U-matic VO5850 problem

[nesburf]

Hi all

I have a U-matic VO5850 deck and went to play a tape today and noticed the heads were pretty gummed up so I took the tape out and cleaned the heads with some Kim Wipes and isopropyl alcohol. Yes I made sure I spun the head the proper direction.

Anyway, stupid me, I should have let all the alcohol dry before I put the tape back in, however I did, and immediately I knew something was wrong, it threaded weird, so I immediately tried to eject the tape, and it got caught on one of the idler wheels, or one of the arms sticking up.

I was able to get the tape out and reeled back into the tape. Now when I put a tape it, the deck immediately goes into either rewind mode or fast forward(if the tape is already at the beginning) and will do that for about 10 seconds, and then stop. None of the other buttons work except eject. And eject only works after it's done its rewind/FF phase. If I try and press a button while it's rewinding or FFing, it'll stop while I hold the button down, but then immediately start back up.

I'm guessing maybe a sensor got knocked, or is dirty, or something. Anyone have any ideas?

Thanks

[hech54]

Did you put the cover back on?

[themaster1]

I'm not familiar with umatic decks but i'd say either the mode switch is dirty or (more probably, as the unit was working before you put your hands in it the LED sensor is somehow jammed/misplaced/ dirty (assuming there is one in umatic)

one video for you: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j-I7Bri8Nww

[nesburf]

Turns out the right guide arm didn't properly return to its resting spot and wasn't grabbing the tape properly when I would reinsert a tape. Reseated it, and all is good now!