Nordmende CD 1000 cassette deck repairs [1/2]

[@onesixfive]

this nortemende was well used and loved! clearly it played many hundreds of hours of cassettes. excellent lighting and camera work inside the mechanism while cleaning! too bad about that IC, damn.

[@DrCassette]

Thank you :)

[@Thecnica]

I live in Brazil and do almost the same things that you do and report in this channel. I love to see the situations you report, they are exactly what I live in my everyday life. I don´t do this for living, but to my own satisfaction and not to let these marvelous machines die. In the case of this Nordmende, I have the chip you need to repair it fully and would like to see this machine working again at its full capabilities. I can send you the chip for free, by mail. It will take some weeks but it will arrive. All you need to do is to send me an mail address where the chip must be seet to. Congratulations for the videos, I would miss then for nothing.

[@DrCassette]

Thank you very much for your generous offer! However, it would not be right to accept it. I know where I can get the chip, it costs 12€ which certainly is a lot cheaper than postage from Brazil to Germany. I am not throwing away this cassette deck, it will go into storage, so maybe one day it will work again.

[@Thecnica]

OK, as you wish! Just as a curiosity, the NE545 costs less then US$ 1 here in Brasil at the shops. However, I have several that I took from dismantled decks, just in case. Regards and please continue your good work to preserve these marvelous antique sound equipments.

[@DrCassette]

I am sure the chip itself is available for very cheap, but the shipping cost from Brazil to Germany will be astronomical...

[@dominikmichalczak4941]

Very good video! I'm watching your videos for a long time and I've learned a lot from them. Currently I'm repairing a Blaupunkt KCR 800-10 Derby De Luxe boombox from 1980 year. And I must say that the mechanics are very similiar to this used in Nordmende. The heads bridge is indentical. Pinch roller arm, fastworward and rewind gearing, even the flyweheel are the same! Just to precise, the mechanics where Sankyo motors are used are made by Matsushita or... Sankyo :) Sharp was using rebranded Sankyo motors, some of the types are carrying the same model symbols, only the brand was changed. Greetings from Poland.

[@DrCassette]

Sharp using rebadged Sankyo motors is good to know, thanks for the info :)

[@borysandreyev9717]

Very clear and logical way of troubleshooting.

[@DrCassette]

Thank you :)

[@vdochev]

That's very educational. Always enjoy your videos :)

[@DrCassette]

Thank you, I try to always have some educational content in my videos :)

[@OxySynth]

Wenn du das VU Meter noch hast würde ich gerne mal versuchen es zu reparieren. ^^ Ich habe mich darauf spezialisiert, solche Teile zu reparieren, von abgebrochenen Nadeln bis hin zum Austausch der Magneten. Solange die interne Verdrahtung zur Spule nicht defekt ist, ist eigentlich jedes VU Meter reparierbar. Auch verbogene Nadeln, Nullpunktjustierung und so weiter sind relativ einfach zu reparieren.

[@DrCassette]

Wenn man die Geduld hat, ist das sicher ein schönes Hobby :) Du hast aber sicherlich Verständnis dafür, dass ich im Moment nur zur Post fahre, wenn es wirklich nicht zu vermeiden ist? Und meine Kosten müsste ich natürlich auch ersetzt haben, und da ist dann schon die Frage, ob es das wert wäre.

[@westelaudio943]

Looks like a Hitachi to me. Check out the D-22s mkII, same buttons and knobs in a very similar arangement. Different piano keys and door though.

[@DrCassette]

The features and arrangement of the controls is pretty much the same, but when you take a closer look the details are so different that it can't be two variants of the same design. The mechanism of the Hitachi looks to be totally different, notice the separate eject button where the Nordmende has a combined stop/eject button. I am just thinking, I don't think I have ever worked on a Hitachi cassette deck.

[@mauanderuk]

Thanks for sharing always very interesting.

