Tip if you're going to do your own tape splicing and you don't have a splice tool so you have to use scissors or snips: cut both ends of the tape at the same time while you overlay the ends on top of each other. That way the angles of the cut match on both ends of the tape, and you can make a slice with no overlapping tape and no exposed adhesive.
I just bout an Akai X-1800SD and of the 8 track tapes had the tape broken. Actually looks much easier to fix that than I was expecting so thanks for this. Had never seen one of these before a few hours before I bought it but its so cool!
It ripped about 20 feet out and wrapped up inside. I retaped it with that silver foil tape for ducts. Tried to spool it but too much was out so i cut the tape 2 inches from where it pulls out of the middle, respooled it around the outside, then scotch taped it where i cut it. The thing plays better than ever. It actually automatically changes the program now
Dave, Good information you've passed along. I've got a fair amount of 8 Track tapes and plan to rebuild them as you're doing. For repair supplies, I plan to pick up some sensing tape and pressure pads on eBay. Strangely enough there's quite a market for this stuff. What I've been able to do, if the tape is actually working is wait until the tape actually changes tracks then pull it out very quickly. The sensing tape is right there making it easy to replace.When the glue dries and the sensing tape fails and falls off, I take it apart like you've shown. I've got some cartridges that have a plastic pinch roller just like your tape has. I'm going by memory here, but it seems like those cartridges are for low budget tapes rather than 8 track tapes from the big record companies. On the other hand, I've even seen some rubber pinch rollers that have turned to goo. Regards, Tom
This is a reply of my youth, taking 8 tracks apart and fixing them for my grandma. The music's even similar! I had some of those plastic pinch rollers on my tapes and they sucked. I don't recall there ever being a coating on them- they were just shiny plastic. Then again the tapes I had could've been well worn before I got them.
My 8 tracks always broke not at the sensing tape but always it seemed in the middle of a song.Been using that trick since High School.Even on my reel to reels.Good info for the newbies.👍📺📻
THANK YOU! I THOUGHT IT WAS IMPOSSIBLE! my machine just ate my Waylon and Willie. It ripped about 20 feet out and wrapped up inside. I retaped it with that silver foil tape for ducts. Tried to spool it but too much was out so i cut the tape 2 inches from where it pulls out of the middle, respooled it around the outside, then scotch taped it where i cut it. The thing plays better than ever. It actually automatically changes the program now
Shouldn't the decomposed foam pressure pad also be replaced to give better contact between the tape and the head? The one in the tape you are resplicing seems to have lost all its springiness. They are usually very gummy at this stage, so will leaving it in there result in gummy residue sticking to the heads and causing tape snarls?
When I was a kid I repaired my compact cassettes using a special sticky repair tape. 8 track tapes were very rare in Austria and still till today I've never seen one in person.
I just bought a 8 track player and a box of about 150 tapes, having fun with it. A couple of them have the shiny pinchrollers, such as the Elvis 40 Greatest two tape set. The splices failed on the same tapes, they must have been cutting corners with quality for mass production of those compilations.
As a general rule, stay clear of 90 minute tapes. They put more load on the capstan motor than the 45 minute tapes and are prone to uneven tape speed, especially in car-stereo and battery-operated players.
Smashing repairs, that should keep your mate happy :-D Plastic pinch roller, what a nasty idea :-( i can imagine people putting the metal strip inwards lol A couple of years ago i fixed an Audiovox 8 track for a mate, the output transistors on one channel were toast, funny blue pnp transistor. The head stack assembly was locked up with concrete grease, no supprise lol.
nice i have tapes did the same thing. i kept them but never thought id ever be able to fix them. though getting that sensing foil is another story sigh.
Listening to an 8 track as I’mwatching this and ironically as you were talking about the sensing foil I hear “click-clack” and the player jumps from track 1 to track 2. On a memorex (used to be) blank tape. I’ve had better luck with the sensing foil holding out in those. I don’t know if it is a better adhesive that they used or what but so far seem to be holding out.
