Sony TC-K611S Three Head Cassette Deck - More Belts and Servicing!

Another K611S in today with a playback fault. Can it be cured with a fresh set of belts and a nice service?
I've had a busy week with cassette decks so a fair few uploads!
No affiliation with any parts or spares website.
#audio #cassette #tapeplayer #sony #vintage #vintageaudio #repair #fix #threehead #audiorepair #repairshop #90s #audiophile #music #audiotapes #cassettecomeback #audiocassette #audio #soubd #service #belts #tapes #analog

[@tomc1969]

Thank you Paul, you helped me bring my 1990's sony 611s not only back to life but as good as new!

[@totallywired2723]

Thanks so much for this. I have owned this deck from new and decided I wanted to play some old cassettes recently only to discover it was no longer working. Hadn't been used for 5-10 years and both belts had gone to mush. Watched this video and was confident I could follow the instructions so ordered replacement belts. Had to watch someone else's video to work out how to open the door manually to remove the faceplate but then followed your instructions and replaced both belts easily. Was then disappointed to see that cassettes would stop after less about 1 second of playback. Fast forward, rewind and even track seeking worked fine. Checked mirrors, all shiny and clean. Worked out how to run the transport without a cassette in (again from someone else's video) and from that I could see pinch roller was sticking. Took it out and discovered a bump on it. Quick rub with an emery board to remove the bump and now the tape deck works fine. I will be ordering a replacement pinch roller. Thanks again for giving me the confidence to try and fix it.

[@pwrestoration]

Hey no problem, I love comments like this as I did start doing this to hopefully help others. Enjoy!

[@Tron1731]

Good job 👏 here's a secret you can use a duster can to freeze the belt or put parts in freezer and the belts will chip off in hunks non chlorinated brake cleaner works great and carburetor cleaner in a can also works great 👍

[@pwrestoration]

I'll try that, but I'm always too impatient 😁

[@geekyoyd]

Thanks. This has been a great help. I replaced belts on a Sony TC-K520 with the help of this video and it worked well.

[@ivandrimal5783]

The more you disassemble the mechanics, the more possibilities for a bad build. I have a Sony TC-K661S and I never split the center for the small square belt when changing belts. Just loosen the screws and pull the belt to the engine on one side. The surgical tool of forceps helps me. I tighten the screws and assemble on the rest with the big belt. If I don't want to clean the inside of the mechanism, it's pointless to take it apart. I've done it several times and it's always OK. PC repairman Marko Minesi's rule: be a little lazy and start with simple things. Play the hero with a screwdriver only as a last resort.

[@Hillside_Freight_Trains]

Thank you so much for this video, I had an old machine in the attic which had packed up and I thought it was time to dump it. Then I came across your video and decided to give it a go. You are an exceptional teacher and I was a very happy pupil. It cost me £12.50 and has pleased me so much!! Many thanks Sam…..

[@pwrestoration]

Thankyou for your kind words, I hope it serves you well for the future!

[@marcdehaes]

I like your comments like it is now. Great work. Thanks

[@surindersingh4786]

Great service work done very neatly and safely I really enjoyed this amazing video. Thanks a ton. 👋👌✌👏🙌🙏

[@pwrestoration]

Thanks!

[@billfranklin5772]

Hey Paul I've had this unit on my bench for a long time so long I can't remember what was wrong.But seeing your instruction I'm confident I can get back to it and put the deck back together. Thanks for your help.

[@pwrestoration]

No problem, feel free to give it a test and tell me the symptoms and I'll try and point you in the right direction 🙂

[@peterdoig1371]

Thanks Paul - great vid and hope you get all the likes you desire..

[@viktorklassen4193]

Thank you so much for this video.

[@pwrestoration]

You are so welcome!

[@KYIMGMG]

Great Job Thank you more please

[@markstewart1807]

Really enjoyable video. 💙👍

[@pwrestoration]

Thanks for the visit

[@USAMP926C]

Paul, there's two metal staging rods for the capstan belt as well. You can stage the belt the same way you staged the mode belt. They might not appear that that's what they are, but they are. I know from first hand experience.

