Hi,

I just stumbled across this forum, so I thought I would ask a question.

I have a Roberts 990 recorder - honestly, while I have been into ancient audio of various different types, it has been years since I have used reel-to-reel even as an experiment.

But it seems that the Roberts has problems. I know something is wrong on the rewind side, and that the belt connectd to the fan is extremely loose.

Like I said, it won't rewind, and the pull at play is so much as not to allow it to play without moving it with my fingers

Also, I am not even sure that the amp works - I hear popping, but since I can't play or record, I can't tell if anything other than noise is coming out.

On the good side, I have lots of great tapes for it if it ever works.

SO MY QUESTION - - Where do I begin taking a very classy electronic paperweight and turning it back into a great vintage tape recorder?

I've got an old Roberts 997 which I beleive is quite similar. The "fan" wich you describe is really the main (and only) drive motor for the machine. If the belt to the capstan is loose (as is extremely likely), then you will need a replacement. Bob at Vintage Electronics probably can sell you the appropriate replacement belt.

If any of your rollers are bad, you will proabaly need to get new rubber on them. Terry at Terry's Rubber Rollers can made all of these like brand new.

The electronics are the harder part. That is a 40 year old machine, and many of its capacitors will need replacement. Some of the tubes probably need changing too. If you don't know much about servicing electronics, them I'm not going to be able to help you very much.

The bottom line is that a lot of work will need to be done to get this machine running again. If you are up to the challenge, it can be a whole lot of fun getting an old machine like this running again.