Sony SL330 Betamax 711B3 Chassis, Mechanism Jams Constantly

[@video99couk]

It seems so alien that it doesn't make the familiar Sony whine during eject. We never saw this kind of mechanism in the UK.

[@12voltvids]

The whine was the planatary hear that say on top of the loading motor and had the toothed belt that drove the cassette mech. They used that one for most of the years that the slimline beta was in production.

[@video99couk]

@@12voltvids Only slim front loader exception being the early Sony SL-C9. That didn't whine during eject. It usually didn't manage to eject at all, it was so unreliable! I have three working ones, with the updated brass top carriage gears. Presumably there was a USA equivalent, it was a linear stereo with slow motion etc. I'm presently working on an Japanese NTSC SL-HF900. I've gone from not working at all to loading a tape and playing, but the picture is looking like it is crushed, so presumably bad capacitors somewhere. Suggestions welcome.

[@12voltvids]

@@video99couk the sl2500 and 2700 had those mechanisms with the plastic gears on the top that broke. They were a disaster. Never had a linear stereo model. They went right to beta HiFi here.

[@KylesDigitalLab]

​@@12voltvidsThe SL2000 used the same design but was better because it was a top loader and didn't have the gears for the front loader, correct?

[@12voltvids]

@@KylesDigitalLab it still had the shitty direct drive reel motors and as such suffered from the same tape slap issue at the slightest wear on the upper drum. This resulted in tapes being stretched or broken. Stretched tapes resulted in the magnetic layer just peeling off and falling into the mechanism. I have opened sl2000, 2500 and 2700 to find a pile of brown and black oxide shards around the drum base and the shuttle block where the tape does a 180.

[@Dansbus1]

Back in the day I got many motor going by disconnecting it and powering it from a power supply removed fro the deck and let it run for a few minutes this cleaned the comm and fixed many dead spots.

[@superbetahifi]

The 711B3 load/eject was just so buttery smoothe & quiet. But it's Achilles heel was the two tabs the cassette carriage rides on. Once you've got a good method to fix those however the problem goes away. Those tabs are the first casualty of the way packages are man-handled these days. I recently bought an SL-340 beat to hell by UPS.

[@Bushougoma]

Another way to find a dead spot on a commutated DC motor is to put a high value resistor in series with one of the wires, power it up, and measure across the resistor with a scope. You should see even humps if a segment is dead one or more humps will be missing.

[@ShawnJenkins-vd9pq]

I finally got a nice working beta machine!! Wasn't cheap!! SL-2710, nice stereo machine!!

[@12voltvids]

None of them are cheap. I see someone selling a vidimagic betamax projector for 100 bucks. I already have one or I would be considering it.

[@CanizaM]

I've had some success with opening up these small motors by undoing the crimps with a punch and polishing the commutator, although for those trying this be warned that this design with the two crescent slots needs a brush-lifting tool made of a piece of bent wire inserted in them and rotated to lift the brushes off the commutator before trying to remove the endcap. This is likely how the factory held the brushes off when assembling them too. Otherwise you'll make things worse by bending or breaking the brushes, since there's a protruding flange on the end of the commutator in front of the bearing surface.

[@Jammerk40]

Happy 4th to ya! Have a great day!

[@superbetahifi]

Excellent work! I thought for sure the motor coupler was split. What brand of tape was that L-830 which shed its oxide so badly? I'm hoping that the conditions under which the tapes were stored will make a huge difference in their longevity.

[@12voltvids]

It was a Sony tape.

[@yasserkhalil7138]

I need your help 😔 I'm from Egypt and i have a sony tc800 but suddenly it stops and doesn't work. 😊

[@Jammerk40]

So what is exactly happening when a motor has a bad spot near the brushes? Is it just a small amount of corrosive on the contacts?

[@MrPitatom]

I wish I had a Beta I super high band hifi test tape. Would love to see how good the quality is. I have a machine that can play them back, but not record in BI mode.

[@video99couk]

If that's a USA model SL-HF900, I understand that it can be upgraded to record BI. The Japanese variant can do this from the factory.

[@12voltvids]

You just need to know someone that has a machine that can do it.

[@Synthematix]

I agree with the power supply change, those stupidly over complicated switch mode supplies are a disaster waiting to happen, with these things its best to keep things simple, those motors not having a dust cover is kinda crappy design.

[@Shadepariah]

33:32 I guess these beta tapes don't have a whole lotta years left...

[@12voltvids]

The same can be said for VHS, 8mm, DAT and just tape in general. I have been saying this for years. Get your stuff off tape junk it but people just don't listen.

[@azshaw123]

I am in the uk and i have several of these spare if you get stuck and they are the whole units, i am a collector of Japanese ntsc models, i have over 40 machines and quite a few spares.

[@12voltvids]

I have a few parts machines myself and I don't use tape other than to archive stuff for people. I really need to archive all my old tapes while I still have working equipment.

[@stpworld]

@@12voltvids do they sony beta L750 tapes have the problem the one that was in this machine to those were the last ones I used before i dropped this formatt I have the last e3 nintendo press conference on one that was the last year it was played on tv before it went online. The tape isnt back coated either.

[@ThejasonJaw5442]

Video on video 8 machine damaged in shipping, I like beta max

[@12voltvids]

Owner wants me to waste more time trying to find crack on the broken board.

[@zx8401ztv]

im surprised that you didnt have to take the motor apart, I imagine that On the buses would not have been your cup of scotch lol. We used to have busses like they had, too close to reality. The sad thing was the cast died too early due to accidents cancer and such. The woman that played olive died in her house, of a fire. The bloke that played olives husband died with cancer or tumor. It wasnt fair really. Stephen louis, the grumpy inspector lived to a reasonable age.

[@12voltvids]

On the busses Dave Allen, Benny Hill, MASH, All In the Family were regulars around my house growing up.

[@zx8401ztv]

@@12voltvids Dave Allen was so funny, he saw the world in a different way. I loved mash, a great series. Tv was full of great programs, now its utter shit!. I stopped watching t.v years ago, not worth the licence fee.

[@12voltvids]

@@zx8401ztv lots of shit 4 sure but still good stuff. Much has moved to streaming these days. Enjoying the grand tour. Car show with geremy Clarkson James may and dick Hammond. They kicked it up a notch after the BBC fired then from top gear. Same show but better now.