How to remove tape from Tascam 246 that is stuck in play position?

  • Thread starter Thread starter SwisherSweet
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SwisherSweet

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Hi,

I recently bought a Tascam 246. When I tested it out, it is spinning the tape and the tape inside is bunching up (see pic). When I put the tape in and pressed rewind, once it got to the front of the tape, it started playing and that's when it did this. The tape appears to be salvageable and has recordings on it I want to save. However, every time I turn the machine on, it make the situation work and Stop doesn't do anything.

Is there some kind of override button or something I can press to get the play/record heads to come out and free my tape?

Thank you.

2021-09-20_14-39-07.webp
 
In some cases where you can take the transport out you can free up a tape from the transport but there are some units with screws in the cassette well that need to come out first and the tape is in the way so that is not going to make it easy to get the tape out. It is not smart to put a good tape in a deck when you just buy it as most decks when bought are at the edge of failure as you are finding out. In this case you could take the screws out of the tape so that it comes apart then turn the tape up at the rear to get the tape from around the heads- preserving the machine is more important than the tape. You just do not put prize tapes in a machine that is untested. The tape can be put back together when it is out of the machine.
 
You would be better off letting a experienced Technician take the tape out as we know the decks better than just someone who just bought it.
 
Let me know if you get it out that should be a way to get to the deck. I am messaging the friend I have made in Moscow. You never know when a new friend will show up.
 
Turns out Pause will cause the tape head to relax and return to base position long enough to get the tape out. Fortunately the tape was no badly damaged. A few minor pinches on blank space in the very beginning before the recordings start.
 
A serviced deck working like it is suppose to never does this- you have one worked on by a hack. Start at 0 and do the whole job again IF it ever was done in the first place. on my bench I have put the machine through hundreds of operation as calibration is done- never a damaged tape.
 
If you do have logic problems I feel sorry for you as the two boards they jammed in there will be hard to work on. The parts are probably not hard to get. Like I said, I may have suspected logic but it always turned out to be a minor mechanical issue.
 
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