In an effort to complete my TRS-80 Model 200 rig, I ordered a cassette recorder
off ebay for a good price. Said it was needing new belts. No problemo, I'm a
tapehead.

The device didn't power up when I placed the batteries in the device.

I got the service manual and all my tools and got to town tearing apart the
tape player. I have a few objectives.

*Replace the belts
*Retrobrite the very yellow shell
*Demagnetize the head
*Do a thorough cleaning of all pcb's and check for any rust. Resolder anything
needing to be resolderedededed.

Here's my takeaway as I freeze this effort for, at least, a few days. I have
two weeks to go before my replacement belt bundle arrives. Right now it's still
in China awaiting shipment. I assume they're doing a cost saving container
shipment. So, they project two weeks to two months for delivery.

I cracked open the service manual. It states which screws to remove to
disassemble the unit. What it missed was the need to desoldered all the wires
to remove the board(s) from the unit.

There's evidence someone attempted to repair this device at some point:

1. One of the screw's head for the main pcb was stripped. Luckily my mini
flathead was able to get enough traction to remove it. I have a million little
screws I'll likely match it with.

2. Someone mistook a solder as the screw for the mini pcb below the volume knob
and did some real damage to it. The screw, to the left, was completely
untouched. It was also excessively hard to locate until I zoomed in with my
high def tablet camera and spotted it. The service manual did a decent job
pointing to its location though.

3. The black wire connecting the two battery terminals to series the batteries
was disconnected, and that explains why there was no power supplying the
device.

I took a load of pictures of this project so far and will post a phlog entry on
my progress. 

Since this is the first time ordering tape deck belts not from a prepackaged
set, I learned the proper way to measure one. I'll know which belt in my stack
I'll need to use when replacing it.

If someone on here doesn't know how to do it, here's the URL:

http://www.wjoe.com/beltdims.htm

Anyhow, I'm done fiddling with this device for the evening. It's been fun so
far. It is a light bummer though. I had hoped to get the shell completely free
of electronics this evening. Tomorrow will be a full backyard day and was
hoping to retrobrite the shell while I'm outside. First world problems, I know.

Daniel Traechin

... Visit me at: gopher://gcpp.world
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