ferguson 3V00

[rob t]

Cant believe my luck .
I went up the local car boot sale this morning and sat on a table was 3V00 complete with mains lead and aerial lead.
Now i have wanted one for a long time but the prices for tidy looking ones have got silly .
The guy selling it does house clearance .
Trying not to show too much interest i asked "how much for the old video"?
When he told me £1 well to say i was surprised is an under statement.
Any way £1 changed hand and its now mine.
the picture is how it came.
It will probably be Monday before i have time to look at it but first signs are good i can hear the loading motor trying to unload the tape
the clock works .
First job will to remove the bottom and replace the loading belt to remove the tape then see how many of the other rubber bits need changing .
Rob T

[Doz]

Best of luck getting belts. I had to import mine from the States!

[crustytv]

Hi Rob,

What absolute blinder of a find, well done

Now I'm going to be following this with great interest as I have a couple of these sitting under the bench for well over 18 months. I've no idea when it comes to video repairs and when I look inside they make me shudder with the complexity. Looking forward to picking up knowledge from your endeavours.

[rob t]

No problem with belts and idlers i still have some i hope after all these years they still ok .
Heads may be a problem .i have a spare from 3v22 which may or may not work.
Rob t

[Doz]

I think you can fit 3V30 heads too. I've got a new set sat on the shelf waiting for the day...

[malcscott]

I had to get my belt kits from New Zealand!!

[Till Eulenspiegel]

There is a 3V22 in the shop. If, after a set of new belts are fitted it will work. Same as 3V00 except for the cabinet colour. The earlier 3292 is even rarer, it's tricky machine when comes to setting up the servo circuits.
Best of all the "mechanical" Ferguson VCRs is the 3V16, gives perfect stills. 3292 1978. 3V00 1979. 3V16, 3V22 3V23 1980.
Upstairs above the shop there is a JVC version of the Ferguson 3V23, the "Starship Enterprise" model.

Till Eulenspiegel.

[PYE625]

Well done !! Bargain of this century lol.

Can remember seeing one of those in our local TV shop in 1979/80 and being astounded that you could record television programmes lol

[Till Eulenspiegel]

How about this? Two 3V23 type machines.

Till Eulenspiegel.

[Till Eulenspiegel]

Found the 3V22. The Akai is looking for a good home. I'm keeping the other two.

Till Eulenspiegel.

[rob t]

Well the weather put a stop to what i was going to do so bring on the 3V00.
first job was to remove the tape that was part loaded so 4 screws out of the bottom plate
next remove the 3 screws from the front of the board leave the 2 at the back alone

bottom off

lets have a look at the mechanical bits

take off the guard from the bottom of the capstan and replace the belt (2 screws )

change the other two square section belts the head drive belt was ok .
plug in turn on and oh joy the tape unloaded and eject worked.
plug aerial into tv ,tune tv into test pattern switch to colour and press play.
amazing a locked colour picture
]

so sorry chris boring there is other work to do the play idler needs a new tyre the loading mec needs degreasing .and of coarse it needs a good clean.
Oh and one of my replacement belts (the long main drive is a bit hard.
rob t

[hamid_1]

Those old piano-key video recorders used to be everywhere in the 1980s. Thorn had loads of them on rental, and eventually they appeared in large numbers on the secondhand market as ex-rental machines.

They remained in use for many years, they were solidly built and fairly reliable but needed routine maintenance such as replacement of the belts and the cassette lamp. One reason why some people kept them going was allegedly they were not so susceptible to the effects of Macrovision copy protection which meant they were good for making copies of pre-recorded rented movies

I had a few of those over the years, including the "Deluxe" piano-key model with wired remote control and picture search, and a very rare multi-standard version JVC HR-3330TR (PAL, SECAM recording and NTSC 4.43 playback). I also remember Till's JVC / Akai front loading models, nicknamed the "Space Shuttle". When you open the front flap, it reveals a bewildering array of buttons and controls, a bit like the space shuttle would have.

Sadly I didn't keep any of these old VHS machines. I never imagined they would become valuable or collectible. When supermarkets started selling new VHS recorders for £40, secondhand machines became worthless - even repairs became pointless. Actually, when I think about it, I've got rid of lots of stuff like dual-standard TVs that would be worth money now, but at the time you couldn't give them away (I didn't know anyone else who collected such old junk). What's worse, some the stuff I did keep has remained worthless ...

Anyway, this should be a fun project. It's not too difficult to get these things working but as has been hinted, getting spare belts can be difficult now. Belt kits were once readily available, but not anymore since the cheap supermarket VCRs and then the disappearance of the VCR from mainstream use has pretty much killed off any demand for stockists of spare parts. Even "new old stock" rubber parts may be past their shelf life by now. I hope you can find the belt you need to restore it fully.

