Sharp 777 questions/ Help

[static2000g]

Got this Sharp 777 from Ebay last week. This is one of those boxes that probably spent 3 months on Ebay because the seller was asking too much ($500/600) but I made him a offer for 300 and he took it (360 with shipping).

The good news is that almost everything works (both cassette decks, radio etc….) The bad news is that one of the speakers sounds muffled, battery cover is missing, there is a whole in the back top of the box, and the cassette doors/mechanisms are completely broke off.

My question is that since the actual plastic hinge type things are broke off the cassette doors – can that even be fixed?? I mean I can make them fit up there for cosmetic purpose but it’s easier to play the box without them there. I have not actually decided how much money and time I want to invest in this box because it actually sounds pretty good even with all the flaws.

 

[Superduper]

Well, you do sort of get what you pay for. I'm sure you wouldn't expect to get a triple 7 fully complete without defects for $360 shipped right? The deck doors can be fixed but that depends upon your fabrication skills. There are oval shaped plastic pegs that acts as hinge pins. Unfortunately, it was a bad design since the plastic does not wear well, especially with the constant upward force of the springs exerted on the doors. The elliptical shape of the hinge pins (and pin receptacles on the door itself) is important to keep the door aligned. What typically happens is that the pins (and the receptacles) round off. This causes the doors to pop off the pins. Ordinarily, the pins are supposed to barely slide into the slot of the receptacles with the door nearly horizontal which is where the pins are narrowest. Once slipped in and rotated up, the wider shape of the pins with the door in the non-horiz position prevents it from popping off. This issue is very common and when mild, the symptom generally presents with the door seemingly jammed up against the top edge of the door pocket when opening and closing. With enough wear the pins and pin receptacles will no longer hold and the door will completely pop off regardless of door position.

The challenge in fixing this is to fabricate something to restore the proper function yet retain the proper door alignment, which if off could affect tape playback. So again, this all depends upon how much time you want to spend and how good is your fabrication skills.

 

[static2000g]

Well, you do sort of get what you pay for. I'm sure you wouldn't expect to get a triple 7 fully complete without defects for $360 shipped right? The deck doors can be fixed but that depends upon your fabrication skills. There are oval shaped plastic pegs that acts as hinge pins. Unfortunately, it was a bad design since the plastic does not wear well, especially with the constant upward force of the springs exerted on the doors. The elliptical shape of the hinge pins (and pin receptacles on the door itself) is important to keep the door aligned. What typically happens is that the pins (and the receptacles) round off. This causes the doors to pop off the pins. Ordinarily, the pins are supposed to barely slide into the slot of the receptacles with the door nearly horizontal which is where the pins are narrowest. Once slipped in and rotated up, the wider shape of the pins with the door in the non-horiz position prevents it from popping off. This issue is very common and when mild, the symptom generally presents with the door seemingly jammed up against the top edge of the door pocket when opening and closing. With enough wear the pins and pin receptacles will no longer hold and the door will completely pop off regardless of door position.

The challenge in fixing this is to fabricate something to restore the proper function yet retain the proper door alignment, which if off could affect tape playback. So again, this all depends upon how much time you want to spend and how good is your fabrication skills.

That was an A+ explanation!! Makes perfect sense now. I might just leave it, I'll think about it. I bought this one mainly because the “guts” were in decent shape (and it fit my budget-lol). Certain boxes- I can deal with certain inconveniences, but I haven’t stopped listening to this one since it came in Friday.