I have done something in the past that would probably make audiophiles and techs cringe when repairing 8 tracks. Splice the tape with Scotch tape, cut a piece of run of the mill aluminum foil, put a piece of Scotch tape at each end of the foil and fasten it over the splice. Hey, it made the player switch on its own. It seems like tapes I find that haven't been played in years are most likely to have a splice failure. Perhaps an occasional pinch between the roller and capstan keeps things in order.
I prefer not to cut the tape when I resplice especially on home recorded tapes where the music plays over the splice. I simply use the side of a straight edge razor to scrape off the dried out glue. Comes off easily after a few strokes.
Really enjoyed the video - thank you! One question, Ive been watching a lot of reel to reel vids and reading blogs - touching the side of the tape that passes over the tape head seems to be a big no no. Unless I am wrong, it seemed you were touching the tape both sides at some points - did it not matter so much with graphite tape or were you only have touching the lead in areas?
Touching the tape can transfer oil from your skin onto the tape which has the ability to degrade the sound as it passes over the head for a split second. Chances are you will never notice this. Since all my test tapes are garbage anyway i don't care. I don't use tape for anything. My reel to reel is a display piece only. I don't use it.
how do you know where you put that sensing tape that is where the break in the song is on the tape? otherwise wouldn't it sense that and change tracks in the middle of a song?
Most of the companies that produced these tape had the audio 'fade out' before the splice, and fade back in afterward. Odds are just splicing it back together won't affect the music - UNLESS the break happens someplace other than the track-change splice.
Since we're on the subject of 8-tracks, would you know if it's possible to repair the motor (mechanical governor?) in a Sony TC-208 player? Reason is that it has serious wow & flutter issues, but will play proper if if I lay it up, sideways.
@@Madness832 , Grease is the word, that's an oldie goldie like me. How long have you played it since the new belt? Also does the normal sized tapes play well?
I'd say I played it for maybe 10-15 hours before the problem occurred. Ever since then, no tape would play properly unless the deck was sideways. But it's currently packed away, since I had acquired a second 208, which works fine. I was, however, thinking of swapping motors between them (to make sure it's the culprit).
@@Madness832 , I'd try another belt first off just to make certain. Or nuke it for a little bit, I think that's how he's done some old & odd belts to make them work again.
8 Tracks will sound good ... if you have a decent player I.E. a good home unit ... not cheapo car players ....I make my own foam replacements out of window and door foam ... cut it to size , then put scotch tape on the playing surface of the foam to prevent abrasion of the tape
Use regular splicing tape on the inside part of the tape.
4 роки тому
I've used small amount of scotch tape effectively. It's not rocket science ..these are 8 track tapes. You'll get a half second drop out..but you'll find drop outs in factory sealed tapes.
Perhaps I could pick your expertise, can I spool in regular cassette tape into an 8 track cartridge> its going into tape echo machine. the cartridge I have now makes noise. I'm sure the noise is from the cartridge its old tape, probably 50 years old. perhaps the heads are dirty. in any case i'd like to minimize the noise.
8 track tape is 1/4" wide. Cassette 1/8". So no you cannot use cassette tape. Reel to reel 1/4" also won't work because the back of 8 track tape has a graphite lubricant. If you put non lubricated tape in the cartridge it will bind up pretty fast.
hello, I have an 8-track Panasonic RS-801US. Could you help me by telling me where I can buy a replacement part. The piece would be the gear, or Cam, which rotates to change the program. thank you so much.
@@blackhawk606 If you sample and keep the samples to under 8 seconds there is no matching. You could use an entire song and just chop it up and resequence and the algorithm won't catch it.
You change tracks by pressing the program button. People, like you get confused when they hear 8 track, and they see only 4 programs. Remember there are 2 tracks required for stereo. Program 1 plays tracks 1 and 5 for Left and Right audio channels. Program 2, 2 and 6, 3 is tracks 3 and 7, and program 4 is track 4 and 8. 8 tracks. A cassette is 2 tracks if it is a mono recorder, or 4 tracks if it is stereo. Open reel tape can be 1 track (full track) Half track mono, Half track Stereo, and that came in 2 versions, staggered head and inline head, and quarter track 4 track stereo, and 4 track inline head.
