Tascam 488 PORTASTUDIO Owner's Manual

Also see for 488 PORTASTUDIO: Owner's manual

Contents

Care and MaintenanceEven-though the heads used in your 488 havehigh wear resistance and are rigidly constructed,performance degradation or electro-mechanicalfailure can be prevented if maintenance isperformed regularly.CLEANINGThe first things your will need for maintenanceare not expensive. The whole kit with the swabsand fluids you will need for months will cost lessthan a couple of high quality cassettes.We cannot stress the importance of cleaning toomuch. Clean up before each session. Clean upafter every session. Clean up every time youtake a break in the middle of a session.Here's why:1. Any dirt or oxide build-up on the heads willforce the tape away from the gaps thatrecord and playback. This will drasticallyaffect the response. Even so small a layer ofdirt as one thousandth of an inch will resultin degraded performance. All the moneyyou have paid for high performance will bewiped out by a bit of oxide. Wipe it off withhead cleaner and you're back to normal.2. Tape and tape oxide act very much the sameway as fine sandpaper. The combination willslowly grind down the tape path. If you donot clean off this abrasive material on aregular basis, the wear will be much morerapid and will become irregular. Even wearon heads can be compensated for withelectronic adjustments for a while, butuneven wear can produce notches on headsand guides that will cause the tape to "skew"and skip a r o u n d , making adjustmentimpossible. This ragged pathway alsochews up the tape, producing more abrasivematerial which in turn causes more unevenear. This begins a vicious circle that cannotbe stopped once it gets a good start. Theonly solution to this will be to replace notonly the heads, but the tape guides as well.Being conscientious about cleaning the tapepath on your 488 will more than double thelife of the heads and tape guides.Cleaning the Heads and Tape GuidesAll heads and metal parts in the tape path mustbe cleaned after every 6 hours of operation, orbefore starting and after ending a recordingsession.1. Open the cassette door.2. Using a good head cleaning fluid and acotton swab, clean the heads and tapeguides until the swab comes off clean. Wipeoff any excess cleaning fluid with a dry swab.Cleaning the Pinch RollerClean the pinch roller at least once each day thedeck is used. Use a good rubber cleaner.1. Push up the transport protection lever asillustrated. Press the PLAY key to engagethe pinch roller and capstan shaft, whileholding the protection lever up.2. Lightly press a cotton swab moistened withrubber cleaner to the pinch roller on theright-hand side of the capstan shaft. This willprevent the swab from becoming entangled.Clean it until there is no visible residue onthe pinch roller or coming off onto a cleanswab.3. Using a clean cotton swab, wipe off allexcess rubber cleaner from the pinch roller.Make certain that there is no foreign matterremaining on either the pinch roller or thecapstan shaft.Cleaning the Capstan ShaftAfter cleaning the pinch roller, clean the capstanshaft. Lightly press a cotton swab moistenedwith head cleaning fluid to the rotating capstanshaft.44