[Doz]

I had to get my belt kits from New Zealand!!

Sadly, no stock there now. I used SMC electronics in the US. After a lot of cross-referencing, I found it's the same as a JVC portable they stock. When I enquired about stock, I was told they hold NO stock, but make each set up. They look perfect, but the machine's in the tuit pile.

[malcscott]

I got the last ones.

[rob t]

A google search brings up this http://www.signalsuk.com/Shop/Belts/Bel ... t-Kit.html
a bit expensive but.
Rob T

[Jayceebee]

Also, "No Longer Available"

But, what a superb find. Electronics were pretty much bomb proof though the mechanics could be rather tricky, especially the guides and wear on the play key. Only two motors to worry about, drum and capstan. Drum, as it's name suggests drives the upper (video heads) and lower drum. Capstan, carries out load/unload along with all the other tape transport functions via the numerous belts.

John.

[Doz]

A google search brings up this http://www.signalsuk.com/Shop/Belts/Bel ... t-Kit.html
a bit expensive but.
Rob T

They refunded my money as they don't have stock. Obviously haven't updated their website

[Katie Bush]

Hi Rob,

What absolute blinder of a find, well done

Now I'm going to be following this with great interest as I have a couple of these sitting under the bench for well over 18 months. I've no idea when it comes to video repairs and when I look inside they make me shudder with the complexity. Looking forward to picking up knowledge from your endeavours.

Hi Chris,

One old engineer once said to me "A video recorder is just a telly without a display device - instead of which it has two or three motors, a small number record & play heads and a couple of servo circuits".. Though not strictly true, he did have a point, in as much as most of the problems to be encountered were largely "TV faults" or worn/damaged video heads.. One fault I do recall on these JVC/Ferguson machines was the worn bushes (spindle bearings) in the capstan motor which caused the displayed (replay) picture to drift left and right by about an inch (on a 25" screen, and with a very badly worn motor).. I spent ages trying to resolve what I thought was a servo issue, only to be given this invaluable nugget of information - a motor "borrowed" from another machine soon proved the point.

I used to gather up a few of these early VHS machines from the local house clearance (junk) auctions for a couple of quid a piece, tidy up and service, then put them out again for about £30 a piece via the boot sales!

By Now, my granddad had departed from this world, so I was only really playing at it, just for the entertainment value, but by 'Ecky thump' I wish I could have known what these things would be worth in the future.

Marion

[Katie Bush]

Hi Rob,

What absolute blinder of a find, well done

Now I'm going to be following this with great interest as I have a couple of these sitting under the bench for well over 18 months. I've no idea when it comes to video repairs and when I look inside they make me shudder with the complexity. Looking forward to picking up knowledge from your endeavours.

Hi Chris,

One old engineer once said to me "A video recorder is just a telly without a display device - instead of which it has two or three motors, a small number record & play heads and a couple of servo circuits".. Though not strictly true, he did have a point, in as much as most of the problems to be encountered were largely "TV faults" or worn/damaged video heads.. One fault I do recall on these JVC/Ferguson machines, that manifested itself somewhat further down the line, was the worn bushes (spindle bearings) in the capstan motor which caused the displayed (replay) picture to drift left and right by about an inch (on a 25" screen, and with a very badly worn motor).. I spent ages trying to resolve what I thought was a servo issue, only to be given this invaluable nugget of information - a motor "borrowed" from another machine soon proved the point.

I used to gather up a few of these early VHS machines from the local house clearance (junk) auctions for a couple of quid a piece, tidy up and service, then put them out again for about £30 a piece via the boot sales!

By Now, my granddad had departed from this world, so I was only really playing at it, just for the entertainment value, but by 'Ecky thump' I wish I could have known what these things would be worth in the future.

Marion

[rob t]

There is no sign of this one ever being serviced the heads look original even the bulb (tape senser ) is original.
I was hoping there may have been something more interesting to do but no even the tracking is correct .
I thought at the very least i would have to set up the servo's.
it takes about a second for the head servo to lock.
even the base screws still have there anti shake washers.
Rob T

[rob t]

I have finally gotten hold of a belt kit .
I had to buy a multi kit VBK 7506 i wont say where from as i had the last one.
the only belt i needed was the capstan belt as i already had a new old stock 3v00 kit but the capstan belt had gone hard.
as i had to pay £14 for the kit i changed them all the video now works like new .
so if anyone wants a VBK 7506 belt kit minus the 3v00 capstan belt its yours for the cost of postage.
sadly i do not have room to keep this so will probably put it up for sale.
Rob t