Nice job, thanks for talking us through it. I have one of these decks, bought new in 1984 or so. Served me well until I stopped using cassettes, so it's in storage now. I taped a lot of stuff from radio back in the day. Sometime I'll hook the deck back up to revisit those times... Fun fact: The 480 was a prop in the 1981 Jean-Jacques Beineix thriller "Diva". Well worth a watch.
I did an extensive repair which touched on every aspect that you mentioned, earlier last year. In my case, the record switch was stuck primarily due to the lubricant in the cam wheel turning into glue over 30+ years. Hitting that 'glue' with light penetrating oil, as well as the record switch contacts with Caig Deoxit fixed the record problem. Good video, but I would try to focus on the methods used during the repair itself. Many people are trying to bring back these old Nakamichis, like myself, and find that there are no good resources to turn to, and the service manuals are awful. I have recapped 3 of mine, and done extensive repairs, and now realizing the disservice I have done by not recording the process.
There is a much easier repair, it involves put a small bolt through the anchor screw adjustment hole, anchor with a nut either epoxied to a fender washer or use a welding nut similar to a t-nut but just a flat plate with a threaded nut. Slip the weld nut onto the back side of the aluminum plate opposite side of the adjustment area directly in front of the broken anchor nylon point and lightly tighten the small bolt against the cable mechanism. I used a small hex head for easy adjustment. I did have to do a second time the bolt was slightly long and rubbed the belts flywheel. No need for fitting to the nylon portion of the cable lock or to chassis. The tighten tension holds all in place I know this is probably going to leave you with many questions but it is very simple to do this procedure and minimum tear down and will become obvious once you have the cassette drive mechanism sitting on the bench. Also a good time to re-belt the unit while you are this far in. Easy Peasy
man i had (might still do in the loft or attic as you may call it ) they were brilliant , in the uk they were known as the best made and best recording quality of cassette player , the great thing about it was you could remove the door and get at the guts to clean it !!
Hey I just replaced the belts but sometimes when I put in a new cassette, it moves but no sound. I hit forward or reverse and hit play quick it works any idea?
You'd been better of if you'd just bought another cassettedeck . There are still lots of Nakamichi's 480 to be found second hand , and working . You must have used your own one a lot with all these issues ;-) Great job !
I would have sprayed that switch with deoxit and let it go...it would have corrected the problem..for sure...thanks for the video, and that was a lot of work...
I still have 3 Nakamichi 480 who might more or less work , two 480 machines that might not work anymore and a LX-3 in good working order. Keep going... But i don't use them anymore. Most of them the control motor cant run anymore so I help them to get in th eright position...
There is an integrated moror speed controller INSIDE the cheaper cassette recorder motors. If the motor is dead, that might be the issue. Now taking a motor apart without destroying it....
My friend, i have a question. When I'm recording side A of cassette volume recorded on two channels are good. When I will record something on side B this same tape, volume on two channel are good, but on side A, recorded just before is about 50 % less. What is wrong? How to fix it?
The heads or head are probably out of alignment. Inserting a tape not fully seated or inserting a broken or damage tape could do the deed if you pressed play and the head or heads didn’t line up. This is rare with most cassette decks, but the old open well Advents had this happen all the time. Now I payed a pretty penny close to 40 years ago to fix my Advent. I have no idea to tell you how to fix yours. I’d Google “Cassette deck head alignment” and pray some one has done a Nak before.
I’m sure there were regional differences. There are always those who are early adopters and those that cling to what is tried and true. ( California loves Electric cars. In SC they’re extremely rare. I admit to falling into both camps. I won’t even consider an Electric Vehicle.). I looked around on the internet and most sources say cassettes sales peaked in the mid to late 80s. We’re talking prerecorded cassettes here. I’m sure you are correct in that blank media continued to sell well on into the 90s and was a strong seller until writable CD media became widely available. With the advent of MP3, everything changed. Record or CD stores became obsolete. For me the cassette became totally obsolete when writable CDs became available. I decided to repair the Nak to recover some long lost tunes as MP3s. Do I care about exact dates? Nope. Water long gone under the bridge. If You want to argue Cassettes dominated into the 90s, rock on! Just ignore what I already deleted from the video. Much ado about nothing.