You did it all wrong! There is an inherent problem with the 8 track tapes. When I was 9 years old I figured that problem in 1976. You need to produce some slack in the tape so that it is not bunched up in the center. Once you do that it will play for a while and then tighten up on the center again. You have to repeat this process to get these cartridges to play again. That is why they went out of production due to this engineering flaw!
Tip if you're going to do your own tape splicing and you don't have a splice tool so you have to use scissors or snips: cut both ends of the tape at the same time while you overlay the ends on top of each other. That way the angles of the cut match on both ends of the tape, and you can make a slice with no overlapping tape and no exposed adhesive.
I just bout an Akai X-1800SD and of the 8 track tapes had the tape broken. Actually looks much easier to fix that than I was expecting so thanks for this. Had never seen one of these before a few hours before I bought it but its so cool!
My 1800SD just ate my Waylon and Willie 8 track. It's why I'm here
It ripped about 20 feet out and wrapped up inside. I retaped it with that silver foil tape for ducts. Tried to spool it but too much was out so i cut the tape 2 inches from where it pulls out of the middle, respooled it around the outside, then scotch taped it where i cut it. The thing plays better than ever. It actually automatically changes the program now
Dave,
Good information you've passed along. I've got a fair amount of 8 Track tapes and plan to rebuild them as you're doing. For repair supplies, I plan to pick up some sensing tape and pressure pads on eBay. Strangely enough there's quite a market for this stuff. What I've been able to do, if the tape is actually working is wait until the tape actually changes tracks then pull it out very quickly. The sensing tape is right there making it easy to replace.When the glue dries and the sensing tape fails and falls off, I take it apart like you've shown. I've got some cartridges that have a plastic pinch roller just like your tape has. I'm going by memory here, but it seems like those cartridges are for low budget tapes rather than 8 track tapes from the big record companies. On the other hand, I've even seen some rubber pinch rollers that have turned to goo.
Regards, Tom
This is a reply of my youth, taking 8 tracks apart and fixing them for my grandma. The music's even similar! I had some of those plastic pinch rollers on my tapes and they sucked. I don't recall there ever being a coating on them- they were just shiny plastic. Then again the tapes I had could've been well worn before I got them.
My 8 tracks always broke not at the sensing tape but always it seemed in the middle of a song.Been using that trick since High School.Even on my reel to reels.Good info for the newbies.👍📺📻
THANK YOU! I THOUGHT IT WAS IMPOSSIBLE! my machine just ate my Waylon and Willie. It ripped about 20 feet out and wrapped up inside. I retaped it with that silver foil tape for ducts. Tried to spool it but too much was out so i cut the tape 2 inches from where it pulls out of the middle, respooled it around the outside, then scotch taped it where i cut it. The thing plays better than ever. It actually automatically changes the program now
I remember a boy friend of my Mum's had an 8-track in his car in the 1990s. Good stuff.
Love the 8 tracks video!
That black tape around the pinch roller will just introduce wow and flutter you would be better off using sanding paper to rough up the surface.
I wonder how much. I am going to try it. 8tracks suffer from W&F right out the factory.
NORMALIZATION OF IGNORANCE You should not make it worse then.
Shouldn't the decomposed foam pressure pad also be replaced to give better contact between the tape and the head? The one in the tape you are resplicing seems to have lost all its springiness. They are usually very gummy at this stage, so will leaving it in there result in gummy residue sticking to the heads and causing tape snarls?
A new one will be put in to record it to the PC and then transferred to the next tape that needs it.
Love this . I remember doing this back in the day when I was a young teenager
Love those 8 track units.
When I was a kid I repaired my compact cassettes using a special sticky repair tape. 8 track tapes were very rare in Austria and still till today I've never seen one in person.
