Greeting All,

I have a CLD-79 that has a broken motor holder (VNL1584) and is missing a gear (part number VNL1574 I think). While it looks like the gear is still available, the motor holder is not. Does anyone know where I can source one?

I'm new to laserdisc players, and am unsure how deep one issue can go, but the laserdisc tray never pops open, and depending on where I position the laser assembly, it sounds like some other motor is working away but doing nothing, and eventually I get an L1 (or was it L3?) error. Is it possible that a belt has snapped for the loading tray as well?

I believe I've also seen an error message beginning with A (possibly A3?) and it sounds like something on the power supply board is wheezing from time to time.

Is it possible that the clearly missing gear on the motor holder is causing the other issues?

I'm hoping to get a sense of whether or not it's worth fixing, and any info/expertise would be greatly appreciated!

This is the info you need.

The parts are out there but very limited, Kurtis may be the only one to have a few on hand.
Good luck.

https://forum.lddb.com/viewtopic.php?f=30&t=8310

having one and had 1 part machine [i gave the it to Duncan when he was working on the LDS2 mod so I don't have any parts anymore and never got] I think stuff is getting expensive and is probably better to buy something else which might even be better picture quality wise which I will probably do but I hope mine last for some time.

While I could be wrong, these seem like the classic symptoms of a player put on the shelf when still working and never used again until someone powered it on 24 years later and...crunch crunch snap.

The power supply struggling probably has to do with the enormous mechanical effort needed to move motors now through frozen up gears with tons of old grease on them.. The missing gear won’t break anything, but it won’t be able to move the laser so it for sure won’t be happy. Your task is to limber up what’s there and hopefully locate spares.

I would look for another player but I wouldn’t chuck this one either. As an LD viewer in 2020 you will need to have lots of players and lots of backup players and players that are just for spares.

Thanks for the info - indeed a 3D printed part may be the only way to go for this. It certainly isn't a simple part to replicate (and looks quite different than the one replicated in the link), so I may try to find another solution first. The only piece broken on the motor holder is the piece that holds the gear in place. It makes me wonder if I can rig something up with a very thin metal standoff and screws (if such a thing exists).

The plot unfortunately thickens some more - it looks like someone cut off (or could it snap off?) a 3 wire housing assembly (VKP2011) that connects to the lever switch (DSK1003) which is part of the side changer mechanism (at the very back of the unit).

And when I move the laser assembly to the center of the tray, nearest the spindle and turn on the unit, it does give me an error of A3. The list of error codes on this forum doesn't mention an A3 (only an A0, for bad power supply), so I'm unsure if this is a power error, or it's getting a bad reading from the missing lever switch?

Thanks for all the info so far!

Sorry I can't help more.
I would look into fixing with plastic, wood or metal and epoxy rather than sheet metal.

If that is the part you need.
Good luck with it.

So basically...the players are f***ed if you use them too much, and they're f***ed if you don't use them at all.

I literally haven't used my D703, D704, and 59 for many years and they seem to be fine still. I do store them in a fairly controlled environment so maybe that's a factor.

I have many players sitting there for many years that work like a charm.
I do get them out once a year and let them spin a movie.
Besides a belt here and there no issues yet.
Aware the caps may fail at one point but that's an easy fix anyway.
Ordered enough M holders when they were available to last a lifetime along wit the prc hub and belts.
When a faulty player turns up locally I buy it just to get the donor back up parts.
now awaiting the Apocalyps to happen

Yes, like almost everything. Try parking your car for twenty years and then starting it.

You know the obvious follow up to this question; if you literally haven’t used them for many years then how do you know they work? You can’t, literally. It’s literally impossible to verify functionality of an LD player without using it. Even if you fire it up once a year that’s still use. There are many players out there that haven't seen use since the last presidential impeachment.

Write me at kbahr@comcast.net and we can see how I can help.

Thank you - will do!