Cassettes were pretty much gone by the mid 80s? And only enjoyed a short period of popularity? Where did you even get that misinformation from!? As a home recording medium they didn't even begin to disappear until MP3s came along, having enjoyed a 25+ year lifespan as a popular audio format. Dude you might be good with a soldering iron but otherwise you're clueless.
Jon Vincent I’ll Spot you five years. Advent 201 introduced: 1971 CDs in mass production 1988. Recordable Cd Media Introduced: 1990. I never recorded a cassette after the early 1990s. For me Cassettes were to record radio or records. Depends on your perspective, hardware, and intended use. Once cds we’re introduced, cassettes became obsolete for me anyway.
@@EdHumble Jon Vincent is correct and you are wrong, Cassettes were very popular thorough the whole 90s. And like eklektos44 said in the early 90s cassettes outsold all other mediums. As a recording medium they only started to fade away in the very late 90s, when CDR's become cheaper and MP3 sharing became popular. These are Facts your opinions aren't
Weaksauce P While not the best and certainly not a permanent fix, I used a rubber band. A trip to Wal- Mart and a large sampler pack fixed the issue. It must be the right width as well as length. I couldn’t find a belt source and sizing is always tricky even if you can.
Nice job, thanks for talking us through it. I have one of these decks, bought new in 1984 or so. Served me well until I stopped using cassettes, so it's in storage now. I taped a lot of stuff from radio back in the day. Sometime I'll hook the deck back up to revisit those times... Fun fact: The 480 was a prop in the 1981 Jean-Jacques Beineix thriller "Diva". Well worth a watch.
Im a kid from the 70's and we also owned cassettedecks....i actually own about 40 of them now...
I did an extensive repair which touched on every aspect that you mentioned, earlier last year. In my case, the record switch was stuck primarily due to the lubricant in the cam wheel turning into glue over 30+ years. Hitting that 'glue' with light penetrating oil, as well as the record switch contacts with Caig Deoxit fixed the record problem. Good video, but I would try to focus on the methods used during the repair itself. Many people are trying to bring back these old Nakamichis, like myself, and find that there are no good resources to turn to, and the service manuals are awful. I have recapped 3 of mine, and done extensive repairs, and now realizing the disservice I have done by not recording the process.
There is a much easier repair, it involves put a small bolt through the anchor screw adjustment hole, anchor with a nut either epoxied to a fender washer or use a welding nut similar to a t-nut but just a flat plate with a threaded nut. Slip the weld nut onto the back side of the aluminum plate opposite side of the adjustment area directly in front of the broken anchor nylon point and lightly tighten the small bolt against the cable mechanism. I used a small hex head for easy adjustment. I did have to do a second time the bolt was slightly long and rubbed the belts flywheel. No need for fitting to the nylon portion of the cable lock or to chassis. The tighten tension holds all in place
I know this is probably going to leave you with many questions but it is very simple to do this procedure and minimum tear down and will become obvious once you have the cassette drive mechanism sitting on the bench. Also a good time to re-belt the unit while you are this far in. Easy Peasy
Beautiful
I have one it was about 400 dollars keep it they dont make good quality like that anymore
Don't use rubber bands for capstan belts. The real deal is pretty cheap and won't stretch out.
Great effort and excellent video. Well done.
man i had (might still do in the loft or attic as you may call it ) they were brilliant , in the uk they were known as the best made and best recording quality of cassette player , the great thing about it was you could remove the door and get at the guts to clean it !!
Hey I just replaced the belts but sometimes when I put in a new cassette, it moves but no sound. I hit forward or reverse and hit play quick it works any idea?
