How to Fix a Cassette Tape

How to Fix a Cassette Tape: Old sound tape tapes can run into various issues that require some tape a medical procedure. For instance, the tape could tear and break, expecting you to graft it back together. Another normal issue is for the tape to come disentangled from one of the wheel centers, in which case you can join it to the furthest limit of the tape on another wheel center point from a clear tape. One way or the other, you can take care of business with a couple of basic instruments and a sensitive touch!

Disassembling a Cassette Tape

Unscrew the cassette case, if it has screws, using a small Phillips screwdriver. Use a tiny Phillips-head screwdriver to remove the screws in the two top corners of the cassette tape. Set the screws aside somewhere where you won’t lose them, such as in a small dish or cup.

• If you don’t see any screws, your cassette is the type that is glued together.
• Issues that you will need to take a cassette tape apart to fix include a ripped or broken tape and a tape that has come off one of the wheel hubs.

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Pry the cassette apart using a tiny flathead screwdriver, if it is glued together. Insert the edge of the flathead screwdriver into the crack where the front and back pieces of the case are glued together on one side of the cassette. Work it back and forth in a lever motion along the crack to gently break the two halves apart.

• If you can’t pry the cassette case apart with your hands after separating the halves on one side, repeat the process with the screwdriver for the other sides of the cassette until you can pull them apart.

Open the cassette tape horizontally so the spools don’t fall out. Place the tape horizontally on a flat surface before you open it up. Pull the top half off and try to leave the bottom half flat on your work surface.

• This will keep the wheel hubs in place so you don’t accidentally drop them out and cause more damage to the tape.

Splicing a Broken Tape

Use small, sharp scissors to cut off the damaged ends of the broken tape. Put the two halves of the cassette tape flat on the cutting board with the insides facing up at you. Be careful not to uncoil the tape from the wheel hubs. Carefully trim off as little of the tape as possible, so you are only removing the damaged parts of the tape where it ripped and broke. This will allow you to tape the two pieces neatly back together.

• If you don’t have a pair of small, sharp scissors, you can carefully cut the damaged ends off using a boxcutter or utility knife and your cutting board.
• Depending how much damaged tape you have to cut off, there could be a noticeable skip in the audio of the tape after you splice it back together.

Tape one end of the broken tape down on the cutting board. Straighten out one of the sides of the broken tape flat against the cutting board and carefully tape it down. Leave the end you trimmed exposed.

• Make sure that the broken end of the tape is completely flat and not curling at all, so that it is easy to work with when you’re splicing the other broken end to it.

Use cellophane tape to splice the two sides of the cassette’s tape together. Carefully line up the end of the other side of the broken tape with the end of the side you just taped down. Press a piece of cellophane tape down over them to splice them together.

• The spliced pieces will be held down on the cutting board by the cellophane tape at this point.

Peel up the cellophane tape and flip the cassette’s tape over on the cutting board. Use your fingernails to gently peel the cellophane tape up from the cutting board, being careful not to unsplice the two halves of the cassette’s tape that you just stuck together. Flip over the tape so you can splice together the other side.

• The sticky side of the cellophane tape and the side of the cassette’s tape that has no cellophane tape on it should now be facing upwards towards you.

Put a piece of cellophane tape on the other side of spliced tape. Double-check to make sure the ends of the broken tape are still lined up and stuck together. Carefully stick a new piece of cellophane tape over the exposed sides of the cassette’s tape to finish splicing the broken ends together.

• This should hold the broken tape securely together and limit the chances of it coming undone in the future.

Trim the excess cellophane tape off using a boxcutter or utility knife. Hold the tape flat against the cutting board. Carefully trim the excess cellophane tape that is hanging off the sides of the spliced tape, right up to the edge of the tape.

• You can now put the cassette tape back together.

Related Questions: How to Fix a Cassette Tape