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Teac CD-P1260 CD player intermittent

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Fin West

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Jan 2, 2010, 6:37:00 PM1/2/10
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I have a Teac CD-P1260 CD player that has had very little use and no
abuse, and now doesn't play. It was bought 2 1/2 years ago, placed in
an equipment closet and not moved until now, and has been used about
10 hours. Now it shows No Disc for any discs we try to play.

I removed the cover and cleaned the lens. On inserting a disc I saw
the disc clamp into place but it doesn't rotate. Everything moves
freely and looks very clean.

Last week I tried tapping the main circuit board, and when I did the
disc started playing. When I tapped the drive itself, that also
started the player working. Each time I tried another disc I had to
tap again to get the player started.

I had to stop working on the player until today. Today tapping doesn't
work anymore. It looks like the player doesn't see a reflected light
signal and won't spin the disc.

Does anyone here have experience with this model player to know if
this is a common problem and where to look? I would also appreciate
suggestions from anyone with experience to suggest how I should
proceed to try to find what's wrong.

William Sommerwerck

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Jan 2, 2010, 6:05:49 PM1/2/10
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Sounds like a cold solder joint.


Arfa Daily

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Jan 2, 2010, 8:23:21 PM1/2/10
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"Fin West" <F...@nosuch.com> wrote in message
news:fplvj5hr4pk62640v...@4ax.com...

It may still be a dirty laser - but not where you can see it. Although the
lens may look clean (was it dusty before you cleaned it ??) you could have
dust on the CA mirror or pickup photodiode array, both of which are inside
the body of the laser. Another thing to try is to spin the disc with a
finger just after it clamps. Sometimes, lack of use can lead to a spindle
motor which is reluctant to start up on its own. Make sure that the laser is
free to move on its slides. With the unit switched off and no disc in, move
the laser by hand, away from the centre 'home' position, then power on and
make sure that the laser returns home, then burns (do not look directly into
the top of the laser - observe at a shallow angle and you should be able to
see a dull red glow in the lens) and that focus search takes place
correctly. The lens should move up and down probably three times, and in a
very 'positive' fashion. If all of this seems to take place correctly,
reinsert a disc. It might just play now ... (honest!)

If it doesn't play, you can try pressing on the main pcb with a biro pen or
some other insulated 'stick' whilst inserting a disc, and also poking the
laser flexiprint with the tip of a small screwdriver. Other than this,
without detailed knowledge of how a CD player works, and some decent test
equipment, you are unlikely to get far. I would say that it would be worth
trying a laser in it, although tap sensitivity is not generally considered
as a typical laser problem, but that aspect of your observations prior to
the total failure might be a bit of a red herring. It is of course easy for
an engineer to say "try a laser in it", as we have them in stock on the
shelf (it's probably a Sony KSS 213 series laser), but I wouldn't recommend
that you waste your money on buying a replacement, on the offchance that
might cure it ...

Arfa


Fin West

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Jan 3, 2010, 12:02:51 AM1/3/10
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"Arfa Daily" <arfa....@ntlworld.com> wrote:

Thank you for this reply. The lens looked clean as could be before I
cleaned it with alcohol. It looked the same after I cleaned it. I did
spin the disc after it clamped and it spins freely and coasts a little
before it stops. I also did move the laser by hand and watched it
scurry back to its home position when I turned the power on. I didn't
think I could see the lens in its home position. Tomorrow I'll try to
observe the laser as you said.

I'll continue to try poking to see if I can find something repeatable.
I spent my entire work career in the electronics field and have many
years experience in the design, development and troubleshooting of
electronic equipment. While I worked I had access to all kinds of test
equipment, but now that I'm retired the only equipment I have is a
Heathkit VOM I built 50 years ago (it still works well). The laser is
a Sony laser but it may be difficult for me to replace it at home.

Mark Zacharias

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Jan 3, 2010, 12:24:54 AM1/3/10
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"William Sommerwerck" <grizzle...@comcast.net> wrote in message
news:hhoqh2$h26$1...@news.eternal-september.org...

> Sounds like a cold solder joint.
>
>

Or a shorted spindle motor...

Mark Z.

Arfa Daily

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Jan 3, 2010, 5:46:56 AM1/3/10
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"Fin West" <F...@nosuch.com> wrote in message
news:3b80k55fs9lncps2e...@4ax.com...

OK. Most of the Teac lasers are not too difficult to replace, but I seem to
recall one or two that are bitches to get at. That said, if you are able to
see the lens and move the laser and spin the disc, this is probably one of
the easy ones (I see so many different players passing across my bench that
I don't take much notice of specific model numbers unless I need to get
service info out). If it is a Sony laser, it will (probably) use a single
white flexiprint for its connection, and have a small label at the top right
corner of its connector board which will say "KSS213C or B". There are "D",
"E" and "F" versions commonly available as well, but for most players, it is
critical to use what was originally fitted. B's and C's are very cheap. The
others a little more expensive.

Sometimes, you can remove the disc clamp bracket from a deck, which then
gives free access to the whole sub-deck. I have a sawn-off piece of an old
disc that I use to hold over the top of the lens at turntable height. You
have to be fairly accurate with the height that you are holding it at, and
hold it as level as you can, but by using this technique, you can often
'catch' the lens as it does its focus search. It will then 'hang' (as though
by magic !) a couple of mm from the underside of the disc fragment, and if
you move that fragment up and down a small amount, you can watch the lens
'follow'. If you can get the laser to obtain and hold focus like this, it's
often a good indicator that the laser is ok, and that the problem lies
elsewhere.

