From: Huvants Tuneau I came across your web page when looking for a cross reference for belts on my AIWA F770 cassette tape unit. As you described, they had melted and become goo. That goo was nicely distributed over the inside of the unit after I powered it on after not using it for a couple of years... Yum! Actually, the two belts are different sizes; the motor to capstan is a bit longer than the one between the capstans. I suppose you could stretch the the shorter one to fit, but it might not last long and may put extra wear on the bearings which would ultimately cause some wobbling, and thus distortion in the sound. Anyway, here is a transcript of email with a vendor which supplied me with one of the belts I needed. http://www.action-electronics.com/beltf.htm Their prices are good, they ship quickly, and don't overcharge for it. Unfortuneately, they don't sell the FRW9.7 any more; I got it in a kit for something else at Fry's Electronics, but they were closing out all of their belt kits. I didn't try the FRM9.7 since I already had the FRW, but it looked too narrow, and I'd be concerned about it walking off the center of the convex motor pulley. ___________________________________ Hi Folks, Thanks for the info, and the timely shipping - it helped me finish my project before the deadline. As it turns out the BEST fit for the Aiwa F770 is an FRW9.7 (it is wider than the FRM9.7, a better fit to the motor/capstan), and the FR9.4 (similar to the FRW). Both belts should be about 1/4 inch wide. I'm calling Capstan 1 the one on the right from the front, that is on the takup reel side (which would be the only one on a single capstan unit). So, IMHO here is the xref: Aiwa F770 Cassette Tape Belts: FRW9.7 -- Motor to Capstan 1 FR9.4 -- Capstan 1 to Capstan 2 I won't need the FRM9.2, so please cancel that backorder. Cheers! -----Original Message----- From: Action Electronic Whlse Co [mailto:sales@action-electronics.com] Sent: Monday, October 06, 2003 10:19 AM _________________________________________________________________ For what its worth, when I did the belts I made sure that the capstans were freshly lubricated with a synthetic oil, and that the tiny black oil retention washers were pushed back down on the pin ends of the capstans - keeps the oil on the capstan shafts and off of the tapes, and keeps the dirt out of them, too. Also, it is a good idea to periodically clean the pinch rollers with a de-glazing fluid like trichloroethane (aka "trike"), or a commercial typwriter platen cleaner, though that may be hard to find nowadays. Using alchohol (ethanol or isopropanol) is OK for frequently cleaning off the brown tape oxides, but eventually leaves a hard slick residue, a glaze, on the pinch rollers which allows the tape to slip. The rollers should be matt black and grippy, not hard and slick. Carbontetrachoride probably works almost as well, but smells bad and is even worse to breath than the trike... Use "adequate ventilation" as they say... Perhaps one of the newer adhesive removers would do as well, but I haven't tried any of them... You could also have one of the belts slipping, probably the motor to capstan one would have the more dramatic effect, if it was too large. The 9.7" belt was definitely too big for the capstan to capstan belt - on mine it slipped off easily on its own. Cheers! _________________________________________________________________