Panasonic Walkman cassette player RQ-P250

At a family gathering this weekend, an elderly family member approached me and asked if I could take a look at his Panasonic personal tape player, and maybe get it back up and working.

Who am I, to turn down such an invitation, so I took it on and promised him I’d have a look into it. There is, “No rush“ I was told. Just as well, as it’s busy in every aspect of my life at the moment.

Here’s the spec:

Type: Auto Reverse Cassette Player

Tape Type: type I, CrO2, Metal

Output: 20mW

Battery: 2 x AA

Power Supply: RP-AC33 (3V DC)

Dimensions: 114.2 x 84.4 x 33.1mm

Weight: 156g

Finish: black

Year: 1993

Hifiengine

Assessment:

It’s well used, and has always been and if I can get it working, will continue to be so. At the grand old age of 79 my brother in law is not about to change his ways and is quite comfortable listening to his old Cassette collection whilst out and about, on trains quite a bit of the time, as he travels up and down the country. He’s a lovely old fashioned set in his ways guy and we wouldn’t have him any other way. It would be blooming lovely to get this back to him working again.

It’s scarred, been well used but looked after, apparently it’s gone from playing quite well, to slowing down and dying completely. I think I know what the issue is but I’m not going to curse myself by saying I know what is wrong, when it actually turns out to be something totally different.

And I love his choice of music. Let’s get this repair underway so we can listen to Mr. Rea in a lovely crisp sounding manner befitting of an 80s rock star.

Repair:

Batteries in place, earphones connected, push play. No movement from the capstans, and even when put in forward and reverse there is no movement from either capstan. I can hear all the electrical noises such as the tape head picking, and I suspect at the grand old age of 32 years old that the drive belts have probably given in. Let’s open it up and have a look.

And just as I thought. Two drive belts in here, they are both loose, one though is so loose that it has wrapped itself around the two capstans, no wonder it wouldn’t start up.

Two drive belts visible, both so stretched that they have ceased working

I have plenty of these belts spare, I just had to sort out the two closest matching in size. Too slack and you introduce warble, too tight and it will be off speed, you need to get it just right. Adjustments can be made to the motor speed but this will only come back to bite you once the belts wear in.

I’ve put two new belts in place, and at some frequencies there is a little wobble, but with Dolby switched in place this can be removed digitally, this will settle over the coming weeks after more use.

I have used some silicon grease on the cogs, I have put contact spray in the motor and the volume controls, and used IPA to clean all the tape contacts and capstan wheels and posts, it’s basically been given a little service to see it forward for a while longer.

Body now reassembled, new batteries put in place, it’s time to test it.

Result:

A quick polish, to tidy up, won’t get rid of the deep scuffs, just makes it a little more presentable. Cassette inserted, headphones plugged in and as expected it’s working just fine, we can hear Mr.Rea in all his gravel voiced glory. So can you, in this video snippet below, that hopefully won’t get a copyright strike 🤞

🎶 On the beach 🎵

So there we have it. Another item brought back to life with about 30 minutes work. It’s going to make someone’s day, and I’m as pleased as punch that I could play a part in contributing to that.