Cassette Won't Eject

Many times a VCR will fail with a cassette still in it. Unfortunately, when it's about to malfunction, it doesn't say to itself "Uh Oh, I have a cassette inside - better eject it before I drop dead". Although that would be nice, we need to deal with reality. There are many defects that can prevent the EJECT operation from functioning. This can be very frustrating. Especially if the cassette is a rental that needs to get back to the Video Store - Immediately!

Before attempting to rescue it with your log chain and winch, you might want to finish reading this page.

First, there is a simple thing you can try that hardly takes any time at all. Pull the power plug on your VCR for about 30 seconds; and then plug it back in again. This sends a reset pulse to the CPU. If it was locked up, this procedure will fix it. CPU lockups are caused by ordinary household static electricity and power surges. Because no repairman is ever going to tell you that was all he did for your ($100 plus) repair job, few consumers ever realize they were the victim of this minor defect.

If unsuccessful, we need to open the VCR to manually eject the cassette. Be sure it's unplugged first.

Most of the time, this is a simple job that can be accomplished by a process we call hand cycling. Hand Cycling is a procedure where you find the motor that operates the mechanism you want to function; by rotating that motor shaft or pulley with your finger, you can operate the system. The whole process is divided into three steps:

1. retracting the roller guides to the unloaded position
2. reeling in the tape
3. operating the cassette carriage to eject the cassette

1.) Retracting Roller Guides - once the Moving Mechanism motor is located, begin hand cycling the mechanism. If there is a worm gear in the mechanism, you must hand cycle somewhere between the motor and that gear. Usually the shaft or pulley that comes out of the motor is the best place. Continue hand cycling while watching the master cam gear if you can. It should move a little bit every time you turn the motor. You may have to hand cycle quit a ways before you see Roller Guides retracting. If you run into resistance instead, you may be at one end of the mechanisms travel; which means try going the other way.

2.) Reeling in the Tape - the Moving Mechanism motor will retract the Guide Rollers but usually will not reel in the tape. The tape needs to be reeled in because the cassette lid is forced shut as the cassette is raised. This will wrinkle the tape. Sometimes from the bottom you can operate the idler and reel drive pulley together to do that. If that doesn't work, try hand cycling the moving mechanism motor until the roller guides come out of the cassette just a little. This might be enough for the idler to engage the reel tables. If nothing else works, see if you can get to one of the reel tables directly. If so, you can manually turn one of them to get the tape in. If unsuccessful, you may have to eject it that way. If careful, the tape will only suffer a minor wrinkle, which is no big deal.





3.) Manually Operating the Cassette Carriage - next, locate the motor that powers the cassette carriage. If there is a worm gear in the mechanism, you must hand cycle somewhere between the motor and that gear. Once again, the shaft or pulley that comes out of the motor is usually the best place. Try hand cycling in one direction until you see the carriage start to rise. If you run into resistance instead, try going the other way. If you see the carriage rising, you are going the right way, so keep going. Don't try and take the short cut to remove the cassette before it's all the way out. This could damage the lid release plunger. Continue hand cycling until the carriage hits the end of its travel.