holes and grind down the tops of each post to the correct height. Bit of a palaver .. but more robust. An alternative to standard epoxy adhesive would be something like Plastic Padding … which is an epoxy adhesive with a filler compound mixed in (gives it the grey colour) … but I’m not sure how good it would be at bonding to the Polystyrene .. 🤔

[@Kevin_Eder]

Thanks for the tip!

[@rotaks1]

Great episode. That was a lot of work! Loved watching. I bought a sharp GF 8989 on eBay recently. It seems better than this model. Soft touch buttons, Dolby, soft eject etc. Tweeters are out on mine.

[@JacGoudsmit]

Excellent video and great repair! I think what went wrong with it playing too fast was that the pinch roller wasn't engaging with the capstan.

[@WOFFY-qc9te]

Agreed and I think this is where his problem is, leaving it playing for a few hours will settle the tires and pinch roller also that tire on the capstan may be binding. All in all a good effort they usually need a second fettle.

[@bobmclaughlin7276]

Wow... You have serious patience... And lack of "Murphy 's interferance"... I know if I was doing this there would be several times a spring would go, "boingg" and id be on the floor, looking for them for an hour... But there is so much satisfaction in getting things back working

[@darkstatehk]

Mend it Mark would be proud of you Matt for such a good repair!

[@DavidMander-rs4uk]

Mend it Mark is another great KZbinr! 👍

[@gold27b]

Not taking away anything TM does, but Mend it Mark has an excellent technical back ground in electronics and engineering.

[@killerbee2562]

It that the same person as Mark that works with RMC?

[@alfsmith4936]

Mend it Mark would have it in perfect working order, before he put it back together. 😛

[@pauloclemente238]

Great video to watch 👍 These were impressive complex electromechanics! Just compare this with a smartphone and a Bluetooth speaker.

[@j0hnf_uk]

The go-to with any stereo cassette recorder of the era was the all-purpose DIN socket and whether it was any good when recording from a record player. Back then, that was top priority as I would often record any new LPs as soon as I got them, then played the tape rather than risk scratching the record/have it deteriorate with progressive plays. C90's were a must, then, so you could fit one album each side of a cassette. From the look and sound of this one, it would have been a good contender.

[@mauritsvw]

I standardized on C60, and just left out the tracks I loved the least.

[@Tim091]

Yep. many's the 'five-pin DIN to two phono' cable I soldered up back in the day.

[@RebeccaTurner-ny1xx]

@@Tim091 Maube you could clear up an ancient question for me: I had an ITT stereo radio and a Japanese cassette deck when I was a kid around 1979. The radio had a DIN socket, the deck had phonos; connecting them for recording produced lower recording levels than optimum. Would that be some kind of impedance mismatch between the two?

[@tanhockjun]

That was quite a weekend project, I'm enjoying the video very much,thank you.

[@ObsessionoftheMonth]

36:27 I put the pieces back in place with super glue, then wrap them with very fine fiberglass and epoxy. kind of messy but very strong.

[@ricardo_f_t_gomes]

Gunk is gunk, but the place that one went 😮 Congratulations for another great video! Personally I just get an amazing satisfaction when this oldies get to play again, even when they don't end up perfect.

[@davidk6271]

I very much enjoy the fixes. Well done.

[@leepshin]

Matt you have no idea how exited I got when I saw the "WIDE STEREO" function on this model. I used to have a Hitachi with the same function which I used on mix tapes to great effect. I'll be looking out for one ofe these myself now.

[@leepshin]

@caddelworth Thanks for the info, much appreciated.

