[Closed] 1977 Philips N1700: Player No #1 repair

Progress report
Slow steps in the right direction

p.s
By all means post the link Andy as it falls within the allowed exceptions as detailed in the latter part of rule No.6 covering e-bay, see here 

Just put the removed video drum head from the N1700, that was giving poor playback under the microscope.

Now I'm no video expert and I've no experience of heads or their wear, however these to me look very worn with the emphasis on very. That observation might also be supported by the fact the replacement head is giving results and playback.

I am no expert on identifying head wear with a microscope either. suffice to say it is the head gap itself that determines the frequency response at micron levels, I am not sure we mere mortals would be able to optically detect this without more sophisticated measuring equipment ( some form of graticule at the very least ?) then you have the tip penetration (ooer missus 😉  ) which  might be able to be seen under magnification, sometimes this is better felt through cleaning pads/wipes that used to be available and even this was a bit subjective sometimes.

I am not sure in your picture with the annotated arrows particularly suggest wear as such, as the heads when new would have been ground with leading and trailing edges anyway to prevent any unwanted corners of the head chip from digging in to the tape and scratching/tearing it.

The only really sure way the likes of us could tell with any degree of certainty (subjective in itself) would be really to try the original heads again.

Now you are probably  beginning to see why I bang on about known good tapes and recordings 😉 , otherwise you could easily misdiagnose problems and/or end up chasing your tail going round in circles.

I put the old heads back in and it would not playback the good tape. I think 'them thar heads be the problem captain' , I'm done for today, I've even started dreaming VCR's.  ? The other night in a dream I figured out the problem was likely SK17 contact, do you think I'm starting to go mad or do other people fix things in their dreams.

On another note I'm impressed with the N1500, its heads seem to be in very good condition evidenced by the good quality record and playback of that record. Probably saved from over use by the Muppet who put the wrong transistor in, thereby consigning it to the relative safety of 40 years of storage.  Oh and I think its safe to say all my tapes have N1700 recordings.

p.s.
come on boys N girls subscribe to Vratube its all very quiet over there 

I have not seen these video heads but from memory didn’t the VHS one protrude from the head shell, that’s why they were easily damaged if not carefully cleaned, these Philips ones look flush with the head shell.

Exactly the point I was trying to illustrate unsuccessfully Frank. The heads main body to my untrained eyes are well below the drum edge (ignoring the tapered edges), I fail to see how any cleaning pad would ever make contact, absolutely no danger of chipping anything off with incorrect cleaning pad placement. Like you I expected them to protrude even if only ever so slightly.

Hi Chris,

I didn't mean to imply that the original heads were not worn, just that the leading/trailing edges (arrowed in the previous pics) were not necessarily indicative of wear per se.

You are learning a lot though, which is a good thing in and of itself.  

Ah-ha I get you, yes tapered edges makes sense  ? 

Hi Frank,

I did mention head tip penetration a couple of posts back, and did mention it was sometimes possible to judge by "feel" this, albeit subjectively, and yes I agree those heads of Chris's in the pic did look below the periphery.

Missed that bit. Not unusual for me.

Although domestic video recorders were around in 1974 onwards the first I saw was in 1978 and the last in 1981. Machines were new so faults were relatively simple so I am mainly watching from the sidelines, not a lot to offer.

I did have a 2 day training course on an Hitachi camera and recorder in 1980, don’t remember much about it and we never persuaded anyone to rent or buy one.

Another step forward and improvement delivered, as the saga of the N1700 continues........ a short update!

@crustytv Greetings from Italy. Can you please send me your email? I need to repair a 1700 Philips. Thank you

Hi, if you have a question about making repairs to a Philips N1700, please start a new thread, detail your problem and ask any questions you have in that thread.

This is a community forum, folk normally join to become part of that community, not taking queries off-line in private one-to-one discussions that do not benefit the whole community. Finally, I'm not in the habit of giving out personal e-mail addresses to unknown folk.