[@littlejohnny47]

Thanks again for sharing this repair and diagnostic video. Man, you sure have a lot of “experts” out there telling you what to do or what you did wrong! Wonder if any of them ever fixed anything for themselves other than another beer...! Regards.

[@DrCassette]

Constructive criticism is always welcome, if someone has a good idea, I want to know. But unfortunately a lot of suggestions are either not helpful or complete nonsense. And you have not even read the worst offenders as I delete those comments. Usually there are a few people telling me that I'm a clueless idiot, or that I have only done a fraction of the work needed. I have been repairing HiFi equipment for over a decade now, so I know what I'm doing. Still it is sad that such people are all over KZbin, because they will scare away beginners from making videos. Unfortunately it looks a lot like KZbin is starting to become just as toxic as public discussions on Facebook...

[@sunspot42]

Also, I’ve gotta wonder if those slightly high voltages you were seeing weren’t the cause of the chip failure, and were in turn caused by other components - likely capacitors - either failing completely or having drifted out of spec over the decades. What did the voltages look like on the chip that was still working?

[@DrCassette]

The supply voltage of the chip actually was a volt lower than it should be, and I don't think the other voltages being slightly off made a difference. I didn't measure any voltages on the other chip. I tested some of the capacitors around the chip and even replaced the input coupling capacitor (at pin 5) despite the original one testing good. It made no difference.

[@mikerm19]

For fixing stuck meters, I've had good luck with the "heat method" where you put a hot soldering iron on the shaft of the needle (on the adjustment screw), As it heats up the needle returns to zero (remove the heat at that point). I'm guessing the heat does just enough to change something internally, maybe to the grease. My BIC T-2 meters are still working perfectly after being repaired in that way, and it was super easy to do.

[@cittroman]

Be careful with the isopropanol on the capstan as it should not enter the bearing!

[@renejansen5939]

I Do remember a cheap kind of TV that was sold under a lot of Philips brands like Erres, Aristona, Magnavox, but also Nordmende. It's sad how that great companies are all sold to other cheap manufacturers. Same as Dual, Grundig, Blaupunkt...

[@paulb4uk]

Another great video

[@DrCassette]

Thank you :)

[@ingenfestbrems]

Impressive flywheel for a cheap unit

[@DrCassette]

It is a rather basic cassette deck, but indeed it's relatively well made.

[@ingenfestbrems]

DrCassette yes but the looks isn’t very exciting

[@DrCassette]

It looks like the typical entry-level early 1980s cassette deck. I like it.

[@-______-______-]

I'm hoping that the problem with my Teac C-3X (same as Tascam 122) not recording on the left side, comes down to the NE645B IC which I have just ordered a replacement. Do you have any tips for desoldering this component as simply as possible? Thanks for the video.

[@DrCassette]

Good quality desoldering braid is relatively cheap and makes desoldering much easier.

[@tommyb.6064]

What about the old 8 track decls with discrete components dolby filters? If i remember, those module were plugable to the deck board. Could they be used to substitute that part?

[@DrCassette]

No, the Dolby circuit is not just in the IC, it is made up from the IC and all the components around it. So a major redesign would be necessary. The old discrete Dolby circuits are not very good by the way, their frequency response shifts a lot as the components age. One of the reasons they moved on to putting as much as possible of the Dolby circuit into an IC.

[@rusuclaudiu1988]

Good evening. For pinch rollers, wouldn't be a good idea to glue a small stripe of sandpaper on a flat wood surface like the one keeping an ice cream popsicle?

[@DrCassette]

It would certainly be easier to reach the pinch roller with the sandpaper, but once the sandpaper is worn out you'd have to glue on a new piece. That seems a bit impractical...

[@DirectDrive33]

Hello! Do you know what kind of bulb is behind the VU meter? One of mine is burnt out and I couldn't find a parts list for it!

