Uher CG 310 Cassette Deck Check Out

[DMcMahon]

Removed the flywheel clamping plate/end bearing and the flywheel, by then the double end gear white plastic part had fallen onto the base of the deck.

Good news is that the shaft that goes through the middle is not sheared off, looks like the shaft is just a push fit through a metal arm then into a swinging plastic part. Initially difficult to work out why the double ended gear (assembly actually) had ended up all loose/floppy.

The 4th photo may be a clue, this shows a small break/split at around 12 O'Clock at the top of the plastic arm (from the outside edge right through to the centre hole) that the shaft fits into.

Fitting the metal shaft into the hole it feels tight but maybe when assembled and in use the split in the plastic relaxes allowing the shaft to move outwards and become disengaged, cannot easily see any other explanation.

I am going to try gluing the split and lightly clamping it while the glue sets.

I can foresee trying to re-assemble it, being very difficult as the plastic gear assembly part has quite a strong spring, so trying to fit the shaft against the spring pressure and at same time mesh the flywheel plastic gearing could be a challenge and a half.

David

[Nickthedentist]

I’d have guessed that deck was a Philips product, not a Uher!

[DMcMahon]

Have hopefully repaired the split plastic part with a little Superglue, presently have got a ty-wrap tightly fitted around the end to stop it coming apart before the glue sets fully.

Before doing this I fitted the various parts together to work out how they they should fit correctly. While doing this discovered that the plastic part with 3 gear wheels fitted, (in Photo 5 of Post 21) has 3 splits, looks like right down to the centre hole in each case.

At this time I don't think the splits are causing an issue but if any gets worse then 1 or more of the 3 gear wheels may come loose.

Once the first repair is OK, I will refit everything and see if the tape transport then runs OK. If OK then decide how to tackle the 3 other cracks.

Many months ago there was a Thread which showed an online clip where someone was doing various repairs using a mixture of somelike like baking powder and something else which was good for filling and repairing plastic and other materials, does anybody remember this ?

David

[Uncle Bulgaria]

Originally Posted by DMcMahon

Many months ago there was a Thread which showed an online clip where someone was doing various repairs using a mixture of somelike like baking powder and something else which was good for filling and repairing plastic and other materials, does anybody remember this ?

Superglue?

[DMcMahon]

Ah yes thankyou, I can see lots now on the internet and Forum about Baking powder/soda plus other things like Cornstarch/talcum powder used with Superglue for repairs.

David

[nickdoofah]

No! This is NOT a Philips deck at all! The question is: Who made this deck mech? It is the same one as used in my early 80's Ferguson 3T18 Top of the range stereo radio recorder! I had the same issue with it and it was a nightmare to sort out, the strongly sprung clutch assy refused to be repaired no matter what It's a long story. In the end I bought a scrap machine form eBay & transplanted the perfectly functioning deck into my Fergy after a service and belt change of course! These decks are unusual in that they are all gear driven from the huge heavy capstan flywheel, no other belts apart from the counter - They work very well with full auto stop & smooth stable performance! In the States there were examples those being a General Electric equivalent and a Realistic /Tandy both using a normal analogue tuner as opposed to the Fergy's digital display (Still analogue just a display module added) There is also a very complex machine I saw on the Boombox forums with the very same deck and you can guess what the problem was with it.

[Nickthedentist]

Hi Nick,

Sorry, I was not saying it was a Philips deck, just that it was plasticky enough to be one.

Very interesting that you've found it used elsewhere. I wonder who the OEM was.

[DMcMahon]

There is nothing obvious on the cassette mechanism to give clue who the O.E.M. might be.

David

[DMcMahon]

After glue repairing the plastic part, re-assembled everything. Found that the rear gear of the double gear assembly does not align well with the plastic gear it drives, it meshes fine but only around 50% of the gear teeth width aligns with the other gear. Difficult to see how this could have been much better originally before the gear assembly became loose.

While fitting very fiddly circlip found that a light lateral knock of the double gear assembly would dislodge the assembly fairly easily, so because of this was not confident that it would run OK.

With cassette loaded, manually rotated the flywheel with the tape transport piano keys at Play (Start), Rewind & Fast Forward and the cassette was driven OK, from this could see that double gear assembly is not used in Play.

Powered up and Play, Rewind and Fast Forward all worked fine but after around 2 minutes of Fast Forward operation the double gear assembly again became dislodged.

Will strip it down and try pushing the pin that goes through the double gear assembly further into its mounting hole in the hope that it will provide a firmer fit but this also will decrease the tooth to tooth mating distance.

If this does not stop the double gear assembly coming adrift, then may have to try supergluing the metal pin into its mounting hole.

David

[DMcMahon]

Investigated why the right VU meter illumination lamp was no longer working, as expected the original lamp was open circuit so replaced it with same type replacement (spare) lamp as previoulsy used to replace the left lamp.

David

[ben]

Just seen this thread. About 2 years ago I had this exact problem. I fixed mine by partially melting the split plastic arm back together, then roughening up the shaft before inserting it.
From my notes:
UHER CG310
NO FAST WIND, GRINDING MECHANICAL NOISE
-CLUTCH GEAR BROKEN LOOSE IN DECK. PLASTIC FATIGUE/SPLIT ON EYELET ON BRACKET BELOW. REPAIR WITH HEAT AND SUPERGLUE. UPPER CLUTCH ALSO DISINTEGRATING IN THIS GEAR - REFIT WITH GLUE. BEST TO GLUE SHAFT INTO LOWER WHITE BRACKET FIRST, THEN REPAIR CLUTCH, THEN REFIT THIS GEAR TO SHAFT AND SECURE WITH MINI C CLIP.

[DMcMahon]

Thankyou Ben, so obviously a common problem in this type of deck.

David

[DMcMahon]

The black plastic front panel is secured to the chassis by 6 self tapping screws that go through plastic tabs on the front panel.

4 of the tabs are broken. As a test I tried to repair one of the broken tabs using the baking powder/superglue method. Initially it looked like it was successful but when I pulled off a piece of tape on the underside of the repair (tape was fitted to protect the chassis) the repair pulled off the broken tab, so may need to refine the repair method.

Actually to save time messing around I may just glue small metal flat washer to the broken tabs.

David

[DMcMahon]

Originally Posted by DMcMahon

Found a schematic for a CG 320 (not similar styling).

This uses a bunch of 16V/40mA lamps (type unknown) for various indicators but fed from +14.5VDC supply. Have not yet spotted the VU meters on the schematic though.

David

Found the VU meters shown on the schematic and a single 16V/40mA lamp nearby, connected to the +14.5V supply and ground (wires 1045 and 1043). This lamp function is not identified on the schematic but think it must be for the VU meters illumination (which is a single 2 meters assembly).

David

[nickdoofah]

That deck should sound very nice once sorted! They are great decks, just that poor old mini clutch assembly that gives up after 40 odd years....

[DMcMahon]

Yes from Post 1 playback does sound very good.

David

[DMcMahon]

Originally Posted by DMcMahon

The black plastic front panel is secured to the chassis by 6 self tapping screws that go through plastic tabs on the front panel.

David

Sould have read -

The black plastic front panel is secured to the chassis by 6 machine screws that go through plastic tabs on the front panel.

David