The Door of Opportunity

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Transistorized

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Those who own a C100 know that if you are missing the cassette door or any of the components that help center and align the cassette, it makes loading a tape more difficult (if it doesn't fall out) and if it shifts around AT ALL during playback it muffles the sound etc.. Fortunately mine came with a door but it had issues including missing/broken parts. Enough of it was there to enjoy good playback but it had a broken cassette alignment foot so the tape was difficult to load and sometimes it would sound muffled and I would have to reload the tape. Well....

I am so stoked!!! I thought that once I got my eBay purchase up and playing that I would be content. I am so glad I didn't stop there. The pictures below show all that was done but in a nutshell, I fixed the cassette door hinge (so the door won't just pop out of the hinge during eject). I repaired the broken lower right cassette support leg on the spring loaded alignment cradle with a metal bracket from a picture hanging kit (lol) and made my own eject spring so it would open softly on it's own.

Now cassettes load with ease, play very well and eject without needing assistance. So far I'm Loving 2018 :-) Not only am I happy with the machine but it has actually been a fun project that has been a rewarding process for sure. Plus I enjoy finding things around the house to make things for free that can be used to repair stuff.

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I did have to buy these springs from Tractor Supply to help with making the spring

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Bent and twisted one of them into the shape I wanted and did a test fit

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This little clip never gets old. This is the first time I have seen a Conion door open correctly in person.
Gotta love soft eject.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q_ma9ZwaEeY&feature=youtu.be
 

T-STER

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NIce, a little bit of ingenuity going a long way. I'm with you, if it wasn't quite right it would drive me crazy, good fix mate!
 

Transistorized

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T-STER said:
NIce, a little bit of ingenuity going a long way. I'm with you, if it wasn't quite right it would drive me crazy, good fix mate!
blu_fuz said:
Really nice job.
pabaker said:
Good job.
caution said:
Nice MacGyvering! Looks great :yes:
Thanks Everyone. I definitely had to stop, think and pilfer around in old drawers to find odds and ends to bring this to life
 

Northerner

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Lol I’m the same...my C100 door wasn’t quite right and so I had to make it right too. Had to replace a badly repaired hinge and mod a spring to fit so it opened properly. Hate it when something like this is not 100%, annoys me every time I use it lol so worth the effort. Well done on getting it spot on :-)
 

JVC Floyd

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Awesome!.
My gf 777 doors drive me bonkers they have those same support frames inside the cassette doors and if anything is not lined up right it acts a fool so this type of tweaking helps a lot .
 

ford93

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Pretty nifty Trans!

Yeah gotta love those soft eject. I remember back then can't remember which box it was, but when I tried the eject and noticed how slow it opened I was turned on as if I just had sex with a virgin. LOL :lol: :lol: :lol:

Gotta love those teenage years!
 

Transistorized

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Lasonic TRC-920 said:
Really nice work. And thanks for posting all those up close pictures of the door. I need to make one from scratch and that helps!
Glad to help:-)

Northerner said:
Lol I’m the same...my C100 door wasn’t quite right and so I had to make it right too. Had to replace a badly repaired hinge and mod a spring to fit so it opened properly. Hate it when something like this is not 100%, annoys me every time I use it lol so worth the effort. Well done on getting it spot on :-)
I agree and Thanks :-)

JVC Floyd said:
Awesome!.
My gf 777 doors drive me bonkers they have those same support frames inside the cassette doors and if anything is not lined up right it acts a fool so this type of tweaking helps a lot .
You're not kidding. These types of decks require a loading system engineered by NASA to load and play the tape correctly.

Rimmer36 said:
i must be the only lamer here, bought a working conion instead of the hassle lol, great job :cool:
Much appreciated. I actually enjoy fixing things. I pick and choose my battles though because some things are beyond my ability. Mechanically I am good and electrically to a degree but I tend to shy away from anything that requires component testing in a circuit. Repairing my C100 has given me a better understanding of how it works. I really enjoy learning. Hoping I get many years of reliable operation out of it :-)

ford93 said:
Pretty nifty Trans!

