From post in FB group Vintage transistor radios
I need some advice. I bought a Sony combo cassette player and AM/FM radio ‘boombox’ back years ago when it was new. A few years later I put a cassette in it and played a recording of my now deceased parents. I was listening when it started slurring, and I saw the two reels going in opposite directions. I hit the stop button but too late. The tape had stuck to the capstan and wound up on it, pulling the tape off the reels.
The cassette holder is the ‘slot’ that’s hinged at the bottom and pops open at the top to accept the cassette. It completely surrounds the cassette. After the foulup, I tried to open it up. But because the tape is wound around the capstan, it’s too big to pull out of the cassette. So the cassette is preventing the holder from opening, it just barely opens.
I haven’t attempted to force the holder open because I consider the recording precious and would rather sacrifice anything else to save the cassette tape. It has remained that way for at least a decade.
I was thinking that I could take a dremel tool and cut open the door, and save the cassette. I thought I should ask here to see if anyone else has had this happen and if they have found a solution. Thanks.
From Jim Gabriel
I would see if you could get to the bottom of the mechanism, turn the capstan fly wheel and see if you can somehow turn the supply wheel and wind it that way. To get the tape back in the cassette.
from Phillip Grace
I would open up the deck and try to manually spin the capstan flywheel backwards in order to loosen the tape. I’ve done this sort of thing in the past to retrieve tapes jammed in players.
Sony is famous for bad belts and idler wheels! If you can get to the flywheel/capstan assy, rotate it to release the tape then carefully wind tape back up.
From Richard S W
Sony is famous for bad belts and idler wheels! If you can get to the flywheel/capstan assy, rotate it to release the tape then carefully wind tape back up.
I understand the concern, but it may loosen up what’s in the capstan shaft enough to get the tape out. You might loose 3 secs of tape but you will salvage the rest.
