Lord today was a fuckin' roller coaster. Got a new one in, works out of the box. Great. Very happy about that.
The very* nice one (reported in a previous chost as " actually working") that I will likely use for digitizing went from working great the other day to not working. It degraded a bit, so that sounds like the heads getting clogged right? Better clean them.
So today I get everything I need in to clean the heads. Clean the heads real good. Nope, didn't do a thing. Of course the moment I see it not working after cleaning the heads I give it a few good taps and that gets me picture, so it's the blasted ribbon cables. Normally I might leave it be but there's a menu encoder knob that really needs the contact cleaner on it so, sure, I'll open the lil bastard back up.
So nuke the menu knob, reseat the head cable, clean the head path a bit more since I've got access to the back side now. Bit of corrosion or junk on the path that won't come off, but whatever. Oh hey, this screw is so loose it's about to fall out, better put that back in. Glad I went in here. Ok start buttoning it up a bit and give it a test.
[Tape mech won't eject]
Aw fuck. Did I assemble it wrong? Take it back apart.
[Still won't eject]
Motherfucker. Careful inspection shows that it's being physically held back, can notice the mech gear turning back half a tooth when power is removed. It's pushing against something, even though if I look at the mech as a whole it looks like it's trying to pull the whole thing IN a bit when I eject.
So eventually get back in and back that screw out... oh, the alignment pins are moving a LOT when I do that, huh? I thought you were supposed to just screw the top of those to adjust them? Well shit, hope it still tracks! Better back out that other one you tightened up too, dumbass.
[Ejects successfully again]
Oh thank fuck. What about the tapes?
[Plays back perfectly]
Ok cool, never EVER opening that again.
"But what about the missing screw hole you found on the tape mech motor mount?" OH WELL, HOPE THAT'S NOT IMPORTANT!
* Nice enough to play back analogue and digital 8mm tapes, and has an i.LINK port for transfers.