resurrected my tascam porta 05
Slightly off-topic for this blog, but…
Tascam Porta 05
Decided to dig out my old Tascam Porta 05 ministudio in order to digitise some old 4-track recordings. But, found that the play heads seemed to be stuck in the forward position. Full symptoms and notes:
- Power on ok
- Impossible to insert a cassette due to the position of the heads
- Can hear the motor (which turns all the time power is on – this is normal)
- Motor responds correctly to the pitch control
- Fast forward button works – spins the central right capstan
- Rewind button works – spins the central left capstan
- Tape heads in forwards position, but the rubber wheel in front of the stop button is not forward enough to press against the metal capstan
- The metal capstan, which should normally be spinning all the time the machine is powered is not actually spinning
- Pressing play or record buttons does nothing – the central capstans that would fit into the tape spindles do not turn
I did google around trying to find a solution. I did find a couple of people with the same problem, but no solution posted. I googled for the service manual with no result other than someone in the states selling on ebay for around $22. I wish companies like this would get their service manuals PDF’d and onto the web – shouldn’t be an issue for what is essentially obsolete equipment?
Anyway, with no solution available from the outside, I decided to take a quick look inside to see if there was anything obviously out of place. Getting inside is easy:
- Remove the 5 screws from the back panel
- Carefully part the two sides noting that:
- The power on/off slider will likely drop out as it detaches from the internal control
- all the other sliders remain with the top of the case – but some detach in the process from the underlying control which remains in the base.
- In my case the forward position of the tape heads was preventing the sides from separating. Pressing them back by pressing the plastic between the erase and write heads made enough space.
Inside the Tascam Porta 05
Close-up showing heads fixed forward
With the sides parted, I then powered up and observed the mechanics when pressing the various control buttons. I couldn’t see anything obvious, but then noticed that underneath the controls is a flywheel attached to that capstan in-front of the stop button. The flywheel is belt-driven and was not spinning.
Nudging the fly-wheel
Using a cotton bud, I gave it a few nudges, attempting to pushing it round in either direction. I was quite surprised after a few attempts when the belt picked up and the flywheel turned under the power of the motor. At the same time the heads snapped back into the retracted position, and the play and record buttons now worked.
All that remained was to give it a good clean-out and reassemble. Taking care to align the Record function sliders with their underlying controls, and get the 5 screws back in, and I am back in action with kit that I thought was pretty cutting edge back in 1987.
Hi, do you have a copy of the manual for this machine? I am resurrecting mine as well (to record straight to tape, no digitizing yet), but can’t find the manual. I’ve torn my house apart looking for it. I’d be very grateful if we could work out something to get a copy, either hard or pdf.
Thanks, Tim
Thanks for this article – it has helped me reactivate my Porta 05 where the play function had seized up after a few years without use.
hi, I’ve been looking for the manual for that Porta 05. Any chance I could get a copy from you somehow? I’d be very thankful
mail: korgpoly61@hotmail.de
@Tim, @firebird…. I know I have the manual somewhere, just can’t put my hand on it at the moment. As soon as I find it I’ll give you a shout. In the meantime, it might be worth a polite message to tascam to ask them to PDF the manual and publish it via their legacy page http://www.tascam.com/legacy;37,17.html
Thanks for posting this fix. I had the same issue with the recorder, except my cassette was actually in the recorder with the heads trapping it and would not eject the tape rendering it inoperable and loss of recorded music for years. 11 years later, comes your post and my brother and I attempted the fix last night. My brother, the clever one, first disassembled the cassette casing by removing the screws and removing the top panel. He then carefully removed the tape reels and now the back cassette panel was the only thing stuck in the recorder. With the cassette now half it’s original size, we were then able to carefully and slightly retract the head and then remove the back panel by lifting it out as it does in normal operation. Before tackling the recorder, we then had to reassemble the cassette. Long story short, the cassette was reassembled successfully, your documented fix/post was successful and now I’m listening to recordings I did 11 years ago and thought I had lost them as well as my recorder for good. Thank you so much to you and ofcourse my brother too for being the clever and patient one.
Hi, many thanks for posting this. My old tascam porta 01 is stuck. I will give your idea a try. What a star, posting the photos and writing this article!
All the best
I opened a suitcase I’d had in the basement for several years, and inside was a Porta 05. My friend gave me the case 4 years ago, and I guess I never really looked inside it.
Anyway, it had this same problem. I got the heads to retract, but it will only play or record if you slam it on the floor. I’m thinking the belts are shot. Not enough tension to get the flywheel spinning without a little help.
Anyone know where to get replacement belts? If you find that manual, does it give part numbers?
Thanks for the fix!
@Orion : “Slam it on the floor” sounds like it might do more damage than good!
I still haven’t found that manual, but wouldn’t expect the internal part numbers to be in there. For that you’d be needing the service manual. I guess the only people that can provide that are Tascam. Possibly worth contacting them from this page http://www.tascam.com/go;33,2020.html
Although I did try asking them to add the Porta05 manual PDF to their Legacy support page ( http://www.tascam.com/legacy;37,17.html ) – but I got a frankly rubbish reply suggesting I “contact my local distributor for spare parts” with the UK address. Clearly the guy hadn’t read a word of my email – just saw it was from the UK and fired a stock response.
Thanks for the fix. As you said it popped right back in place. I was given this so now I just have to figure out how to use it.
Thanks so much for posting this!! Just about the same story as everybody else…just needed the nudge!