Arfa


William Sommerwerck

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Jan 3, 2010, 4:36:01 AM1/3/10
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>> Sounds like a cold solder joint.

> Or a shorted spindle motor...

Perhaps, but why would tapping the main board relieve the short?


Arfa Daily

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Jan 3, 2010, 12:27:36 PM1/3/10
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"William Sommerwerck" <grizzle...@comcast.net> wrote in message
news:hhpvem$4g8$1...@news.eternal-september.org...

>>> Sounds like a cold solder joint.
>
>> Or a shorted spindle motor...
>
> Perhaps, but why would tapping the main board relieve the short?
>
>

You are perhaps taking the term "shorted" too literally, William.

Clearly, it wouldn't, as such. But you will note that the OP said that it
also started working when he tapped the deck. The shorts that you get on
spindle motors are not usually 'dead shorts' because of burnt windings etc.
Rather, they are often caused by commutator contamination, which can be
severe enough to make the driver IC run 'red hot', but not enough to blow
fuses. This situation is often relieved (temporarily) by giving the motor a
nudge to help it on its way, and sometimes, that nudge need only be a
vibrational shock, such as tapping in the area. Also, the bearings sometimes
tighten up on these motors to the point where they struggle to have enough
torque to get over the stickiness - particularly if there is the added
weight of a disc on the turntable. Again, sometimes all that is needed is a
bit of a knock to get it going, and it will then be fine until next time ...

Arfa


William Sommerwerck

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Jan 3, 2010, 10:36:20 AM1/3/10
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>> Perhaps, but why would tapping the main board relieve the short?

> You are perhaps taking the term "shorted" too literally, William.

> Clearly, it wouldn't, as such. But you will note that the OP said that it
> also started working when he tapped the deck. The shorts that you get on
> spindle motors are not usually 'dead shorts' because of burnt windings
> etc. Rather, they are often caused by commutator contamination, which
> can be severe enough to make the driver IC run 'red hot', but not enough
> to blow fuses. This situation is often relieved (temporarily) by giving
> the motor a nudge to help it on its way, and sometimes, that nudge need
> only be a vibrational shock, such as tapping in the area. Also, the
> bearings sometimes tighten up on these motors to the point where they

> struggle to have enough torque to get over the stickiness -- particularly


> if there is the added weight of a disc on the turntable. Again, sometimes
> all that is needed is a bit of a knock to get it going, and it will then
> be fine until next time.

...

I was right about the ReVox tape sensor. I would /like/ to think I'm on a
roll... <grin>

Mark Zacharias

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Jan 3, 2010, 8:20:10 PM1/3/10
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"Arfa Daily" <arfa....@ntlworld.com> wrote in message
news:es40n.22779$PV.1...@newsfe19.ams2...

What he said.

Mark Z.

Mark Zacharias

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Jan 3, 2010, 8:23:27 PM1/3/10
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"Arfa Daily" <arfa....@ntlworld.com> wrote in message
news:DA_%m.33832$xa7....@newsfe14.ams2...

I wonder if the Teac unit in quetion is a U.S. or Euro model. I believe they
are very different - some high end models in Europe, perhaps using brushless
motors, and really awful junk in the U.S.

Mark Z.

Fin West

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Jan 3, 2010, 11:49:20 PM1/3/10
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"Mark Zacharias" <mark_za...@sbclobal.net> wrote:

>I wonder if the Teac unit in quetion is a U.S. or Euro model. I believe they
>are very different - some high end models in Europe, perhaps using brushless
>motors, and really awful junk in the U.S.

The unit is clearly U.S. junk. It was made in China in December, 2006.
Many reviewers on Amazon.com complained about the same problem I'm
having.

The unit actually belongs to a friend who was very reluctant to buy
anything from Teac. She decided to take a chance because there's no
other option we could find for a stand-alone player except for very
expensive models.

Fin West

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Jan 12, 2010, 10:43:08 AM1/12/10
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"Arfa Daily" <arfa....@ntlworld.com> wrote:

>OK. Most of the Teac lasers are not too difficult to replace, but I seem to
>recall one or two that are bitches to get at. That said, if you are able to
>see the lens and move the laser and spin the disc, this is probably one of
>the easy ones (I see so many different players passing across my bench that
>I don't take much notice of specific model numbers unless I need to get
>service info out). If it is a Sony laser, it will (probably) use a single
>white flexiprint for its connection, and have a small label at the top right
>corner of its connector board which will say "KSS213C or B". There are "D",
>"E" and "F" versions commonly available as well, but for most players, it is
>critical to use what was originally fitted. B's and C's are very cheap. The
>others a little more expensive.

I can't see any sign that the laser is working and I would like to try
to replace the laser assembly. I have a question and a request.

The laser is marked KSS-213CL. What's the difference between it and a
KSS-213C, and is the C a good replacement?

I would like instructions on the best way to start. What needs to be
disassembled, do I work from the top or the bottom, any hints for how
to proceed.

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