CED VideoDisc and Player Discussion

[sean]

Hello and first of all thanks to Tom and contributors for developing such an extensive and helpful site and community for videodisc players. I would be hopeless about repairing my player if the site didn't exist.

My problem is that the player will not load the disc when inserted. I've read about the parts related to this problem here, here and here. But I haven't found an exact description of my problem.

I took off the cover of the player to see what's happening and this is what I saw. The rubber rollers grab the caddy and start to pull it in, but when the front edge of the caddy gets an inch or two away from the latch it stops being pulled in. But, the rollers actually keep on rolling, they just slip against the surface of the caddy. The motor reverses direction to eject the caddy after a couple seconds and the disc never gets loaded.

It seems like there is too much friction in the area of the door. This excess friction is too much for the motor and rollers, and so even though the motor, belt, and rollers are doing what they're supposed to do, it is not enough to pull the caddy all the way in. This would make sense because to load the disc into the player you have to awkwardly tilt the disc (back/handle end up) and use what seems to be excessive force to push the disc in. It doesn't seem like it would be by design that it would take so much to get the disc in. But by inspection I can't see that anything about the door is broken.

Is it possible that something about the door is broken or warped and if so, can something be done about it?

Thanks so much for any help. I would really like to get the player going. My grandparents handed down the player to me to fix it and I have a big collection of movies that are waiting to be watched.

[toasterking]

(BTW, this should apply to all J/K players.)

When the player is in any mode other than load ("L") or unload ("UL"), a mechanism closes and "locks" the door flap to prevent a disc from being inserted. Perhaps this mechanism is broken or stuck in your player.

There are two metal rods connecting the door flap assembly to apertures on the control gear near the back of the player:

1. The upper, thicker metal rod is used to "sense" if the door flap is being held open by a disc caddy and prevent closing the door and attempting to load the disc.

2. The lower, thinner metal rod is used to both close and lock the door. (Note that it doesn't lock it completely, but only prevents it from being opened far enough to allow insertion of a caddy.) The control gear has a lobe that operates a pivoting metal lever. This lever is connected to the lower rod and pushes forward on the rod (toward the front of the player) to close/lock the door. This causes two things to happen:
a. This lower rod is bent in all kinds of crazy angles in the area where the disc enters and is also attached to the back of the door flap. It pushes against the door flap and the bend in the rod causes it to spring shut. When that happens, two raised areas of the same rod also rest against the metal deck in the door flap's path, preventing the door flap from being pushed open completely. It could very well be that this rod is bent, or stuck, or both in your player and preventing the door from being pushed open fully. In this mode, the door flap should be able to be pushed nearly all the way open so that it rests against the metal deck. If it is being impeded by the bends in the rod, this is your problem.
b. The lower rod also causes another, thicker rod that runs parallel to the face of the player to pivot, which causes black plastic stops to move into the path of a caddy, preventing it from being inserted. (The same stops allow the disc to drop below the caddy spine after it is inserted and "park" it on the caddy spine before unloading.) These could be getting in the way also.

I'm guessing you have a bent rod or are missing a return spring somewhere. With no disc inserted, you can turn the player's power on and off to operate all these parts. Study them in motion and see what you can learn.

Also, if you haven't done it already, it would help to resurface the rubber on those rollers that pull the caddy in to make sure they are performing optimally. Old rubber rollers tend to slip like yours are doing. If the rubber on the outside of the rollers looks shiny, it probably needs attention. Pick up a spray can of "rubber roller restorer/rejuvenator" at an electronics store and give it a try. If you can't find that, someone else here may know of a similar chemical substitute.

I hope this helps!

[sean]

Thanks! You've given me a lot to go off of. I will look into it when I have some time.

Thanks again. I'll let you know how it goes.

[Beetlescott]