CED VideoDisc and Player Discussion

[Fred Garvin]

Hi all:

I've followed CED technology for years but never owned a player until now. I just picked up a very nice SKT-400; in fact, I don't think it had ever been used. It is very clean. Unfortunately it won't load a disc. When I first plugged it in the player made some brief thrashing noises and then showed "--" on the front panel and nothing onscreen. I pulled the cover off and with the unit unplugged I gently worked some of the gears in case they were just frozen over time. This got me to to the "L" on the display and "PLEASE LOAD DISC" onscreen with the player making a constant buzzing sound. I tried manually working a disc through the load / extraction process by pushing a disc in until it hit the back hooks that grab the inner caddy ring. I manually pulled out the outer caddy and the disc dropped onto the turntable but still no motion from the pickup or the turntable.

Any suggestions would be appreciated. I'm reasonably handy with this stuff (used to repair VCRs back in the day), but I may not have the time / patience these days to do this myself unless the fix is very simple. I might be willing to pay for the repair within reason to get this unit up and running since, as I said, it is very nice cosmetically.

Thanks in advance!

[Fred Garvin]

Duh, after looking a little more closely, I see that the function motor drive belt is gone. Not worn or broken but just gone! Dissovled or whatever. I guess I just don't have enough experience with vintage electronics; I thought the black goo was gear lubricant not the remains of the belt. Sounds like a piece of cake fix; makes me miss the good old days of repairing electronics...

Anyway, feedback for a CED newbie is certainly welcome; this looks like fun!

Thanks!

[Daxi Don]

SKT400 problems. Fred, contact me at e-mail address: poppit17@hotmail.com I can help you. Don.