Video 5 – Look Below The Belt! - Sears Silvertone 7239 Vintage R2R Tape Recorder

IMPORTANT UPDATE!!!

My belt solution has FAILED! DO NOT follow the advice here. A chemical incompatibility developed between the adhesive and the ribbon material, causing the bond to fail. It was only after weeks of testing that the fault appeared. Please DO NOT follow the advice in this video. Consider it a documentary of my restoration attempts ONLY. Sorry.

Video 6 - "SAVED by the Belt" - has the solution to this probem!
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This is the fifth of a series of documentary videos showing my experience restoring this beautiful and highly unique vintage tape recorder sold by Sears around 1967. I purchased the stereo tape recorder from E-Bay, and was amazed when it arrived. It was NOT as the seller described. In fact, it appears that someone tried to get inside the machine, failed, gave up and lost the case mounting screws. And that was just the beginning!

Nevertheless, Sears and Roebuck company carried and continues (in 2015) to carry a number of very fine products. In the 1960s, they sold this very unique stereo reel to reel tape recorder, the model 7239. It was sold under their own name, and I have not seen a tape recorder design like it anywhere else. It is a truly unique vintage reel to reel tape recorder which I believe was actually made by the Warwick Manufacturing Company of Chicago, exclusively for Sears.

In this video – Look Below The Belt! - you will see the complex three switch mechanical wiring system used to power the motor and amplifiers (it has a separate pre-amp and amp), the undocumented and very strange reel table assembly and most of all, the brilliant, but catastrophically failed fiber belt system. Fiber belts were used in many tape recorder designs, and they are a problem to restorers because these belts simply are not available anymore. I found a solution, which I present in the video.

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IMPORTANT UPDATE!!!

My belt solution has FAILED! DO NOT follow the advice here. A chemical incompatibility developed between the adhesive and the ribbon material, causing the bond to fail. It was only after weeks of testing that the fault appeared. Please DO NOT follow the advice in this video. Consider it a documentary of my restoration attempts ONLY. Sorry.

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Below is a list of sources for the materials and tools I used in this part of the restoration project:

Wonderliner non-slip shelf liner – available from ACE Hardware (U.S.A.)
Note: Single rolls and colors are available at the retail stores :

http://www.acehardware.com/product/index.jsp?productId=3107293

Devcon Rubber Adhesive – available from ACE Hardware (U.S.A.) in their retail stores:

http://www.itwconsumer.com/devcon-products/product.cfm?id=Rubber%20Adhesive-9

Poly Curling Ribbon Information – Crimped and other polyester (not cotton or raffia) ribbon is available in many widths and colors from many sources and retail outlets:

http://ribbons.com/what-are-poly-ribbons
I have had past experience with this model tape recorder in the 1960's, when I was in the Army, and am eager to restore this machine to its original true beauty.

Watch the entire video series (in my playlist: “Sears Silvertone 7239”) to follow along with my adventure of reconstruction, adaptation, modernization and restoration of a very fine vintage audio reel to reel tape recorder.

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COPYRIGHT DISCLAIMER:

This is an educational video, a critique, and report on an historic piece of vintage audio electronic equipment that is no longer manufactured or sold in stores. It is covered by the Fair Use Section of U.S. Copyright Law:

"Copyright Disclaimer Under Section 107 of the Copyright Act 1976, allowance is made for "fair use" for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research. Fair use is a use permitted by copyright statute that might otherwise be infringing. Non-profit, educational or personal use tips the balance in favor of fair use."

The musical performance in this video is from the software Program “The Dream Angel Oracle” and is the exclusive property of ClydeSight Productions.

Видео Video 5 – Look Below The Belt! - Sears Silvertone 7239 Vintage R2R Tape Recorder канала clydesight