Re: [ARSCLIST] Cassette surgery

["Peter@xxxxxxxxxxxxx" <lists@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

A few simple tips to make taking the shell apart a little easier:

First, score the welded joints around the sides of the cassette with a sharp
knife or a razor blade to "encourage" the cassette to split cleanly along
the seams.  Watch out for your fingers (you may want to wear heavy gloves
for this part) and do NOT do this on the front side of the cassette where
the tape is exposed.

Second, remove the erase-protection tabs at the back of the cassette (if
they are still there).  This gives you two spaces in the back of the
cassette where you can get leverage to start separating the halves of the
shell.

Third, if you have a lot of tapes to do, you may want to get "The Audio Tape
Fixer".  This is a plastic platform that holds the cassette in place and
makes it much easier to re-load the tape in a new shell.  It even has a
metal post designed to help you turn the hubs.  Use this "turning mechanism"
to move the hubs by hand only - DO NOT attach the metal post to a powered
screwdriver as suggested in the instructions!  Audio cassettes are not
designed to be wound using a heavy-duty power tool.  The Tape Fixer is made
by MVI Media Products: 1-800-289-0111.

Peter Brothers
President
SPECS BROS., LLC
(973)777-5055
www.specsbros.com

Restoration and Disaster Recovery Service Since 1983

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Association for Recorded Sound Discussion List
> [mailto:ARSCLIST@xxxxxxx]On Behalf Of Don Share
> Sent: Monday, January 30, 2006 7:54 AM
> To: ARSCLIST@xxxxxxxxxxxx
> Subject: [ARSCLIST] Cassette surgery
>
>
> One thing about using a screwdriver to pry apart the old shell,
> as has been
> suggested - if you do this, you need to make sure it's not a *magnetized*
> screwdriver, for obvious reasons!  I use a letter opener, myself!
>
> Don Share, Ph.D.
> Curator of Poetry
> Woodberry Poetry Room
> Harvard University
> Cambridge, MA 02138
> Telephone: (617) 495-2454
> http://hcl.harvard.edu/libraries/houghton/collections/poetry_room.html
>
>