Yeah gotta love those soft eject. I remember back then can't remember which box it was, but when I tried the eject and noticed how slow it opened I was turned on as if I just had sex with a virgin. LOL :lol: :lol: :lol:

Gotta love those teenage years!
I know what you mean. The symbol of a good cassette deck in the past was determined by the soft eject. Towards the end of cassettes just about every cheap deck started doing this out of fad to encourage sales..lol

On a separate note I purchased over 150 cassettes in a lot sale on eBay. They came in yesterday so I went through every single one of them last night to determine which ones were good or bad. This means I had to open the lower door at least 150 times. My way if thinking is if it doesn't break by then it probably won't for a good while. Help up nicely so after testing all of the tapes I treated the machine to a thorough pinch roller and head cleaning ;-)
 

Lasonic TRC-920

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ford93 said:
Pretty nifty Trans!

Yeah gotta love those soft eject. I remember back then can't remember which box it was, but when I tried the eject and noticed how slow it opened I was turned on as if I just had sex with a virgin. LOL :lol: :lol: :lol:

Gotta love those teenage years!
:lol: :lol: :lol: Is everything sex with you?

I remember seeing soft touch eject....it was so "Classy".
Back in 1981, if you had soft eject, LED's and music search, the chicks had to line up for you, right??? :huh:

That's what I was thinking anyway.

As soon as I could finally afford the radio, she just left with a high school guy in a Trans Am :sad: :lol: :lol:
 

JVC Floyd

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If boomboxes could talk a cheap box would throw the tape like here's you ****ing tape ,a boombox with soft eject slowly opens up and gently gives you the tape and with a phone sex operater voice says here's your tape honey lol.
 

Transistorized

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JVC Floyd said:
If boomboxes could talk a cheap box would throw the tape like here's you farking tape ,a boombox with soft eject slowly opens up and gently gives you the tape and with a phone sex operater voice says here's your tape honey lol.
Lol. Isn't that the truth. On both of my Conions the top flat deck must be the practical joker of the two because if you don't press eject like you mean it....its like....here ya go....syke!!! (aka nope. just kidding...taking it back).

edit: Just realized by using the slang "syke" I actually brought back some 80's flavor. To those who may not have heard this slang word, it was used all around the US back in the 80's and meant "to take back discredit/erase everything previous mentioned or stated". Can't remember when it was the last time I heard that phrase used. Another phrase commonly used was "gag me with a spoon" etc...

I think in the 70's it was "groovy" and "tubular man"

Probably could start a whole other post of 70 and 80's slang.. :lol:
 

trippy1313

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Lasonic TRC-920 said:
Really nice work. And thanks for posting all those up close pictures of the door. I need to make one from scratch and that helps!
Oh dang that door was missing wasn't it... I actually called the guy I got it from a while ago to see if he maybe found it, cause he thought he might have it somewhere. But he said he went through his storage and couldn't find it anywhere.

Kind of off-topic, but not entirely. Lol.
 

trippy1313

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JVC Floyd said:
If boomboxes could talk a cheap box would throw the tape like here's you farking tape ,a boombox with soft eject slowly opens up and gently gives you the tape and with a phone sex operater voice says here's your tape honey lol.
That's pretty funny. One of my radios though is so slow, I think the grease got all hard, and so I'm like, "Hurry up already!"
 

Lasonic TRC-920

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trippy1313 said:
Really nice work. And thanks for posting all those up close pictures of the door. I need to make one from scratch and that helps!
Oh dang that door was missing wasn't it... I actually called the guy I got it from a while ago to see if he maybe found it, cause he thought he might have it somewhere. But he said he went through his storage and couldn't find it anywhere.

Kind of off-topic, but not entirely. Lol.
Thanks for that Kenny....but I got it covered :-D :yes: I was able to mod a 777 door to fit the C-100
 
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