18. Players (8-track)
Description
This article is from the 8-track Tapes FAQ, by Malcolm Riviera malco@interpath.com with numerous contributions by others.
18. Players (8-track)
A. I HAVE AN 8-TRACK THAT PLAYS TOO FAST; IS THERE ANY REMEDY?
It's most likely a problem with the player, not the tape. If your deck
has a fast forward (ffwd), it's possible it's stuck on high speed. If
that's not the problem, open it up (the player, not the tape). There
may be a speed control somewhere in the area of the motor. Just follow
the motor wires back to the pc board. If there is a variable resistor
in that area, give it a try. A small screw driver can be used to
turn the control.
Another possibility is that someone changed the drive belt on the
player. The "new" belt may be the wrong size (diameter), and thus
change the speed of the drive wheel.. If the large wheel has a slot for
the belt, and the replacement belt is not running inside the slot, the
speed will be altered. This goes for the drive wheel on the motor as
well. I had one that ran too fast, turned out it had the wrong belt.
You may need to buy a replacement belt; also, rubber bands are a
cheap replacement and often work fine until you can find a real belt.
The diameter I'm referring to is the cross section of the belt. Some are
flat, sqr, round, and sometimes this cross section is very important.
B. WHAT'S THE BEST METHOD FOR CLEANING 8T TAPE HEADS?
The best results are obtained from cleaning the heads with commercial
tape head cleaner and Q-tips. Distilled de-ionized alcohol is a OK,
too. Make sure you clean the capstan, too, which is the metal rod
that presses against the tape's pinch roller. The capstan picks up a lot of
crap over time and if you don't clean it regularly your tapes will start
snagging on it and making a huge mess.
Those tape head cleaning cartidges are another option, but most of them
are pretty crappy, and the head cleaner/Q-tip method is vastly superior.
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