[@DOSORDIE]

@techmoan Hey Matt, I got one of those a few weeks ago. Mine had the typical Sharp problem with Bass and Treble Sliders. The brushes fall out of the plastic holders and don't have contact anymore then. I desoldered the sliders, opened them and heaten up the plastic holders with the solder iron to get the brushes back into the holders. Now they work as they should again. I also had the problem with the wobbly tape mechanism, also after replacing belts and pinch roller and my motor made the same noises. You need to open it up, clean the axis and oil it. After that you need to put it back together as it was. It is even possible to fine adjust the tape speed a bit. The motor itself is inside the shell but it has a subchassis. The shell is practically just the holder for the motor. You need to remove the pulley to get it out of the shell. The "subschassis" then has 3 screws you need to remove to open it but be careful, it has brushes! After I cleaned and oiled it and put it back together, I noticed that it didn't work very well. It had no power and was easy to stop with my finger. So i needed to adjust the position of the screws, it seems to be important that the position of the screws is the same as it was before disassembly, so the easiest way is to make marks before opening and put it back together exactly as it was. So when you put the "subchassis" back in the shell there is a spring which sits between subchassis and shell but only on one side and that makes sense now to me because when I reassembled the motor to the mechanism I noticed the tape ran 30-50 Hz too slow. W&F were fully in specs now. But yeah of course the spring is for adjusting the Speed. If you move the motor so, that the spring shows into the direction of the belt, the belt gets more tension, so the mechanism will run a bit faster. If you move the spring away from the belt, the belt will get less tension and run slower. The Motor Shell has more than 3 holes, so it is relatively fine adjustable only in this mechanical way. Mine runs now on 3 kHz with a 3 kHz Test Tape as it should. I am absolutely impressed how good it works now, it reaches hifi Quality even in recording. What I didn't like about the unit were the muffled sounding speakers. I had some from an JVC RC M70 laying around, so I replaced the original ones against them and now it sounds absolutely fantastic! The sharps had very good components, often higher quality than other manufacturers, and this unit is built so service friendly but especially the speakers could have been better. Some cheaper units by other manufacturers often sound much richer than the Sharps but in this case the Full Range Speakers of the unit are surprisingly good, only the tweeters are a bit muffled. After everything was done I adjusted the head and it's perfect now. I use it every day at the moment and it seems like it more than my GF 9000 or my RC M70. Cheers Tobi

[@KarlVaughan]

My first job when I left school in 1988 was at a TV and Hi-Fi repair workshop so I often saw products just like that. I'm no stranger to changing the odd belt and pinch roller. I wasn't there for long but have fond memories of those times.

[@waynebrown3536]

Loved my 9191

[@kevinh96]

Because of that rubber tube and how hard it is to clean and replace I now avoid Sharp cassette decks and boomboxes from the late 70s to mid 80s. Unfortunately they seemed to use that type of rubber tube and idler combination in pretty much all their cassette mechanisms for over a decade. It was repairing a cassette deck with that combination that resulted in much swearing, a lost weekend and me vowing never to touch another Sharp tape mechanism ever again. I did get it repaired and all the belts changed but it has similar wow and flutter issues to your boombox, I suspect one of the reasons is just that the rubber tubing isn't specially made to very tight tolerances today but is just a bit of smaller rubber tube cut to size.

[@CoockieClassiCKeks]

Im using lego- pneumatic tubes for this, works well (-:

[@andoletube]

Yes, it's the rubber tubing that is the weak link. It's out of round. Just need to find something from another device that uses high precision rubber.

[@sw6188]

I'm still repairing cassette decks professionally and I agree with your sentiments about Sharp cassette mechanisms with the rubber drive inside the capstan assembly. I've had to deal with a number of the home stereo cassette decks in the past year and every one of them required the rubber drive to be replaced. There's a seller on evilBay who has the correct rubber tube that is the correct length and machined to proper tolerances along with a replacement tyre for the idler wheel.

