My dad had given me a small tape on my 18th birthday, Nov 1971 - I have carried, and used it many times, a few months ago I couldn't use it at all - watching this allowed me to take apart, and even though it wasn't exactly like the one I had - I was able to get it to work again - thank you - I was not going to trash it.

for anyone watching this the repair was correct all the way up to tensioning the spring, just put the spring into its holder with no more tension than it needs to just sit in there, then attach the tape, wrap it around the spool, then once its around put it into the tape body, once its in give it just 3 reverse twists of tension by just spinning it, because it goes under more tension when you take the tape out, and that tension is what spools it back in

I had a similar situation and I did excactly what you did since it was the obvious way of repairing it. After I watched your video, I realized we were both doing it wrong since we couldn't make it work. That's when I got the idea of doing it the reverse, meaning recoiling the spring the opposite way. Hope you did not throw away the stuff yet. it shoud work again, guaranteed. In other words. your video was helpful for me. Thanks.

Sears use to sell kits to repair theirs.

My unspent and end up cutting my finger. Please be careful when you do this.

Why Laugh??????🙉🤐

I tried it but instead the holder is giving out the tape 😂😂 then i tried it to do it in opposite directions now it doesn't goes in the box that holds it as the holder mouth is in opposite directions. So after long 2 hours of struggle it comes out " if the tape comes out of the mouth of the box than there will be no tension in the inside coil and if there is tension in the inside coil that will not fit in the box " in short it doesn't work i have to throw the whole thing away

This 'gentleman' is genius, may be a measuring tape craftmen...company produce measuring tape not allow to let user know this matter...

Thanks for your sacrifice, I was able to successfully fix my 6ft $1 tape measure!

Great video! My son actually broke one of my measuring tapes and this gave me hope to fix it rather than throwing it away and create more garbage. Good instructional video please make more :)

Inspirational effort, thanks. I finally fixed mine, but the final hurdle of reassembling the locking gate was a challenge! Cheers, Peter Martin, Kangaroo Island, South Australia

Thanks very helpful, thinking of modifying a tape measure to make a retractable sling for a gun. Wasn't sure if it was going to work but now that I see how the tensioner works I'm confident it will

I fixed mine by connecting the yellow measure to the black spring end. Then winding the yellow tape measure around the blackspool. Then placing the spool in the case, then using pliers to tension the spring one turn before connecting it to the center axel (or just twisting the spool one revolution after spring attached to axel) to create tension. You know you did it right if you hold th spool in place and pull the yellow tape out a litte bit and it retracts back inside. Then finish up with the case.

Your video just helped me fix my tape measure. I wasn’t anchoring my tension tape and after your video it made sense. Thanks!

Just saw this video and thanks, it inspired me to fix my tape. Originally the tape would retract no matter water making it a pain to use (you had to hold the button out to have a fighting chance to keep the tape out for measurement. Tonight I made the decision to open up the tape and look at it and I saw the spring for the wedge which stops the retraction wasnot doing a good job so I needed to pad the wedge or assist the spring. While inspecting it, I pulled the spool out, had a look about but when I put the spool back in, the tape wanted to eject as quickly as possible.

This was very helpful. In general, I like process rather than result. That's what teaches us to find solutions. Thanks.

assembly of the tape measure is simple once one knows how. first exam the spring. there is a subtle clue as to how it is wound. that clue is not the hook that attaches to the center pin nor the hook that attaches the rule. second : the direction of wind for the spring and the rule are opposite if i remember correctly. it's been a while so if i have mistaken i'll have to dismantle one and have a look see.

The only problem with the spring mechanism is when you kink (bend) it like you do with paper when you crease is that is becomes junk and no longer usable. Or you break of the complete connector end that attaches to the measuring tape it will also be useless then. He just shortened it by half an inch then he broke off the tab part of the connector

Good stuff..This is the way I've learned how many things operate.. I'm 0 for three myself in the "repair the tape measure" situation..But there are positive things we come away with when all is done..And This coming from a journeyman drywall specialist.. Sometimes tearing things up that no longer serve us , gives us a bit of satisfaction if nothing else..

That is wind the marked tape around the outside of the spring housing. It will have no tension on it at that stage. It is the pulling out that winds up the spring. Screw it together and then the tape will pull out and put the appropriate amount of tension on the spring. What a clever little invention!