broken tape

Rewind A VHS Tape Manually But Fast

Overview  Sometimes it is necessary to rewind a VHS tape manually.

Options Tried

We tried rewinding in a VCR and it got stuck in two different machines!!!

We tried rewinding the tape in the VHS cleaner and it did not move.

Solution

We rewound the tapes manually using:

electric drill (one end of socket bit into chuck), socket bit (big socket set - one of the bits - left or right most - in those little bit trays), plug bit into smallest sized long extension, extension "plugged" into 8mm brass adaptor, and brass adaptor fits into VHS reel hub.  Make sure to push in release (screw driller into hole in back of cassette - middle near top).

TRY BY HAND FIRST with the extension and etc before trying the drill as you have more control if something goes wrong.  Once it works by hand then use the drill.

Note

This should work on other tapes, but the extension and brass piece may need to be changed so as to fit the tape reel hub.

PLEASE ADD further procedures for other types of tapes.

Fix Broken 8mm Tape

Propose: Repairing a damaged or broken tape in a 8mm tape cassette.

Tools:

May need a spare 8mm cassette.   Tools to open the cassette.

Scenarios:

  1. Tape is broken at the start of the tape.
  2. Tape is broken at the end of the tape.
  3. Tape is broken in the middle of the tape.

When I refer to the start, end and middle of the tape I mean the point of  recorded information.  For example, if a 60 minute tape is broken in the at the 30 minute mark, and there is only 20 minutes on the tape, I would say this is scenario #2.  Otherwise if this 60 minute tape is broken at the 30 minute mark and it has 40 minutes on the tape, then we have scenario #3.

Tips:

The tape cassette has a lock to prevent the wheels from moving when the tape is outside the deck.  Sometimes one needs to move the tape or take up slack or whatever and therefore the lock needs to be opened.  This lock is located on the back face of the cassette in the centre about .5 cm from the spine.  Stick something in the hole and push toward the spine to release the lock.

Fixing:

Basically, the tape cannot be spliced together.  So, if the tape has been broken into two pieces, part A and B, we would move the two parts into two completely separate cassettes.  If there is multiple parts, we would move each part into it's own cassette.  Now if one of the parts has no information on the tape, we can throw that part away.

Steps (scenario #1 and #2):

  1. Take the screws out of the damaged cassette.  Open the cassette carefully to make sure not to loose any parts.
  2. If we are dealing with scenario #1 or #2 then take the wheel with the tape that can be tossed and pull any remaining tape off the wheel.
  3. The end of the tape is held onto the wheel by a plastic clip that pushes the end of the tape into the wheel.  Use a small flat screw-driver to push (from the side) the clip out of the wheel.
  4. Lay the good end of the tape from the other wheel onto the empty wheel and snap the clip into the wheel to lock the tape in place.
  5. Close the cassette.  Careful of the tape guide and wheel etc.

Steps (scenario #3):

This is the same fixing the tape for scenarios #1 and #2 but in this case we cannot toss the tape left on the other wheel, we need to take the one wheel from the damaged cassette to a spare cassette and perform the fix twice (once on each cassette) as above.

Time (for each scenario):

  1. About20 minutes.
  2. About 20 minutes.
  3. About 40 minutes.

Also, if the cassette is stuck, it typically takes about 5 minutes to free it.