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cassette deck starting to eat tapes

67.85.85.174

Posted by Lipwak on February 18, 2007 at 17:15:41

Hi,

I've used cassettes for years. I know that when problems start up you clean the path (heads, pinch rollers, capstans, etc) and that is about all you can do short of taking the deck apart.

My Sony TC-WE835 duplicating deck, was repaired about a year ago, bringing it back to life after both wells died (It wouldn't let the tapes out and when I broke the door to get the tapes out, the left deck had other problems). The shop I took it to about a year ago, fixed it all up although never got the speed quite right on the left hand deck. (It's close but not exactly on speed. I could, but don't use the pitch control to slightly slow it down....)

But anyway, my problem now is that the left hand deck is starting to eat tapes. I start them out all wound, ready to go and I hear a crinkle so I stop immediately. Looking at one of the tapes it just tried to eat, I see a wrinkled edge along top of the side being used and also some diagonal lines that would look like (half) an arrow pointing to the right, the direction the tape is going, spaced out about an inch or the width of the last open space before the tape disappears into the case.

What do those indications mean? What is causing this? I have cleaned the deck with alcohol and Q Tips, not seen anything unusual, and felt around the tape path with my fingers.The tape guide at the right hand side of the rotating head assembly does feel a little sharp, compared to the one in the right-hand well and perhaps looks off center. That COULD be the cause but I don't know how that could have happened.

Any ideas on what is going on here would be appreciated. I am using reasonably new, a year or two old, Maxell XLII 90s but to honest I have had some problems with Maxell in the past few years where I never used to. Have had several defective cassettes, never used to have a problem with them. Has Maxell lost its good quality?

Many thanks.

John L

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