[Techtoolslist] Repairing Fluke 9010a Tape Decks

[Matthew Rossiter]

Has anyone ever seriously gone through and tried repairing these?

There seems to be two main problems.

1) The Playwheel gets dented as a result of being pressed next to the capstan for years.
Thanks to Art Mallet, I was able to get one replacement playwheel.

I'm trying to figure out if there's a way to replace the rubber ring since replacement playwheels are no longer available.
I might try some O-rings from here http://www.mcmaster.com/#as568a-o-rings/=1koq0o  unless someone knows a tape cassette specialist that carries something similar to the Fluke 9010a Tape deck.

Question: Has anyone ever tried a workaround for the bad playwheel problem?

2) The second problem seems to be the LED / Phototransistor sensor pair that signals the end of tape (Clear Leader).
In both tape decks I have, I've had to replace the 2n3906 transistor at Q5 that turns the Clear Leader signal on and off.
I've replaced the phototransistor and the IR LED, but it still isn't signalling the end of tape properly.

Question: Has anyone ever replaced the LED and Phototransistor and gotten it to work?  I know they need to be matched.  What part numbers did you get?

I have a bunch of video game related tapes I want to record to a file and share.

Thanks!

Matt

PS.  Here is a condensed version of the Fluke 9010a Service manual that deals primarily with the Tape Deck.
http://games.rossiters.com/manuals/fluke/Fluke-9010a-Tape-Deck.pdf