VCR alignment needed? Roundabout?

[Roundabout]

This is where I stopped last night. I got the one on the other side out but this one was tougher. I stopped before I yanked too hard. I still got to buy the gears from that site. I may buy the other gear as well so I don't have to do this again. As for the "take it somewhere to be fixed" posts, I probably would if I were not in northern Japan. The availability of repair places around here are pretty thin...

But you're in SONYLand! You'd think it'd be easy to find parts and stuff...

Where in Northern Japan are you?

When Sony sent me to Japan back in 1991, we were taken on a "field trip" on the Bullet Train to Northern Japan (Iwate Pref.)

We stopped at the tiny station in Ichinoseki (absolute hicksville, nothing there at all) and then got on an extremely slow train (reminded me of the "Cannonball" on Petticoat Junction/Green Acres) going east to the Sony factory in (IIRC) Iwanoshita (Iwanoshita? sounds like I wanna... ). Luckily, I had my camcorder and made lots of video of this trip, it was a blast. They treated us like royalty at this factory, even put our names on the welcome sign out front. I was surprised they even let me videotape the inside of the factory, since they're so secretive and worried someone might get a glimpse of a new product not yet released.

Haven't looked at those videos for years, but will be converting them to DVD soon so I can see them easily. My wife has never seen them, we got married several years later and they've been in storage since.

Anyway, let me know when you get your parts and if you need any more help. Maybe we have the last working SLV-555 and 575 on earth :P

[fmctm1sw]

I'm even further north. I'm in Misawa. I think Iwate prefecture is the one just below us. I went to Morioka a few weeks ago, I think that's in the Iwate prefecture. I've never heard of Iwonoshita. I'll let you know when I get parts...

[Roundabout]

You're right. You're just north of it.



and Ichinoseki isn't far away...



It's very green there, lots of rice paddies around the Sony factory. They were making cordless phones and car stereos at that factory when I was there. I still wonder how it wound up in the middle of nowhere. Maybe labor costs are cheaper in that region.

[fmctm1sw]

got my parts... I'll follow up this weekend....

[Roundabout]

Don't forget that everything must be lined up properly, there are alignment holes in the chassis as well as on the gears themselves to guide you. I found the trickiest part is getting the large cam gear back on in a properly aligned position. When you go to put the holding plate back on it, it must go down far enough to put the lock washer back on it without having to force the plate down. If the cam gear is seated properly, you won't have any problem. If it isn't, you'll never be able to get the holding plate on.

[samijubal]

When the gear is in right you can see the 3 pins in the slots in the gear.

[fmctm1sw]

Thanks guys... I'll give it a go this weekend..
+ =

[Roundabout]

**crosses fingers**

[fmctm1sw]

Looks like a winner.... I even found another problem. If you recall me saying that the arm seemed real loose and sloppy? Well, it fell out into hand. It just needed reseated on that shaft it sits on. Now to finish putting it back together

[Roundabout]

Great. Now if it works, it'll probably be good for another 15 years or so. I can see it now, ordering parts in 2019 for our 1986 VCR's. Wonder if that company will still have replacement parts?

[samijubal]

Heads on a 1986 VCR can't be good for much longer unless it hasn't seen much use over the years.

[Roundabout]

In my case, I replaced the heads about three years ago, and it has seen little use since then. The unit is like new, for all practical purposes - I even replace the fading fluorescent display with a new one, so it really looks good. You wouldn't know just by looking at it that it's 18 years old. It looks like it just came out of the box, even the remote.

In my case, it should last a few more years, I hope. I have replaced the power supply, heads, display, gears, pinch roller... and it's still going.

[fmctm1sw]

Great. Now if it works, it'll probably be good for another 15 years or so. I can see it now, ordering parts in 2019 for our 1986 VCR's. Wonder if that company will still have replacement parts?

Never know... This is the second time they've gotten that VCR back running for me. I got the parts fast as well. I recommend them. Maybe I'll check into the heads as well....

[samijubal]

Heads aren't very expensive anymore, when the price of VCRs got where it is now head prices dropped real fast.

[fluxtransistor]

Hi everyone,

As you suspected, someone is indeed fixing one of these VCRs more than 15 years later--in 2023. I have an old SLV-474VP (PAL model) with a cracked blue gear! Right now, I've applied epoxy to try and stick the two halves together, since the odds of finding parts are rather low.

(I had to tick a box saying "I'm aware that this thread is 6706 days old". Doh.)

[rgr]

Heads aren't very expensive anymore, when the price of VCRs got where it is now head prices dropped real fast.

By the way - is there any chance to buy a head for the Panasonic HD640?

[fluxtransistor]

By the way - is there any chance to buy a head for the Panasonic HD640?

Given the age of that post, and it being a totally different model, I don't this is the right thread to ask.

Anyway, I finished my repair—amazing how fixable old electronics are. I managed to get the mechanism working again with nothing but a pocket knife (in the capacity of a screwdriver) and some superglue. Hey, if it works...