Trying to repair a compact cassette

[Jorden Verwer]

Hello all,

I'm trying to repair a compact cassette of mine which is causing the
cassette deck to stop during the second half of side A and be unable to
maintain a constant speed during the first half of side B. The cassette's
contents (two albums by Anita Meyer) aren't really important to me
emotionally or anything, but I wouldn't be able to easily find a replacement
either. All things considered, it doesn't really matter if I'll succeed in
repairing it, but I'd like to try it anyway, not in the least because I want
to learn something from it.

First of all, I'm going to give you some technical details and definitions
which may or may not be important. The cassette is a Maxell XL II 100 from
around 1990. I will call the side of the cassette that is visible when side
A is playing the front of the cassette, and the side of the cassette that is
visible when side B is playing the back of the cassette. The cassette can be
opened by unscrewing five small screws on the front of the cassette. I will
call the spool that is on the right side when looking at the front of the
cassette the right spool, and the spool that is on the left when looking at
the front of the cassette the left spool. The cassette deck I'm playing it
on is the cassette deck of a Philips FW360C Mini Hifi System from 1996. It
contains two cassette decks which give me the same symptoms for as far as I
was able to determine, but I normally only use the one on the right (Deck
2), because to my ears its sound quality seems to be better than that of the
other deck. I do not own any other working cassette deck, although I do own
several ones that are broken. In conclusion, I can't try this cassette on
another deck. The cassette deck functions absolutely fine when playing any
other cassette I own, including cassettes that have not been played in over
a decade.

The cassette hasn't been played in about a dozen years until recently I
started playing it again. Some of the tape has been damaged since about the
time the cassette was recorded. This part of the tape is very close to the
right spool so only the first few minutes of side A and the last few minutes
of side B are directly affected by it. I suspect the cassette has been
opened back then in order to put the tape back inside, but not by me. Now,
fast forward to 2008...

At first it played seemingly correctly a few times. However, the speed may
have been erroneous during the first part of side B (I can't remember with
absolute certainty but I think it did sound strange in some parts) and I'm
also not sure that part A played perfectly because I was only listening to
music and not to the cassette deck, much less looking at it (I was in
another room, but the door was open). But then a few days ago, the deck
suddenly stopped when it was just past halfway of side A. I assumed it was
just a fluke and just started it again, but the same thing happened when it
was at about two-thirds of side A. I removed the cassette from the cassette
deck and noticed that some of the tape was no longer inside the cassette. I
didn't think much of it, wound it up and started the deck again. Soon after,
the same thing happened. This time I decided to look at the deck to see what
happened. Apparently the right spool was moving very slowly and then
suddenly increased in speed to "catch up" with the tape, so to speak. The
left spool looked just fine. This continued for a few times until the deck
stopped again. I may have tried it a few more times before deciding to
manually wind the tape all the way to the end and play side B. That worked,
although the tape speed was erratic for the first part of the tape, as I
explained before. By the way, winding the tape by hand did not seem to be
more difficult than usual, but I don't do that very often (almost never, in
fact), so my definition of "usual" need not be the correct one. The next
time I tried to play the cassette, essentially the same thing happened,
although I paid more attention to what was going on this time.

I then decided to try to fix things, so I opened up the cassette. Since the
problems only occurred when there was more tape on the right spool than on
the left spool, that is what I focused my attention on. I quickly saw
something (seemingly) awry. At the bottom of the tape, there are two little
wheels, one on the left and one of the right. These wheels guide the tape
towards the spools. Diagonally above each of these wheels there's a little
plastic pin. On the left, the tape was positioned on the outside of this
pin. On the right, it was positioned on the inside. I thought this would be
my problem - it made sense because as the amount of tape on the right spool
increased, the tape would be moving at an increasingly sharp angle,
presumably also increasing the friction. It made sense that this was what my
cassette deck was having difficulty with. For comparison purposes, I also
looked at some other cassettes I own. I didn't open any of them, but as long
as the cassette is fully transparent I didn't have to, so I only looked at
transparent cassettes. I noticed that normal cassettes invariably had the
tape positioned on the outside of these plastic pins (save for a PDM
cassette which didn't have the pins at all). The only exceptions were
prerecorded cassettes with less than 60 minutes of total playing time. So
all in all it seemed very logical that this would be the cause of my
problem, and I was very happy to have diagnosed and fixed it all by myself.
Or so I thought.