Heh! You Australians missed out on a few things, it seems.
@@infinitecanadian Austrians, rather
@@rawr51919 Ha ha; I hate it when I get the two mixed up.
I just bought a 8 track player and a box of about 150 tapes, having fun with it. A couple of them have the shiny pinchrollers, such as the Elvis 40 Greatest two tape set. The splices failed on the same tapes, they must have been cutting corners with quality for mass production of those compilations.
As a general rule, stay clear of 90 minute tapes. They put more load on the capstan motor than the 45 minute tapes and are prone to uneven tape speed, especially in car-stereo and battery-operated players.
I've used 90 minute ones and have had no issues as long as you never use the fast forward feature.
Great video.
Most informative gotta get at servicing my akai deck.👍
Gracias por la información y los conocimientos compartidos.
Very informative
Smashing repairs, that should keep your mate happy :-D
Plastic pinch roller, what a nasty idea :-(
i can imagine people putting the metal strip inwards lol
A couple of years ago i fixed an Audiovox 8 track for a mate, the output transistors on one channel were toast, funny blue pnp transistor.
The head stack assembly was locked up with concrete grease, no supprise lol.
nice i have tapes did the same thing. i kept them but never thought id ever be able to fix them. though getting that sensing foil is another story sigh.
oh i see good to know ill try that. and yeah good idea on the other ones i never tried yet in fear of same thing aha.
Listening to an 8 track as I’mwatching this and ironically as you were talking about the sensing foil I hear “click-clack” and the player jumps from track 1 to track 2. On a memorex (used to be) blank tape. I’ve had better luck with the sensing foil holding out in those. I don’t know if it is a better adhesive that they used or what but so far seem to be holding out.
I have done something in the past that would probably make audiophiles and techs cringe when repairing 8 tracks. Splice the tape with Scotch tape, cut a piece of run of the mill aluminum foil, put a piece of Scotch tape at each end of the foil and fasten it over the splice. Hey, it made the player switch on its own. It seems like tapes I find that haven't been played in years are most likely to have a splice failure. Perhaps an occasional pinch between the roller and capstan keeps things in order.
I prefer not to cut the tape when I resplice especially on home recorded tapes where the music plays over the splice. I simply use the side of a straight edge razor to scrape off the dried out glue. Comes off easily after a few strokes.
I love doing this also.. it is fun..
Really enjoyed the video - thank you! One question, Ive been watching a lot of reel to reel vids and reading blogs - touching the side of the tape that passes over the tape head seems to be a big no no. Unless I am wrong, it seemed you were touching the tape both sides at some points - did it not matter so much with graphite tape or were you only have touching the lead in areas?
Touching the tape can transfer oil from your skin onto the tape which has the ability to degrade the sound as it passes over the head for a split second. Chances are you will never notice this. Since all my test tapes are garbage anyway i don't care. I don't use tape for anything. My reel to reel is a display piece only. I don't use it.
excellent
Can you use regular foil tape for sensing?
how do you know where you put that sensing tape that is where the break in the song is on the tape? otherwise wouldn't it sense that and change tracks in the middle of a song?
Most of the companies that produced these tape had the audio 'fade out' before the splice, and fade back in afterward. Odds are just splicing it back together won't affect the music - UNLESS the break happens someplace other than the track-change splice.
I want to bring you to Korea even for a moment!! 😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭
I would love to send one to you for repair. Do you have a website or take personal repairs?
Since we're on the subject of 8-tracks, would you know if it's possible to repair the motor (mechanical governor?) in a Sony TC-208 player? Reason is that it has serious wow & flutter issues, but will play proper if if I lay it up, sideways.
Sounds like a belt to me??? Maybe.
No, it needed a new belt; the original had turned to goo. It played fine, until I popped in a long-play cart (Grease soundtrack, I think).
@@Madness832 , Grease is the word, that's an oldie goldie like me. How long have you played it since the new belt? Also does the normal sized tapes play well?
