Cambridge Audio Azur 340C CD Mechanism Problems

[Old Sparky]

I have recently been asked to investigste the same problem in two different examples of the above CD Player, which uses a SANYO CD Mechanism.  The fault is that, only with some CDs the mechanism 'clicks' when the disc is spinning, both during the initial reading of TOC, and whilst playing, which, in most cases is otherwise OK.  Upon investigation what is happening is that the gears which move the Laser PU along the Sled are jumping out of mesh, and a close look at the gear assembly suggests that it's due to wear which allows too much 'play' in the sinndle 'bearing' of the larger white gear.  I guess the only cure is to replace either the gear assembly or the complete mechanism, which, IMHO, isn't the best there is, particularly as the Azur is otherwise a good quality 'upmarket' player.  However it would be almost impossible to fit any other CD Mechanism in this machine.  Is there by any chance a mod. to minmise the chances of the problem being repeated?

[AlanBeckett]

What are the Spindle and Bearing made of?
If they're something sensible like Steel, Brass or Bronze then you may be able to Bush the Bearing. If it's all Plastic I suspect you're doomed.
Pictures?

Alan

[Old Sparky]

It's all plastic, Alan.  The mechanism is the common SANYO one (forget their model no) with the 16-pin laser PU assembly.

[tiv48]

as a new one is only £10 best to replace it.
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/SFP101N-SF-P10...ltDomain_3&hash=item51c950dcc1
Rob T

[AlanBeckett]

I'm afraid I'm not at all au fait with such things.
However, although 'Plastic on Plastic' can work and be hard wearing I'm afraid it isn't always the case. Even the likes of hp got it wrong at times, the Plastic Gears in the 8640B being a well-known example. Short of manufacturing new Parts in something more hard wearing I'm afraid it's a replacement job.

Alan

[Mark Hennessy]

Bad grease on the rails can lead to premature wear of the plastic gears, but normally the CDs start to skip before that happens.

At that price, it's worth buying 2, and tell the owner to keep it safe until it's needed. For those of us that still value CDs and other optical media, there will come a time when players are hard to find. A lot of the CD players available today are based on CD-ROM mechanisms, which aren't exactly built to last.

[Old Sparky]

The actual fault was due to the gear on the sled motor having worn, but the lasr is almost certainly also faulty, as, when a disc is inserted, it jerkily spins up, but the system now indicates 'no disc', so it's presumably not reading the TOC. Incidentally I phoned the number published for Cambridge Audio about spares, and was told 'someone will call you back. As of now (7.07PM) no-one has done so!

[Old Sparky]

Further to the above, no-one did call me back, so I rang the above number Audiopartnership) again. They told me that they don't supply spares, but Richer Sounds might (They don't!) Sourcing a replacement 16-way Ribbon cable long enough (about 6") to connect the Laser to the servo PCB might be difficult, replacing the deck mechanism not a problem, as Rob T. has noted