Obviously I wouldn't be writing this disgustingly long message if my problem
had been solved. It's still there, the symptoms are all the same. If
anything, it seems to have gotten worse (but the moment the cassette deck
shuts down is more or less random anyway, so I'll just assume thing are
still as they were). So far, all of my hard work has achieved exactly
nothing.

Does anyone have any clue on what to try next, or should I just give up?

Kind regards,

Jorden Verwer

[jakdedert]

Jorden Verwer wrote:
<snip>
>
> Obviously I wouldn't be writing this disgustingly long message if my problem
> had been solved. It's still there, the symptoms are all the same. If
> anything, it seems to have gotten worse (but the moment the cassette deck
> shuts down is more or less random anyway, so I'll just assume thing are
> still as they were). So far, all of my hard work has achieved exactly
> nothing.
>
> Does anyone have any clue on what to try next, or should I just give up?
>
> Kind regards,
>
> Jorden Verwer
>
>

Most likely, your cassette deck is about to give up the ghost
(malfunction) anyway. Your dx of the tape path is almost certainly
correct, but playing the tape in another deck is the only real proof
that it's unplayable.

Anyway, if you're really set on fixing this one, find a new cassette of
the same brand, and transfer the tape reels into the new shell. That
will likely fix the problem for the time being; but my guess is that the
takeup tension on your 12 year old deck is getting weak. Eventually it
will exhibit the same problem with other marginal tapes, and soon after
will only play the most pristine examples...or none at all.

Anything that old which contains moving parts (especially those parts
made of rubber) will eventually need service or replacement.

jak

[Jorden Verwer]

jakdedert wrote:
> Most likely, your cassette deck is about to give up the ghost
> (malfunction) anyway. Your dx of the tape path is almost certainly
> correct, but playing the tape in another deck is the only real proof
> that it's unplayable.
I presume playing it on deck 1 isn't good enough either, since it's just as
old...

Still, I did just that. I played the cassette for as far as it would go.
After manually winding it to the end, I opened the cassette again. This is
getting progressively easier with each try, which is a good thing for me,
but it also means I can only do this a few more times before the plastic
will be completely worn out. Anyway, I'm pretty sure I found the culprit.
The damaged tape section was sticking out somewhat, so the tape looked
noticeably thicker (and far less neat) close to the right spool compared to
the tape farther away from the spool. Most likely, this is what's causing
the increase in friction.

I'll probably just declare the cassette a loss, knowing there isn't much I
can do other than cutting out the damaged section and splicing it back
together, and I don't feel like going through all that trouble. Thank you
for your help. :)

Regards,

Jorden

[Chronic Philharmonic]

"Jorden Verwer" > wrote in message
nl.net...
> jakdedert wrote:
>> Most likely, your cassette deck is about to give up the ghost
>> (malfunction) anyway. Your dx of the tape path is almost certainly
>> correct, but playing the tape in another deck is the only real proof
>> that it's unplayable.
> I presume playing it on deck 1 isn't good enough either, since it's just
> as
> old...
>
> Still, I did just that. I played the cassette for as far as it would go.
> After manually winding it to the end, I opened the cassette again. This is
> getting progressively easier with each try, which is a good thing for me,
> but it also means I can only do this a few more times before the plastic
> will be completely worn out. Anyway, I'm pretty sure I found the culprit.
> The damaged tape section was sticking out somewhat, so the tape looked
> noticeably thicker (and far less neat) close to the right spool compared
> to
> the tape farther away from the spool. Most likely, this is what's causing
> the increase in friction.
>
> I'll probably just declare the cassette a loss, knowing there isn't much I
> can do other than cutting out the damaged section and splicing it back
> together, and I don't feel like going through all that trouble. Thank you
> for your help. :)

You *might* be able to fast-wind it back and forth a few times to loosen it
up enough to play through successfully while you dub it to another cassette,
or possibly better yet, to a .wav file.

[Jorden Verwer]

Chronic Philharmonic wrote:
> You *might* be able to fast-wind it back and forth a few times to loosen
it
> up enough to play through successfully while you dub it to another
cassette,
> or possibly better yet, to a .wav file.
I thought about that, but I figured I'd probably break the tape, seeing how
thin it is in the damaged section...
Should I try doing it by hand? Or will that only make things worse?

