9point6 comments on [audio cassette player] Are both or only one "axis" supposed to drive the tape?

[audio cassette player] Are both or only one "axis" supposed to drive the tape? (piefed.cdn.blahaj.zone)

submitted 1 month ago by akunohana@piefed.blahaj.zone to c/techsupport@lemmy.world

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I finally bought myself and old audio cassette player. The insides look crazy clean and the drive belts seem neither loose nor dried out.

But!

It's only the left "axis" - or whatever it's called - that's spinning and thus "driving/forwarding" the tape. With "left", I mean the one that rolls up the tape as it's being played. Looking inside, the right axis is not even actuated. It's just a "dead"/unmoving part. Is this how they all work?

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[–] 9point6@lemmy.world 15 points 1 month ago (3 children)

Only one of the spindles will be active at a time, the one collecting the tape from the other, if the player has an auto reverse mechanism it'll switch between them, if not, it'll just be the one

If you were curious, there's also a capstan and pinch roller that you won't be able to see that is responsible for holding the tape onto the tape head and moving it along, so it's not tension from the collecting spindle that is dragging the tape through everything.

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