[DMcMahon]

Been looking at why it is so difficult to get the Fast Forward (FFD) key to latch in the down position. Pressing the FFD key initially moves 2 actuator arms forward that link into the right hand set of 3 keys. In the first photo (with FFD latched down) the left hand actuator arm is contacting the arm that couples into the pinch roller arm assembly, the screwdriver tip is pointing to the contact area.

If I manually push the arm forward a little bit (that couples into the Pinch Roller arm) it then is relatively easy to get the FFD key to latch down when pressing it. Not clear yet if the left hand actuator arm is fouling the arm i.e. maybe it should not contact it or whether it should contact the arm but then should move the arm forward.

Also have not yet actually worked out which mechanism is the latching mechanism and how it locks in the latched position. Initially I thought it was the sprung loaded mechanism above the white record button (in second photo) which does get activated by the FFD key being pressed but cannot see if it is the actually locking latch.

David