How To Repair Vhs Tape

How to reattach the snapped lead on a 1/ii" VHS magnetic tape

Don't let that date confuse yous - I took these pictures for this blog mail service in 2022, and but at present managed to dig them up, crop them and post instructions here in Baronial of 2022. Hopefully these brief photograph pedagogy tutorial will help anyone fix and repair the ends of the one/2" magnetic tape on their beloved VHS and become it playable one time once again!

If the tape has snapped in two in the center of the tape, I suggest you follow our cassette tape fixing instructions for our sectional upside-downward sticky tape method to repair the snapped magnetic tape. It should piece of work the same for fifty-fifty record this wide, with the exception that longer tears might be hard to repair. This instruction deals with other VHS-specific breaks - when the record ends come off the plastic reels. This ordinarily happens when an overzealous VCR volition rewind or fast forward besides quickly toward the end and pull the tape right off the reel. It's a rare occasion, but considering how many VHS tapes I convert every year for my customers, this happens more often than y'all'd think.

Tools Needed

You'll need some basic tools to do almost any piece of work on VHS tapes, equally they are standardized to be very easy to open and maintain. You'll need a modest phillips caput screwdriver, a pencil with an eraser, an xacto knife (maybe), and a sacrificial newspaper prune. The xacto blade use is quick and painless - I run it along the seam between the elevation and bottom halves on the faceplate where the sticky label has been placed. This way, I've pre-cutting the label in ii on the seam, and therefore the label won't hold the two halves of the tape together, and y'all don't risk ripping and tearing the label and so it remains readable after the set.

Crush overturned, screwdriver at the ready.

At that place'due south a series of vi modest phillips caput screws in the bottom corners and eye of standard VHS tapes. They all need to be removed. They tin can be loosened and left in the holes, or pulled completely. They should all be the aforementioned size and length, and therefore interchangeable. Some VHS tape designs may call for more or less screws, but yous should be able to see all of them on an upturned tape. Once removed, you can gingerly lift the bottom half of the tape straight up to separate the shell.

VHS split in Two

The (heavier) video reels should stay in the lid when you pull off the lesser like I did here. Depending on the design of the VHS tape, you may dislodge the reel locks (the white & red bits of plastic on the bottom half), which can exist hands reseated. There'due south plastic and metal posts that are used to guide the tape through the cassette mechanism that too may have fallen off, and can be re-seated on the bottom one-half for assembly.

Magnetic Record Reels Out

Pull the ii video reels and ready them clear-sided upward equally they were in the tape to ensure you don't twist the tape. The left reel is where we need to re-attach the pigtail, which has a clear 1/ii" leader. Cheaper tapes forgo the clear plastic leader and might exist attached directly to the center reel every bit magnetic tape. Y'all can see in this detailed picture that there'due south a ruby-red tab that holds the leader to the center of the reel. The tape has snapped at the seam, so nosotros need to pull and re-seat that reddish tab to fix it.

Flipping the empty reel over, you can see the tiny hole where you tin can push to remove the reddish tab through an opening on the top of the reel. Pull out your paper prune and straighten one end to deed as a poker and then you lot can dislodge the carmine tab. Our following pictures bear witness clearly:

Hole for removing Carmine Tab

Tool for removing Red Tab

Poking Tool into Hole for removing Red Tab

Success!

New Pb behind Red Tab prepare for Seating with Pencil

While nosotros removed the red tab via the top of the reel, nosotros're going to reapply information technology via the side using a pencil with an eraser. String the clear lead around the tape center (no twists!), and then push the blood-red tab into identify using the pencil eraser for leverage and friction, squeezing the clear leader behind it. It should snap into place (it might take some try) before the two reels are at present joined by a magnetic umbilical cord. There may be a pigtail sticking out slightly, only it volition not impact the record winding or unwinding in the least.

Seated Ruby Tab

Outside White roller, exterior Metallic roller

Put the reels back in the lesser half of the clamshell example, making certain to feed the magnetic tape properly through the rollers - it should exist pretty obvious, but notation there are places that caress the record to remove static.

Once both reels are seated and the tape is wind properly through the rollers across the front end and dorsum in, you can gingerly seat the top lid downwardly, ensure it'south seated properly and feels correct, earlier turning it over and re-inserting the screws to hold the clamshell together.

Packed, taunt and ready for lid

Source: http://www.undr.com/understatement/2018/fix_vhs/index.html

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