cassette tape stuck in player

Subject: cassette tape stuck in player
From: JennieG
Date: 27 Jul 17 - 02:17 AM

Possibly like many here I still have a small number of commercially-recorded cassette tapes (souvenirs of festivals long ago, Tom Paxton and John McCutcheon among them) and last week thought I would see if they still played. Unfortunately the first one I tried stuck in the player, and now I can't open the door to remove it....it makes a continual clacking noise. The unit was bought several years ago and the radio works beautifully as does the CD player, so chucking it seems a waste.

Any ideas about how to open the door and free the (by now probably useless) tape?

Subject: RE: cassette tape stuck in player
From: FreddyHeadey
Date: 27 Jul 17 - 02:36 AM

No.

Have you googled the model details yet. There might well be a downloadable manual which will give you some clues or diagrams.

Subject: RE: cassette tape stuck in player
From: JennieG
Date: 27 Jul 17 - 02:50 AM

Freddy, we have - but no joy. It's a JVC model, and JVC seem to be no longer around.

Subject: RE: cassette tape stuck in player
From: GUEST
Date: 27 Jul 17 - 03:07 AM

Rewind, maybe???

Subject: RE: cassette tape stuck in player
From: Will Fly
Date: 27 Jul 17 - 03:11 AM

Jennie - try this page to see if will help:

http://www.ehow.com/how_7768205_remove-stuck-cassette-tapes.html

Subject: RE: cassette tape stuck in player
From: JennieG
Date: 27 Jul 17 - 03:18 AM

Himself has managed to lever the door open and remove the tape, but the clacking noise continues.

Will Fly, the problem was we couldn't open the door to remover the tape at all - fortunately that's now done, so Himself is having a tinker.

Subject: RE: cassette tape stuck in player
From: vectis
Date: 27 Jul 17 - 03:20 AM

If it is a JVC the loading/ejecting mechanism may be a 'wurm' drive. Dismantle the unit until you can get to the end of the screw that is the top of the worm drive and start winding to let the tape out same as the eject on a video tape.

Subject: RE: cassette tape stuck in player
From: Joe Offer
Date: 27 Jul 17 - 03:23 AM

I take it that this is a portable "boom box" - I don't think any of those things had decent cassette players to begin with, and now it must be at least 10 years old, and more likely 20. Wikipedia says that most of the major U.S. music companies discontinued production of cassette tapes by late 2001, and there were only 34,000 pre-recorded cassettes sold in the U.S. in 2009.

I'd suggest that you get a used cassette deck that looks like it's in pretty good condition (TEAC is a good brand), and clean it really well. Use a Q-tip and rubbing alcohol on the head, and on the capstan and the rubber wheel. It's really important that the rubber wheel be clean and soft. Play your cassettes on the deck (fast-forward and rewind them first), and record them onto digital media (onto your computer is good). Don't expect to be able to play them more than ones, so record them right away.

But that cassette that's stuck in your boom box is ruined, and the boom box cassette player isn't worth fixing because it was junk in the first place. Don't bother with it. You can probably find the music on YouTube.

Good luck.

-Joe-

Subject: RE: cassette tape stuck in player
From: JHW
Date: 27 Jul 17 - 03:53 AM

Prerecorded tapes have always been a problem themselves. They grind to a halt. I've had to replace by cd or whatever.
My kit suffers more from lack of use than worn out so when I go to use the cassette deck or the reel to reel odds are that something has stopped working since I last used it. Martin Farrace (expert at Redcar) got mine apart when I had the jammed in problem last year. Aiwa dual capstan 3 head deck. Cassette decks are unbelievably complicated.    In the end it was a hidden tiny microswitch sticking that was the problem.

Subject: RE: cassette tape stuck in player
From: punkfolkrocker
Date: 27 Jul 17 - 04:57 AM

The main problem with older Audio gear, even high end Hi Fi, is that any rubber or foam parts have most likely perished and become sticky gooey or dry dust by now...

Youtube is good for how to videos.. and ebay for generic replacement rubber drive belts, etc..

no guarantees..

