How to align Panasonic AG-1980P pinch roller?

[Maxmilo]

Dug my old panasonic ag1980p out of storage (15 plus years). Put in a tape, it loads but then ejects. I ran all the self tests outlined in the service manual. No errors. Then I realized the pinch roller was not coming down. So took it off and in the process realized the old grease was not letting it slide up and down. After cleaning that and putting the roller back on its spindle the tape would attempt to load but the pinch roller didn't engage at the right time I don't think as the tape is no longer loading against the head correctly (it was loading the tape correctly against the head before I messed with the pinch roller.) So I'm thinking the pinch roller/gear is out of its correct position.
Im looking through the service manual I found on line but don't see that process. Any tips on how to make sure the pinch roller is engaging when it should? For example does anyone have an image of the underside showing the underside with the mode unit etc with the gears in the proper orientation. If an image of that was clear enough I think I could tell if the gears are in the correct alignment. Then the question is, if not, how do I change the pinch roller gear position? Thank you.

[radiokom]

Remove pinch roller, load cassette, then eject. Install pinch roller. If you did not broke something. Pinch roller gear should be aligned in accordance with SM. Check it. If you removed only pinch roller and did not touch gear it should be in place. But pinch roller shaft lubrication is not only maintenance needed for that mechanism.

[Maxmilo]

Thank you. I was able to get the tape to load and play. There are still issues. For example, when the tape is not running, instead of the blue screen with normal display information that I remember seeing the screen just goes black and when I hit play, I do not see the word PLAY etc. I'm assuming this is a function of weak capacitors on one or more of the boards. I am not up to replacing a large number of capacitors so will have to weigh investing in that.

Im a bit surprised I got it working after reading about what happens to these when they get old. I will continue cleaning and applying new lube to gears and mechanism paths where I see the remnants of the old black lube. On the plus side the display on the unit is still very bright.
This is a used unit I bought about 15 years ago but didn't use. Back in the late 90s (1996 to 2001) had one of these at work that I used with a canon es6000 and a software/hardware device called VideoDirector 200 that worked between the camcorder and VCR and assembled edits and laid down overlays and transitions. In the App I selected in and out points of camcorder footage (the es6000 camcorder, like the VCR, had TBC for frame-accurate edits). Once the edits, transitions and overlays were how I liked them on the timeline, I hit "Make tape" and Video Director would send a series of "play" "record" and "pause record" commands to the camcorder and VCR, adding in transitions and overlays in the timeline. The results were pretty amazing for the time just before non-linear systems hit their stride. It was a very stable and easy to use system. In addition to having the system on my desktop windows machine, I loaded the software on a laptop allowing us to create videos on-site at large gatherings, etc. It was a very stable and simple system that worked well on the very modest computers I used at the time.

[aramkolt]

The AG1980 doesn't have a blue screen or on screen display, so what you are seeing is likely normal

[Maxmilo]

When I say I had a modest system, I was referring to my computer setup. The Panasonic was my favorite piece of equipment and it was pricey. If I I took the time I could probably dig the receipt out of my old work files. I believe it was about $1,200 in 96 or 97 when we bought it. I think the Canon ES6000 was even more than that.

[lordsmurf]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Maxmilo

I believe it was about $1,200 in 96 or 97 when we bought it.

Flip those numbers. When the AG-1980P came out in 1996, it was $2k+ street (MSRP higher).

I still have the ads (tearsheets) from the back of photo magazines, from 1996-2001.

[Maxmilo]

$2,000 is very possible. The Hi-8 Canon was also very expensive. It had a lot of cool features I never really used, like eye-controlled focus or whatever it was called. When looking into the eyepiece it could discern what part of the scene youvwere looking at and focus there.

[Maxmilo]

$2,000 is very possible. The Hi-8 Canon was also very expensive. It had a lot of cool features I never really used, like eye-controlled focus or whatever it was called. When looking into the eyepiece it could discern what part of the scene youvwere looking at and focus there.

[radiokom]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Maxmilo

There are still issues. For example, when the tape is not running, instead of the blue screen with normal display information that I remember seeing the screen just goes black and when I hit play, I do not see the word PLAY etc. I'm assuming this is a function of weak capacitors on one or more of the boards. I am not up to replacing a large number of capacitors so will have to weigh investing in that.

Panasonic has no blue screen and see you or not word Play and other commands on screen depends on settings. They are always switched to off when digitize.

The first you should replace power supply capacitors. Do not start full recap if you do not know what you are doing.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Maxmilo

I will continue cleaning and applying new lube to gears and mechanism paths where I see the remnants of the old black lube.

Do not mess with all old grease, that black lube is probably fine. For K mechanism pinch roller shaft and guide rails are most common parts what should be re-lubricated. On shaft, after cleaning, use few drops of oil, not grease. For rails (from top and bottom) you can use nearly all kind of lithium based grease for car bearing.