Thanks, hoped they helped out. Wow, almost 13 years ago now since I made these videos! More people into 8 tracks now than when I started collecting in 1990 when people couldn't give them away!

Continuous loop or Moebius loop

😊

Glad they are helping and the tapes aren't ending up in landfills. Watch out and check the splices/foil when the track changes! Especially the CBS/Columbia tapes.

Yeah, not for making critical remarks about people's health conditions. But then Karma will care of and humble the arrogant ones. Their time will surely come.

Yes, thankfully you don't have to unwind the whole tape. For a 90 min tape, it's a real pain and I did it once. If you have the tape starting from the wrong end, you'll know it as the music will play backwards. For some Beatles songs that could be useful!

@@waukee321 Revolution number 9 😆

Me too. I try to pull the pads out through the opening on those but it is tricky!

Thanks. BTW never play them upside down or tilted back or they will jam. I've had all types of encounters even a warped pinch roller defect.

I know it can be frustrating until you get the whole thing balanced out. Either spool off more tape or perhaps you spooled off too much and that's what's causing it. Sometimes the balance point is reached but now the tape is too tightly wound. In that case you need to try and advance the tape (manually turn the reel) to get to the splice point where you then remove the splice and unravel the tape a few times more before re-splicing. High humidity can cause the tape to start sticking together as well.

Each tape runs music across 4 programs or channels divided evenly by time. The head moves down in 4 even increments (programs) and changes to the next program (via splicing foil activating a solenoid to trigger it) once the tape makes a complete loop. Each of the 4 programs has left and right (2) sub-channels within each program, hence 8 tracks.

Lots of patience!

those are easy.. use a soldering iron. Ampex are the worst!!

Agree on the RCA ones; need a soldering iron. Ampex are time consuming but using a properly sized flat end screw or bolt will successfully lift each of the 4 posts out individually. The fifth post at the opening (non-roller side) almost always separates easily. I've had some warped reels inside some of these. You have to wind the tape off of it then either find the same reel or using hot water press the other reel flat to get the warp out. Keep these out of extreme heat! I still don't like the GRT ones with the tab that is behind the foam pad

For the player part, perhaps the head is dirty or it needs alignment. For the tape part, the foam pad backing may be rotted off.

Clean that head with acetone or de-natured alcohol, more potent than the isopropyl alcohol. And the odds of it being dirty for a long long time are high. Secondly the deck may have a head adjustment screw on the bottom of the cabinet and is probably labled as azimuth. Another screw close by might be labled crosstalk, this is the adjustment for when you're playing track 2 or 3 but hearing songs from tracks 1 or 4. If the screws aren't seen through a hole in the bottom of the cabinet then you will have to take it out to adjust. Actually it's easier to clean as well,just be careful with the electricity while adjusting assuming you have to remove the mechanism from the cabinet.

I read on one of the tape sleeves that the lubricant was called "Delrin". I looked this up with the following result: "Polyoxymethylene (POM), also known as acetal,[2] polyacetal and polyformaldehyde, is an engineering thermoplastic used in precision parts requiring high stiffness, low friction, and excellent dimensional stability. As with many other synthetic polymers, it is produced by different chemical firms with slightly different formulas and sold variously by such names as Delrin, Celcon, Ramtal, Duracon, Kepital and Hostaform." You could wear gloves but always of course wash your hands with soap and water before and after touching the tape. Gently pulling the tape through an Isopropyl soaked piece of paper towel also works well.

You have to be very careful with these laminate type labels. If you fold them in the slightest, they flake off. If you are removing them to get rid of bubbles and to flatten them out see if it's worth the risk first. Try to unpeel them without folding it by lifting in an upward manner while keeping the label flat and straight

Mark Covington In any situation where the tabs or other fasteners are broken, super-glue is the best remedy for sealing (please don't use tape to hold them together). Just be especially sure in these cases to check that the splice foil is good since gluing the case closed is somewhat permanent. Is this a newer RCA cart? Those are glued whereas the older ones are riveted. Be aware that the riveted ones will almost always have a bad splice so pull them out and check immediately when the program ends. I have a video on opening them.

This is actually a newer RCA cartridge. Whenever I try to close the cartridge, I always put not much but just a little bit of glue on each of the four corners. I only use glue on the corners. That always helps to keep the cartridge shut. I use glue but no tape. Do you think I may be doing it the right way doing it that way? Please let me know either way. Thank you! :)

Mark Covington The tricky location for gluing is near the open tape end and especially at those two corners where it is so close to the tape. When gluing here, (1) don't use too much glue and drag a corner of tissue over it to spread it so that it doesn't pool in one spot. When closing the cover, make sure it closes gently and slowly so that it doesn't slam and potentially spray the glue onto the tape. The thing to be careful about tapes that you have glued together is that if you drop them on a hard surface, they may be more prone to opening up again. Also. always remember to NEVER play an 8 track upside down (with top cover label underneath), as the tape will eventually come off the spool in the center and jam, and what a mess then.

I would never play a tape upside down.

Mark Covington That's good. This is more prone to happen and particular on portables/boom boxes with side mounted slots which can tip/lean in the wrong direction causing a tape to be oriented in this upside down manner. I have a few portables that have this warning labeled/pictured (with an "X" over it) on the unit.

+Mark Covington It's been so long that I don't recall. It is a large spool of tape so it likely came from a blank recording tape (Memorex likely) that someone recorded something on. I had a few tapes with broken, cracked shells, some with missing pieces that I saved the tape from. I hate throwing out perfectly good recording tape just because a case is cracked. Often times I will add/splice the tape onto another blank tape making a 30, 45, or 60 min tape into a 90+ min tape. Works great. I think on this one, I wrapped the spool up in plastic wrap or foil to keep it from unraveling for future use. I have used epoxy with modeling clay as a form to fill in large pieces of broken off and missing shell casings. It works great. I don't have a video on this though.

Hey Waukee. Is there a chance you may one day do a youtube video on adding tape from one blank to another blank tape? If so, when do you think you may be able to do so? Thank you! :)

+Mark Covington I'll work on something but as you can see, it's been several years now since I've posted a video due to my move and other things taking precedence and taking care of some family members now. The piano needs tuning for the piano roll videos. Adding on tape is pretty simple. You wind the tape to the splice foil on each roll and remove the splices. You clean off the residual glue. For the roll you are adding the tape to, you use regular non-foil splicing tape on the back side of the tape end that winds around onto the spool and tape it to the back of the other tape coming from the center of the spool of the other reel. You then wind the tape onto the take up spool with the screwdriver technique you see on my other videos until the second reel tape is completely wound off of. Then correctly tension the tape so it pulls out properly and use the foil splicing on the front side of the tape.

You mean a splicing block? You see them on ebay or just Google it. Look for 1/4" size tape splicing block.

Sign of a broken foil splice