My Sharp video recorder is a bit old we have had it for about 10 years. It has just started to chewing tapes when it tries to determine how long is remaining in the tape. As you put it tape it shows you how long is left of the tape before it can do this, it rewinds the tape and this is when it starts to chew the tape so you have to eject the tape and re-enter the tape. It is strange it only does this when displaying the length of the flim remaining and not during normal play. If you can help it would be much appreciated.

Thanks

Shafiq

Shafiq Mohammed, October 2006

bad clutch or drive belt may also give this symptom, especially with the age of the unit.

romko, October 2006

First, I would check if the half-loading arm is sticking.
Located in front of the take-up (right hand) reel table, usually a thin metal post on a sprung swinging arm.

This arm pulls the tape against the audio/control head.
Occasionally they may stick if the lubricating grease has gone hard. It should move easily toward the capstan and spring back again on unload. Watch it's action during loading/unloading of a cassette.

A small squirt of some tape head cleaning fluid will normally free it if it's sticking. Don't use any undue force on it, as it is critically aligned for smooth tape transport.

Otherwise, the problem may be due to the extra tape tension in the mechanism. At the beginning of the tape there is a heavier load on the supply reel table. If this is the case then there are many possible reasons the video is struggling, but often that's due to a worn cylinder surface, causing drag on the tape.

Cobweb, October 2006