CAL Delta Problem

Your belt is slipping.Put a dab of toothpaste on a toothpick and put on pullys.Solved the problem when I owned one.Also get a new belt.JD

Hi JD, I wasn't aware that there was a belt in there! lol Perhaps a Rubber conditioner like used on Reel To Reel pinch Rollers might help? I have a new bottle of this around here somewhere.

Being the original owner of this CAL Delta, I estimate its age at about 10 years old, and this was something it did on a rare occasion while it was still fairly new, but now has gotten worse. Any ideas on where to get a Belt for this, and how hard is it to change a Belt on this Unit? I've never done anything like this before, and although I'm pretty handy, do have some reservations. I'll have to inspect the innards again, to see where this Belt is located. Any further info would be deeply appreciated, thanks, Mark

Update JD/All
Right after your post, I again removed Case Cover, and with some further examination, seen where the Belt was, and that its purpose is to open, and close the Drawer.

I was able to also carefully, and sucessfully remove the Delta's FacePlate, and also the Silver Metal Top of the Sled to get better access to the Belt, and Pulleys.

I then did clean-treat the little belt with the Rubber Rejuvenator, and a Q-Tip, and got to carefully clean the rest of the internals of the Sled mechanisn with a soft Artist's Brush, and Canned Air, being also extremely careful NOT to touch the Laser Lens. Just gave that a little blast with the Canned Air, and that was all.

Cleaned all other disassembled parts, and also the contacts from the Faceplate to main Body with Pro-Gold, and re-assembled the entire unit without a hitch.

Trying it out again, out of the first 40 times actuating the Drawer, it retracted once on its own.
And ffter another second 40, or so times of operating the Drawer, it hasn't retracted once under it's "own mind", so operation does appear to be vastly better! :-)

A couple of days ago, it was retracting virtually every time I opened the Drawer, and was making CDs a real pain in the tookus to load, so I knew it was time something had to be done.

I certainly didn't wish to get any of my more valuable Mo-Fi CDs hung up in the Drawer not being properly placed in the Drawer, and possibly scratching-scraping them in the process.

The Belt itself looked to be basically in fine shape, and only seen just a little bit of Black Residue on the Q-Tip after treating. I would assume a Belt such as this can be gotten somewhere?, and that the Transport Mechanism is indeed not made by Cal Labs, and was made by somebody else (TEAC?, or ?) Thanks again! Mark

http://www.approvedaudioservice.com/cal.html for belt?

Hi JD, Thank you for the link. I have seen thier site before in the past, and again recently in the Alpha 24/96 Thread.

I've already contacted them, and I'll report back with any replies I get from them to perhaps also assist the rest of the "CAL Community" here.
Thank you again my friend! Mark

I'm going to call Approve Audio about modifying my Units. I hear this was available a few years ago. Any Cal owners have any feedback on these mods?

Hello again all,
I have been in touch with Larry at Approvedaudio.

Larry has been extremely prompt, helpful, and friendly with his replies to me about the mentioned issues with my Delta.

Larry did state that the Belt for the Drawer is avaliable through them for $7.50 ea plus shipping, and that's good news.

I'm going to order a couple of belts from them. I'll replace the original Belt with a new one, and keep the other new spare Belt, and original Belt stashed-stored in light-proof plastic bag for possible future use if I have a need for it. I suspect with the new Belt, I should be good to go for another 10 years! :-) Thanks again folks! Mark

Well, I ordered two Belts from Larry, and the money's on it's way to him.

Playing my system tonight for 1-1/2 hours, the Delta is back to its old antics, with the Drawer closing immediately after opening, and in fact I jammed a 24au copy of Steve Miller Band's Greatest hits tonight in it. The unit's getting me so pissed off, I'm just about ready to take a Sledgehammer to it.

After the cleaning, and treating of the Belt two days ago, it was working so much better. Boy, that was sure short lived! :-(

I never had problems with the transport Drawer ever slipping. I'm doubting the new belt is going to be the fix, and I'm thinking this is most likely some other problem with the Transport that I'm experiencing? Mark