C.E.C. TL-0 belt drive Transport repair progress video.

After replacing belts on this unit it started behaving pretty strange. On playback significant distortion could occasionally be heard but re-setting the player was curing it. With time, I got closer to solving the problem. It appears that the previous workshop who serviced this unit ($500) had fitted 1.6mm square belt instead of 1mm one. I replaced the worn belt with similar 1.6mm one and the player just was not reliable and it could not keep the required revolutions consistently. Further examinations revealed that the spindle motor - unlike in most players - is not bolted to the chassis directly, but small rubber washers ware used. The too thick, too tight belt has forced the rubber washers to get squished and the motor&shaft was no longer vertical. This resulted in pulley "catching" on the belt when sudden speed changes were occurring (like track jump or fast search). I tried different belt and chose the one which had the same thickness as the laser pick up advancing belt - 1mm square one. From then on, everything runs smooth and the player reads the one CD it did not want to read before (I chose that one purposely, because I knew it is a hard one to read for many players). I will talk to the owner if he wants the player the way it is, or whether he wants the motor&axis to be made vertical again. This I fear will necessitate getting those rubber washers replaced. But maybe just turning them around would do the trick.