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Author Topic: G36 reel holdowns  (Read 8628 times)

Offline docb

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G36 reel holdowns
« on: June 07, 2010, 05:53:32 PM »
We have a Revox G36 in the lab that someone apparently took the stock Cine hold downs off of and then glued old Ampex style NAB adapters right to the turntable. Really tacky. At least the NAB adapters fell off, so now we can try to replace the originals. The stubs the Cine hold downs screw into have what appear to be M3.5 threads. Does anybody have any of these I might purchase?

Here's a pic of a complete machine to show what I am talking about. The parts we need are the outer 2/3 of what looks to be the spindles, that have the jagged "fins"-




TIA
Dan "Doc B." Schmalle
President for Life, Bottlehead Corp.
Managing Director - retired, The Tape Project

Offline Tubes n tapes

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Re: G36 reel holdowns
« Reply #1 on: June 08, 2010, 08:52:14 AM »
Dan,

The thread is indeed M3.5. You can use any ReVox or Studer holddown on the G36. Either the plastic ones for the A77 and B77 or the metal ones of the PR99 or the Studers.

There are people selling them on eBay.

Arian Jansen.

SonoruS Audio.
VP of technology of the Los Angeles and Orange County Audio Society (LAOCAS).
ESL/OTL builder and modest Studer/ReVox collector.

Offline docb

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Re: G36 reel holdowns
« Reply #2 on: June 08, 2010, 09:19:15 AM »
Thank you Arian,

I suspected that was the case but I didn't want to spend my client's money on the plastic ones until I could get confirmation. Now if someone could explain to me why someone would glue Ampex NAB adapters to the turntables! The aftermath looks a mess.

Another interesting thing we found was a YouTube video explaining that the rather intense scrape flutter that we were experiencing on this one is due to the erase head. He does so by lifting the moving tape away from it. He is also lifting it partially from the first fixed guide which is the real culprit, at least in our case. A temporary fix has been a layer of Teflon (actually Rulon I suspect) tape over the guide surface. Makes quite an improvement.
Dan "Doc B." Schmalle
President for Life, Bottlehead Corp.
Managing Director - retired, The Tape Project

Offline ironbut

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Re: G36 reel holdowns
« Reply #3 on: June 08, 2010, 10:47:18 AM »
There's an amazing number of informative YouTube, reel to reel clips.
The problem is, finding the time to sift through them all!
steve koto
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Offline Ki Choi

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Re: G36 reel holdowns
« Reply #4 on: June 08, 2010, 11:30:39 AM »
Hi Doc:

to add to Adrian's good info, there are two different lengths in the center screw that holds the spring and the fin hold downs.  The plastic ones have shorter screws - mostly for Revox recorders and the longer ones with metal fin hold downs are for Studers.  I'll have to double check but some of the black "plastic looking" fin hold downs may be made of metal as well on some later Revox machines.

I have never owned a G36 but looking at the photo, the Revox hold downs would be better suited for the replacement.

You should also check to make sure the exsiting screws are true and the springs are still strong enough to hold the reels in place during fast forward and rewind.

Ki
Ki Choi

Offline docb

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Re: G36 reel holdowns
« Reply #5 on: June 08, 2010, 11:52:33 AM »
Thanks Ki,
We looked at what the ebay seller in Turkey offers and drew the same conclusion that the black "plastic looking" hold downs would work while the longer Studer branded metal ones probably would not - no fins. The whole assembly is missing on each turntable, so they will be getting new screws and springs as well as the hold downs.
Dan "Doc B." Schmalle
President for Life, Bottlehead Corp.
Managing Director - retired, The Tape Project

Offline Tubes n tapes

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Re: G36 reel holdowns
« Reply #6 on: June 08, 2010, 09:21:51 PM »
They will all fit on the G36 as long as you order them as a set with screw and spring.
Arian Jansen.

SonoruS Audio.
VP of technology of the Los Angeles and Orange County Audio Society (LAOCAS).
ESL/OTL builder and modest Studer/ReVox collector.

Offline Ki Choi

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Re: G36 reel holdowns
« Reply #7 on: June 09, 2010, 11:02:30 AM »
Thanks Ki,
We looked at what the ebay seller in Turkey offers and drew the same conclusion that the black "plastic looking" hold downs would work while the longer Studer branded metal ones probably would not - no fins. The whole assembly is missing on each turntable, so they will be getting new screws and springs as well as the hold downs.

Hi Doc:

Although the Revox spindle assemblies should be readily available, if you run into problems in finding them, please let me know.  One of my older A810s came with the same type that I can remove and send them to you.

On the other hand, looking at the photo of the G36 at the top of this thread, I don't see the usual three pronged fixed wings as a part of the reel turntable.  The Revox type spring loaded spindles would need these fixed wings.  Please let me know if the G36's reel turntable has them.

Below image shows Lyrec Frida turntable with the normal fixed three pronged wings and transplanted Studer metal spindle.

Ki Choi

Offline docb

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Re: G36 reel holdowns
« Reply #8 on: June 09, 2010, 11:38:04 AM »
Hi Ki,

Yeah, the stub with fixed wings is on the turntable. It's hard to see in that pic. Note that the original G36 metal hold down has several little fins rather than three big ones like the Studer hold down. I ordered the black Revox hold down with the tapered fins because it seems a closer match. But I imagine either would work just fine.
Dan "Doc B." Schmalle
President for Life, Bottlehead Corp.
Managing Director - retired, The Tape Project