Care And Maintenance - Tascam 688 Midistudio Owner's Manual

Care and Maintenance
Even though the hCijds used in your 688 have high wear
resistance and are rigid Iy constructed, performance
degradation or electro-mechanical failure can be
prevented if maintenance is performed regularly.
I
CLEANING
The first things you will need for maintenance are not
expensive. The whole kit with the swabs and fluids you
will need of months will cost less than a couple of high
quality cassettes.
We cannot stress the importance of cleaning too much.
Clean up before each session. Clean up aher every
session. Clean up every time you take a break in the
middle of a session.
Here's why:
1. Any dirt or oxide build-up on the heads will force the
tape away from the gaps that record and playback.
T~s
will drastically affect the response. Even so small
a fayer of dirt as one thousandth of an inch will reault
in degraded performance. All the money you have paid
for high performance will be wiped out by a bit of
oxide. Wipe it off with head cleaner and you're back to
normal.
2. Tape and tape oxide act very much the same way as
fine sandpaper. The combination will slowly grind
down the tape path. If you do not clean off this
abrasive material on a regular basis. the wear will be
much more rapid and will become irregular. Even wear
on heads can be compensated for with electronic
adjustments for
8
while. but uneven wear can produce
notches on heads and guIdes that will cause the tape to
·skew· and skip around. making adjustment Impossible.
This ragged pathway also chews up the tape. producing
more abrasive material, which in turn causes more
uneven wear. This begins a vicious circle that cannot be
stopped once it gets a good start. The only solution to
this will be to replace not only the heads, but the tape
guides as well. Being conscientious about cleaning the
tape path on your 6BB will more than double the life of
the heads and tape guides.
Cleaning the Heads and Tape Guides
All heads and metal parts in the tape path must be
cleaned aher every 6 hours of operation, or before
starting and after ending a recording session.
1. Open the cassette door.
2. Using a good head cleaning fluid and a cotton swab,
clean the heads and tape guides until the swab comes
off clean. Wipe off any excess cleaning fluid with a dry
swab.
Cleaning the Pinch Boller
Clean the pinch roller at least once each dey the deck is
used. Use a good rubber cleaner.
1. Push up the transport protection lever as illustrated
above. Press PLAY key to engage the pinch roller and
capstan shaft. while holding the protection lever up.
-50-
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'~
2. Lightly press a cotton swab moistened with rubber
cleaner to the pinch roller on the right-hand side of the
capstan shaft. This will prevent the swab from
becoming entangled. Clean it until there Is no visible
residue on the pinch roller or coming off onto a clean
swab.
3. Using a clean cotton swab, wipe off all el<cesa rubber
cleaner from the pinch roller. Make certain that there
(s
no foreign matter remaining on either the pinch roller
or the capstan shaft.
Cleaning the Capstan Shaft
Aher cleaning the pinch roller, clean the capstan shaft.
Lightly press a cotton swab moistened with head cleaning
fluid to the rotating capstan shaft.
I
DEGAUSSING (DEMAGNETIZING)
A little stray magnetism can become quite a big nuisance
In tape recording. It only takes a small amount (.2 Gausal
to ceusa trouble on the record head. Playing 10 cassattea
will put about that much charge on the heads. A little
more than that (.7 Gaussl will start to erase high
frequency signals on previously recorded tapes. You can
see that it's worth taking the trouble to degau.. regularly.
DEGAUSSING IS ALWAYS DONE WITH THE RECORDER
TURNED OFF. If you try it with the electronics on, the
current pulses produced. by the degausser will look just
like audio signals to the heads. These pulsas are around
10,000 Gauss, and wlll seriously damage the electronics
and/or meters. Turn off your 688, then turn on the
degausser at least 1 m (3 ft.) away from the recorder.
Be certain that your degausser has either e plastic cover
or plastic tape covering the tip. Make Bure that no metal
ever touches the tape heads as it wltl scar them and ruin
them. '
Slowly move in to the tape path. Move the degau9ser
slowly back and forth, touching lightly all metal parts In
the tape path. Slowly move it away agaIn to at least 1 m
(3
ft.)
from the recorder before turning it off.