[@Saartekk]

Den Schalter kannst Du einfach abziehen, in der @8:00 Min. 😉 Musst Dir nur merken bei welcher Schalterstellung, dass Du den unteren Plastikreiter wieder triffst beim zusammenbau... 😉 Einfach an der gebogenen Lasche abziehen und nachher wieder einklippen... 😉 Hab ich erst letzten Monat bei einem alten DENON PMA 920 Verstärker gemacht mit Kontakrproblemen... 😉

[@DrCassette]

Ich weiß, dass man den oberen Teil mit dem Bowdenzug abnehmen kann. Mein Kommentar, dass ich mit dem Kontaktspray nicht an die richtige Stelle komme, war aber nicht auf den Bowdenzug bezogen, sondern darauf, dass der Schalter selbst auf der Seite ein teilweise geschlossenes Gehäuse hat, sodass man nur durch einen Spalt hineinsprühen kann.

[@Saartekk]

@@DrCassette Achso, habe ich wohl falsch verstanden... 😉

[@tommyb.6064]

To clean the capstan dirt that is burnt into it, i break a paper stick cotton swab and apply the broken paper tip right on the area that retains some dirt. paper gently scrape the dirt from the capstan without scratching the steel.

[@DaXande135]

Also die Andruckrolle hätte man sich auch als Spiegel an die Wand hängen können :P

[@codebeat4192]

There must be a reason that the Dolby IC fail, that is not a regular fault, very uncommon, very unlikely the IC died. You noticed differences in voltages, check the (stress) conditions in the datasheet of the IC, in general it must be between 8-20V. You mentioned you measured lower of higher values (1v differences) indicated by the datasheet. The 7.8 is actualy already on the low side, if it is lower than 7.8 it could be a problem (for example 6.8). To me it sounds like a build-in transistor, circuit is not triggered (explains the distortion) and can caused by too low power conditions. These are old IC's and can be slightly different, voltages need to be exact. Could be also a problem of a switch, the record play/record switch on the main board. I would check the connections and voltages again and the caps on those connections. It is a old machine, it is possible it is not the IC, just a few (power) caps or a bad connection. Swapping the IC's between the channels doesn't have to clearify the problem, the IC's can be slighty different in sensitivity, acceptance of too low voltages. If there is a huge voltage swing when operating or noise can cause one of them fail. Use a scope on the powerrail to see what is going on. I bet it is not the IC, it is something else.

[@DrCassette]

I have checked the surrounding capacitors. While all of what you have suggested is plausible, it is very unlikely. To me swapping the ICs has delivered sufficient proof that one of them is bad. If there was an external fault condition, it is unlikely that it was precisely the same in both channels causing only one of the ICs to misbehave exactly the same way in both channels. I assume the silicon chip in the one IC has degraded, possibly due to a manufacturing fault. As I have said in the video, I have spent two hours experimenting with the deck, which is already more time than it's worth.

[@nickfrench7372]

How did u go in replacing the faulty ic for the recording and playback sound in the left channel,,,from the right channel? I've had no problems with getting ic amplifier parts from ebay,, for various stereo amplifiers that had sound troubles,,,and they sound real good now.

[@DrCassette]

I unsoldered the ICs, swapped them and soldered them back in - nothing special really. As I have said, I don't buy ICs off Ebay.

[@nickfrench7372]

@@DrCassette What place do u buy the electronic parts from online if not ebay?

[@DrCassette]

Various online stores based in Germany, so that German customer protection regulations apply.

[@nickfrench7372]

@@DrCassette Ok. Sounds like i may have no access to those particular online stores in Germany as there is German custom protection regulations that apply there.

[@RoughJustice2k18]

The head in that deck appears to be in pretty good shape; no obvious "dent" in the center (which would mostly come from Type II/Type IV tapes) and it's still shiny, plus the roller seems to be OK too - no glaze or pits in it (I've seen a few of those of various brands/models; besides belts, they also needed rollers and R/PB heads replaced). Shame about the Dolby IC, otherwise it's a neat and clean little unit.

