How to splice/repair VHS tape?

[Wile_E]

My damn JVC 9911u broke one of my tapes while rewinding it. I should've known this would eventually happen to a tape, since the damn VCR has a super-fast rewind, that you can't slow down. Luckily, it was the tape leader that broke at beginning of the tape. How do I reattach this to the spindle? Do I just use splicing tape to attach it back to the reel? There is not much leader on this tape, which is probably why the VCR didn't slow down while rewinding.

[redwudz]

Splicing tape should work fine. I've ran into that before with short clear leaders. I would not fast rewind it again with that splice in there. I suppose you could obtain some clear leader and splice that in, though.

Or do you mean it pulled out of the spindle? That's a little harder to fix.

If you have this problem often, you might see if you can find a stand alone rewinder that runs a little slower.

[Wile_E]

Yes, it looks like the leader pulled out of the spindle. There is a metal clip on the reel that I think held the tape on the reel. I guess this metal clip comes out so I can reinsert the leader back into it?

[Noahtuck]

Yeah i've had that happen a couple of times before over the years, i just took the shell apart and put the leader back into the spindle. Just suck's to have to do it but if you're careful it's no big deal.
I've had tapes break in the middle before and the few seconds lost was no big deal so i've even taken other shells apart and hooked the tape at the break directly to one of the spindles so the entire tape was then actually in two separate shells.

[Cornucopia]

If you're talking about where it snapped off right at the spindle, here's what you do (I've done this many times):

1. Unscrew the 4/5/6 screws from the bottom of the case and put aside.
2. If the spine of the tape has a label, either slice it lengthwise with a safety razor, or better--get a blow dryer and heat up the glue until you can peel it off like it's butter. Set aside (face up so you can reuse it).
3. Lift the catch for the hinged door and lift the door up WHILE pullin straight up on the four corners of the top 1/2 of the shell to cleanly open the case. Set aside.
4. Push back the breaks and lift out the spools (both of them). Unwind a little from the full end to give yourself a little room to manuever (don't worry, the movie doesn't start THAT soon on the tape).
5. You will see on the empty spool a little fitted plate/patch which holds the tape onto the spool--you now have to get this off...
6. Get a very small, thin flathead screwdriver and PUSH from the bottom of the spool on the area of the patch--it'll slide out the top of the spool. Set the patch aside and throw away the little tiny piece of tape that was left over when it broke off.
7. Line up the end of the tape (coming from the full spool) OVER the spot where the patch goes. MAKE SURE it's not turned around or upside-down. ALSO MAKE SURE you leave about 1" of extra tape on the side beyond where the patch goes.
***Important part***
8. Carefully PUSH the patch back onto the area where it is supposed to go WITH YOUR THUMB (otherwise it is sure to flip off your utensil and fly away). PUSH REAL HARD and it will SNAP on.
9. Replace the reels back into the well, seating so you will engage the breaks correctly.
10. Replace the cover, putting it directly on top and just laying it down straight and pushing it to. Turn the shell over, holding both sides together.
11. Screw the screws back in.
12. If needed, replace the label. DONE!

Scott

This is safer (for your VCR) and sturdier than using splicing tape.

[Wile_E]

How does that latch on the reel open? Do I need to take out that piece of metal first?

[Cornucopia]

The piece of metal keeps the patch from buckling in on itself (otherwise it's hollow). Some are built that way, others not. IOW, dont' worry about the piece of metal.

It ought to be able to smoothly slide out when being pushed from underneath the bottom (The Bottom when resting on a table, aka the side with the teeth). If it doesn't, it may be a wierd variant spool (there are a number of makes and varieties of styles from different manufacturers). If nothing works, you can always cannibalize a spool from a blank VHS tape that has a variant that you know will work (FUJIs, MAXELLs and SONYs are good)

Scott

[Wile_E]

Okay got it put back together and was able to transfer the tape. It is tricky to reinsert the tape into that notch. Nothing was lost except for maybe 1-2 seconds at beginning, because I had to cut the leader a little shorter. No big deal.

At first, I opened up another blank tape and was going to use it's reel, but it was completely different. The parts and the gear notching was different too.

[ntscuser]

Many years ago I met friend on his way home from shopping. He had just bought a batch of cheap prerecorded movies from Woolworth's. One of them was Robert Aldrich's "Too Late The Hero". He insisted I take that one home, watch it and tell him what I thought. Well I'd already seen the movie recently on TV and wasn't too keen on watching it again so soon afterwards. Anyway to keep him happy I took it home and played it that night. It played without a hitch. Then I rewound it before returning it to him and guess what? The flipping leader got pulled out of the hub! Worse still, when I opened the cassette to repair it all the little bits and pieces fell out onto my lap. It was the devil's own job to piece it all back together but I didn't want to have to tell him that I'd broken his brand new never-been-played-before movie