Audio Cassette Loop

Step 13 Putting all back together again

Install the new band of magnetic tape into the cassette deck.

Reassemble the whole unit once more and enjoy your cleaner sounding tape loop.

The trick:
I always assumed that the tape wheel was the mechanism feeding the tape through the player and because of this, I thought that the magnetic ribbon had to be highly tensioned and the wheel needed to be as loose as possible to spin freely. However, what I discovered is that what is really feeding the magnetic ribbon through the player is a little rubber wheel that comes up from the bottom when you hit play. Because of this, it is beneficial if the ribbon has a little slack (less tensioned) and the wheel is a little compressed with sides of the case. Figuring out the right ratio takes a little trial and error.

Comments

[postulatej]

Well, after days of following these instructions i couldn't get my tape loop to work by this method....instead, i nixed the rubber washer and matte board washer. I made just enough tension on the tape and used the regular old spindle to make the tape loop. There are several ways to make a cassette tape loop, I'm not saying my way is the best, just saying that if you can't get yours to work by this method try some experimentation and use common sense.

[bishely]

Just a small point - you say the tape is driven by the capstan (little rubber wheel that pops up when you press play), which is true, to some extent. Actually, the capstan provides some power to the movement, but it's main job is regulating the speed of play (so it doesn't flutter/wobble) - the reason the spindles didn't seem to do anything driving your tape is quite obvious: the tape was no longer connected to either of them, but simply looped around. The spindles would have to be very sticky (the rubber washer helps, but even more so) to be able to drive the tape like that, and that'd mean more tapes being eaten by tape machines. So just an FYI - the spindles aren't completely useless, but they are if the tape's not connected to them. Otherwise, great instructable!

[justalf]

Your splices will work much better if you can splice them on an angle. You need something like a mitre but much smaller (I've used splicing blocks but you could do it without). Use a scalpel, overlay the two ends to be spliced, cut on a 45 degree angle, remove the bits you dont need, hold the tape ends as close together as possible, use the thinnest tape you have on the back and your done. It's a lost art from the 70s and 80s.

[Jonny Katana]

Another cool feature of angled splices is that depending on the angle, you may be able to notice a fading effect between the beginning and end of the tape when the splice passes the head.

[Buskieboy]

This Instructable would be great to use for sound effects during holidays, especially Halloween!

[gezortenplotz]

Tape splicing is pretty much a lost art. I used to have several of these that were commercially made for answering machines back in the 80's, but got lost or gummed up. I still have a 4-track cassette recorder & even though there's digital ways to do this, I think some cool recordings can be made using this looped tape. Thanks for the good instructable!

[wupme]

I Still got the equipment here thats needed to slice a tape perfectly, you know those things where you put it in, cut it with a razor at an angle and even the "special" adhessive tape for it.