echoplex help?

[marshallmelloman]

My Echoplex model ep-3 stopped working in the studio the other night. The motor was running but the tape stopped going. Anybody know these things or of an Echoplex forum where I might find some help?

Thanks,
Kenny

[roger]

I've had a couple of Older Plex's. I don't know what type of tape cartridge you have but here's a couple of tips.
I always clean the pinch roller(the black rubber roller) and the drive post that sits up against it when the tape is rolling. I always clean the heads with denatured alcohol. Sometimes the tapes just get tangled and stop. They look knotted up for lack of a better description. You can buy tape cartridges form Dunlop or Harris Teller in Chicago. Most music stores buy accessories from these guys. Hope I've helped here.

[marshallmelloman]

Roger,

My tape is new (maybe a 10 hours on it) from Dunlop and doesn't look snarled. The drive post just isn't spinning.

[Mr. Gigglesworth]

Obviously it's the drive belt.

You can get those for $2 I think at allparts.com.


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[roger]

Yep if the post ain't spinnin' it's the belt. Thank's there Gigglesworth. There's a guy in Akron Oh named Mike Battle who's a genius with a 'Plex. He was the co-inventor with Don Dixon, he may be in the Akron phone book.

[marshallmelloman]

Gigglesworth you are correct sir. Thank you. I took the thing out of it's homemade house (my dad built a wooden case for it out of butternut cause the old one was smashed up-very nice) and sure enough the drive belt was off the track. I should have found that myself but I hadn't used it in a while and was a little out of touch with it. I think I may need some new rubber spacers (motor mounts?) because the problem seems to be that the wheels aren't lining up properly. Someone along the way had shoved a piece of carpenters pencil in between the motor and chassis as a wedge to get them even but it doesn't really work. It will run for a while out of the groove on one end and then eventually fall off.


Thanks for the info Roger.