While recording recorder randomly clicks off

  • Thread starter Thread starter greasebox
  • Start date Start date
G

greasebox

New member
I have a tascam 238, which i just bought used, Are the tapes I'm trying to use just too long (90min) or is there and underlying problem internally? Thanks for any help or suggestions (clue me in on ideas, even if you dont have a 238, much appreciated)..steve
 
i don't have it and never had and have no clue.
I just want to ask you to make it clear, what do you mean by "clicks off"?
If your machine perfoms ok with other cassettes, then you may think of "blaming" the cassette in question.
 
I've got a TASCAM 244 Portastudio with a similar behavior. In my case there's a idler drive wheel which has a rubber edging to it which has worn away and needs replacement...yours might be suffering from a similar affliction.

Try a different tape and if the problem remains, you'll need to get it serviced. The parts are next to nothing in cost; the labor might be a couple of hours of bench time...it's well worth fixing.

Cheers! :)
 
90min tapes are pretty long as it is...the tape is thinner and so quality goes down, slightly...
 
To be more specific, while recording, playing, fastforwarding, and rewinding the wheels that spin the tape will stop moving. So the tape stops moving and I have to repush whichever function I was doing. I bought shorter tapes but I still have the problem. I have noticed it happens a lot more while recording and playing back. Obviously I cant record a song until I get this fixed as the stopping is unpredictable.

The Ghost of FM : Could you tell me how to go about trying to check if I have a similiar problem to you?
 
greasebox said:
To be more specific, while recording, playing, fastforwarding, and rewinding the wheels that spin the tape will stop moving. So the tape stops moving and I have to repush whichever function I was doing. I bought shorter tapes but I still have the problem. I have noticed it happens a lot more while recording and playing back. Obviously I cant record a song until I get this fixed as the stopping is unpredictable.

The Ghost of FM : Could you tell me how to go about trying to check if I have a similiar problem to you?
Click to expand...
The only way to know if they are similar mechanical designs would be to look at the exploded diagrams of both units to see if the mechanism is the same or not or get someone else here to chime in who has seen both...A Reel Person, might be a good person to ask as he might own both of these models.

Best bet still is just to take in for service to an experienced TASCAM technician and let them get to the heart of the problem, which is what I already mentioned in my previous post.

Cheers! :)
 
I had a similar problem with my R8. Took it to the service guy and it was fixed the same day. Turned out to be an internal problem... My machine would click off during playback... Anyway, try a service guy if possible. There's definitely a way to bring that beast back from the grave.
 
Oh, sorry. I thought you were talking about an open reel. My mistake!
 
I know this thread is dead but in case anyone sees this and has this problem....

If it is stopping randomly and resetting the counter to 0 then you'll need to check your tape sensors. There are two little push levers in the top left corner above where the cassette sits. You can use electrical lube and get them loose, or you can just fidget with them for a minute and that also usually fixes it. Take the door off of the front tape deck and you can see where the tape pushes these lever up. If they aren't up high enough or if the tape moves at all the lever moves and clicks the function to stop and resets as if you removed the tape.
 
The problem sounds like "sticky shed" which has gummed up your rollers pinch wheel extra .Clean all your guides rollers & pinch wheel anything in the tape path.When this happens your motion sensor malfunctions stopping the machine.Had the same problem and cleaned everything and solved problem.
 
I have a 238 but haven't examined the transport all that closely. Back in the day, a lot of cassette recorders had a little "auto-stop" lever that pushed a switch to turn the transport off when the tape became taut against the lever at the end of the tape. As GoFM and others have said, gummy components in the tape path could cause the tape to stick and press against the lever.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top