TZ30 repair

[spiceminer]

Dear all!

I have here a TZ30 which worked fine for a while, but suddenly it refuses to mount any tapes.
When I insert a Compactape and lock it, it begins to spool some tape but suddenly all three leds blink.
The head is cleaned freshly, so dirt on the head is excluded. I tried several known working Compactapes to the media can be excluded as root cause, too.

The noise from the drive is usual. I cannot see any visual defects.

Anybody ideas how to deal with the issue?

Thanks

Stephan

 

[Bitly]

The VS3100 maintenance guide (EK-285AA-MG-001) says three blinking LEDs means 'The drive has detected a hard error'. I can't find any manuals on the drive itself.

Maybe check the circuit board for leaking/puffy capacitors.
You can also plug it into a PC power supply to rule out supply issues.

CW

 

[spiceminer]

You can also plug it into a PC power supply to rule out supply issues.

CW

Thanks for your comment. Unfortunately, no cap issues (resistance across the tantalum caps is infinity) and connected to my lab PC power supply, the drive shows the same error.

 

[Alegend]

Dear all!

I have here a TZ30 which worked fine for a while, but suddenly it refuses to mount any tapes.
When I insert a Compactape and lock it, it begins to spool some tape but suddenly all three leds blink.
The head is cleaned freshly, so dirt on the head is excluded. I tried several known working Compactapes to the media can be excluded as root cause, too.

The noise from the drive is usual. I cannot see any visual defects.

Anybody ideas how to deal with the issue?

Thanks

Stephan

Not sure at all about how the TZ30 odometer is built, but the metal spool driving the odometer opto sensor could be faulty, oil may have dried up and it makes it difficult to rotate.
Half a drop of sweing machine oil on its axle should help. Odometer sensor itself could also be faulty but that is less likely.
-Alon.

 

[bear]

Not sure at all about how the TZ30 odometer is built, but the metal spool driving the odometer opto sensor could be faulty, oil may have dried up and it makes it difficult to rotate.
Half a drop of sweing machine oil on its axle should help.

Can confirm; revived a TZ30 this way myself. The motor drive logic can't cope with missing/contradictory information from the tach idler. You can probably watch the tape sliding over (instead of driving) it. I could.

 

[spiceminer]

Can confirm; revived a TZ30 this way myself.

Thanks a lot - from the TK50 i know that there are two ball bearings per axle. I will try with some oil from above.

 

[spiceminer]

My TZ30 is running again. A few tracks in the Kapton flat ribbon conductor where broken.


Fixed it whith 0.4mm2 flexible wires





not nice but it is working again

 

[spiceminer]

@Alegend : can you please explain to me where to put some oil?

Do I need to disassemble the rollers / odemeter from the drive? From above, I have no access to any bearing...

 

[Alegend]

@Alegend : can you please explain to me where to put some oil?

Do I need to disassemble the rollers / odemeter from the drive? From above, I have no access to any bearing...

View attachment 1270564

Sure, each metal roller has a ~5mm circle in the middle. That's the spindle and that's where the oil should go. A tiny amount is enough. No need to disassemble anything.

-Alon.

 

[bear]

Sure, each metal roller has a ~5mm circle in the middle. That's the spindle and that's where the oil should go. A tiny amount is enough. No need to disassemble anything.

That's all I did. A drop or two of light machine oil on top. Fiddle a bit. Resume functioning existence.