Subject: RE: cassette tape stuck in player
From: Joe Offer
Date: 27 Jul 17 - 05:25 AM

Yeah, PFR, that capstan roller is a big problem, because it either gets sticky or hard as a rock. Either way, it's deadly.
-Joe-

Subject: RE: cassette tape stuck in player
From: meself
Date: 27 Jul 17 - 01:20 PM

I've had more trouble with CD players. I have several stereos with non-functioning CD-players but fully functioning tape-players. And two or three little cassette-tape-recorders that work just fine. Of course, back in the day when I used them all the time, there were occasional tangles and jam-ups.

Subject: RE: cassette tape stuck in player
From: JHW
Date: 27 Jul 17 - 03:21 PM

My kitchen cd/radio/cassette doesn't do cds anymore. Said every one of my cds was faulty but I'm sure it was lying rather than admit failure.
Cassette deck (autoreverse) still works but however much you turn the tape over or fast wind this way and that it always comes back to playing the track you didn't want.

Subject: RE: cassette tape stuck in player
From: nutty
Date: 27 Jul 17 - 04:12 PM

My CD player won't read CD's if the unit is switched on when I load them - however - if I load the CD and then switch it on it works perfectly.

Subject: RE: cassette tape stuck in player
From: JennieG
Date: 27 Jul 17 - 07:03 PM

My unit is this one - bought a while ago ( 2000, perhaps - I disremember) and spends all its time in my sewing room, it was bought for that purpose. I find it difficult to work/sew/do just about anything in silence.

Haven't checked it since last night, but I bet it's still clicking although there is no tape in it.

Subject: RE: cassette tape stuck in player
From: Sandra in Sydney
Date: 27 Jul 17 - 07:23 PM

every night since the early 90s I've played a meditation tape in my Phillips CD Soundmachine. Amazing! they still make them tho they now have a USB port (I want one!, then I could copy my tapes)

The Sony tape was created at a meditation weekend & still works well.

Several months ago I found a cleaning cassette & ran it - first time I'd cleaned the machine for years. As the machines are still available, cleaning kits must be around, so I'll look for one.

sandra

Subject: RE: cassette tape stuck in player
From: punkfolkrocker
Date: 27 Jul 17 - 08:05 PM

Any kind of cassette accessory that used to be cheap from high street department stores,
now carries a much higher price on the internet
due to scarce supply of remaining new old stock;
and a new wave of young hipster converts to old obsolete cassette technology...

Brand new unused TDK head cleaning tapes are now a ridiculous price.

Subject: RE: cassette tape stuck in player
From: Sandra in Sydney
Date: 28 Jul 17 - 04:57 AM

thanks, punkfolkrocker

I know a source of unused cleaning tapes sitting inside a carton of boxed sets of dance music. I'll have to raid them before they are thrown out ...

sandra

Subject: RE: cassette tape stuck in player
From: JHW
Date: 28 Jul 17 - 05:00 AM

Hazel - that's a clever trick with the cd player I'll remember but alas the kitchen one needs the power on to stick out then swallow the tray to load the thing.
Sandra in Sydney - I used a cleaning kit on a laptop CD drive. Never worked again after that

Subject: RE: cassette tape stuck in player
From: GUEST,Mark Bluemel
Date: 28 Jul 17 - 07:26 AM

Punkfolkrocker wrote:
"Any kind of cassette accessory that used to be cheap from high street department stores,
now carries a much higher price on the internet
due to scarce supply of remaining new old stock;
and a new wave of young hipster converts to old obsolete cassette technology...

Brand new unused TDK head cleaning tapes are now a ridiculous price. "

Looks like blank verse or a postmodern take on a haiku.

Subject: RE: cassette tape stuck in player
From: punkfolkrocker
Date: 28 Jul 17 - 12:33 PM

.. or I haven't had my eyes tested, or any new prescription lenses, for 20 years..
got used to the gradual decline in reading distance vision,
and guesstimate at where the next line should start... 😜

I was still recording almost daily onto cassettes, and using film in cameras
when I last got a new pair of glasses...

Subject: RE: cassette tape stuck in player
From: GUEST,.gargoyle
Date: 29 Jul 17 - 05:53 AM

And aid in playing cassette tapes is graphite dusted into the two center hubs on cassette for lubrication. Shaving/scraping the "lead core" of a soft HB pencil is a good source.

Sincerely,
Gargoyle