488 mkII Tragedy (Oh, No, Not My Baby!)

[Gear_Junky]

This happened last night: without thinking I first opened the cassette door and as it was opening I reached to the back to turn the power on and my hand bumped into the door and broke it! One of the door's "hinges" broke off inside. I took the thing apart and removed the door. I found the broken off piece, but not the spring.

(BTW, if you ever have to open the thing, don't be afraid to disconnect the wires that go from the top PCB-s to the bottom, they're easy to connect and impossible to mix up, each connector is unique, much like inside a computer. When opening, keep in mind that besides the screwes on the bottom all around the perimeter and 2 screwes in the middle, there's 2 screwes on top, underneath the cassette).

The unit seems to work fine, but I'm worried about the spring inside. I shook the unit, but nothing fell out. Also, I'm worried about the tape mechanism collecting dust w/o the door and of course it doesn't quite look the same.

Can this be fixed? Is there a way to buy another one of these doors from Tascam? Could a Tascam repair center help me with this w/o charging me half the price of the unit?

I apreciate any help! Thanks.

 

[TMX Bob]

Hey,

Find the spring. With a stray piece of metal floating around inside of the unit, it's only a matter of time before something bad happens. As for the door, you should be able to order one from Tascam directly. Their parts department # is (323) 727-4840

 

[Gear_Junky]

Thank you very much for the phone #, I'll give 'em a call.

I WISH I could find the spring, it's not exactly "floating", I shook the unit and heard nothing. I hope it actually fell out and I didn't see it. I didn't feel safe removing the PCB-s (there's several layers and they're attached quite permanently). I still wish I could take it to a repair center.

Again, thanks!