UPDATE - The camera lives!
At least mechanically, the camera is fixed! Now, the only thing left to do is a complete recap. The video colors are very bad, and does not look very good. Both the VCR and camera need the recap.
How I fixed it:
So with the machine disassembled I powered it with its original supply (no modifications done at the camera at this moment, complete original (just dissasembled). Nothing happened at first. After insisting a few times and rotating some parts of the machanism manually it started working, kind of. I basically just poked were and there and it came back to life. However, it was acting funny. The order of actions (loading the tape around the drum, ejecting the lid) was completely wrong, plus it thought there was a tape at all times (even when there wasn't anything on it), so it was consantly trying to load its imaginary tape. Spinning up and down, loading and unloading. Something obviously was wrong, and I tought in starting by cleaning the mode switch. Turns out this machine has two mode switches!
So I started with the one closer to the lid, called loading switch by the service manual. I disassembled it and cleaned it, and that was where I made a terrible mistake, I completely lost all alignement on the mechanicals. Being the first VCR I work on, I did not know that, but apparently allignment is VERY important on these things (like a timing belt on a engine)
.
After assembling, it was worse, a lot worse. Grinding gears, a lot of noise, did not do anything right. It took me a while to realize the problem. After identifying it, with the help of the Service manual (which have described every switch position (on both mode swithces) at every step in the cycle (loading, unloading, etc.) the mechanical part however was complete trial and error, and there appears to be a separate service manual only for the mechanism , which I found plenty for other Video 8 camcorders, but none for my mech (it is the K-Mechanism apparently, or type 1, as it was the first being invented).
So... after long hours of trial and error, almost giving up on the camera, I got it to allign perfectly. It is now working like a charm
Tape path is perfect, loads and unloads very good, plays at the right speed! It is fixed! Put oil in some gears, and now it functions like when it was new.
So the problem was in fact the mode switch. Did not clean the second one though (as it is working very fine at the moment, and
if it works don't touch it
)
Now, the only thing left to do is as I said a complete recap. I probed the video head amp and there are a lot of bad caps there. So that is the next thing I am going to do. But mechanically it is very good at the moment!
Check if the camera has a small lithium battery soldered somewhere. The battery may have gone bad.
Regarding this, no problem, as the machine has no lithium batteries (it doesn't have a clock
)
Here are some picture of the camera:
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