Otari MX5050 mkiii tape lifters and guides

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thehammondman
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Otari MX5050 mkiii tape lifters and guides

Post by thehammondman » Thu May 09, 2019 6:40 am

Hi all, I've recently acquired an Otari MX5050 mkiii (8 track), and it came with a fairly new ATR Master Tape. Everything seems to be working fine, but the tape does shed a bit, which requires me to clean the heads very frequently. I've ordered a new ATR Master Tape, but also noticed some slight wear on the tape lifters and guides, and wonder if this might be affecting the tape during rewind/fast forward mode. I've read elsewhere that unevenness in the lifters/guides can cause the tape to shed.

Any thoughts/experience with this? It doesn't look like you can rotate the lifters or guides but maybe I'm missing something. Or maybe it's just the tape shedding.

In any case, I'm wondering if it's possible to simply rotate the lifters/guides by 180 degrees to give a perfectly smooth surface for the tape to pass over.

Any help is much appreciated. Thanks, everyone.

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A.David.MacKinnon
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Re: Otari MX5050 mkiii tape lifters and guides

Post by A.David.MacKinnon » Fri May 10, 2019 5:54 am

For the sake of simplicity I'd try new tape before doing anything else. If it's still shedding you might consider getting into surgery on the machine.
I had a 5050 but it's been years. Id be surprised if you couldn't rotate the guides. The service manual and an exploded diagram are on line if you hunt. The diagram will show of the guides can be disassembled.

thehammondman
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Joined: Wed May 08, 2019 5:45 pm

Re: Otari MX5050 mkiii tape lifters and guides

Post by thehammondman » Fri May 10, 2019 8:46 am

Cool, thanks. Yeah, it might just be the tape. I'm not exactly sure how old the one I'm using is. I've got a brand new ATR Master Tape headed my way. I'll try it out as soon as it comes.

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