[@paulb4uk]

Great repair the voice over works well .I bought a faulty sony tck 561s from ebay for £10 a few years ago the previous owner had messed around with it so have spent a while sorting his mistakes out for some reason he removed the head screws so had to find my own .I am still trying to sort the head height out

[@pwrestoration]

Honestly the best way to do it is not using equipment. I'd get a mirror tape for the head height, and do that by eye. Then play a tape and fine tune the height by ear.. the tape will fade in and out of clarity as you adjust the height. Find the best for your ears. Then same with azimuth, then if you prefer fine tune with an oscilloscope 😌

[@Vladimir-ju7gc]

good work

[@scooby2142]

Just found you - And sorry for the late reply - but in answer to your question I like to hear voiceovers occasionally. For me the family background noise makes me feel more at home. Cheers - Mike.

[@pwrestoration]

Cheers Mike!

[@dasho50]

Paul, all excellent from me

[@erikeggenbakstad]

Nice! Subbed and thumbs up, plus you play Credence. Cheers!

[@scotthornberg4807]

Nice job! I say do voice overs because you can add more insight to the process.

[@pwrestoration]

Thanks for the tip!

[@universalhead]

Good work , complicated transports. The mode gear and location sensor have alignment marks for assembly. Don’t ask how I know.

[@pwrestoration]

Ohh yes 😂

[@stonemonkey1]

Hi Paul, great video’s, I’ve repaired a couple of decks by watching them, one thing I’ve not noticed you talking about is de-magnetising the metal parts and heads, is this something you cover in a video I’ve not seen?

[@pwrestoration]

It's a great point, I've never really been one for demagnetizing heads but probably should!

[@assistantto007]

Help! lol. Thanks for your instructional video. I've recently changed the belts & roller on the same model deck . It all works - but the tape speed is way too fast when I select PLAY (it's like listening to the tape while it's fast forwarding). I bought the deck with the belts in a decomposed state, I'm 100% positive that the little 'dimple' on the wheel in the mechanism is located correctly in the appropriate receptacle of the neighbouring mechanism component. Any suggestions?

[@pwrestoration]

If you have a multimeter stick it across the terminals at the main motor and measure the voltage when it's playing - I think it should be 13v but I can check for you. Does fast forward run at the right speed or is that also mega fast?

[@Dutch-linux]

both is fine voice over or just direct

[@juniorflys]

Gutted. I've had cassette deck from new. Been in storage for many years now. The issue was identical to one in your video. With your video, I was able to quickly change the belts and give it a clean. Looking forward to playing some old tapes. It powered on and seemingly made all the right noises and the capstan was spinning. Loaded a tape and nothing. :o(

[@pwrestoration]

What is it doing when you press play?

[@jamesbeaumont1191]

Hey Paul, It has gotten worse. The door will no longer open now. I had taken the front cover off to show you what was going on. But, the noise is quite low now. kzbin.info/www/bejne/foPHk6Ouh6l3bZYsi=kJor4UtCF6fifuyt Any advice would be appreciated. Edit: I took the case off and can see the small belt is now missing. What size is that?

[@jamesbeaumont1191]

Hey Paul, So I managed to strip it down and replace the smaller belt. That allowed the door to open. I put a tape in and it read the tape type. I could forward and rewind the tape but it would not play. 😢 Any tips on what to do next?

[@pwrestoration]

​@@jamesbeaumont1191​@jamesbeaumont1191 Firstly is the capstan spinning? If not, give it a little touch in case it's stuck. If it is, and it's not engaging the heads when you press play, whip the transport out and double check that the little white arm is engaged in the large grey wheel, it needs to be sat in the groove. You'll see when you see it. When the transports in your hand, look from the bottom. Aside from that ensure that the tape-in switch is activated. I know you said it's displaying the tape type but from memory I think the far left hand leaf switch (as you look into the deck with the door cover removed) controls that. Just have a press of the switches as you're trying to play. Use a credit card.

[@jamesbeaumont1191]

Hi Paul, Nearly there. The large belt had come off putting it back to together. So, I can now play tapes but the sound is muffled. The heads appear clean. But, it’s also crinkling the tape as it runs.

[@cedricriley4158]

Hi. This is an exemplar of what an instructional video should be like. Thank you. I've tried to fix my deck. I replaced the belts. But - you know the part of the video where you warn against movng the gears (world of pain) - mine just dropped apart. I tried to reassemble and it all fitted togther neatly. But the controls are haywire - it operates on play, rewind and FF ok but for a very short period and then stops. Have you any guidance on setting the mech up?