Regards,

Jorden

[Chronic Philharmonic]

"Jorden Verwer" > wrote in message
nl.net...
> Chronic Philharmonic wrote:
>> You *might* be able to fast-wind it back and forth a few times to loosen
> it
>> up enough to play through successfully while you dub it to another
> cassette,
>> or possibly better yet, to a .wav file.
> I thought about that, but I figured I'd probably break the tape, seeing
> how
> thin it is in the damaged section...
> Should I try doing it by hand? Or will that only make things worse?

I doubt that fast winding the tape in and of itself would damage it further,
but it depends on what's wrong. Winding by hand may impart more torque than
the player would, and might do more damage. Most cassette decks don't have
enough torque to damage a tape in fast wind mode. They'll grind to a halt if
the tape binds up.

The thin section is probably stretched, which makes the tape curl up
lengthwise so it looks thin, but it is probably nearly as strong as it ever
was. However, I'm only guessing. Without seeing the tape, I can't really
say. As they say, I am not a lawyer, so please proceed with caution.

[Jorden Verwer]

Chronic Philharmonic wrote:
> I doubt that fast winding the tape in and of itself would damage it
further,
> but it depends on what's wrong. Winding by hand may impart more torque
than
> the player would, and might do more damage. Most cassette decks don't have
> enough torque to damage a tape in fast wind mode. They'll grind to a halt
if
> the tape binds up.
You're right. I tried fast forwarding the tape and after a few valiant
attempts the deck stopped. A second try yielded the same result. I didn't
try it a third time because I didn't see the point in torturing my cassette
deck any further.

> The thin section is probably stretched, which makes the tape curl up
> lengthwise so it looks thin, but it is probably nearly as strong as it
ever
> was. However, I'm only guessing. Without seeing the tape, I can't really
> say. As they say, I am not a lawyer, so please proceed with caution.
That makes sense. I'm going to try winding the cassette by hand anyway, just
to see the results. And in fact I think I can feel the increased friction
now when I'm winding by hand... It's still not really difficult, but it
definitely doesn't feel as smooth as when all the tape is on the left spool.

By the way, I figured out the names of the two albums on this cassette, so I
could buy them on CD if I really wanted to. :)

Regards,

Jorden

[whosbest54[_2_]]

In article t>,
says...
>
>
>Chronic Philharmonic wrote:
>> I doubt that fast winding the tape in and of itself would damage it
>further,
>> but it depends on what's wrong. Winding by hand may impart more torque
>than
>> the player would, and might do more damage. Most cassette decks don't have
>> enough torque to damage a tape in fast wind mode. They'll grind to a halt
>if
>> the tape binds up.
>You're right. I tried fast forwarding the tape and after a few valiant
>attempts the deck stopped. A second try yielded the same result. I didn't
>try it a third time because I didn't see the point in torturing my cassette
>deck any further.
>
>> The thin section is probably stretched, which makes the tape curl up
>> lengthwise so it looks thin, but it is probably nearly as strong as it
>ever
>> was. However, I'm only guessing. Without seeing the tape, I can't really
>> say. As they say, I am not a lawyer, so please proceed with caution.
>That makes sense. I'm going to try winding the cassette by hand anyway, just
>to see the results. And in fact I think I can feel the increased friction
>now when I'm winding by hand... It's still not really difficult, but it
>definitely doesn't feel as smooth as when all the tape is on the left spool.
>
>By the way, I figured out the names of the two albums on this cassette, so I
>could buy them on CD if I really wanted to. :)
>
The tape is likely stretched and probably that portion won't go through the
tape path on the player. When that has happened to me, I have cut out the bad
portion and spliced the tape together. You will lose whatever portion of the
albums that you cut out, but they were already gone due to the stretch damage.

whosbest54
--
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[Jorden Verwer]

whosbest54 wrote:
> The tape is likely stretched and probably that portion won't go through
the
> tape path on the player. When that has happened to me, I have cut out the
bad > portion and spliced the tape together. You will lose whatever portion
of the
> albums that you cut out, but they were already gone due to the stretch
damage.
Actually I just did something different. After closer inspection it turned
out that there were some folds in the damaged tape section. I did my best to
smoothen the tape and then wound it all the way to the other side, so the
damaged tape is now closest to the spool and all the undamaged tape is
keeping it in place. I plan to leave the cassette like this for a few days,
but it already looks a lot better (visually) and there seems to be less
friction as well, although that might just be me getting my hopes up. ;)