Good job, I'm currently resurrecting a nakamichi dragon
still some wow and flutter there at the end
You'd been better of if you'd just bought another cassettedeck . There are still lots of Nakamichi's 480 to be found second hand , and working . You must have used your own one a lot with all these issues ;-) Great job !
I would have sprayed that switch with deoxit and let it go...it would have corrected the problem..for sure...thanks for the video, and that was a lot of work...
I still have 3 Nakamichi 480 who might more or less work , two 480 machines that might not work anymore and a LX-3 in good working order. Keep going... But i don't use them anymore. Most of them the control motor cant run anymore so I help them to get in th eright position...
There is an integrated moror speed controller INSIDE the cheaper cassette recorder motors. If the motor is dead, that might be the issue. Now taking a motor apart without destroying it....
My friend, i have a question. When I'm recording side A of cassette volume recorded on two channels are good. When I will record something on side B this same tape, volume on two channel are good, but on side A, recorded just before is about 50 % less. What is wrong? How to fix it?
Nakamichi 480
The heads or head are probably out of alignment. Inserting a tape not fully seated or inserting a broken or damage tape could do the deed if you pressed play and the head or heads didn’t line up. This is rare with most cassette decks, but the old open well Advents had this happen all the time.
Now I payed a pretty penny close to 40 years ago to fix my Advent. I have no idea to tell you how to fix yours. I’d Google “Cassette deck head alignment” and pray some one has done a Nak before.
@@EdHumble Thank You!
why is it in mono? gonna show us how to repair a nak, but can;t record in stereo?
Uhm..you're off by a bit. In 1993 cassettes outsold all other mediums.
I’m sure there were regional differences. There are always those who are early adopters and those that cling to what is tried and true. ( California loves Electric cars. In SC they’re extremely rare. I admit to falling into both camps. I won’t even consider an Electric Vehicle.). I looked around on the internet and most sources say cassettes sales peaked in the mid to late 80s. We’re talking prerecorded cassettes here. I’m sure you are correct in that blank media continued to sell well on into the 90s and was a strong seller until writable CD media became widely available. With the advent of MP3, everything changed. Record or CD stores became obsolete. For me the cassette became totally obsolete when writable CDs became available. I decided to repair the Nak to recover some long lost tunes as MP3s. Do I care about exact dates? Nope. Water long gone under the bridge. If You want to argue Cassettes dominated into the 90s, rock on! Just ignore what I already deleted from the video. Much ado about nothing.
super
Cassettes were pretty much gone by the mid 80s? And only enjoyed a short period of popularity? Where did you even get that misinformation from!? As a home recording medium they didn't even begin to disappear until MP3s came along, having enjoyed a 25+ year lifespan as a popular audio format. Dude you might be good with a soldering iron but otherwise you're clueless.
Jon Vincent
I’ll Spot you five years. Advent 201 introduced: 1971
CDs in mass production 1988.
Recordable Cd Media Introduced: 1990. I never recorded a cassette after the early 1990s. For me Cassettes were to record radio or records. Depends on your perspective, hardware, and intended use. Once cds we’re introduced, cassettes became obsolete for me anyway.
@@EdHumble Jon Vincent is correct and you are wrong, Cassettes were very popular thorough the whole 90s. And like eklektos44 said in the early 90s cassettes outsold all other mediums. As a recording medium they only started to fade away in the very late 90s, when CDR's become cheaper and MP3 sharing became popular. These are Facts your opinions aren't
Where did you get your belts from ?
Weaksauce P
While not the best and certainly not a permanent fix, I used a rubber band. A trip to Wal- Mart and a large sampler pack fixed the issue. It must be the right width as well as length. I couldn’t find a belt source and sizing is always tricky even if you can.
nice job but the sound is no good.
video kell nem fénykép
2019-ben haladni kell a korral!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Какое не приятное произношение, как бутто лягушка квакает, лягушатник.