The most COMPLEX & CORRODED cassette mechanism! | Akai MG614 GX52 Mecha Block | Tear Down & Rebuild

This Akai MG614 4 track cassette recorder belongs to Adrian, who has the the youtube channel We Happy Few Music. Adrian bought it locally. It looked okay on the outside, but once opened the transport was obviously corroded, so Adrian sent it to me for service.

The water damage is the worst I've ever seen . Its also the most complex cassette transport I've worked with to date, since the capstan is not belt driven and the door mechanism is motor driven. Due to the corrosion, all the moving parts were seized, so it was necessary for me to completely disassemble the cassette player.

If you have one of these which is basically moving and rust free, and you're just looking for simple things like changing rubber parts with minimal disassembly, shorter instructions on how to do this are included in my MG614 tear down video.

In this video I go into much, much more detail. Its the first time I've worked with this design, and I'm figuring things out as I go along, so there may be some inefficiencies in the demonstration, but I hope its still useful reconnaissance for someone else who needs to fully disassemble one of these for lubrication or repair.

The treatment of the rust using AMSoil is the subject of its own video;-

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TETRAKAN - Fix & Use Tape Recorders

Overviews; tear-downs; repair vlogs; techniques; tutorials; demo recordings...
...covering every cassette multitrack recorder ever made!*
*(eventually)
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TOOLS AND EQUIPMENT I USE;-
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DONATIONS are gratefully accepted via my BLOG, which also features written articles and FREE DOWNLOADS OF SERVICE MANUALS;-
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I prefer to answer questions in the youtube comments where my answers can help more than one person, but if you need to share photos etc, you can message me via facebook.
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CHAPTERS
0:00 Introduction
2:12 Remove Cable guide, & control motor
4:45 Remove rear panel - extreme rust!
6:34 Direct drive capstan motor
8:25 Remove mounting brackets
9:25 Remove door mechanism
13:57 Remove cassette cavity "Lid decoration"
14:27 Detach front and rear chassis
16:00 Seized mechanism for raising heads and opening door
16:39 Progress on removing rust, rethinking disassembly so far
22:16 Disassembly of control mechanism (door, head array & PR arm)
27:10 Alignment of control mechanism, about black Molybdenum
31:41 More rust progress, donor reel motor shielding
32:45 Remove idler and pinch roller
35:20 Remove record arm switch, reel motor and counter sensors
39:55 Remove heads, head chassis, pinch roller arm, etc.
46:02 Remove reels, reel mechanism, cassette retention clip
48:05 More about the door mechanism
49:24 REASSEMBLY BEGINS - reel mechanism, record rocker arm, cassette clip
52:14 Reassemble head array, pinch roller arm, etc
56:34 Reattach reel motor, counter sensors, record arm switch
58:50 Reassemble control mechanism
1:02:18 Reattach fly wheel, rear plate, reattach rear and front chassis
1:04:38 Reattach control motor and belt, belt size, demonstration of mechanism
1:06:38 Replacing "lid decoration" and build caveats
1:08:43 Reattach Door mechanism
1:13:58 Reattach mounting brackets and cable guide brackets