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Minidisc Deck JE770 Eject Belt Fix?

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Arr-Nine-Hundred

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Hello All!

I just bagged one of these guys yesterday for 10 of your Earth pounds

IMG_20160531_095045512.jpg

It has an eject disc fault which is down to the drive belt. A common propblem from my 15 mins of research!

It plays a disc fine (seller demo'd that) but requires the unit to be turned upside down and subjected to a few bouts of "percussive maintenance" before the disc will eject :)

My intention is to fix is as part of a fun project and I might learn something along the way. Has anyone fixed one of these or a similar one?

Any tips/tricks to be careful of when embarking on this mission?

I've seen a seller on ebay selling the exact belt I need and they say it's compatible for the JE770 so I will probably go for that.

Apparantly most Sony decks used the same drive unit so I could find another broken one with a different fault and swap them over.

Thanks!

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Wow, great buy, congrats.

You may not want to turn it upside down, and beat - it may damage the drive, the OP and the OWH are very sensitive parts.

Replacing the belt is fairly straigthforward, only four screws hold the drive in the deck, once you lifted it out, the belt is accessible from the front - via a tiny slot though, you will need to use a bent paperclip as a 'hook". I think there was a topic here, with some photos. Or I saw a video on youtube probably.

I bought belts for my decks from this guy: http://www.ebay.com/itm/231770624890. This belt works for all the decks with MDM-7A drive, like your 770.

 

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Thanks NGY, useful info! Do you know which other decks have a MDM-7A drive? I could always buy a damaged unit with a working drive and scavenge it.

That said, I've just ordered a new drive belt from eBay and will give this a go next weekend.

As for drive belt-refit, this video was given to me by the deck seller as a good guide:

 

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On 2016. 06. 04. at 8:37 PM, Arr-Nine-Hundred said:

Do you know which other decks have a MDM-7A drive?

The MDLP capable decks: 440/640/940, 470/770, S50, PC3.

Also, the 480/780/980 have a very similar drive, though not fully identical to the MDM-7A.

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On 06/06/2016 at 7:35 AM, NGY said:

The MDLP capable decks: 440/640/940, 470/770, S50, PC3.

Also, the 480/780/980 have a very similar drive, though not fully identical to the MDM-7A.

Thanks!

I got the replacement drive belts earlier this week (2 for £5 from eBay) and they seems good quality and the correct size.

I had time today to attempt to replace it... it was a bit fiddly but I managed to replace the belt and my JE770 now ejects smoothly! I'm really happy - so total cost of a working JE770 was £15 plus some of my time.

Here is a photo of the old and new belts side-by-side, you can see that old belt (left) is a good bit thinner and felt more "weak and tired" in my hands:

IMG_20160611_205144715.jpg

While waiting for the belts I picked up a JE470 locally for £40 - despite being a decent unit it lacked the sound level meters on the digital display which the JE770 has - I think they look really cool so the JE470 has gone into storage to be replaced by the newly working JE770! :)

 

 

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  • 11 months later...

I think I might need to do this to my MDS-JB940 too. Ejecting discs is a bit erratic at times. It's mostly okay but every now and again it makes a sort of squealing noise and doesn't eject the disc. Usually turning if off and then trying again results in it working.

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I believe not using your MD machine causes the belt to fail prematurely. I had a hardly used machine which I put away and didn't use and the eject on this failed soon after I got it out whereas a regularly used, and worn, machine had no eject problems.

Best to use your machines, say, once a week rather than put them into storage.

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Damn, it was actually easy to put in place, in JE470 mechanism is quite open from front side, I just unscrew those four corner screws and that little earth-wire and I didn't even unplugged those flat big wires from mechanism at all. I just lifted disc tray mechanism so I saw inside from front side, took old worn belt away and put new in, voila!

Now my Je470 works again and Emperor's IX Equilibrium play nicely and majestically.

Oh well, found new problem, after listening one md about hour(and deck i warm now) it started to lose/skipping on last tracks. Even if I put another disc
it doesn't want to start and when it starts it also start skipping straight away. I can see how track time display also goes back and forth. Have to wait a little if
that's something which is connected to that warming up.

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  • 2 years later...

Just repaired my MDS-JB940. Had just bought 100g of Q-Connect rubber bands from Amazon for a few squid. There is a size that fits the eject drive nicely. Thought it was a bit low on tension. Not such a bad thing since it now WORKS, load and eject.

No need for the invert-and-punch or top-off-and-prod.

Might only last a couple of years. Have a little baggy with three more bands ready to step in.

Cost was time and research, band was less than a cent in anyones currency. Satisfaction and peace of mind was priceless. Smug face on (no one else present in the house to suffer that sight).

Frightening to think how thin the line between technology and landfill can be!

Edited by Donkey Miner
typo
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  • 2 months later...

After not using my MDS-JE780 for awhile, I left an MD in the player and forgot to take it out.  It wouldn’t eject and freaked out.  This thread helped a lot.  Thank you posting this.  I started looking for the belt on the internet  and seeing what else can work and measuring the diameter.  Then I started looking at these Rainbow Looms that you can make those bracelets out of that my daughter has.  They’re a bit smaller but I figured I’d try it out.  I worked it through the pulleys and it worked! After going through several MDs it’s been playing fine and ejecting with no issues.  Here is a picture of the rainbow loom versus the belt that came out of my MDS-JE780.  Here is a link to the rainbow loom: https://www.amazon.com/Rainbow-Loom-Crafting-Metal-Rubber/dp/B00DMC6KAC

If the belt\rubber band is too tight will that damage the pulley?  


Now I have to figure out why my MZ-R900 skips after 10 minutes of play.  

 

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10 hours ago, Tekageek said:

Then I started looking at these Rainbow Looms

Great story, yet another rubber band that can save our MD decks. I like when someone has such creative thinking!

10 hours ago, Tekageek said:

If the belt\rubber band is too tight will that damage the pulley?  

Not the pulley itself. But it can wear faster the bushes of the pulley's and the motor's shafts. No big deal though - your motor would "tell you", if the rubber band was way too tight, because then the motor's torque would not be enough to properly operate the load/eject mechanism (as the shafts were tensioned way too much against the bushes). If the load/eject works at the usual speed, without any weird noise (squeaking, or sort of), then it will do fine. This motor spins for a few seconds only on a disc load/eject, compared to the spindle motor, that works during the entire play (record) time.

10 hours ago, Tekageek said:

Now I have to figure out why my MZ-R900 skips after 10 minutes of play.

First I would check the OP lens and clean if necessary, as well as the sled mechanism, and lubricate if needed.

 

 

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