[@pwrestoration]

Hi Cedric the best I can do is here www.tapeheads.net/threads/help-reassembling-sony-tc-k611s.87204/ And also use the service manual. Best to print it out and then slowly rebuild piece by piece. Any images on Google for k611 transport repair may help. Your symptoms indicate a few things. Firstly clean the sensors for the back of your reels, and also the mirrors they sense against on the backs of the reels. The sensors I believe are in the video, they look like black cylinders on legs. They must be immaculate, same with the mirrors. They're what makes the transport know your tape has ended, so will stop playback. If dirty it stops playback prematurely. Second one is the rotary encoder, essentially a rotary switch inside the transport. There's a few pics of someone cleaning theirs on the above link. I have two k611s videos, maybe what you need is in the other one. Thanks for the feedback though!

[@cedricriley4158]

@@pwrestoration That is soooo helpful. I'll crack on. Thank you.

[@Lesbean.Sprout]

Hi there, I hope you still see these old comments. I just landed a Sony TC-K470 from a thrift store and I'm trying to get it working. It's making the same whirring noise on powerup as this one, but the eject button is doing nothing. It looks to be in pretty pristine condition otherwise so I figure replacing some belts will do the trick. If I want to open up the transport like you do in the video, how do I go about that when it does not want to open up? Thanks a bunch, really informative vid.

[@pwrestoration]

I have a few videos on this transport which should cover both your issues. I suspect the 'dead door' video I did will have it all, it will probably be the rotary encoder (in that video) if the belts haven't gone. Get back to me on here if I can help otherwise, you can manually open the door very slightly from inside which will be enough to pull the front plate off and up. But be careful! Happy to have a look at it if you get stuck, I repair a lot of these decks. Good luck!

[@Lesbean.Sprout]

@@pwrestoration This is my first time putting my hands on a tape deck btw, I can hear the eject motor whirring when I press the button so I assume it's just a belt that's the problem, do you think I can just manually turn the gear and press the button at the same time to trick it? I've ordered new belts and a new pinch roller to replace once I opened it up but I'd really prefer not to have to do the whole gear aligning stuff you mention in the vid :')

[@pwrestoration]

@@Lesbean.Sprout yes you can, it's a cam on the left hand side of the transport as you look at the front of the deck. It's kind of on a spring, you should be able to work it out. If the motors spinning that's good.

[@p6steve]

Hey thanks for this. I have just changed the belts on mine extremely carefully, put it back together and everything worked beautifully apart from play! Though it might be the gears so played around with them and thought I had it, now the door won’t shut and it won’t play 😢😢 At 12.53 on your video you can see the sort of lattice black plastic joining all the bits and pieces and I noticed one of those on mine is snapped. Would this cause the sort of issue I’m seeing? Cheers.

[@pwrestoration]

I reckon it's one of a few things. Firstly ensure that you have reseated the pinch roller housing properly. Secondly take the transport out and look inside it from underneath. See that white plastic arm? It should be seated in the groove on the big grey wheel. It's really easy to reassemble and that gets knocked. You don't need to strip it again just pop it into place. I'll have a look at the timestamp and reply again. Two secs!

[@NateTurnage]

Question: how would you begin this work if the door won’t open? Can you reach into the gear and turn it manually?

[@pwrestoration]

You sure can, once the top is off you can look down into the transport. If the deck is facing you, the left side controls the door, there are three white cogs. The largest of the three is the door release, turn it gently (gently!) With a flat thin screwdriver. Otherwise, the black bar that runs across the top of the transport (the tape selector leaf switches poke out of it) needs pushing back to release the door. You can GENTLY open the door just enough to pop the black cover off. Then you can remove the transport as one and disassemble. The smaller belt slipping / snapped is what stops the door from opening.

[@dietriho]

Was a great help and encouraging to disassemble my TC-K 711 and replace the belts. Why in God's name are the sonic belts turning into such a black sludge?

[@pwrestoration]

They want to revert back to their original state.. oil! 😅

[@deebis]

Hi Paul, could you help me with my sony cassette deck Tc-kb820s . I noticed that when I press stop as it's playing there's a momentary cog noise and the tape reel continues to turn for a second or two making the tape slack inside the cassette shell ? Thanks for any help . Danny.

[@pwrestoration]

A little run on can sometimes be down to a damaged gear on your transport, it would need to have the transport removed and all the gearing relating to playback inspected. In truth it'll take a second deck to use for spares to repair it, so it may be a case of if you can cope with it - let it be.

