Panasonic tape loading issues?
 

Being a VCR engineer I am seeing more and more K mechanism Panasonic VCR's with tape loading issues.

Tapes being ejected instantly
Tapes stick inside
Tapes wont play
Error code 04 being displayed

Most of the time this is caused by a slipping motor coupling which I have now got down to changing in under 15 minutes. I change this coupling on all K mechanism VCR's that come my way before even turning them on and it makes them perform much more positively (as well as preventing the tape being eaten on first try).

Would a tutorial on fitting a new coupling be of any use here if I made one?

It means taking the lid off the machine and taking the whole mechanism out. Perhaps you all already know about this and do it yourselves?

yes - by all mean post a how too.
far too many of these decks have loading issues

i have found also the pinch roller lube dries up and makes it stick
sometime it is so bad it breaks the plastic dink off where it engages the cam
the first thing i do with any K-mech i get is remove, clean and lube the pinch roller shaft

Ah yes - the jammed roller. I had that last week but I always check that area. I'll add it to the tutorial.

How is best to upload here? Should I contact a mod?

Make a new thread/post for it. I'll clean it up if needed, and sticky it. :)

This will be a very useful guide!

Glad to be of help and put something back after all the good advice I have had from here. I have a VCR with eject issues on its way to me now so that will be a perfect opportunity to get the camera out and make the guide.

I'm sorry to bump up this old thread... but did you ever make this tutorial, Quasipal?
I can't seem to find it?

Hi, I started but realised that the K mechanism of NTSC machines is seemingly different to PAL models. Someone on YouTube already had a USA K Mech teardown so wasn't sure what use mine would be as PAL is less popular.

But I have a deck just arrived needing this so if it will help I'll do it for this one. I have this week off so I'll stop faffing and get it done.

That would be great, thank you very much :-)
I've just ordered myself an NV-HS1000 with a few issues. Don't know if it's the exact same problem as this "slipping motor coupling" problem, though. It makes some really strange sounds when ejecting a tape and it's not able to strart playback of tapes that is totally rewinded to the tapes start position. When inserting a tape that is totally rewinded to it's start position, absolutley nothing seems to happens when pushing the PLAY, FF or RW buttons. When inserting tapes winded a littlebit from start, playback seems to work quite fine.

I'll try cleaning it and see if that helps. If not, I'll probably post a new thread, with a video that shows this issue, next week :-)

My AG-1980 has started to get flaky when loading tapes.
I would live to see a how-to on the "slipping motor coupling" too!

Thanks

I'll get everything together and do this. I'll also cover lubrication and common problems.

Excellent, Quasipal. Thank you very much :-)

Ok, here it is - on YouTube but unlisted. About 30 minutes, I did my best but any questions please ask. I should have added that the idler (which the bely goes around) can also 'separate' giving chewing or no picture in visual review search. No longer available, you will need to repair what you have with super glue (sparingly) and they are a bear to fix!

https://youtu.be/IHhfF8zCNT0

Hope it helps!

Thanks! Looks good.

Do I understand correctly that a common loading issue is either a split in the plastic sleeve on the loading motor shaft, or lub getting under the worm gear, either of which will cause slippage between the motor shaft and the worm gear, and thus load failure?

Nearly. As the coupling is done via a secure coupling the main issue is the collar splitting. The oil is what often makes it split - oil and nylon don't go and it makes the collar crack.

Looks excellent, Quasipal. Thanks A LOT! I will try to follow your procedure on one of my HS1000's as soon as possible :congrats:

No problem, but just be aware that the HS1000 has the deck drive ribbon cable not at the top, but underneath to the right - you will see. Also on HS1000 you will need to remove a long PCB on the underside of the mechanism to access the load motor, three screws, has pressure switches on it. Easy to remove, no wires, but be careful.

Quasipal, thanks a bunch for the video. I've been avoiding this for years and I was fighting with my last good HS1000 today with this issue. Took it apart among my spare one, alas both had cracked couplings but the spare one still works more or less.

Do you have the part number/ url for the coupling or is a new one hard to find nowdays? -> Superglue? Threadlocking fluid?

What grease would you recommend for the gears etc?

http://www.digitalfaq.com/forum/atta...4&d=1499568792

Thanks, Quasipal. -- Good stuff!!

Glad to be of help. I get mine here https://www.cdlens.com/?item=20407 and they have loads of other Panasonic repair parts too. Happy shopping!

As to lube, I use Sony CD slider grease (old stuff from my old job) but you can use standard automotive moly grease sparingly.

I was just doing some digging with some help from service manual and ordered some parts from Dönberg. Didn't see it in cdlens, thanks for the tip.

https://www.donberg.ie/descript/v/vdp_1434.htm (minimum order 20 €)