Denon DRM-800 door won't close

[ektie_eddy]

Hi there,

I need some help from you experienced cassette users.
I recently purchased a second hand Denon DRM-800A but upon arrival via the mail the door will not close.
I can get it to play if i remove the case put in a tape, close it by hand an press play but this is far from a good way to use it.
Is this something you can fix by yourself or would it be wiser to send it back?

I found the service manual for the DRM-800 online but I'm still puzzled on where to start since i've never opened up a cassette deck.

Greetings,

Eddy

 

[Bob]

there's a lever that unlocks and locks - it's normally on the side. I'd look at my 810
but since you need to fix it, you can look at the exploded parts diagram if its
in the SM. the door in the closed position, should engage a "lock" that keeps
it closed until the release lever disengages it.

this is all from memory. you should look inside, esp since you have the cover off to
see how it works.

 

[ektie_eddy]

there's a lever that unlocks and locks - it's normally on the side. I'd look at my 810
but since you need to fix it, you can look at the exploded parts diagram if its
in the SM. the door in the closed position, should engage a "lock" that keeps
it closed until the release lever disengages it.

this is all from memory. you should look inside, esp since you have the cover off to
see how it works.

Hello Bob,

Thank you for your feedback. I had a look at it and the mechanism to eject works fine. I can't see where it should lock.
Guess I will just send it back while I still can. Too bad since for the rest it looks like good and steady tape deck.

 

[Bob]

you're starting to waken up my long term memory. I have several decks so the info
may be bad combos from bad memory. but here goes (to save you the trouble of returning):

as I recall, the minute you put a cassette into the well, there's a pin coming out of the backing
plate that gets pushed on. It may also push out a "hook" that catches on the door when it's pushed closed.

if you look at the release lever and the side of the door that's nearest the lever you might see
or discover some hole or slot that the close hook is supposed to grab.

hopefully it needs a simple adjustment.

was this ebay? I do like this 800 models. my 810? plays a tape the other machines don't.
and mine has a time counter so you can fast forward to end and it tells you the minutes
recording for one side. Brilliant. the only catch to mine is that it's missing a second
notch detection at the top left of the cassette. I forget what it doesn't detect. maybe
some Dolby B, C, or ...

good luck

 

[TomAucio]

Same deck, same problem. The door won't stay shut. Anybody solve this since 2017?

 

[Randeyman]

TomAucio I am working on a recently acquired DRM 800A and have some experience with the cassette door NOT opening. I have resolved that but it was a major effort requiring some grinding out of the slot on the right side of the metal frame. There are slots on both sides of the metal frame that have "pins" that are molded as part of the whole cassette door that protrudes through those slots (on the right and the left). On the outside of the metal frame (on the left) is a spring loaded "catch" that grabs and holds the left pin when the door is closed. If the door wont stay shut, then perhaps the pin has broken off (unlikely - but you never know) or the spring loaded mechanism on the left side is not functioning properly (maybe the spring came off?). In either case you would need to dismount the entire drive assembly out of the deck to check it out.