Sorry to burden the board with a tech question but I’m rather at a loss what to do & can’t get to a repair shop till Friday so thought I’d try asking the collective wisdom here:
My daughter put a VCR tape in the machine, & it won’t play & won’t eject more than an inch out of the machine: it’s stuck. What can one do in this case to extract the tape, beyond yanking on the tape as hard as possible & hoping for the best? If the tape’s destroyed then so be it but I can’t even get it out far enough right now to e.g. snip the tape in hopes of extracting it that way; & I’m afraid of damaging the VCR itself by applying brute force to the tape. Any suggestions, or is this something only a repairman should be dealing with? & why don’t they design the darn machine so you can easily extract a tangled-up tape from it anyway? It’s a common problem.
Don’t yank the tape! You could damage all the bits the tape’s wrapped around. Take the cover off and try to unwind the parts of the tape away from the tape path. You could cut the tape, too. You should now be able to eject the tape. Sounds like a full cleaning is in order.
Totally agree with Mr. Blue Sky. Try to clean the VCR heads and mechanism with cleaner. Try again with a tape, you can sacrifice.
If that does’nt fix it, and you don’t have any “emotional” attachment to the vcr, buy a new one. Buying a new one is cheaper than fixing it (unless you are in warranty period).
note that the tape has been extracted from the cassette, and is snagged on two posts.
note large gear alongside the cassette carriage.
once you have dis-entangled the tape from the posts, turn the gear by hand - this is the drive that lowers the cassette into operation position/ejects the cassette.
Now you may be able to salvage the VCR and/or tape (assuming you didn’t try the brute force approach).
Don’t bet on either.
And - VCR’s have small light sources and light sensors - that is how they pre-position the tape past the clear leader, and detect the end of tape (another clear leader). That light sensor will interpret room light as meaning ‘end-of-tape’ - makes working on a cover-less VCR something of a trick.
What model is it? Who makes it?
Unplug from wall first!
On the back there should be two to four screws, take them out, take off the cover, & then you should be able to take the cassette out, this works for me.
Then get a new vcr, they are only like $50 now at circuit city… or shipped free @ circuitcity.com
If you can push it back in so the transport can re-engage the tape again, then fast forward or rewind to another section of the tape. It’s conceivable that it will eject properly on another part of the tape.
It’s more likely, however, that even if you can re-engage the tape, you still won’t be able to pull it out.
Carefully unplug the unit from the wall.
Push the tape back in as far as you can without forcing it.
Flip it upside-down and carry it out to the curb.
Purchase a DVD player.
That’s how I solved this problem. YMMV.
Seriously, I hate to say it but handy and happyheathen and andy_fl and yohimboguy and Mr Blue Sky have obviously been there. I’ve been there too. It’s like that 8-track player you had in high school - you’ll get tired of disassembling the thing and you’ll upgrade anyway.
"and, if you purchase a $50 VCR, expect to go through this again in a few months - how many tapes do want eaten?
"
I got one, still working just fine two years later. Also, Circuitcity offers a two year guarantee (longer if you want) for like $19 on these so if anything happens, bring it back & they give you a new one. Or so they say.
The best option is to open up the VCR, as suggested. Once the cover is off it will be easier for you to remove the tape.
In case you have to cut the reel in order to untangle the mess, it is possible to recover the tape. Just cut off, with scissors, any part of the reel that is totally messed up, then join the two ends using scotch tape (make sure that the two ends overlap a bit, and snip off any scotch tape that’s protruding beyond the width of the reel). This method has saved many an audio and video tape. You will lose a few seconds that were on the reel that you snipped off, but beyond that the tape works just fine.