[@Tomikos995]

I repaired a GF-8585 and I couldn't get it working with lego pneumatic tube so I stuck other small tube from a headlight washer on it and it works perfectly. Also I remember that on this model the housing for the capstan idler could be removed for easier cleaning

[@Quacks0]

3:50 No, there is nothing missing there; that empty hole is merely an accommodation for a microphone with a "subminiature" (i.e., "3/32" or "1/16") remote-switch plug; this smaller plug (i.e., the mike-plug would be a somewhat-larger "miniature" or "1/8" plug that would snap into the metal-collared jack that you see there) would have its two terminals connected to a pair of simple switch-shunted wires that either shorted the plug's two contacts or left them disconnected, allowing you to remotely start and stop a tape-recorder by flipping a switch on the mike's body, as he himself refers to at 4:30, and then confirms at 5:39.

[@MVVblog]

I watched the entire video, and as I suspected, the mechanics have a lot of fluctuations. In fact, I went crazy trying to get it to work properly! It’s still possible to achieve perfect functionality, but you need to adjust the front panel closure and make other various tweaks. I also had to replace the playback/recording head. Anyway, a great job was done in this video as well! Compliments.

[@RockyP77]

I was getting anxious about losing or breaking old plastic....... you are a brave soul!! (Mixed opinions... love the video, hate the anxiety!😅)

[@CoockieClassiCKeks]

I havent seen the video yet, but its easy to repair the issue with the capstan drive. Use a piece of lego pneumatic hose, for the idler try to find a rubber seal in the sanitary area in your hardware store. I hope this helps someone. The motorspeed is setted with some wights in the inside, not easy to set them, i try to replace the motor with one that has a pot... Edit: Its also easy to do a line in mod. The phono- preamp is just wired to the board, input and output, resolder the cinch wires on the board and also the output from that preamp. A purple and another wire are directly soldered to the phono switch - delolder them on the phono amp side. The volume level is a a bit high, with a pot, or some resistors (voltage divider!) you can set it to a normal level of your smartphone or mp3 player, ive done this with mine and works fine (-:

[@cattusfattus6369]

LOVE these repair videos

[@BX138]

Matt fixing things are my favorite kind of videos. His ability to fix stuff is amazing.

[@miked4377]

1984 made some good tech....i like it! good video...you should revisit this!

[@RichardFraser-y9t]

Hello from the cheep seats

[@johnnytk1]

that was a good one - if you do revisit the transport may i say try the old pinch roller and a drop of oil in it

[@JamesOKeefe-US]

The complexity of these devices is insane. Thanks as always for these Mat! Cheers from North Carolina in the US!

[@williamgreen5575]

To repair those screw posts, you would be better using 'Milliput". It's a 2-part epoxy putty. Handles like sugaru but sets rock hard and can be drilled. It's amazing stuff.

[@Alex_dlc]

Nothing I like more than seeing a broken piece of electronics being brought back to life 😊

[@danholmes5426]

I was wondering if you’ve ever seen a Sanyo dynamic sound 3000. It’s a PA system with a cassette and the 3500 I believe has an AM/FM radio as well. Those things were great back in the 80s. A RadioShack near me, sold three to a school for the PA system. And I bought two because the first one I wore out the cassette Player lol. It had a special hexagon speaker shape where the back of it had holes for Air flow for some serious base.

[@ed.puckett]

I'm so impressed with your patience. Great episode, thank you!

[@canthearu4876]

I believe the second hole next to the mike is an additional connector for a switch that you have on the mic that can be used to control recording. I remember an old LP/tape/radio system I had as a kid that had a connector like that.

[@canthearu4876]

Haha, should have watched a few minutes longer 🙂

[@antking8847]

I'm 58 and I love watching your content - gives off very 'Blue Peter 1970s vibes - which has to be good. Those were the days!! Keep it up

[@MarkTheMorose]

"Here's one I started earlier." And, of course, "Sticky-backed plastic."

[@SarahJane148]

Yours is a lot cleaner then my Toshiba RT 120 s when i changed the belts i cleaned the black belt gunk of with nail polish remover

[@matambale]

Couldn't resist: "Every girl crazy for a Sharp stressed man." ZZ Top.