Hello Folks!

I thought you might like to know that I have
found the source of the problem with the
582 that is preventing it from going into
the PLAY mode.

After a few different theories and electronic
testing that produced no real results -- nothing
that I could point to and say "a-ha!" -- I have
discovered that the deck has a PHYSICAL
problem, not an electronic problem.

The electronics are fine. I was only getting
weird electronic readings because as many
of you may know, the deck's logic electronics
are governed by the physical action of the
tape transport...the deck controls the transport,
and then reacts to the voltages that change
on the 10k pot when the transport moves...if
the transport does weird things, then the
voltages become weird. The pot was not
in the right position because the tape
transport was not in the right position, and
so I got weird voltage readings. I had
assumed that something had gone wrong
in the logic circuit. I never suspected an
actual physical problem until now.

HERE'S THE REAL PROBLEM:
The mechanism that moves the tape
heads and capstans does not move freely
enough. When you press PLAY, the
mechanism tries to move to the right
position, but something is preventing
it from moving far enough. Somehow,
it has gotten either jammed or out of
alignment, or maybe the lubricating
grease has gotten too gummy with age.

The thing that clued me in was
observing the arm that is actuated
by the main control cam. I'm talking
about the main white plastic arm on the
front of the transport. One end of the
arm travels in the groove on the control
cam, and the other end of the arm is
attached to the sliding bracket on the
bottom of the transport. This white
arm was flexing in a rather disturbing
way. You could tell that the cam was
trying to move the arm, but because
the arm's movement was restricted
(because the moving part it is attached
to is restricted), it couldn't do anything
and was flexing under the load being
put upon it by the cam.

I can press PLAY and then move the
transport into the correct position with
my fingers, and the deck does play
just fine when I do this. Then, when
I press STOP, I have to once again
move the transport into the STOP
position. So the deck CAN play
and stop -- but not without my help.

Incidentally, when I manage to get
the deck into the PLAY and STOP
positions, the voltage readings on
the 10k pot are right on spec.

I must admit that I am at a loss as
to how this deck has gotten this way.
I had not touched anything in the tape
transport. The only things I had done
on this deck are the electronic repairs
involving the record/erase functions
(bias oscillator, etc.)...oh, and I did
replace the control motor belt, but
only AFTER the new problem started.

This deck was literally MINUTES
away from being fully repaired and
calibrated when this fault occurred,
right out of the clear blue sky. I am
hopeful that it won't be too big a
deal to free up the tape transport
linkage. But I won't know what I'm
up against until I start examining
the mechanism. I'll let you know
what I find.