Hi all, I just got a NOS WM-22 and it has the problem of the FFW and REW gears not engaging properly. Through Google I found an old thread here in Stereo2Go but it was on the old host and all the pictures are gone. I opened it yesterday evening and I do not have picture, but the problem is related to a dual gear transferring motion from the capstan to the reel during FFW and REW; the dual gear is composed of two plastic gear (lower one black, upper one grey) which should be kept in contact by a spring. The capstan is engaged with the upper gear which then transfer by friction the motion to the below black gear which finally transfer it to the reels; I guess that is a fail-safe mechanism (a sort of clutch) to decrease the torque on the reels and minimise the stress on the tape. The spring must apply a minimal pressure otherwise the upper gear does not engage with the capstan; the spring is hold by a white spindle and the latter is hold in place by a C clip which is clipped to the gears pin. When I opened the walkman, spring, spindle and C clip were loose; I tried yesterday to reassemble it but I had little time and in the end I ended up removing the spring to have at least the play functionality. Not that I use FFW or REW in a walkman but I would like to have it fully functional. I will try again to re-assemble it but I need some advice. The C clip is not very strong so I guess the spring must be minimally compressed; to achieve that I think the C clip must go inside the white spindle so that the spring pressure is minimal; is that correct ? The outer diameter of the C clip should be smaller than the inner diameter of the spindle, but yesterday it did not seemed that way. Below is a cross-section of the assembly. Is that how it should be set-up ? If the spring is still able to remove the C clip, the only other option is to either give-up on FFW REW (as I'm doing now) or glue together the black and grey gears (but that would dramatically increase the torque on the reels). Any help is appreciated. Thanks Enrico
Hi Enrico. I personally would try to remove the gear completely, and check if the reels still turn in Playback mode. If the forward reel does not turn (which leads to tape jam), the gear and it´s clutch functionality is needed for Play mode too, not only for FWd and RWD. In that case, glueing the gears together would lead to tape stretching, as the forward reel would pull the tape much faster than it is feeded by the capstain/pinch roller. I would not recommend to glue it. Good luck! M:
The dual gear pictured above is used only for FFW/REW, the playback has its own proper clutch (with the standard felt disk). It is the first time I see a clutch for FFW/REW in a walkman, typically the reels are in direct contact with the motor when higher torque is required; and when the rewind ends the motor starts slipping. It's a hell of a stress on the poor (and thin) belt; in the DD the motor is slipping on the capstan rubber disk and the famous (and fragile) centre gear is stressed. In the WM-22, the belt is rather thick and I think SONY had to add a clutch to avoid pulling the tape out of the reels I'll try to fix it the proper way, I'm quite against glueing the two gears; if not successful I will give up FFW/REW (I use the deck for those operations). thanks bye
[UPDATE] in the weekend I had a better look at the clutch mechanism and my above picture is wrong. This is how it is intended to be set-up But it does not work, the C Clip is too weak and the spring push it out of its seat. Googling a bit I have found that it is a common problem with WM-22 and there are other reports of that very same issue. That looks like a design flaw to me, a stronger C-Clip is required (which means thicker) but I do not know if it would be possible. It's a pity because other than that, this cheap player has great quality ! thanks bye
I recall a thread like you describe. I think the procedure was to glue one of the gears to the shaft rather than gluing them together. Could you glue the C clip on to stop it cominging off ?
uaaao. just another hard-to-reapair machine. C-clip jumping off, clutch under pressure, all known from the JVC-PC100 player. boomboxery thread here, stereo2go thread here. both with photos. good luck! M.
Thanks for the suggestion; I have first to understand what is rotating and what is static. It appeared the C-Clip is static while the gears + spring + spring holder are rotating. The spring holder is made of white nylon to minimise friction and I guess I would have to glue the C Clip without glueing the spring holder. bye Enrico
[UPDATE] FIXED I was finally able to fix the FFW/REW clutch ! I had to remove the capstan flywheel and take the clutch apart. The two gears with the spring and the white spindle were meant to be a single piece (Sony has a part number for the whole assembly) and the white spindle was supposed to keep the spring compressed. The lower black gear has a hollow shaft and the spindle must attach to that. My spindle is cracked and I think that is why everything fell apart. There is also a rubber disc between the two gears to improve friction; in the end I had to glue the white spindle to the hollow shaft of the black gear. The whole assembly is then inserted on a metal shaft and held in place by the c-clip (which has a very minimal job to do). FFW and REW not work again with the proper torque on the reels. Re-assembling the capstan has been a nightmare as it is held in position by a minuscule C clip which is thin and made of spring-like metal. I lost it three times while trying to re-seat it and spent hours looking for it. the wm-22 is now back to fully functional! It's a cheap but nice player and it has a sense of "80's" all over
