Hello all, in June, I acquired a heavily damaged bronze WM-24, who was looking beaten and broken. I soon found an awesome Ferrari red WM-24, which needed a new belt - but I had already received it from another source of belts. (Until a few months ago I recently used mihokm! I purchased one of your cassettes today. ) Pictures; WM-24; completely restored to inital specifications! I currently have another WM-24 and WM-22 who will be a workbench for turning them into a DD type Walkman complete with self assembly kits. WM-10ii / 30; currently WIP; https://jordach.net/s2g/VID_20161209_123147.mp4 https://jordach.net/s2g/video-1481296388%20(1).mp4 (You can see that the front lid is missing it's clear cover.) Only videos at the moment, I had to repair it with one of mihokm's belts, after applying a generous amount of 100% alcohol to remove the gummy belt. Running with no resistor altering after cleaning and installing mihokm's belt. WM-EX560/2; Runs fine, has a slight issue of slipping (original belt was loose, and not goop) when changing sides after FF or Rew. Changing sides to forwards (on side A) and back again fixes it; it's not the belt, as it's a fresh one from our favourite belt dealer. At some time in the new year I'll attempt to take better photos with better lighting. Headphones - Technics RP-DJ1200.
The WM-22/23/24/25 series do not have moving capstans, flywheels and motors, as mihokm has discovered, that brass gears work effectively; which would work quite well as a replacement. These brass items do not move - removing them, weighing them (important) then 3D CAD designing model accurate gears that "drop in" to the chassis of the old Walkman. The easy part is finding a donor motor - I own plenty WM-22 without any shell, but they power on just fine. Some Walkmen - like the WM-10/30 cannot do this; they have a moving flywheel has a certain thrust clearance and are generally difficult to deal with. Here's a picture of the chassis of the WM-22 for example, (the 23/24/25 are identical!) I might not have much clearance to work with, but it's definitely possible to do. Edit: I'm likely to send a prototype model to Walkman Archive for testing - I've also thought about disassembling the D6C for it's playback head for reasons and other parts that might work on the WM-24 board.
You don't need steady hands, just a service manual. The difficult part is likely removing the flywheel and capstan ring, as the service manual never has the method in which you remove them. (My second question is - does the capstan have to be made from metal? Why can't it be a steel core with a softer, but grippy rubber ring like the pinch roller as to lower tape damage over time?)
Good news, the belt in my WM-10ii works perfectly inside the -30. Even better news; it plays like it left the factory...until the voltage from the unsoldered (it contacts the power pins only, it will stop when moved). I also don't seem to hear any scratching, as I'll need the DCC-70 (car battery to barrel plug) to arrive for testing purposes. WM-30 with custom power fix; https://jordach.net/s2g/VID_20161225_112909.mp4 (At the end you can hear it lose voltage as it moved off of the positive contact.) https://jordach.net/s2g/VID_20161225_113052.mp4 The positive terminal is gone, but she stays strong. Merry Chistmas all!
I discovered what DC barrel Sony used - it amazes me more than anything; a standard 1.7mm x 4.0mm barrel. I used vernier calipers (digital readout) to verify what barrel size it was, sadly I had to eyeball the negative pin.
