http://www.instructables.com/id/Audio-Cassette-Loop/

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Audio Cassette Loopby randofo on June 24, 2009

Table of Contents

intro:   Audio Cassette Loop . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2

step 1:   Go get stuff . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2

step 2:   Open the case . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3

step 3:   Remove the reels . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4

step 4:   Prepare the reels . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4

step 5:   Cut some magnetic tape . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5

step 6:   Thread . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6

step 7:   Tape . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7

step 8:   Washer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7

step 9:   Close the case . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8

step 10:   Now make it better . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9

step 11:   Make a new piece . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10

step 12:   Splice . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10

step 13:   Putting all back together again . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11

Related Instructables . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13

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Comments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13

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intro:  Audio Cassette LoopTheoretically it sounds really easy; you can make a tape loop by taping the ends of a short piece of magnetic ribbon together and sticking it back inside the cassette tape.However, if you ever actually tried to do this, you will soon realize that it is a tad bit trickier than one would think. I spent an afternoon working out and refining thisscience. After many tries and many, throw-my-hands-in-the-air-and-promise-to-give-up sorts of moments, I think I have it down reasonably enough to write instructionsfor someone else to do it. Now you too can tape the ends of magnetic ribbon together, ?, and profit!

step 1: Go get stuffYou will need:

A cassetteA rubber washerA razor or craft knifeDouble-sided tapeClear packing tapeA screwdriverScissorsMat boardA rulerA cassette player

Image Notes1. That's the one!

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step 2: Open the caseOpen the cassette tape by removing the screws. Carefully set them aside for later reassembly.

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step 3: Remove the reelsRemove the tape reels, but don't disturb any of the other mechanisms.

step 4: Prepare the reelsCut both reels free from the magnetic tape.

Put your rubber washer around one of them. This will be the wheel which will pull the tape.

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step 5: Cut some magnetic tapeCut a section of magnetic tape roughly a foot long.

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step 6: ThreadPosition your wheels back inside the tape and thread the magnetic ribbon around the rubber wheel, under the unmodified wheel, around the pulley opposite the rubberwheel, through the channel at the bottom of the tape, around the other pulley and also to the right of the plastic peg (next to the pulley).

In other words, just look at the pictures.

Image Notes1. Works better not around this peg. However, that pulley is a must!

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step 7: TapeApply a small piece of double-sided tape on the inside of the magnetic ribbon, pull the loop tight and tape it evenly together.

If the magnetic ribbon is attached at an angle or any tape is sticking off the sides, your tape loop almost assuredly will not work.

step 8: WasherCut a washer out of mat board and stick it on the inside of the case around the opening that lines up with the wheel with the rubber on it.

This provides more pressure on the sides of the wheel and ensures the wheel will spin. I found this to be necessary.

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step 9: Close the caseTrim away all excess magnet ribbon and close the cassette back up. When reinserting the screws, only tighten them about 80% on the side with the rubber wheel.Readjust tightness as necessary until it plays correctly in your cassette deck.

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step 10: Now make it betterPerhaps that first loop you made was a little glitchy and you would like for it to work better.

There is an easy way to do this.

First, reopen the case, remove the magnetic ribbon loop and cut it in half anywhere along its length.

Image Notes1. Ugly splice. It skips a lot of audio.

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step 11: Make a new pieceCarefully measure this piece of magnetic ribbon and then cut yet another piece of that exact length.

Image Notes1. Old

Image Notes1. New

Image Notes1. Slightly shorter.

step 12: SpliceTake a small piece of packing tape and evenly splice together the two ends to form a solid band (without any twists in it... although, if you put one twist in it, it will doublethe length of the loop, but make it harder to reassemble).

Trim away any excess packing tape with your razor or craft knife.

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Image Notes1. Clean splice with tiny piece of tape on the back.

Image Notes1. Cut to very small piece.

step 13: Putting all back together againInstall the new band of magnetic tape into the cassette deck.

Reassemble the whole unit once more and enjoy your cleaner sounding tape loop.

The trick:I always assumed that the tape wheel was the mechanism feeding the tape through the player and because of this, I thought that the magnetic ribbon had to be highlytensioned and the wheel needed to be as loose as possible to spin freely. However, what I discovered is that what is really feeding the magnetic ribbon through the playeris a little rubber wheel that comes up from the bottom when you hit play. Because of this, it is beneficial if the ribbon has a little slack (less tensioned) and the wheel is alittle compressed with sides of the case. Figuring out the right ratio takes a little trial and error.

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Image Notes1. Notice I stopped putting around this. It was a marked improvement once Istopped using this tab.

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Comments33 comments Add Comment

 livesteamfan says:  Jun 28, 2009. 7:41 PM  REPLYWhat if I wanted to loop the whole tape like an 8-track? Would that be possible?

 ironsmiter says:  Jun 29, 2009. 3:50 AM  REPLYno.you'd be better off getting an actual 8-track player, and tape, and just using that.

Modifying the tape mechanism of a cassette into a long loop....

Well, I suppose it COULD be done, but not easily, and you couldn't use it in a standard tape player. Standard cassette decks would put too much tensionon the tape, and it would bind up.

