Quote:
Originally Posted by saxmaniac
This is an Akai 1700 r2r with the capstan sleeve. It's more prone to problem when sleeve is fitted. There's no discernable bearing play. I've held the pinch wheel very close to the capstan and shone a light through the gap but they look parallel as far as I can see.
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I wonder if it could be that the azimuth is off for the pinch roller, relative to the capstan. I.e. they appear parallell when looking along the tape, but not when looking across the tape - the difference may be too small to see with the naked eye.
I've noticed a natural tendency for the tape to wander off to one side when the take-up tension is very low (or rather, nonexistent, as when stopping the take-up reel by hand), even in recorders (e.g. Tandberg) where the pinch roller is spring loaded so that it aligns itself to the capstan. Of course, the spring loading in these machines only allows automatic alignment in one plane, the azimuth of the pinch roller can still be off which I think is the reason for the tape wandering more than anything else. Or can it be the azimuth of the capstan, if it is not perpendicular to the tape travel?