12. What is that black gunk where the pinch roller should be? (8-track)
Description
This article is from the 8-track Tapes FAQ, by Malcolm Riviera malco@interpath.com with numerous contributions by others.
12. What is that black gunk where the pinch roller should be? (8-track)
That, my friend, is one of the most dreaded of 8-track ailments - what
you're lookin' at is 8-track tar. Rubber pinch roller breakdown.
Petroleum by-product soup. Bad news for your player, so look out!
Check the pinch roller carefully before you stick a new tape in your
player. If your thumbnail leaves an impression in the rubber that
doesn't spring back, then replace the roller. But maybe I'm getting
ahead of myself here. Does everyone know what an 8-track pinch roller
is? It's that little wheel that the tape slides over. You can see it
when you look in the top openings of a cartridge, sort of off to side.
Anyway, it's a very good idea to have spare rollers around for
emergencies. Actually, since pinch rollers come in such a variety of
sizes, you can never have too many spares on hand. Buy tapes you hate
just for the parts and don't throw away broken tapes that still have
working parts. If your player has fallen victim to tar, you'll almost
certainly need to take it apart and clean it out with a solvent like
alcohol or acetone. An ounce of prevention and all that...
Abigail Lavine (abbot@pobox.com)
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