Ivan wrote:

"bugbear" wrote in message
...
Ivan wrote:

http://i48.photobucket.com/albums/f2...830b/video.jpg
http://i48.photobucket.com/albums/f2...hs830b/cog.jpg

If anyone has tips, advice or experience, I'd be a happy man :-)


The common fault with that particular model (Z deck) is teeth
stripping on the tu loading arm.

The parts are relatively cheap (under a fiver) and pretty easy to
replace, I used to do them trade for about £18.00.. however as others
have pointed out, although they are a very nice vcr when one
considers what a DVD recorder or lower end PVR can now be purchased
for, even if you could find someone to repair it for around £30.00 it
wouldn't nowadays be considered to be a worthwhile proposition.

Since I'd like to defer the PVR/HDD/DVD decision for a bit
(AV is still an expensive minefield), would you care to point me
at a parts source and/or manual ?

I mean, the broken VCR is currently worthless,
so I can't reduce it's value by trying to repair
(and failing) to repair it!



Apologies 'forget' my previous posts, I've just had a look at the photos
you provided and unfortunately had a different deck (Z) associated with
the model number that you provided.

Some common problems on the deck in your photographs is the small
plastic coupling device on the loading motor spindle which fits inside
the worm gear, reasonably simple to replace including replacing the
mode switch (which is essential to line up correctly) whilst you've got
it all apart.

A rarer occurrence can be the teeth stripping on the plastic sliding
rack, which to replace could be somewhat difficult and would be best not
to become involved with.

The main cam (visible in the right hand top of the photo) can also
become broken underneath and may need replacing.

All of these problems aren't too bad once you've done a few and you have
the proper Panasonic repair manuals however for the uninitiated it would
probably be best to follow the herd and relegate it to the nearest
landfill.

When I dumped my 20 year old portable tv I bought an even older one on
EBay for £2, which I suppose saves one unit from landfill.