Regards,

Jorden

[Michael Black[_2_]]

On Wed, 23 Jul 2008, Jorden Verwer wrote:

> whosbest54 wrote:
>> The tape is likely stretched and probably that portion won't go through
> the
>> tape path on the player. When that has happened to me, I have cut out the
> bad > portion and spliced the tape together. You will lose whatever portion
> of the
>> albums that you cut out, but they were already gone due to the stretch
> damage.
> Actually I just did something different. After closer inspection it turned
> out that there were some folds in the damaged tape section. I did my best to
> smoothen the tape and then wound it all the way to the other side, so the
> damaged tape is now closest to the spool and all the undamaged tape is
> keeping it in place. I plan to leave the cassette like this for a few days,
> but it already looks a lot better (visually) and there seems to be less
> friction as well, although that might just be me getting my hopes up. ;)
>
But where did the "crinkling" come from?

I've mangled tapes by playing them in cassette players that weren't very
good, and so the tape spilled out of the holder and got damaged then.
The specific times I can think of, they were long commercial tapes.

I have seen cassettes that have failed in some way, though I can't
remember if the tape spilled out. One commercial tape I bought never
worked from the start, and instead of sending it back, I did a
transplant, since there clearly was a fault in the commercial tape's
physical cassette.

I haven't really followed all this, but if it's the cassette where
the fault lies, you really should splurge on a blank cassette that
holds together with screws, and carefully move the tape to the new
holder. The screws are merely so you can open the cassette up (that
commercial tape I saved, I had to physically break the cassette
because it had no screws). I've never found a need to match cassettes,
I just buy a not completely cheap blank and do the transplant. The
only care needed is to move the tape reels without the tape unwinding,
since that can get messy.

If you have doubts about the state of the cassette case, then it's worth
doing this. As someone pointed out, you likely shouldn't trust the tape,
so you should run it with a means of saving the contents, rather than
expecting the tape to be useful for multiple playings.

Michael

[Jorden Verwer]

Michael Black wrote:
> But where did the "crinkling" come from?
I can't remember, it must've happened somewhere around 1990.

> I've mangled tapes by playing them in cassette players that weren't very
> good, and so the tape spilled out of the holder and got damaged then.
> The specific times I can think of, they were long commercial tapes.
And how long is that? This cassette is not prerecorded, but its length is
100 minutes. In my experience, 100 minutes is the maximum length for
cassettes if you want them to be reliable. 120 minute cassettes are quite
fragile, and to the best of my knowledge even longer tapes don't exist. 100
minute cassettes have never really given me much trouble.

Then again, it's been at least ten years since I actually recorded anything
on cassettes. Nowadays I only play them back.

> I haven't really followed all this, but if it's the cassette where
> the fault lies, you really should splurge on a blank cassette that
> holds together with screws, and carefully move the tape to the new
> holder. The screws are merely so you can open the cassette up (that
> commercial tape I saved, I had to physically break the cassette
> because it had no screws). I've never found a need to match cassettes,
> I just buy a not completely cheap blank and do the transplant. The
> only care needed is to move the tape reels without the tape unwinding,
> since that can get messy.
It's not important enough for me to do that. I might buy the contents of the
cassette on CD if the cassette ever breaks down completely, and get a nice
improvement in sound quality to boot. No, honestly I'm just trying this now
because I'm a perfectionist and hate to fail. ;)

> If you have doubts about the state of the cassette case, then it's worth
> doing this. As someone pointed out, you likely shouldn't trust the tape,
> so you should run it with a means of saving the contents, rather than
> expecting the tape to be useful for multiple playings.
I actually think that my chances are pretty good now. Of course the proof of
the pudding is in the eating, so I won't know for sure until I play the
cassette again. I'll try that a few days from now.

Regards,

Jorden

[Jorden Verwer]

I wrote:
> I actually think that my chances are pretty good now. Of course the proof
of
> the pudding is in the eating, so I won't know for sure until I play the
> cassette again. I'll try that a few days from now.
And it worked. :)

Regards,

Jorden