[@DrCassette]

You did watch the part where I was showing that the pinch roller was in fact very shiny before I sanded it? ;)

[@RoughJustice2k18]

@@DrCassette I did see that toward the middle of the video. I've seen rollers in worse shape than that one; with surface glaze that had gone rock-hard plus pits that were impossible to clean via any method and light sanding would not remove, hence the need to replace them at the time. I was merely commenting on the condition of the head and roller in your deck after you cleaned them (you did a great job by the way). Sorry if I wasn't clear. I may have worded my previous comment badly.

[@DrCassette]

Don't worry, misunderstandings do happen :)

[@enricoself2256]

Not sure what you will do will the Dolby IC, but beside the fun to identify the source of the problem, I'm not sure the deck it is worth the repair; it is a very basic deck from 1980 and to my (limited) knowledge decks up to the mid '80s generally does not sound too good; tape decks improved significantly in the late '80s early '90s as better heads were available. The VU meters do look cool actually, but that is just retro nostalgia :)

[@DrCassette]

Economically further repair work would not make any sense, the Nordmende CD 1000 seems to usually sell for around 20€ on Ebay. The cheapest trustworthy shop sells the replacement IC for 12€ (shipping included). I have not yet decided what to do this the cassette deck, I'll probably put it in storage for now.

[@westelaudio943]

They sound fine. Just a little less treble. Only noticable in direct comparison as your ears get used to it quickly (a fact many audiophiles don't seem to understand). And no dolby C or S (which nobody used anyways). Some had High-Com which is pretty good aswell.

[@dykodesigns]

So this Nordmende was made by the sharp minds that make sharp products. Sharp made almost everything electronic in those days. They practically engineered the Gameboy for Nintendo, they supplied the screen and created the chips. I’ve always thought of Sharp beeing a calculator and photocopier brand, not really a hifi brand unlike Panasonic/ Technics / Matsushita.

[@DrCassette]

Sharp also made the first modern day Class D amplifier back in the 90s. Sony had already made a Class D amplifier in the very early 80s, but it never worked reliably because the electronic components available back then could not handle the extremely high frequencies. These days Sharp has made the first 8K resolution TV cameras that will be used to broadcast the Tokyo Olympic Games, whenever they may happen. So indeed Sharp is not the cheap consumer electronics brand they seem to be. They have a lot going on behind the scenes.

[@piwex69]

Sharp had special top quality hi-fi brand "Optonica" to sell their best designs. You can find very early gen-1 cd players by that name.

[@danceyourselfdizzy6198]

It has the looks of the Sony basic hifi cassettedeck Tck 15

[@DrCassette]

No, not at all. The Sony TC-K15 is totally different from this one.

[@danceyourselfdizzy6198]

@@DrCassette I mean optical...the outside...only thing...not 3 but 4 buttons for type band and Dolby.

[@DrCassette]

Both decks indeed look like typical early 1980s cassette decks, that's true.

[@clemensschmidt812]

Dear DrCassette, I purchased a very very cheap Nordmende CD1300. It seems to have a dysfunctional auto stop function, as the tape only plays very shortly and then automatically stop. When force-pushing the play button, the tape keeps running but I can hear some sort of clicking noise. I am an absolute layman and have never repaired a HiFi device, so do you think there is an easy way to fix this? Best regards

[@clemensschmidt812]

Update: i traced it back to the tape counter belt not moving. Disassembling the device up to the point of being able to replace the belt seems impossible, very frustrating

[@DrCassette]

I too would have suggested checking the counter belt. See if you can find a service manual for your cassette deck online, it might give some useful instructions for disassembly.

[@rollinhand4750]

I have a sansui d550 ,I got a new(old stock) idler tyre, installed ,clean all the surface contacts with alchool,but when I play a cassete in the begining of the cassete ( first 2-3 minutes) makes an intermitent pull of the tape ,and you can see the take out wheel jerking and made a mechanical noise inside the cassete After 3 minutes of playing all is fine.I notice the idler tyre is harder than the oiriginal tyre .You think will will settle down and go away with time? I rewaind and ff all the cassetes before to move the tape inside after many years of not playng.Thanks

[@DrCassette]

The new idler tyre should not be harder than the original one, if it is, it most likely is even worse than the original one...

