Green Tech Labs

21/08/2024

Time to share some newly re-discovered TASCAM DA-30 repair & restoration information. I have owned and/or used DA-30's in studio settings since their appearance in the early 1990's. Love 'em or hate 'em they were ubiquitous for quite some time. (I am aware this unit is decades past its expected lifespan)

CASE STUDY: Recently my personal DA-30 had quit working after a power outage - I used to leave that piece of gear loaded with a tape in RECORD MODE to pass a signal to listen to it's resultant 16Bit output and use the large Meter Display as a level check.
I did determine a long time ago (and had since forgotten) that in that RECORD MODE the tape is loaded onto the tape guides but the rotary head is stopped, so as not to add to wear and tear. So even though the HEAD is not being unduly affected, the tape guide arms are in the extended position, and after years of not regularly extending and retracting (as they would in normal daily use) the LITHIUM GREASE finally turns into a VARNISH LIKE residue, and the result is the tape will no longer load & unload leading to trashed DAT tape or worse. In my case, when power was restored, the tape did retract, but would no longer load correctly.

The research in my old tech notes spoke about re-lubricating the nylon gears and metal sliding areas, but this time that would prove insufficient. This time required a deep dive into the transport mechanism itself.

There are 4 - motors on the TRANSPORT. 3 tape handling motors and 1 HEAD motor. One motor in particular does all the heavy lifting regarding the TAPE GUIDE ARMS and requires multiple smooth lubricated surfaces to operate at all. I am posting a PHOTO GUIDE with TEXT NOTES on the TRANSPORT MECHANISM I completely disassembled, cleaned and re-lubricated. Hope this helps someone, I, for one, would never have been able to carry the badge of geek-tech, had I not resolved this 😉

Word of advice, one could save themselves all this misery by contacting Eddie Ciletti to have your DAT tapes transferred to digital format and be done with it. Thanks Eddie on the help throughout this "ordeal"😉

21/07/2024

10/08/2023

NERD ALERT! - Always looking to restore to Museum Quality - Vintage Gear. Today it's 1980's all over again, Mark Tanin. Here are my prized possessions , a Commodore C64 and a matching 1541 Foppy Drive. Both meticulously brought back to "As New" glory ;)

30/06/2023

OK for my Commodore 64 friends... I rebuilt the old C64 power supply with new meanwell.mx Switching supply (RS5-25) 5V 5AMP and a 9V AC Power Xfrmr... rewired to look new... WIll add AC Mains fuse later, the MEANWELL has internal 2AMP fuse.

29/06/2022

Amazingly fun (and challenging) work at Tanner-Monagle, Inc. Efficient design & install of additional XLR lines and MIDI lines to Main Room from John Tanner's suite.

Project completed. Included rerouting of 8 Channels from Main Room to John's Suite as well.

12/01/2022

Another Fun Time was had with Ric Probst and Randy Bobo at Nariadyme Studios Progress restoring the Console to its Glory.

01/11/2021

Brought this baby back to life! Studer 24 Track 2" Recorder at Nariadyme Studios. Tender, Supple Analog Sounds Abound!

01/11/2021

Studer 24 Track 2" Recorder at Nariadyme Studios. Making Joyful Noise!

11/08/2021

Oh my! A LEXICON Preamp is working like new again. Time to visit Tanner-Monagle, Inc. and Bob Monagle

"A Lovely Chassis
The MC-1's sleek, racy appearance belies its functional complexity. Take the front panel: Turned off, it presents a black, glossy faceplate. Switched on, a prominent fluorescent blue backlit LCD display appears and highlights eight square input buttons and green LED indicators (from left to right, VCR, DVD, V-Disc, TV, Aux, CD, Tuner, Tape) for the main zone. A button marked Rec/Zone 2 sits at panel center and switches controls for On/Off, Input Selector, Volume, and Mute buttons for another room in the house. There are two pushbuttons for selecting special effects, with a display with the emblems for Dolby, DTS, THX, Logic7, TV Matrix, Party, and 2-Channel. On the right sits a large volume control for the main outputs. Just below this are pushbuttons for 2-Channel and Mute, which attenuates the main outputs, lights a red LED, and displays a screen message letting you know that Mute is activated. " STEREOPHILE MAGAZINE