Advice for tape drive repair / maintenance

[Tony Duell]

> 
> Tony Duell wrote:
> and you will need a service manual for the machine (but hey, do you =
> really
> have a machine that you don't have the service manual for?).
>  -tony=20
> 
> Yes, many machines.  I can buy a new VCR/DVD combination for $89 with a =
> one
> year warrenty.  Why would I want to waste a weekend repairing a worn out
> VCR?  That is time much better spent playing with my own designs, =

Well, let's see...

I can either spend $10 on a set of rubber parts and take an afternoon 
putting them in (at which point, said VCR will be good for another 2 
years) or I can spend $89 and take an afternoon going to the shop, 
bringing a new unit home, and figuring out how to connect it up and use 
it. At which point I have a device assembled with lead-free solder, 
soldered at too low a temperature, so it gets dry joints within a few 
months. With plastic mechanical parts made from the cheapest plastic 
imaginable that make a freebie toy look solid. I'd be lucky if that $89 
machine lasted for a couple of weeks after the warrenty period...

Now guess which I am going to do...

-tony