[@error52]

Here's an idea: jump the input of the dead stage to the output. Lift the positive leg of C213, send it with a jumper straight to pin 6 and see what happens. You'll lose some amplification, sure, but it might make that channel work again. Or it might not. Either way it's worth experimenting. You can't make it worse than it is already. To make the two channels level with each other you might repeat the same procedure on the working one.

[@DrCassette]

Theoretically this would of course work, but you do loose a LOT of amplification. The input level is significantly lower than the output level.

[@jasejj]

@@DrCassette I guess it might be possible to replace the IC with a standard op-amp, would take a lot of engineering and/or trial and error to get it to work though.

[@DrCassette]

That might be possible, of course we will never know if the input stage was really just an amplifier or if it had some special frequency response.

[@slugaool]

New IC's are still available www.electrabreda.nl/ne-serie/10396-ne645b-dolby-b-noise-reduction.html

[@DrCassette]

I know, I found German based online shops that sell it, too.

[@_HeBu]

My first thought: This looks very close to my old and damaged (😔) Sharp RT-10 🙂

[@DrCassette]

I assume your Sharp RT-10 has the usual fault: No drive to the take-up reel in playback?

[@_HeBu]

@@DrCassette Yepp, causes tape jam. My next tape deck, a JVC had trouble with fast forwarding and after having it looked up and "repaired" it ended in a power problem 😔 My new deck is another JVC that's fine. I'd give the old decks away, together with a 90s Panasonic recorder and a walkman. I am not able to repair all these. I am just using them 🙂

[@_HeBu]

@DrCassette Wir können eigentlich auch auf Deutsch weiterschreiben ☺️

[@DrCassette]

Mit JVC habe ich sehr unterschiedliche Erfahrungen gemacht. Auf der einen Seite hatte ich Geräte, die einfach einwandfrei funktionierten, und auf der anderen Seite Geräte, die schwierig zu reparieren waren und auch nach Reparatur immer wieder neue Probleme entwickelten, also im Grunde ständig kaputt waren...

[@_HeBu]

@@DrCassette Wenn das jetzige JVC mal die Biege macht, hol ich mir ein Akai. Das passt dann wenigstens zu meinem Tonbandgerät 🙂

[@andreasulrich5872]

Schönes Cassettendeck.

[@yournamehere7182]

Is it worth getting my SONY TC-152SD repaired ? 😭

[@DrCassette]

Your Sony is an interesting and unusual deck, I think it is worth getting repaired :) It depends of course on what the problem is.

[@yournamehere7182]

@@DrCassette Indeed it is. When can I drop it off ? 😁

[@svenschwingel8632]

If you want a decent contact cleaner, give the products from Teslanol a try. They have "Lectro Clean" which is a fully-evaporating non-residual cleaner and also "Oszillin" which has some corrosive cleaning agents and lubricating components. In addition, they have "WalzRein" which can serve as a pretty decent rubber rejuvenator for pinch rollers. It's sold as a printer rubber roller cleaner.

[@DrCassette]

I am happy with the Tuner 600 spray I have, but one of these cleaners for rubber rollers in printers is on the shopping list, I do want to find out if these chemicals give better results than sanding the rubber down.

[@svenschwingel8632]

@@DrCassette there is also a roller cleaner from "Disko" that works well. It can be applied directly to a cotton swap. But these rubber things do have their limits - they mostly work well on dirty rollers that have lost their grip. If the roller already has a hardened surface, they might not work. Also, if you treat rollers with this compound, it needs some time to soak in (12 hours is what I do before playing a tape) and it also needs to be cleaned off afterwards to not leave any residue on the tape. I recently used the Disko compound on a high-end Sony 77ES DAT deck's pinch roller and it worked quite well. Although you have to disassemble some of the mechanism to get to the roller but that's Sony for you ...

