I have a VCR (SONY, model #SLV -N55 "Flash Rewind").....it worked perfectly until a few days ago?

Question

when I think I might have overzealously cleaned it...I put in the standard cleaning tape, and also used the one where are you add drops to a cassette cleaning tape. I then put in a tape- this MAY or MAY not have been a bad tape to begin with..this tape got jammed and it took quite a bit of doing to get it out..eventualy I had to unscrew the top and literally break the cassette and pullout the tape by pieces......Here's my question and my issue: in the past, when I sometimes HAVE overcleaned..I just wait for nature to take it's course and let it dry out...and it works just fine again....This time, maybe not- IF that is the problem. I put a tape in, it plays a few seconds, and then ejects. Put it in, plays, ejects. No matter what tape- cleaning or otherwise. I looked at sites that kinda' sorta' suggest how to fix VCR' s, but they're not exactly helpful or clear....I see no fuses...Why does it just pop out after a few seconds? It's a really great VCR- like new.has that great rewind-help!

Answer 1

A VCR is a complex system of belts, pulleys, gears, cams, and levers that must all be operating in perfect synchronization for every aspect of the mechanism to work properly.

One of the functions of a VCR is to eject the cassette at the end of the tape to prevent stretching and possibly breaking the tape. When a tape is inserted into the VCR, a spindle comes up through the front of the body of the cassette and it pulls the tape toward a pinch roller. As the tape is pulled out, it comes in contact with the record/playback heads. When the rotating spindle contacts the pinch roller, it then pulls the tape along at the required speed. When the tape reaches the end, the tension on the tape is detected by a roller attached to a lever. This lever then actuates a mechanism that ejects the cassette.

The spindle is driven by a belt that is attached to the drive motor. Other belts or gears that are attached to the drive motor provide the drive for the eject mechanism, and for fast-forward/rewind operation.

There is also a button on the cassette itself that allows the tape reels to operate freely when it is pressed by a lever in the VCR when the cassette is inserted. When this button is not pressed, this locks the tape reels to prevent a cassette from having the tape be pulled out when the cassette is not in the VCR.

So, what's the problem with your VCR? One of two things: Either the cassette is bad and the reel-locking button does not work to release the lock on the wheels when it's inserted into the VCR, or the lever that pushes the button on the cassette isn't fully pushing in the button. Either way, the tape reels are locked and the tape tension detection mechanism thinks that the tape is at the end. This then activates the eject mechanism and the tape pops out.

What probably happened is the tape that got jammed may have been a bad cassette. Or, the cleaning solution got on the pinch roller and/or the play spindle and it didn't move the tape properly, resulting in the tape jamming. Then, when you forcibly removed the cassette from the VCR, you accidentally tweaked the mechanism that pushes the button on the cassette that unlocks the reels.

I suppose you could take the case off the VCR, plug it in, and pop in a tape to study the mechanism that frees the tape reels. See if it is correctly lined up with the button on the cassette. Does it seem to actuate correctly? And, if not, is it something that can be bent back into place to get it to work again.

Beyond that, you'll probably have to take it somewhere to get repaired. I'm sure the technicians have seen this problem before.

Answer 2

humorous. :-D reminds me in simple terms somewhat Douglas Adams: "interior the beginning up, the universe became created. This has made countless human beings very indignant and has been broadly recognised as a nasty flow."