Edit: Power issues have gotten much worse, check last reply for details.


Hi,

I have had an issue for quite a while with my Pioneer CLD 2070 unit. No matter what type of disc is put in, it refuses to automatically play side B like it should. The carriage makes it all the way around and to the top of the disc, but makes a funny noise and goes back to the home position slowly. Does anybody have an idea of what's gong on here, maybe low power? Here is a video from an old Reddit post of mine: https://www.reddit.com/r/LaserDisc/comm ... _know_why/

Thanks,
RCRacer809

Welcome to the forum.

Can you post a video from the side so we can see if the lens is trying to focus?

Does side A play without issue?

The return does seem like it is lagging behind a bit.

Thanks! I will try to post a video from the side. I believe the laser is trying to focus but the disc never spins up. Also there is no error code and the player goes into STOP position. Yes, side A plays fine.

The CLD-2070 utilizes a 1st generation Alpha Turn mechanism so I am not sure if it could still be a loading belt issue as I'm more used to seeing the issue on the 2nd gen units that always have an obvious jam up during the side change. However, I wouldn't be surprised a loading belt is the problem but maybe it could also be a Side B Centering issue.

I guess I could always open up my CLD-97 since it shares the same mechanism but right now I don't have a lot of time to look @ it right now.

Could you point out where this loading belt could be? Also now that I's thinking a little more, when I received the player (I presume that it hadn't been powered on in a long time) the side B function worked fine, but failed a couple days after I got it.

I am uncertain of the location on this unit because unlike the later generation auto reverse players they used just one motor (and one belt) to do loading and tilt adjustment. The CLD-2070, I believe, has two or more motors which means it would have two or more belts so I wouldn't know where to start until I mess with my own player.

However, going back to your video, I did notice that the player did not start rotating the disc in the opposite direction during the Side B flip and thus the lack of a rotation prevents the rest of the system from starting up. In some cases, this could be a slipping disc caused by a dirty grip ring on the spindle motor (the rubber mat) but it doesn't appear to be the issue with your player because it stops on a dime.

I might focus on the clamper assembly but it's still hard to say.

The CLD-92 uses one belt which is VEB1069. It is under the tray and towards the front and is harder to get to than most of the other players.

The above is probably the same for the CLD-2070, but I can't confirm this.

The CLD-3070 service guide is uploaded here, but the page on the A to B transition is partially cutoff.

Watching the video again, I do believe I hear a motor struggling.

What happens if you try to play side B directly (by pressing the Side B button when the disc is stopped)?

I'd be surprised if there is an actual belt on this machine, I took apart the disc tray to realign it (bought it with a misaligned tay for $30) and did not see any rubber belts, only gears. When I press side B when it is in stop position, same thing as before. When I press side B while the tray is going in, it flashes side B on the screen, but then plays side A and the light switches to A (this is probably normal).

The belt is under a cover towards the front that sits under the tray.

See here:

Oh, that toothed belt - I guess I missed it! I’ll have a look at it tomorrow morning.
Also: thank you to whoever moved my topic to the proper place and renamed it correctly! I’m happy that this is such a friendly place.

If you press side B to play it should go to side B. There should be a switch connected to the blue and white wires, something has been done to this machine as the wires are never out free like that, you can see how it is dressed in the video link that was sent to you. Since the disc never spins in the side B direction for playback you have a mechanical issue of bad electronics that does not properly recognize side B switch of the laser and full forward position of the laser. The first thing I'd look at is the switch on the end of the blue/white wires since it has been messed with before.

Actually, I had checked that switch earlier with a multimeter and it seemed to work as intended. I will double check it today as well.

It's getting worse. First, I resoldered the switch leads back since they were very poorly connected, and checked with a multimeter again and it worked fine. The issue was not fixed. After repeatedly trying to play side B, parts started to move slower and slower. Now, when I eject it, the tray starts coming out, something pops, and it turns itself off. When I manually close the door, it turns on again and the motor spins up even then there is no disc in there. Is this a power supply fault? I'm getting worried.

I'm having trouble telling if this is insufficient power or simply the belt, but you can just check the 13VDC and 5VDC (or whatever voltage is labeled on the board).

My CLD-92 will sometimes turn off on eject, but it had severe power issues that I repaired a while back so I assumed it was something related to that.

Could you tell me the power supply board model that starts with VWR and the transformer model that starts with VTT?

The loading motor has only 1 function when switching from Side A to Side B. It lowers the upper clamp further down so the disc centering hub for the top side is engaged. I'm not sure why Pioneer thought they should re-center the disc on the clamp for the top side. I don't recall ever seeing the center hole off center between sides.

The tray loading mechanism on the 2070/3070 is a true mother-f'er to re-time. I have seen that cause issues where the tray will eject part way and then go back in. The biggest issue I've found is the "grease" pioneer used for the loading gears and cams on the tray turn to virtual glue after time. Every 3070 I've resurrected required removing the entire assembly, cleaning and re-greasing.

Have you tried using an 8" disc? I've seen timeout errors sometimes occur if the disc doesn't come up to speed fast enough.

Im back..

I lost motivation earlier due to the issues getting worse but now I am trying to possibly buy capacitors to recap the power supply. @cplusplus I check the board number and it appears to say VWR 1008. It is hard to read since it appears to have been stamped poorly. There is a code near the transformer that says VNP1123-E. The code physically on the side of the transformer says VTT1049. I'm not sure whether to go ahead and recap the board or keep waiting for another broken 2070 to pop up somewhere (nearly impossible, LD players are extremely hard to come by near me). Any ideas, I can't find the board online, but I found a service manual on eBay which I might get sometime in the future.

Yeah the chances of the board showing up online are slim. I still have the same issue on my CLD-92. I was asking for the board number to see how different it is from the CLD-92's. CLD-91 and CLD-92 both use VWR1013.

Working on these older players is very tedious. It is a nightmare to remove the power supply and to disassemble and reassemble the loading mechanism. That is why my CLD-92 has just been an art piece for a while.

My first line of business will be to clean and re-grease the loading assembly as blam1 said. Followed by that will be a full recap of the power supply. If the issue still persists, I'll have to take a deeper look into the board itself.

I've ordered new capacitors for the entire power supply (I had already mostly gotten the board out, not sure how to remove the main cable without desoldering) and I've checked the loading mechanism which appears to be fine. I will clean it just in case, but to add on, it seems like when the motor struggled the unit would pop and shut off.

Same for me. I can't tell if some protection is kicking in or it just shuts off when not enough power is available (hopefully just bad caps).

Let me know how the recap and cleaning goes. If it doesn't fix the problem, I'll start debugging on my end and we can see what we come up with.

To remove the power cord, you need to desolder it from underneath. Can you post a pic of the power supply?

I was wrong earlier about the power supply model. Doing some more research, it appears to be VWR 1008, not A008 (and I'm not paying 300 dollars for another one). I have attached a picture of it to my reply. Sorry for the bad quality, y iPhone takes pictures in a weird file format and I had to convert it online.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/148908200 ... ed-public/