[@daveboogie1]

Brilliant Vid mate, wish I'd watched this first rather than another vid on you tube, I took apart with the door closed rather than open and I've knocked the gears out of alignment trying to put the small belt on, I knocked the taped opening gear out I think, put I hope I've put back correctly, refitting it back tonight. so will see. If I'm unlucky and of the plastics get damaged, can you still get replacements?

[@pwrestoration]

I've got about four videos on the same deck buddy, generally they go back together fine. The wheels where the small belt fits on, doesn't matter. Position the large grey cog with the notch facing 6 o clock as the transport is standing up. The two plastic arms, the smaller one is curled, and curls down towards the transport as you build it. The largest arm can only go one way. Make sure it's pin sits in the groove on the large grey wheel. I have some parts if you're in the UK or get stuck.

[@daveboogie1]

@@pwrestoration Thanks for the replay, Paul really appreciate it, if you get a sec mate would you mind casting your eye over this vid I've just posted its only 1 minute long. I put it back together and this started happening, kzbin.info/www/bejne/rGbLqmSQraiDgqc

[@daveboogie1]

@@pwrestoration thanks for replying Paul, I did try to reply twice earlier in the week but you tube removed the comment as it had a link to a short video I posted showing how when I pressed play on the transport the head moves up but instantly shoots back down, then tries automatically again, and so it repeats, everything else seems work fine, have you ever had this issue? thanks

[@pwrestoration]

@@daveboogie1 I would say check your pinch roller is seated properly, so it's not getting stuck, then check alignment if your rotary encoder (in this video) 🙂

[@williamwilson1091]

How do you change the pinch roller ?

[@pwrestoration]

If you have a look at my other K611S video I show how to change it on there 👍

[@Sierra747]

Great video. I just followed it and replace both belts but my deck still has the same problem it had before I started which is the tape doesn’t play! Fast forward and rewind all work but the tape won’t play. The heads move onto position but the tape doesn’t turn! If I remove the tension from the pinch roller then the tape plays but as soon as I release the pinch roller it stops and after a second the head drop back in the rest position. Any ideas what wrong? Thanks.

[@pwrestoration]

Hi mark, when you say tension from the pinch roller.. do you mean you pull it away from the capstan shaft?

[@Sierra747]

@@pwrestoration yes that rights. It plays, all be it too fast, without the pinch roller touching the capstan but as soon as it’s touching it the tape stops!

[@pwrestoration]

@@Sierra747 That's wierd. Does your pinch roller turn ok by hand? It almost sounds like the two are counter acting each other. Is the capstan turning the correct direction? (Anticlockwise as you look at it from the front) Either that or your pinch roller isnt seated properly, or getting stuck. This could cause your issue.

[@Sierra747]

@@pwrestoration yes the pinch roller is spinning ok. It’s new too. The pinch roller assembly all seems to be fitted ok. The deck was ok but needed a new drive belt so I replaced that a few years ago without disturbing the mechanism at all and after that it wouldn’t play. I saw your video and thought I’d fit a new selector bet too to see if this helped and it made no difference. It’s a very odd problem which I sadly can’t seem to fix.

[@pwrestoration]

@@Sierra747 the pinch roller could be too big. What's the dimensions of it? From memory they're 11x6x2 I think, but I'll double check

[@marwalmw]

What's the name of this app on your phone?

[@pwrestoration]

Hi, Spectroid! It's free, and very good.

[@marwalmw]

@@pwrestoration thank you!

[@allanredford6070]

I think higher bias setting should lower high frequencies, not raise them. ?in my experience. to raise, use lower bias setting, therefore.

[@pwrestoration]

That's probably my personal word jumble. I refer to turning it down as the dial involves turning it anticlockwise, almost a natural 'down' 😄

[@user-iq4xs2xj4e]

Достойная дека!👍

[@user-qu8tw9lt2s]

i lost my plastic washer is that important？？？

[@pwrestoration]

Maybe. if you can find anything that's the right diameter just fire it on. You can even make one just out of a bit of plastic. It's there to stop the capstan wandering back and forth and causing your tape to skew on the pinch roller. Have a look for pen and you can slice some of the end of the ink cartridge off, and stretch it over. Chunky pens have thicker cartridges 😎

[@carlosalfaro2736]

Bla bla bla 😢