[QuadList] VR1200 Transport Hints

[Chill315 at aol.com]

VR-1200 B Series Transport Notes, Hints and Kinks
 
This will be a set of thought about the things that I found to keep the  
transport in good condition.  It will be broken down into the main  components 
for ease of following.  The assumption is that you have all  manuals and no 
procedure will be repeated here.
 
SUPPLY TURNTABLES
 
 Do not remove the motor from the deck unless you really have  to.  There 
are a set of shims under each of the four mounting holes on the  plate these 
were placed there at the factory to make the turntable parallel to  the deck 
and set the correct height.  We found that there were markings on  the back 
of the deck in pencil that told how much each corner required.  We  were 
very lucky in this instance.  If you remove it, look for numbers on  deck, if 
not loosen motor and then remove one bolt at a time.  Capture all  the shims 
and keep them in separate sets for the correct placement when  reinstalling 
the motor.
 
 There are two major above deck things to keep in good repair.   First is 
the reel guide that goes in the notch in the tape reel .  This is  needed to 
prevent damage to your tape.  If it is not there, the reel may  not be 
grabbed by the hold downs and then the motor will spin very fast.   When it 
grabs, you have now 1 inch wide tape.  The part is changed by  removing the reel 
hold down knob and the parts just below.  There is a  screw and washer that 
hold the bent piece of metal.  Very easy to  replace.
 
 The reel hold downs should be inspected.  If there is any wear,  they will 
not grab the reel and hold it tight to the turntable.  These can  be 
inspected at the same time.
 
BRAKES
 
 As long as the solenoids are working smoothly, the brakes only need  
attention in replacement of the bands.  I did a sneaky thing to get me in  the 
ball park.  I would remove the old one, then set a new one next to  it.  If 
they were about the same length, then it would only require minor  adjustment. 
 I always looked to see if the wear pattern was even.   This way you could 
tell that the brakes were installed properly.  I always  cleaned up the area 
and got all the brake dust out of the machine.
 
COMPLIANCE ARMS
 
 There is a silicon fluid that is used to dampen the arms.  If  they are 
bouncing all over the place, then check the dampers and fill up the  fluid.  
There is a check with the spring scales to tell if the right amount  of force 
is being met.  The two tension arms are the same part number so if  you 
want to swap them to get rid of the groove in the post, it would be a good  
idea.  You can also rotate the posts to a new spot.  The end of tape  switch 
should activate at the last ¼ inch or so of travel to the bottom.   The brake 
release should activate about when the arm is at 8 o'clock.  If 9  or later, 
then out of adjustment.  Mirror image for Take-up brake  release.
 
ERASE HEAD ASSEMBLY
 
 There were several versions of the erase head.  The B model used  the back 
side of erase with a split to not erase the control track in the INSERT  
mode.  There is also a CUE track read head for use with the EDITEC.   The only 
thing that was ever done to mine were to replace roller bearings in the  
rotating guides.  If the guides do not rotate freely, replace the  bearings.  
There is one other thing that we did.  We rotated the  bottom and top caps 
to allow the groove that was being worn in the guides to be  moved to a non 
touching location.  After a few years, we replaced the two  parts.  Remove 
the complete assembly from the transport and there are  screws on the bottom 
that hold the rollers in place.  To rotate, just  loosen and then rotate.  If 
replacing parts, you can do most of that from  the top without removing the 
assembly from the transport.  When  reinstalling, make sure the assemble is 
centered rotation wise in its  mounting.  If you use the EDITOR and do not 
do this, there may be a couple  of mil displacement for the erase to head 
wheel distance.  Then you have to  get the EdiVue out and make sure that the 
edits are good.  The Editor book  talks about erase timing.
 
CAPSTAN ROLLER
 
 Keep it clean and soft.  Do not use Freon or Head cleaner.   Alcohol with 
lanolin was recommended to us.  When replacing, it is  imperative that the 
roller be parallel to the capstan shaft.  The tape will  be skewed up or down 
and receive edge damage if not done.  Depending on the  binder, some tapes 
are more severely damaged.  If you can get an Allen  Wrench that has been 
made with very short stem on it, that will help.   Remove the roller from the 
capstan arm.  Then being very careful, remove  the clip on the bottom.  Then 
start to take the pieces out.   Keep  all pieces in the correct placement 
and orientation.  These are  special washers that have to go in the right 
order.  See the book.  I  would lay it out in a row so that I got everything 
back in the correct  order.  I always checked the bearings when I had it off.  
It was just  to keep me from having to do it again.  
After you reassemble the  roller, place it on the machine.  Then, push the 
arm so that the roller  just starts to make contact with the capstan.  Look 
and if it is not evenly  doing so, loosen the screws and rotate the roller a 
bit until you get it  perfect.  Try this several times to make sure that it 
is perfect.  It  will keep damage to a minimum.  I never had to adjust the 
amount of  pressure that the roller exerts on the capstan.
 
That is it for the transport.  Most of it is simple.  Check your  torque's 
once a year or so as they never change.  I did find that they had  to be 
close so that the machine would work well with an editor.  We used  the RA-4000 
with the VR-1200 along with AVR2's.   The other thing was  that if the 
machine took more than 3.5 sec to lock up, then it needed  attention.  Capstan 
roller and Intersync alignment were the first two  things that we looked at.
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