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SL-HF900 Sony BETA

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GregS

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Jun 22, 2009, 3:43:10 PM6/22/09
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I played with three units. I got one working just by using it,
or letting it warm up and work the FF REW play, etc.
The other two I have tried everything and they still have problems
with sticking tape. Some work better. i just did another Sony Beta
and I got it working replacing the belts. I notice other units
DO rewind the tape from the heads to FF or REW, whick makes
the HF900 more problematic in sticking. I guess to
use the editing functions, the head must be active.

A long time ago I removed the dark screens from
the displays to make them more visable.

greg

stra...@yahoo.com

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Jun 23, 2009, 12:23:30 AM6/23/09
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I work at a Hollywood post house where we deal with old 2" quad tape,
some of which often sticks really bad. We bake the tapes in a food
dehydrator at 135 F for 12 hours and they play like new again. I don't
know if Beta tapes suffer from this problem but we have baked some
3/4' U-Matic cassettes with success.

You DON'T want to use a home oven for this as you're likely to make
things worse but the dehydrator with the accurate temperature control
and circulating fans works great.

Sony in general uses really crappy lubricants that gum up in a few
years. SGL grease is one of the worst. Nye lubricants are not cheap
but are truly excellent. We use 368AX, 363F and Nyeoil II. Your deck
might benefit from a total tear-down clean and re-lubricate. We do
this a LOT on digital and analog BetaCam decks. We also change LOTS of
capacitors.


GregS

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Jun 23, 2009, 9:49:41 AM6/23/09
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In article <adaedef5-c2f8-42ed...@g1g2000yqh.googlegroups.com>, stra...@yahoo.com wrote:
>G=B2

I don't know if I will do anything like that. I thought one
of the tapes I was using was relatively new, but
not sure.

One of my turbo ovens at home has a dehydrator mode
at about that temperature. I just dried some Habeneros
with it.

greg

Andy Cuffe

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Jun 24, 2009, 11:54:00 AM6/24/09
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On Mon, 22 Jun 2009 19:43:10 GMT, zekf...@zekfrivolous.com (GregS)
wrote:

If the tape is sticking to the drum, then it could be a worn drum,
dirty drum, or bad tape. Sometimes one bad tape will contaminate the
drum, and cause other tapes to stick. Sony tapes from the late 70's
through the mid 80's are particularly bad at going sticky. Even a new
tape can be bad if it was stored improperly.
Andy Cuffe

acu...@gmail.com

GregS

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Jun 24, 2009, 2:35:26 PM6/24/09
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One machine was in continous use, but not much use. The other machines
were in storage, and one of those started working after some workout.
So, bad tape could very well be a major influence.

greg

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Andy Cuffe

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Jun 30, 2009, 5:00:20 PM6/30/09
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On Thu, 25 Jun 2009 16:00:33 -0400, Splork <spl...@splork.net> wrote:


>
>My HF900 got slower and slower on rewinding tapes and
>eventually would not. Of course would no longer play either.
>The reel motor is gone. Perhaps yours are at some phase of
>reel motor failure.
>
>Before not working at all, it could wind to nearly the end,
>where more torque is needed and then stop. Would play fine
>away from the end of tape.

There's a known problem with the design of the reel motor bearing. As
it wears out, the rotor starts scraping against the coils.
Unfortunately, it's part of the mechanism base, so there's no way to
replace it. Sony did sell a repair kit that was just a small plastic
spacer that you dropped into the bottom of the bearing. I doubt it's
still available, but it wouldn't be too hard to cut something to fit.
Andy Cuffe

acu...@gmail.com

Message has been deleted

Andy Cuffe

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Jul 9, 2009, 1:42:45 AM7/9/09
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On Sun, 05 Jul 2009 20:18:12 -0400, Splork <spl...@splork.net> wrote:


>
>Loss of torque and speed as a symptom Andy??
>
>I know it requires replacement of the reel table or some like
>named assembly to fix. It is a good working machine otherwise.
>If only a spacer is required, that ought to be easy to cobble
>up.

Loss of torque is the symptom. Check for any evidence of rubbing on
the motor coils.
Andy Cuffe

acu...@gmail.com

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