D-100 won't spin disc

marko

Hello,
I've bought an untested d-100 discman as a repair project, and it worked for a day or so, sounding beautiful through line out, though it skipped sometimes.
And then it stopped, I suspected the middle gear and sure enough it was frozen up and fell apart when I was removing it.
So I ordered a 3d printed one, took the whole thing apart and replaced it. While I was there I lubed the turntable spindle with watch oil, cleaned the belt and everything, pulled the motor mount outward before tightening, lubed the gears with rc cars lithium grease, as per manual..

But then when I start it up the disc won't turn. The display lights up, the laser sled moves up and down a bit, but it feels like the belt is slipping, though I don't really know. When I rotate the motor spindle the turntable turns, even when I apply some small friction to it. I tried cleaning it again but the disc won't move. When I help it a bit by pushing it from the underside it starts spinning, but it feels sluggish and it just turns off.
I am at a loss now. Can you help?

Thanks,
Marko.

kotsuyoshi

I am back, According to Kaosun, D-250 rarely has major problems. so don't temper with it unless you are sure what the problem is, otherwise you may fxxk up the machine. you should use Lithium grease for the gear and motor lubrication, if you close the lid or press play, you see the lens moving back to the center position, and the lens moving up and down, you should be fine and look for other problems. good luck!

kaosun

Sorry to hear your story.
When you hit the play, the laser should return to its zero point which is very close to spindle motor, the laser hits the limit switch and stops. Then, the lens inside of the laser focuses up and down for 3 times to search a disc. If finds the disc, the player enters playback mode.

You'll check:
1: 4pin flexible cable has broken wires?
2: The D10 cannot read a disc when it's bottom side up. You'll place it at least vertical.
3: You can ship it to me for final repair if you cannot make it work.

marko

It's okay, I haven't given up yet..
4 pin flexible cable is ok.
The laser sled moves towards the motor until it hits the limit switch and then it moves outward just a little.
The lens focuses to search for a disc.
But the disc won't turn, and something is making some strange noise.
That's why I suspected the motor and/or the belt.
The belt was kind of hard and was holding the shape where it was in when I took it out.
But it still moved the turntable when I rotated motor spindle. And the disk starts turning when I give it a little push through MD cover hole, but it seems that it is slower than it should be and it shuts off.
So, could it be the motor?
Can I apply external power to the motor to see if it works and moves the turntable? What voltage does it need?
This is my first attempt at discman repair, so I don't expect much, but it's fun, and it's a beautiful machine.
I would gladly send it to you, but the cost of shipping would make it too expensive for me I live in Serbia and we have totally different standards here (you wouldn't believe how much I paid for it : ))
Thanks.

kotsuyoshi

marko, I have deep sympathy for you and understand your difficulty to send your d-100 to kaosun for repair. D-100 is a very rare item and it is unimaginable that you get your hands on it in Serbia. I have difficulties sending my machine to kaosun also because of the COVID, it will take a least half a year and one whole year round trip. Also it is good you can communicate well in English, good luck in your repair adventure.

marko

@kotsuyoshi
I suspect the motor. I washed it in wd-40 and then several times in naptha, sometimes it ran smoothly and sometimes it made horrible noise. (I ran it through 1.5 v battery, the service manual says 9 or 10 volts, i can't remember, but it kind of ran on just 1.5, I don't really know all this shit, I'm an architect, but my father is an electical engineer but I don't speak to him anymore so I'm on my own). next step, is:

I've noticed some sort of laquer on the motor's back cover. I'm going to remove it and try to disasemble the motor (there's no one like it, it seems), and just clean it and lubricate the bearings.

I got d-250 that has a lot of broblems also, so
remember you're all on your own. the professionals's can't help you (unless you have tons of money). the girls are even worse. Godspeed.
Marko.

kotsuyoshi

marko, i will get back to you couple days later, but I think using WD-40 on the motor is bad idea. what you should do first is to find any capacitor leak on the board, it look like brown yellow liquid and clean it with alcohol, it maynot fix it but at least stop the board going worse. by the way, the flight from my country to USA is completely shutdown so there is no way for me to send my DISCMAN over to Kaosun for repair for time being, sucks!

marko

I got it working. I've noticed the turntable had a bit too much friction, so I've disasembled everything, cleaned, polished the spindle and its brass tube, lubricated the axle of the wheel which provides tension on the belt... I've loosened the tension on the belt, because it puts less strain on the motor and increses the contact on circumference.

Only problem left is that it skips a bit, not much, maybe a couple of times on a playthrough of a disc. I suppose the laser is on it's way out. Maybe increasing the gain a bit would help, though I understand it's not a permanent solution.