Sony SL-300 Betamax VCR eject problems

[Electronic M]

Originally Posted by Captainclock

Where would that guide tab be? So I could see if maybe that's what happened with this one.

Assuming yours is a front-loader....There is a a tray the cassette rides in between the play position and ejected position. There will be plastic/metal guides/tracks on both sides of that tray. The tracks should have an L shaped slot in them that the tab/pin of the tray rides in as a guide....There is at least one on each side of the tray in most VCRs.

[Captainclock]

Originally Posted by Electronic M

Assuming yours is a front-loader....There is a a tray the cassette rides in between the play position and ejected position. There will be plastic/metal guides/tracks on both sides of that tray. The tracks should have an L shaped slot in them that the tab/pin of the tray rides in as a guide....There is at least one on each side of the tray in most VCRs.

Yes, its a front loader model, and, from what I could see of the unit when I had it open it didn't seem like there was anything broken off although when I took the mechanism apart to check the gears out it looked like something small and black fell out that wasn't part of the gear drive mechanism, was that maybe the tab you were talking about? I didn't see where the tab landed as it fell out before I could see where it landed at.

[Electronic M]

Originally Posted by Captainclock

Yes, its a front loader model, and, from what I could see of the unit when I had it open it didn't seem like there was anything broken off although when I took the mechanism apart to check the gears out it looked like something small and black fell out that wasn't part of the gear drive mechanism, was that maybe the tab you were talking about? I didn't see where the tab landed as it fell out before I could see where it landed at.

That small black thing may have been it. My deck was a odd Sony superBETA unit (odd because it did not have HiFi). It had a cap problem with the capstan motor that would stop the capstan at random (needed to be hand spun occasionally to fix it/keep it from interrupting playback) and I ran it on it's side to baby sit that until I fixed it. A couple times it fell over to normal operating position with a tape in it and the weight of the tape in the fall broke that tab, and later the superglue bond I used to fix it.

If you eventually decide you can't fix yours and want to part it out/get rid of it, post some pictures of the capstan motor....If it is the right one I'd be interested in buying it off you.....When I changed the cap my soldering iron melted a bit of the plastic tire on the capstan rotor.....That tire is essentially a loop of magnetic tape that is read by a tape head to make a speed feedback signal...It don't play quite right with a melt spot.

[Captainclock]

Originally Posted by Electronic M

That small black thing may have been it. My deck was a odd Sony superBETA unit (odd because it did not have HiFi). It had a cap problem with the capstan motor that would stop the capstan at random (needed to be hand spun occasionally to fix it/keep it from interrupting playback) and I ran it on it's side to baby sit that until I fixed it. A couple times it fell over to normal operating position with a tape in it and the weight of the tape in the fall broke that tab, and later the superglue bond I used to fix it.

If you eventually decide you can't fix yours and want to part it out/get rid of it, post some pictures of the capstan motor....If it is the right one I'd be interested in buying it off you.....When I changed the cap my soldering iron melted a bit of the plastic tire on the capstan rotor.....That tire is essentially a loop of magnetic tape that is read by a tape head to make a speed feedback signal...It don't play quite right with a melt spot.

Well I'm going to have to ask my friend what he thinks because it belongs to him not me, so it would be his decision as to whether or not he would want to sell it. But I will keep that in mind, because like I said everything else works fine on it. Your machine wasn't a Sony SL-300 was it by any chance? Because that's what this one is, and this one is a mono SuperBeta Machine.

[Electronic M]

Originally Posted by Captainclock

Well I'm going to have to ask my friend what he thinks because it belongs to him not me, so it would be his decision as to whether or not he would want to sell it. But I will keep that in mind, because like I said everything else works fine on it. Your machine wasn't a Sony SL-300 was it by any chance? Because that's what this one is, and this one is a mono SuperBeta Machine.

I checked mine earlier and it is a SL-390...It'd be interesting to see how the insides of the two models match up.

[Captainclock]

Originally Posted by Electronic M

I checked mine earlier and it is a SL-390...It'd be interesting to see how the insides of the two models match up.

I could get a picture of the inside of the one I'm working on if you want so that we could do a comparison. My guess is that they're the same machines with maybe a couple of minor cosmetic differences.

Well monkeying around with the Beta today I looked again to see if those tabs were maybe broken off (now knowing after reading your post what to look for) and they're still there intact, and its acting more and more like it might be a a motor issue than a mechanical issue, because now its doing in load mode now too whereas before it was just doing it in eject mode, so I'm wondering if maybe the drive motor for the eject/loading mechanism isn't maybe starting to go bad (like maybe the brushes are starting to wear to the point that the motor can't get up enough torque to drive the loading mechism anymore.)