AKAI M-9

[AdrianPH]

This was a player that was passed to me and I was originally passing on for donations to charity, but without success.  So after sitting there for a while I decided to have a look at it.
The main ca,s that select FF, RW play etc seemed to be fine, there is an issue in that the right speaker provided no audio out, although the VU meter would move.  It turned out that the speaker was open and this I believe was down to a broken fuse holder meaning one side of the split power rails was missing on the right amp and it would have fed 20 Volts DC to the speaker.

The capstan Spindle sleeve is missing, but I think I could make one of them.

There is however one thing that seems to have me stumped, and that is a cam under the record/play heads that lifts and lowers the erase heads, made of some form of Zinc alloy?  It appears to have been forced or over tightened at some point and has broken the cam.
           

Repairing this I think is out side my capabilities, it is marked as M9-011i 4T cam in the service manual.   I doubt very much I could weld it up and it is a bit complicated for fabricating another one.  So if anyone can suggest a way forward to repair this machine it would be appreciated.

Adrian

[Refugee]

That is a well known problem.
There are one or two sellers out there that can get new ones made.
You replace them as a set as the others on the machine will also be on there way out.

[AdrianPH]

The larger ones on the FF/RW Play and Record actually seem fine with no signs of heavy wear cracking etc, I think that this particular one was forced for it to break near the fixing screw.

Adrian

[Refugee]

That cracking is very common and will be happening in the other cams as well.
I would change them as a set.

[AdrianPH]

Perhaps if I was considering keeping the player I would consider it, but looking at some prices for cams that I see available for other models and without asking someone to make a specialist one for it is out of the question. I will have a play with some brass and see what i can do at some point.

Adrian

[Mike Watterson]

Make mould and use "warhammer" style casting metal? Maybe not strong enough. Cast solid and drill hole for shaft?

[AdrianPH]

That sounds like a novelty, never thought of anything like that.

I have some lumps of brass and I am measuring up the old cam, it basically shifts the bias head in to 3 positions each with a separation of 3.5mm, it is the slopes from one to another that presently has me stumped for how I can machine it.

Adrian

[Mike Watterson]

Machine straight then file or "dremell" the slope which don't have to be accurate?