More on the Fostex 260 4-track recording studio

A few blogs ago, I talked about repairing my Fostex 260 recording "studio." One thing leads to another, and after I had performed the power supply fixes mentioned previously, I discovered that the drive belt had turned into asphalt. A few comments about repairing that mess:

First, cleaning up the residue from the drive belt was quite a problem. It had become goo, no more, no less. There was a blob of goo around the driving spool and another around the driven wheel. It turns out that mineral spirits, carefully applied, can remove this mess, but some serious dismantling of the tape unit is required first. To wit:

Remove the bottom cover (seven long screws and two short machine screws near the vent).

Remove the top (another three long screws and a single high-pitch screw near the front) after removing the five fader handles and one pitch knob.

Remove the four screws holding the tape transport in place. It is not necessary to disconnect the various cables on the bottom side, because the cleanup can be done in place. But you will need to unroute several mini-coaxes and small ribbon cables from under a cable protector on the lower left side of the transport. When you've done that, you should be able to lift the transport out and flip it to the left (because of the cables). There is a cover over the belt which is removed by taking out two small Phillips machine screws on the right and left sides. Slide the the cover up and rock it out to remove it. At this point, the driven wheel can be slid out of the unit from the bottom (along its axle) and cleaned separately. Don't lose the small plastic washer that fits over the axle on the top side of the transport.

Cleaning the driving spool is a bit more difficult because the drive motor needs to be protected during the process. Nevertheless, the spool needs to be as clean as you can get it, because the belt fits very snugly between the flanges of the spool.

Here's the important part: drive belts are extremely hard to find. Don't even bother asking Fostex distributors or Radio Shack. But there is a store on eBay called The Stevelec Store (http://stores.ebay.com/The-Stevelec-Store) which stocks an assortment of flat drive belts. The one you want for the Fostex 260 is 10.5" by 0.2", listed as "Stereo VCR Cassette 8-Track Tape Deck FLAT Drive Belt". You'll have to give the dimensions in the notes to the seller.