I'd say I played it for maybe 10-15 hours before the problem occurred. Ever since then, no tape would play properly unless the deck was sideways. But it's currently packed away, since I had acquired a second 208, which works fine. I was, however, thinking of swapping motors between them (to make sure it's the culprit).
@@Madness832 , I'd try another belt first off just to make certain. Or nuke it for a little bit, I think that's how he's done some old & odd belts to make them work again.
I Heard that in the 1950s they tried putting record players in cars, it was called the highway hi-fi.
I think that first tape was playing at a German Resturaunt I visited last week.
8 Tracks will sound good ... if you have a decent player I.E. a good home unit ... not cheapo car players ....I make my own foam replacements out of window and door foam ... cut it to size , then put scotch tape on the playing surface of the foam to prevent abrasion of the tape
I have a recorder and 2 home players. Will do a test recording on the recorder one of these days.
👍
What kind of tape do you use when the break is not at the sensing area
Use regular splicing tape on the inside part of the tape.
I've used small amount of scotch tape effectively. It's not rocket science ..these are 8 track tapes. You'll get a half second drop out..but you'll find drop outs in factory sealed tapes.
Perhaps I could pick your expertise, can I spool in regular cassette tape into an 8 track cartridge> its going into tape echo machine. the cartridge I have now makes noise. I'm sure the noise is from the cartridge its old tape, probably 50 years old. perhaps the heads are dirty. in any case i'd like to minimize the noise.
8 track tape is 1/4" wide. Cassette 1/8". So no you cannot use cassette tape. Reel to reel 1/4" also won't work because the back of 8 track tape has a graphite lubricant. If you put non lubricated tape in the cartridge it will bind up pretty fast.
hello, I have an 8-track Panasonic RS-801US. Could you help me by telling me where I can buy a replacement part. The piece would be the gear, or Cam, which rotates to change the program. thank you so much.
I have no idea. Try eBay for a used part that someone is selling.
@@12voltvids thanks !
great, but i was hoping to also see pad replacement.
I believe I have done that on other tapes.
What is revers ?
Desde Bogota Colombia quiero saber que cuesta un deck t-228 sony
How times 8 , and 4 track cassete
Of its time quite fragile bit like myself.
HOCUS POCUS!!!
It's sampled and re sequenced to avoid copyright.
@@12voltvids I hear =). Though I doubt that UA-cam would be able to recognize a song through a loud speaking anyway.
@@blackhawk606
If you sample and keep the samples to under 8 seconds there is no matching. You could use an entire song and just chop it up and resequence and the algorithm won't catch it.
hi do you repair machines for people? mail in? I lost a channel on a Clarion car 8 track PE 703.
I try. Not all can be repaired due to parts availability.
@@12voltvids how do i send it to you? Its at a shop now but if they cant figure it out just in case...
program ? what ? 8 tracks ,4 program ? dues no make sense ,how the change tracks ?
You change tracks by pressing the program button. People, like you get confused when they hear 8 track, and they see only 4 programs. Remember there are 2 tracks required for stereo.
Program 1 plays tracks 1 and 5 for Left and Right audio channels. Program 2, 2 and 6, 3 is tracks 3 and 7, and program 4 is track 4 and 8. 8 tracks. A cassette is 2 tracks if it is a mono recorder, or 4 tracks if it is stereo.
Open reel tape can be 1 track (full track) Half track mono, Half track Stereo, and that came in 2 versions, staggered head and inline head, and quarter track 4 track stereo, and 4 track inline head.
@@12voltvids Thank you . i love your channel :)
Dang, you cut off a lot of the tape. Music is lost.
No music was lost. It was at the run in before the music.
You did it all wrong! There is an inherent problem with the 8 track tapes. When I was 9 years old I figured that problem in 1976. You need to produce some slack in the tape so that it is not bunched up in the center. Once you do that it will play for a while and then tighten up on the center again. You have to repeat this process to get these cartridges to play again. That is why they went out of production due to this engineering flaw!
Meoooow