Of course, you can post up the pictures
@Trekkie4 
Alrighty then!
My "new" old Interbuy VCR finally arrived couple of days ago! Overall I'm happy with what I saw inside the box, as the unit was perfectly preserved from the water, mold and/or any other elements which could affect something that's been sealed inside the cardboard box for almost 30 years! However, with that being said I also got some bad news. Turns out it was also used at some point, maybe for 3-4 years, perhaps even less before the former owner put it back inside the box & maybe forgot about it? IDK...
One way or another, I don't feel cheated or scammed in any way, since the unit was most definitely out of service over the last 10yrs, maybe even longer. All the belts were indeed shot, some even broke when I tried to remove them, and the inside of the VCR is absolutely clean & preserved, looks brand new! It also has the original remote control, which is quite a rarity on these models, usually the remote falls apart 1st, or gets lost by the careless owners so when you buy 2nd hand unit, you most likely won't get the original remote.
So, with all this being said, it's time to show some pics
Seeing the inside of a box like this immediately raised several questions & doubts. Original, factory-sealed unit would never be packed like this, instead it would have a small plastic bag with the remote control & batteries. However, as I already explained earlier, it's all good & turned out better than I expected.
Even before I picked this one up, I knew the belts would be a problem. In fact, on a brand new unit (that's never been used before) the belts would have been (even worse) problem! So I picked up this BV-1150 Video Belt kit for Funai 3 (Shintom) VCRs, for the price of approx. 2.55 USD, along with additional 5 USD or so for the pinch roller. Now, the pinch was mainly OK, and I suppose it could have been treated with "rubber renew" solution, but since I had no idea for how the unit was out of service, sealed inside the box, I just replaced all the rubber components. This way, the VCR will be good for at least 5 years or so!
And so I replaced all the belts and decided to give it a try... I figured the VCR would work perfectly fine, since everything else seemed OK - but I was wrong! Even though the motion cycle worked OK, cassette went in & out, even fast forward & rewind worked OK, as soon as I went into playback or record mode the pick up spool stopped turning & the tape was "spilling" out & around the moving parts, it wasn't being wound back into the cassette. And the problem turned out to be the idler assembly, those two gears in the background. And no, I'm not referring to the more obvious gears, right behind that large black pulley. I'm referring to the other two gears, which are barely visible, behind the metal chassis.
Can you see them now?
If not, you can most definitely see them now, since I had to remove the entire unit from the chassis!
Again, this is something that would repel most VHS users, most of them would even be willing to give it up & throw the entire VCR into the dumpster. But really, it's a plain & simple problem (and fix). Due to sitting around for too long, the gears seized up, kinda "melted" onto the axles, resulting with too much friction & resistance for the clutch & motor to overcome. Which of course translates to geared idlers not being able to wind the tape into the housing, throughout the play & record cycle.
Even though the old gears were in good shape, and could have been cleaned & oiled to the point where the idler would work OK, I remembered having a spare set of Funai-Shintom parts in my collection, so I figured why not... Decided to use the old idler unit (that was ALSO seized up) for parts & use the gears on this "new" Interbuy VCR. Just in case you've been wondering, these spare parts came off the 3rd VCR years ago, which was technically my 1st attempt to find Funai Shintom in working (and preserved) condition. Unfortunately, the one I got through mail wasn't secured properly, so it came completely beaten & cracked from every single angle. All the buttons were broken, it even had (diagonally) cracked PCB, which made the entire unit worthless
On top of everything, it was also pitted with rust, as someone exposed it to water or damp environment over the years. Long story short, I kept everything I could off the mechanical deck, so now I have a spare set of video, audio & control heads, along with various gears & motors.
This part here is the clutch plate, which works the same way as the one in your car
The old clutch seemed OK, but it was just slightly on the loose side, as if the friction material plate inside started to deteriorate, so I replaced the clutch for the other one, from the spare idler. This is a very important component because it allows the constant output speed from the motor to compensate for various differences between the tapes & tape positions, when playing the tape. Like for example, when you are watching the tape at the beginning, your take up spool will be small, and will have to rotate faster to take up the same amount of tape comparing to a large spool (at the end of a tape), which has much larger diameter and will have to rotate way more slower, to take the same amount of slack tape that's coming from the pinch roller & capstan. Of course, the tape speed itself is ALWAYS the same, and it's regulated by the international VHS standards at 3.335 cm/s (1.313 ip/s) for SP, aka the Standard Play speed.
At this stage I started putting things back together again, even replaced the previously mentioned pinch roller with the new one. Again, the old pinch wasn't really that bad, but for the sake of perfection & reliability, I replaced everything! Yes, the capstan is indeed contaminated with iron-oxide particles from the tape, but needles to say I cleaned it up afterwards, along with all the heads
Note the metal chassis inside, that's in mint condition!!
I didn't bother showing you audio/control & erase heads, but THIS is what came off the head drum! Very important tip, when cleaning your drum on a VCR, ALWAYS USE the paper or special cleaning material for this purpose, DO NOT use cotton pads or q-tips. Heads are very small & fragile, and can easily get tangled inside the cotton material & get torn away from the drum, resulting with terminal damage for the VCR, unless you happen to have a spare head! These things can still be found on ebay & various shops, but are VERY expensive, especially for today standards, so it would make more sense to just give up the entire VCR & buy another one (or replace the entire deck)
And there you have it guys, the new old idler is inside the unit & this VCR is now ready to rock & roll
Looks pretty good, if I may say so, myself!
Side by side comparison between the old unit, which I had in service (and used as my "retro" VCR up until yesterday) and the "new" one, which is obviously in much better shape & condition! Yes, I actually had the same model over the last couple of years, but this other one was mangled by the previous owner, used & abused throughout the years! Some idiot placed an old CRT TV on top of the VCR, crushing the top cover (obviously), along with structural support beam of the mechanical deck itself, which messed up geometry, even cracked IR sensors from what I remember. However, I managed to strip all the necessary parts from that 3rd unit which I mentioned before, before I got rid of it, so it actually ended up being in working (and decent condition). Obviously, I couldn't do anything with the top cover, but the inner workings of this other one was completely sorted out, it had a general overhaul approx. 2 and a half years ago. So yeah, just in case you've been wondering, there's nothing obviously wrong with other VCR, apart from the fact it didn't have a remote, mangled case & water damage on the inside.
See what I'm talking about? But, I repeat - it DOES run perfectly fine!
This "old" VCR had also been heavily used, you can tell so by all the scratches on the tape elevator, this one had seen tons of tapes. That's quality for you guys, back when "Made in Japan" actually meant something!
