Cassette player problem

Now I am in my new bigger workshop I thought it would be nice to listen to some music while I build stuff. I already got a CD player and turntable hooked up so I thought it would be nice to also be able to play some of my old cassette tapes. I have an old AIWA cassette machine (standard hi-fi separate type) that I had not used for years. It powered up OK but when you put in a cassette and press play there are a couple of solonoid clicks but that is all. Will not FF or rewind either.

Took the lid off and unbolted the cassette mechanism. Fitted a cassette and to my surprise it plays fine. Still no FF or rewind though. Re-fitted cassette mechanism, popped in a cassette and nothing. Won't even play. Took mechanism out again and it plays cassettes fine.

Idea/clues?

Cheers

Ian

Ive had luck with similar logic controlled tape decks by cleaning the optical wheel that drives the tape counter  , usually its a little plastic gear wheel with reflective foil and alternately dark bands on it , theres a light source and optical pickup of some kind , Very often a coating of dust on the reflector prevents the machine from sensing movement of the tape ,it drops into play momentairily , but because movement isnt dectected on the supply reel side ,she just shuts down automatically .
Usually its possible to clean it without stripping the mech down , I just used a dry cotton bud against the wheel and turned one of the spindles until it was  it was clean and shiney  and working perfectly again.
If its one of the direct drive mechanisms your fortuneate as you dont have to worry about drive belts , theres also the tape type sensor switches up top ,but often theres one of these tiny leaf contact switches which senses the presence of a tape also ,  sometimes these can become misaligned ,damaged or the plastic actuator tip gets broken or falls off .
Theres a couple of tape mechanism gurus on youtube , very often parts were shared between several makes and models of tape , these guys have the low down on the faults that are prevalent with various mechanisims , and show detailed videos of rebuilding . 

Sometimes grease dries up in the mech somewhere and prevents proper opperation  of a cog or wheel  , Ive had luck with the help of youtube tutorials in locating the exact mech rebuild video , then instead of tearing the whole thing appart I simply applied a small amount of silicon oil to the affected bearing surface . I used the spray type silicone oil , but I put a few sprays  into a bottle top first and waited for any solvents to evaporate ,then used a hollow plastic tube ,like found in a cotton bud or biro, to pipette a drop right where I wanted it .

My guess is clean the tape counter sensor and you'll most likely be enjoying sound again . Best of luck with it .

* Autostop on the older machines was mechanically controlled , the newer ones with digital tape sensor and graphic display relies on a signal from the optical sensor, if that signal is not getting through your machine autostops itself from any mode ,FF,RW.PL

Did I ever mention how much I hate cassette decks? At Peavey I inherited a 4T cassette deck and it was problem enough, but later I was involved with a premium karaoke system (using the same deck but with a 2T head), things got much worse.  :-[

I wasted months with an avalanche of field failures, trying to troubleshoot and figure out what I possibly did wrong. Finally much too late for my mental health, and the product recovering it's reputation in the market, the Japanese deck manufacturer admitted that they changed the durometer of their plastic gears, used to engage the head assembly... The new gear sets would bite into each other and lock up, killing the transport.

Sorry I realize this is not any help to you, but did I mention how much I hate cassette decks  : (I've got the scars).   

In my experience the widely used transports are pretty robust but stuff happens. Look for the obvious suspects.

JR

JohnRoberts said:

In my experience the widely used transports are pretty robust but stuff happens. Look for the obvious suspects.

JR

Click to expand...

I know what you mean. These things can haunt you.

The puzzling thing is it plays OK when mechanically disconnected (it is playing right now) but now when normally fitted.

Cheers

Ian

When you bolt it down something is distorting. Try just using one bolt. And I hate cassetes too!

ruffrecords said:

I know what you mean. These things can haunt you.

The puzzling thing is it plays OK when mechanically disconnected (it is playing right now) but now when normally fitted.

Cheers

Ian

Click to expand...

Obvious... install it while its playing.  ;D ;D  sorry.

It could be something subtle like lead dress or maybe some lock out mechanism inadvertently being tensioned. There can be a lot of moving parts, performing a trapeze act even in a simple transport.

JR