I twenty dollars for this superb cassette deck. The playback and recording heads were in excellent shape and I used this deck for some years, playing and recording on NOS (new old stock) tapes, mostly chrome type II and metal – type IV, that I purchased on eBay.
However, one day the entire head block refused to move when I pressed play and I suspected that, finally, the mode drive belt have up. Now, here’s the deal: changing the belts of all ’90 era decks is a pain mainly because the mode belt (the small belt that transmits the movement from a cam to the head block) cannot be removed and replaced without tearing down the entire tape drive mechanism. Luckily, these models all have the flywheel and the chassis made of metal which provides better structural strength and that avoids tearing down and other issues that are usually associated with plastic.
However, the belt was not the problem. The belt was intact, but the cam wheel that is put in motion by this belt seemed to be stuck. This is an ongoing project. I was not able to make it work yet. Some pics:
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