I am working on this unit which had not operated in some 20 years
according to the previous owner. I changed the belt, oiled the
motors, capstan, and pinch roller. Cleaned and demagnetized the heads.
The right side reel holder had somehow managed to get out of
alignment and I had to loosen the setscrews on it raise it to the
level of the other reel. The unit now plays, but it might still have
these issues:

Hissing. I can hear hissing noise, as you do with a cassette deck
when not using noise reduction, or perhaps a bit louder. Is this
normal? The hissing persists for about 10 seconds after I turn the
unit off. I am playing through a '70s vintage Pioneer, but that is
not the cause. Are these units suppose to be this noisy? This is
definitely not hifi.

Tape tightness. The tape seems awfully tight to me, but I have never
used one of these before. It takes up and rewinds okay.

Alignment. I think the tape on the take up reel is showing a little
crinkling, On the first tape guide before the head, the tape does not
appear to be fully in the slot, rides a little. How can I make sure
that tape alignment is right on? The head adjustment screws are
dabbed with a marking compound and do not appear to have ever been
tampered with.

Problem with the 4010S is the pinch rollers get so hard, that the tape
sloughs off the roller while playing unless the tape tension is adjusted up
pretty high. Cleaning the controls, cleaning AND DEMAGNETIZING the tape path
may help with your hiss problems. If there's lots of hiss when the tape
isn't moving, then there could be circuit problems. Bad transistors or
capacitors can cause this, but normally only one channel would be affected,
not both equally.

Mark Z.


"Rob" wrote in message
om...
I am working on this unit which had not operated in some 20 years
according to the previous owner. I changed the belt, oiled the
motors, capstan, and pinch roller. Cleaned and demagnetized the heads.
The right side reel holder had somehow managed to get out of
alignment and I had to loosen the setscrews on it raise it to the
level of the other reel. The unit now plays, but it might still have
these issues:

Hissing. I can hear hissing noise, as you do with a cassette deck
when not using noise reduction, or perhaps a bit louder. Is this
normal? The hissing persists for about 10 seconds after I turn the
unit off. I am playing through a '70s vintage Pioneer, but that is
not the cause. Are these units suppose to be this noisy? This is
definitely not hifi.

Tape tightness. The tape seems awfully tight to me, but I have never
used one of these before. It takes up and rewinds okay.

Alignment. I think the tape on the take up reel is showing a little
crinkling, On the first tape guide before the head, the tape does not
appear to be fully in the slot, rides a little. How can I make sure
that tape alignment is right on? The head adjustment screws are
dabbed with a marking compound and do not appear to have ever been
tampered with.

In , on 10/31/04
at 03:57 PM, "Mark D. Zacharias" said:

[ ... ]

Tape tightness. The tape seems awfully tight to me, but I have never
used one of these before. It takes up and rewinds okay.

Alignment. I think the tape on the take up reel is showing a little
crinkling, On the first tape guide before the head, the tape does not
appear to be fully in the slot, rides a little. How can I make sure
that tape alignment is right on? The head adjustment screws are
dabbed with a marking compound and do not appear to have ever been
tampered with.

Before talking about alignment, cure the tape path problem. It seems
like you have a tape travel and tensioning problem. "Travel" is the
path taken by the tape as it moves through the machine.

As mentioned elsewhere, make sure the pressure roller is in good shape.
Check the tension on the supply ["back tension"](left) and take-up
(right) reels. Brake drag or failed lubrication can cause higher than
normal back tension.

Make sure the tape path is clean. Also make sure your tape is in good
shape. Some old reels of tape may become sticky.

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