Teac V-1030 tape deck - tape mechanism door won't latch closed (HELP)

[Natasha Bell]

Hello everyone,
I just purchased a Teac V-1030 tape deck from Ebay. It is in like new condition, but the tape mechanism door will not latch shut. Does anyone have an idea what can be done to fix this? I would much rather keep the unit then send it back. The damage, I am certain, occurred during shipping via FedEx. Which really, really REALLY pisses me off!!!!

Any constructive ideas would be greatly appreciated.
Tasha

 

[swechsler]

Seems like someone's mad

I'm not familiar with this deck, but if you go with the assumption that it was working when the seller shipped it to you, I'd remove the case and see if a piece has popped or broken off. Also, with many decks like this, the cassette door is removable so you can access the heads for cleaning and adjustment. If you can figure out how to do that (in some cases it just slides up with a little pressure), that might give you a better vantage point to figure out what's going on.

And I know you said you don't want to return it, but if the deck was dropped hard enough to break the door mechanism, there's a decent chance that it also put some stuff out of alignment.

 

[Natasha Bell]

Seems like someone's mad

I'm not familiar with this deck, but if you go with the assumption that it was working when the seller shipped it to you, I'd remove the case and see if a piece has popped or broken off. Also, with many decks like this, the cassette door is removable so you can access the heads for cleaning and adjustment. If you can figure out how to do that (in some cases it just slides up with a little pressure), that might give you a better vantage point to figure out what's going on.

And I know you said you don't want to return it, but if the deck was dropped hard enough to break the door mechanism, there's a decent chance that it also put some stuff out of alignment.

Thank you actually for this. I did. The entire latch pin (a molded square piece of plastic) was sheered off by FedEx. I examined the box more closely, and it appears that FedEx had kicked it around during shipping as there is a light shoe imprint on it. This is so unfortunate because it is a beautiful deck. Thankfully the merchant is accepting returns. I have also filed a formal complaint with FedEx and against their warehouse here (Pearl MS) where it came from.