Tascam 112 head stack problem - won't play

[Drew Wiseman]

Greetings!

My recently purchased 112 cassette deck is in excellent cosmetic shape, but has some mechanical or electrical issues. I already did research and took to unit apart, where I then replaced the 2 belts with new ones (after cleaning up the rubbery goop) and replaced the idler tires. I am having 2 problems still with this unit:

The cassette won't load unless I manually spin the white wheel to lower the stack. Once the cassette is in place, when I press play then the head stack seems confused. It goes up and down and finally stops. The cassette won't play. I have a video of this but not sure how to attach that here.

I don't know if the issue is mechanical or what the problem is. If I could get some help to identify the problem, I'm handy enough to install new parts. Otherwise, I would need to find a good repair shop. I am in the Atlanta GA area.

Would appreciate any insight and guidance on this.
Thanks so much!

Drew

 

[TWoodland]

My Tascam 112R had a similar issue. The headstack would not engage in either direction. It would try then stop. After that the buttons were unresponsive until I recycled the power. In my case the cam/transport belt was old and slightly expanded to where it was not tight enough to fully engage the transport. It was intact (not melted). I replaced the belt which was not that bad, took the cover off and it was accessible from the back without needing to take the tape mechanism apart. I used long needle nosed pliers and a dental tool.