CED VideoDisc and Player Discussion

[CEDcollector27]

I recently discovered videodisc and aquired an sft100, it loads the disc and plays but loops about every 5 to 10 seconds. If i take my hand and slowly move the white or black gear it will continue and not loop for about 20 seconds. It will not respond to ff but both rewinds move the arm back. I think it may be the servo motor but have no clue where to buy one. Any help would be great.

[RT9342]

When I first got my SGT-250, it had the exact opposite problem: it skipped forward every 10 seconds or so, and FF worked, but REW did not. In my player, I ended up having to replace the arm, but you might be able to adjust yours. Mine would no longer adjust - that's why I replaced it. If you look at the cover on the right side of the arm (it's probably a copper cover), there will be a small hole labeled "SERVO BAL ADJ". The adjustment requires a small hex tool. If your arm is still good, you should be able to adjust it to the point that it acts like it's rewinding or fast-forwarding when it should be playing. If you get that, find the range in which it plays without skipping or looping and then fine-tune it by comparing the visual search rewind and fast-forward rates. Rewind and fast-forward should be equal in speed. You may also need to adjust another servo adjustment on the bottom side of the computer board (the board on the top front side) if you can't get real good results from the arm adjustment. If neither adjustment does anything at all, then you may need to replace the arm. I have one spare that I would be glad to give away, if you needed it. I would only offer it "as-is", but it was working before I salvaged the player that it came out of.

By the way, being your motor does work in rewind, the motor is okay - it's a simple DC motor, so if the motor or the belt was bad, it wouldn't rewind or fast-forward at all.

[CEDcollector27]

Thanks for the advice RT but the adjustment did not seem to help. If you still would be interested in sending the replacement arm it would be very appreciated. You can email me at wctsdime@gmail.com. Thanks again for the reply.