This machine was acquired from another forum member in early spring 2018 and I finally got it onto the bench to make a start on repairing it in the autumn. Work has nearly been completed and I thought I would detail the work that I've done to wake this thing up after many years of slumber.
It was collected from an extremely damp storage unit and is obvious that at some time water has been dripping onto the left side of the case; the Rexine was almost completely detached and the wooden carcass grey from damp. Also, it must have been exposed to the sun on the same side so the Rexine on the lid is very, very tired, possibly the worst I have ever seen. The CBL is very heavy and as it was handled the case could be seen to flex so it appeared that the glued joints had been weakened by damp
All the screws from the amplifier top covers and deck plate hold-down were missing which was a worry but on opening up all the valves and transformers are present - I've found that it is quite common for components to have been 'robbed' from idle sets or machines offered for sale 'for spares or repair'.
On opening up it was found to be a bit grimy inside with a bit of rust on transformer laminations but the Ferrograph deck was in nice condition, rubber idlers all sound and only minor head wear. This is a 'Series 6' deck, 'low speed' version, so has three-speeds; 7.5; 3.75 & 1.875 i.p.s. There is a curious arrangement of switches built into the speed selector switch to enable equalisation switching on both left and right channels. Another 'feature' is that although the erase and record heads are half-track the replay head is a quarter-track. I thought this was a modification until it was discovered that the head has a raise-and-lower lever so that it can be selected to playback two or four track stereo, or mono, tapes. With this and some of the machine's other features make it surprisingly versatile.
On the bench now a list of work was drawn up and the first job was to dismantle each of the signal meters and re-glue the glasses as both had become detached (damp?). Both meters were fine and clean inside; I'm always impressed at the quality of these Sifam instruments.
All for now, more in a future post or two.
Bill
It was collected from an extremely damp storage unit and is obvious that at some time water has been dripping onto the left side of the case; the Rexine was almost completely detached and the wooden carcass grey from damp. Also, it must have been exposed to the sun on the same side so the Rexine on the lid is very, very tired, possibly the worst I have ever seen. The CBL is very heavy and as it was handled the case could be seen to flex so it appeared that the glued joints had been weakened by damp
All the screws from the amplifier top covers and deck plate hold-down were missing which was a worry but on opening up all the valves and transformers are present - I've found that it is quite common for components to have been 'robbed' from idle sets or machines offered for sale 'for spares or repair'.
On opening up it was found to be a bit grimy inside with a bit of rust on transformer laminations but the Ferrograph deck was in nice condition, rubber idlers all sound and only minor head wear. This is a 'Series 6' deck, 'low speed' version, so has three-speeds; 7.5; 3.75 & 1.875 i.p.s. There is a curious arrangement of switches built into the speed selector switch to enable equalisation switching on both left and right channels. Another 'feature' is that although the erase and record heads are half-track the replay head is a quarter-track. I thought this was a modification until it was discovered that the head has a raise-and-lower lever so that it can be selected to playback two or four track stereo, or mono, tapes. With this and some of the machine's other features make it surprisingly versatile.
On the bench now a list of work was drawn up and the first job was to dismantle each of the signal meters and re-glue the glasses as both had become detached (damp?). Both meters were fine and clean inside; I'm always impressed at the quality of these Sifam instruments.
All for now, more in a future post or two.
Bill
