Sharp 8989 Tape Adapter Mod

[retroclub]

Ok so the first 8989 I bought was cosmeticaly a bit of a mess but it was working ok. Recently though I noticed that the tape motor was making a loud screaching noise when activated and it also needs a set of belts. It sounds like the motor needs bearings so I pulled it apart last night and done a few changes. Firstly I took off the tape door at the front and then disconnected the motor altogether. What I found out was that as long as the play head has power, it will play even if the motor isn't running.

The belts were stretched so I removed them, put the tape adapter into the deck and rotated the mechanism by hand into the play position, plugged in my smartphone and it plays perfect. Not having the motor running is a major benefit as no noise or moving parts to wear out. Just as long as the head has power and is set to the play position, the box will play any source you can connect to the adapter. The radio still works fine too as when you press the radio button (on) it over-rides the tape deck.

The reason why I had to remove the tape door on the front is that the tape adapter had to be put in place before the front of the box was put back on, as I had to set play manualy by turning thr mechanism by hand. but it worked fine. What I'm going to do is attach the adapter jack to the case around the back so that no cable is visible and also somehow reassemble the front tape door. This will be for the weekend I think.

 

[hopey]

Thats a pretty smart trick well done. The Tape head is like a Record Player cartridge there is no power required as the output is low.

There is another way, you can connect directly onto the audio cable on the back of the head although the signal will be too loud you can use a voltage divider to drop the voltage down 1v to 0.3v.

 

[retroclub]

Thats a pretty smart trick well done. The Tape head is like a Record Player cartridge there is no power required as the output is low.

There is another way, you can connect directly onto the audio cable on the back of the head although the signal will be too loud you can use a voltage divider to drop the voltage down 1v to 0.3v.

Cheers yeah I thought about having a go at the tape head cable but my skills probably aren't up to doing anything too technical. Disconnecting the motor was easy though and makes such a diffecrence as it was sounding terrible. I was also wondering if you had any idea's about rebuilding the front tape door. The reason I had to remove it is that the adapter tape had to be in place before the front of the box was put back, so the tape door won't close with a tape already in place.

What I thought about doing was trimming off the tape holder flaps either side so that it will close without hitting the adapter, but then I noticed that the eject arm is locked in place when play is engaged (can probably sort this by fiddling with the machanism though). The final issue is making sure that the stop button can't be pressed on the tape desk, as if it is I need to take the front off and turn the tape mechanism to play each time.

Going to have a go at setting up a line in socket round the back but I had thought about using the original headphone socket by removing the headphone adapter in the box and running the tape adapter cable to it, connected to a headphone jack coupler. Is this possible do you think?

It's a shame this model 1 8989 doesn't have proper line in like the second version, but this tape hack is almost as good if I can finish it off.

 

[retroclub]

Routed the adapter cable through the battery compartment for the time being and trimmed the front tape door so that it fits back in, but I've kept the pieces so they can be supeglued back into place later if needed. Going to order a coupler from amazon and sort the cable properly into the case but this'll do for now.

 

[retroclub]

Here she is in action from earlier -