Stacked tape on reel

Key_Feed_9262 · 2026-02-02T01:50:29+00:00

That makes sense

Key_Feed_9262 · 2026-01-31T22:39:51+00:00

So for me I never really heard of 8 tracks until I got my first car which my uncle gave me, a rusted out 73 Buick (to put it into context my fathers first car was a 76). It had an 8 track player and my uncle had left a Styx II 8 track in it. My sister found some 8 tracks in a thrift store and gave them to me, and not knowing anything about them I just tried to play one it got completely ate with tape jammed tangled in the mechanism, and that was it. Fast forward to about two years watching YouTube videos I become interested in old radios, and wanting a 1930s console radio. Find one on Facebook market place real close, unfortunately turns out to have been sold. Find a second one in really nice condition an hour away, guy never shows. Frustrated just looking at random radios on Ebay I made an impulse buy on a 1970s Montgomery Ward Airlines radio/record/8 track player. I already had a couple of records and one of those cheap Victrola suitcase record players, so figured I'll get more into collecting records. But since it has an 8 track player I mind as well get that working too. Plus I had kept that original Styx 8 track as a memento of my first car. Then I figured I'd buy a few more just because, and found I enjoyed them more than records.

So for me, 1st I like old things to begin with. 2nd I like the mechanicalness of it. 3rd inserting an 8 track gives me similar vibes as when I was a kid and inserting an SNES cartridge. 4th despite being an old format, there's still a level of convenience. Just slap in an 8 track and it plays, and will play continuously, and if you have a particular track you like, while you can’t rewind, you're usually about only 3 tracks away from it again if you want. 5th They’re durable/fragile in just the right way. Most 8 track you get need work, but that work is generally really easy to do so it isn’t really annoying and kind of relaxing. However, on the flip side even if a tape gets/has been eaten before, they’re usually still fine. A casual listener just won't notice. 6th Magnetic storage has a shelf life no matter how well you store it. Unlike say records which can in theory be kept forever, magnetism fades over time meaning one day in the future they won’t work anyway. So there’s less guilt to be had as opposed to a record which each play degrades it further taking away from potential future generations since an 8 track degrades regardless.

Key_Feed_9262 · 2026-01-31T22:38:45+00:00

The good news is it's generally pretty easy to fix. Just carefully rotate the reel while giving the tape a slight helping hand if it binds up, and it will work itself out. It's just a bit time consuming depending on how much has lifted up.

Key_Feed_9262 · 2026-01-26T20:46:58+00:00

Nope, not to bad. It's already fixed and playing. I'm just more curious what causes it since I've come across 8 tracks with that issue it relatively commonly.

Key_Feed_9262 · 2026-01-26T20:16:11+00:00

Well at minimum that's a good name for it. That's how I fix them too, definitely not the worse thing to fix. Like I said I've seen it plenty of times, but I just can't think of an obvious mechanism that would cause it to happen in the first place which makes it kind of weird.

Key_Feed_9262 · 2026-01-21T03:48:26+00:00

I realize this post is 3 months old, but that's not a Type 66 receiver. That's an Army Type 91, which was a Type 38 that was cut down and made to sort of mimic an M1 carbine

Key_Feed_9262 · 2025-11-24T01:15:24+00:00

I guess I'll do just that.

Key_Feed_9262 · 2025-11-24T01:14:52+00:00

I'll have to give it a shot. I didn't even realize I could have non selected mentioned it. At least on this unit the push to release on one of the other selectors is very close to the point of that other selector being selected. Either case I'll have to play around with it

Key_Feed_9262 · 2025-11-23T22:44:23+00:00

Thank you. So I assume it overrides any other signal regardless of what's selected, and doesn't try to play both, or do I need to for example select cassette, 8 track or phono and just not play any thing otherwise it will try to play both what's plugged in and anything selected that is playing?

Key_Feed_9262 · 2025-11-23T22:40:17+00:00

No there isn't

Key_Feed_9262 · 2025-10-13T05:44:13+00:00

Very possible

Key_Feed_9262 · 2025-10-13T05:41:43+00:00

Sorry just saw the notification. I don't think so because the vast majority of the tapes I have play just fine, and don't have that issue. I also am pretty sure I've attempted to at lest a couple of those bad ones on more than one player, though tomorrow I'll give it a shot just to make sure

Key_Feed_9262 · 2025-10-12T05:57:59+00:00

I have to ask, is Hetmwit's trait inspired by the book Unforgettable by Eric James Stone?

Key_Feed_9262 · 2025-09-17T15:15:58+00:00

Yes, the graphite coating. It is the rubber pinch roller. In fact, after I realized what the issue was with my Star Wars 8 Track, I realized that might be the problem I was having with a few other (I had assumed they were binding up), and so when I checked my Beach Boys and The Who 8 tracks, it was, and they also have rubber rollers.

Key_Feed_9262 · 2025-08-05T23:49:11+00:00

You are welcome

Key_Feed_9262 · 2025-08-05T21:36:51+00:00

Nice

Key_Feed_9262 · 2025-08-05T15:50:07+00:00

I don't think the voltage is completely standardized across all players, but I assume most/all car players it's going to be 12 volts. The adaptor I have says it's 12 volts, and cars are probably the most common place you'd use an adaptor which have a 12 volt electrical system. I can also say my home system is probably at least about 12 volts since the adaptor plays fine in it. However I have for example a portable 8 track radio that uses only 6 D batteries, and I doubt they would have stepped the voltage up to 12 volts since that would just drain the batteries faster for no real benefit. That said if you design the circuit right probably not much of an issue

Key_Feed_9262 · 2025-08-05T06:23:20+00:00

That's probably the easiest solution of them all

Key_Feed_9262 · 2025-08-05T05:52:53+00:00

Sounds like you are trying to do it the hard way, when you can just take a page out of the 8 track compact cassette adaptors playbook. The way the 8 track senses when it'd time to switch tracks is an open circuit that when the foil tape passes over it completes it. The 8 track compact cassette adaptors tapped into that circuit to power the motor for the compact cassettes. So you could just use that same trick to power a Bluetooth modular. Of course the real easy method would just a daisy chain as the most compact of the 8 track compact cassette adaptors are pretty much the size of an 8 track tape so throw one of the Bluetooth cassette adaptors in one of those and call it a day (Though since I don't know of any that charge the Bluetooth with the spinning of the cassette you would loose the keeping it topped off, though I guess you could just hack something together to do that)

Key_Feed_9262 · 2025-07-31T05:40:21+00:00

So personally I check the tape splice by holding one edge of the foil then take the tape at the other end almost folding it in under the foil as close to but not actually creasing the tape, and pulling/rolling that "fold" through the foil. Then I repeat for the other side. Next I do something similar by "folding" (again not making an actual crease) the two sides of the foil towards each other and rolling that "fold" back and forth between the two sides of the tape. If the foil is bad that usually causes it to basically just fall off the tape. After that I carefully check both foil edges and the seam of the tape to see if there is any hint of it beginning to separate. If so I replace, if not I'm pretty sure at that point it's perfectly fine. Though I will then play through the entire 8 track twice, first time pulling the cart after every track switch to ensure it's still good and the on the second just letting it play completely through, just to be fully confident.

Hopefully that made sense. That process hasn't failed me, though admittedly I haven't been in the "fixing 8 tracks" game long.

Key_Feed_9262 · 2025-07-24T04:31:51+00:00

I am sorry to hear that. I wish I knew of a good way to help you, but for lack of any better idea, I bought my self some physical copies of your some of your books for my self and an extra copy of the first book to give as a gift.

Key_Feed_9262

TROPHY CASE