Tascam midistudio 688 - no play, no record - belt changed - motor hot - need spare parts

[Ray Fite]

Hello to all,

I've got a problem with an old midistudio 688 - motor is getting hot

The midistudio can do fast foreward and backward. But there is no reaction when i press the "play-" or the "rec-button". "pause button" does work fine. The tonehead rolls to the tape. But then no play or record is possible.
The counter works when in fast-forward or in fast-backward-mode.
I changed the belt, because it was described as the first solution - and the old belt was really sloppy. First I hoped that that was the only reason for the malfunction. But it wasnt.

I checked the two switches that are used to control if a tape is in / the tape is secured to overwrite. These switches are working.

I checked a while during the device was open, and I realized, that the motor that turns the capstan is getting really hot. Now my questions:

Can it be that the motor is turning to slow - so that there is somewhere a speed-sensor that does not allow running the play function if the motor is to slow?

Does anybody know a place where I can buy a replacement motor?

Is it possible that just the Play and Rec Button switches are damaged?

Is there something else I should check to get the midistudio 688 to play?

Thanks in advance for your answers

Greetings
Ray

 

[Jack Saturn]

Sounds to me like the voltage regulator inside the motor has overheated. This is a very common with Tascam machines that use this particular motor. Since the motor spins whenever the machine is powered on, if the machine gets left in idle when not in use, the motor can prematurely burn out.

I run a business working on 4-track machines and have refurbished a great number of these motors. If you feel comfortable de-soldering it and removing it from the tape mechanism, I'd be glad to discuss working on it for you. Are you in the USA? -Jack