[@DrCassette]

I wouldn't like to use these chemicals on pinch rollers, but I'd be interested to see how they work on idler wheels. And yes of course, Sony is never easy to service :D

[@Oldgamingfart]

@@DrCassette For idler tiers and pinch rollers, 'Rubber Renue' by MG Chemicals is a good but rather pricey alternative. In the UK we mostly use Servisol for cleaning electrical contacts, so I guess a lot of the time it's whatever is cost-effective and actually available in your locality.

[@DrCassette]

I have heard about Rubber Renue, but it does not seem to be available in Europe/Germany, and I am not going to spend the money to import it from the US...

[@jameshamric3167]

The cd1000. Circuit board looks like it has a toshiba part number FYI my opinion. Jim

[@DrCassette]

Interesting, I have not seen a Toshiba cassette deck in person yet, so I couldn't tell any similarities.

[@TheChipmunk2008]

you sanded the capstan.... ow. (i know accidentally)

[@DrCassette]

With 400 grit sandpaper... it doesn't matter.

[@cat-lw6kq]

When I worked in a repair alcohol was used on all the rubber belts and rollers. The owner was cheap. I prefer to use Rawn rubber renew.

[@DrCassette]

I would be very careful with what chemicals I smear on the pinch roller. If they don't fully evaporate (like alcohol does) you will have the chemicals all over the tape.

[@cat-lw6kq]

@@DrCassette The for the advice.

[@holleholl3057]

Ich weiß, es ist eine Gewissensfrage, ob man sich strikt an das "Retro"-Innenleben eines Altgerätes hält oder nicht, aber ich hätte die Dolby ICs wenigstens gesockelt, wenn ich sie schon heraus gelötet habe...

[@DrCassette]

Mit Entlötpistole ist das kein großes Problem, die ICs da schnell und ohne Schaden anzurichten herauszulöten. Aber stimmt schon, schlauer wäre es gewesen, Sockel einzusetzen...

[@irtbmtind89]

There was lots of subcontracting and rebadging in the Japanese electronics industry (even among the giant brands who competed with each other) before everything was farmed out to companies like Foxconn so there might not be an easy way to tell who actually made this. In my experience most of the lower end Japanese decks from this era are quite same-y and are all pretty similar inside.

[@DrCassette]

I am pretty sure now that Sankyo played a big role in making this cassette deck. The mechanism is very unusual in this machine, I've never seen something similar before.

[@sunspot42]

I’d throw in the towel at this point and not bother with this model in the future. While the mechanism seems simple and reliable, clearly there are issues with all of the other electronic and mechanical components, and the overall quality of the deck doesn’t really make it worth saving. If this were a high end 3 head deck it might be justifiable, but for a mass market deck from 1980? 🤷‍♂️

[@DrCassette]

The cassette deck sells on Ebay for around 20€, a replacement chip from the cheapest trustworthy source I could find costs 12€ (shipping included). Economically it doesn't make sense to repair this cassette deck. I will probably still keep it in storage for now.

[@-Dash-]

BOOOOooooo for Thompson...

[@DrCassette]

Absolutely, Thomson ruined the German brands Nordmende, Saba, Telefunken and Dual and many more internationally.

[@enricoself2256]

@@DrCassette then Thomson ruined them self too ... for all they greatness they now sell adls home router branded as Technicolor though telephone companies

[@jasejj]

@@DrCassette Yes, the British company Ferguson went the same way in the late 1980s as well. Their TVs were well respected in the rental industry for being reliable and easily serviced. Still, at least Sharp wasn't too bad a company to OEM from. The Thomson TVs were trash. That said I have an Italian-made "NordMende" (M capitalised) TV from when Thomson sold out to Videocon of India. It is twelve years old and hasn't missed a beat. I wouldn't call it "good", though.

[@JohnnyBareToes1]

I have a Sharp 27H-5P boombox with in-built tv from around 1978 and the cassette deck in it has a Sankyo motor