You'd be better off getting a cassette tape mp3 player and setting it to loop your playlist.

just use some caution, as the cassette player read heads MAY desensitize a bit over prolonged usage. So don't go and use this in your super-high endaudiophile multi-thousand dollar cassette deck.

 livesteamfan says:  Jun 29, 2009. 7:55 AM  REPLYThere are multi-thousand dollar cassette decks? I just use an old record player that was made back in the early 80's for everything. It's a soundesign2-speed turntable, AM/FM radio, 8-track recorder and cassette recorder. I was just wondering because all my 8-tracks are worn to where two differenttracks play at once like they all did after a long time.

 ironsmiter says:  Jun 29, 2009. 9:47 AM  REPLYok, you caught me...the most expensive deck I found on a quick search was just at 1 grand(Nakamichi cr-7e) course, the last time I BOUGHT a cassette deck, thatprice was a bit higher.

You could try repairing your 8-tracks...Bleed-over is usually a result of a failed pressure pads.Pretty easy repair, and it returns years of life to your tapes :-)

http://www.instructables.com/id/Audio-Cassette-Loop/

If you're not quite up to it yourself, there's a few places that will refurb your 8-tracks for like $5.

If you have to do an 8-track splice, remember regular cello tape will NOT do.you need the metallic indicator splice tape, so your player knows when to switch tracks :-)I'd suggest also, digitizing those tapes.Sure, they sound great, but if a splice fails, and the player eats it.... it's a lost cause. and they WILL eventually fail. My NEWEST 8-track is a'young' 12 years old!

 mattyuke says:  Jun 27, 2009. 11:44 AM  REPLYWhat exactly is this used for???

 ironsmiter says:  Jun 29, 2009. 3:51 AM  REPLYI did this sort of thing once, for an old mini-tape answering machine, that I didn't want any answers from :-)

 ReCreate says:  Jun 28, 2009. 10:52 AM  REPLYplaying music?

 Derin says:  Jun 28, 2009. 3:57 AM  REPLYDIY ATIS service :D

 twocvbloke says:  Jun 27, 2009. 7:56 PM  REPLYI once tried to do this not too long back, but got so frustrated with it I just ended up throwing the whole thing in the bin.... :S

The only difference with mine was I looped the tape over both reels as some more modern tape players, like that in my Sony car (bed) radio like to have bothreels turning, otherwise it just stops and spits the tape back out, but I just got irritated by the tensioning problems that I just gave up and did something else...:P

Still, I want to try again sometime... :)

 pflodo says:  Jun 27, 2009. 2:23 AM (removed by author or community request)

 randofo says:  Jun 27, 2009. 11:58 AM  REPLYMay I remind you we have a Be Nice Policy?

 pflodo says:  Jun 27, 2009. 2:57 PM  REPLYI appologise if my comment was not nice. This is an excellent site and part of that comes from controlling comments and keeping trolls away.

Lets rephrase my comment in positive language: I would have loved this instructable when I was a kid, which unfortunately is long time ago. Keep upthe good work.

 higgrobot says:  Jun 26, 2009. 12:23 AM  REPLYI have one of those things, but I could never figure out where the usb lead plugs in :)

 hintss says:  Jun 27, 2009. 10:25 AM  REPLYfunny!

 tannerr52 says:  Jun 27, 2009. 1:26 PM  REPLYlol nice display picture!

 lemonie says:  Jun 27, 2009. 12:52 PM  REPLYI made one of these years ago, but I can't remember how much play you get - 20-30 seconds?

L

http://www.instructables.com/id/Audio-Cassette-Loop/

 ReCreate says:  Jun 26, 2009. 10:28 PM  REPLYWow...I don't know why they didn't make something like this earlier...

 gezortenplotz says:  Jun 26, 2009. 4:42 AM  REPLYTape splicing is pretty much a lost art. I used to have several of these that were commercially made for answering machines back in the 80's, but got lost orgummed up. I still have a 4-track cassette recorder & even though there's digital ways to do this, I think some cool recordings can be made using this loopedtape.

Thanks for the good instructable!

 wupme says:  Jun 26, 2009. 4:52 PM  REPLYI Still got the equipment here thats needed to slice a tape perfectly, you know those things where you put it in, cut it with a razor at an angle and even the"special" adhessive tape for it.

 neuralstatic says:  Jun 26, 2009. 3:24 PM  REPLYmoebius loop ftw!

 jswilson64 says:  Jun 26, 2009. 2:23 PM  REPLYGood Instructable. Need to keep the old skills alive - you never know when this could come in handy.

 clickmatch says:  Jun 26, 2009. 6:40 AM  REPLYCassette? What about 8-track!?

 djrock3k says:  Jun 26, 2009. 11:34 AM  REPLY8 track tapes are tape loops.(unless you are being ironically funny :) )

 clickmatch says:  Jun 26, 2009. 12:13 PM  REPLYI was wondering if anyone would pick up on that. heh

 ctp says:  Jun 26, 2009. 11:50 AM  REPLYNice job, I'm going to try it out this weekend. BTW - That's a rubber washer, not an o-ring...just to help the neophytes get the right thing :-)

 joem says:  Jun 26, 2009. 11:38 AM  REPLYJust a note about forces: In step 8, you say the washer "provides more tension on the sides of the wheel" when in fact, it provides compression on the wheel.Tension is when something is being pulled apart, but in this case, the wheel is being pressed by the washer.

 eyeball226 says:  Jun 26, 2009. 8:04 AM  REPLYYeah! Putting one of these in a 4 track is endless fun. Especially since you can bounce loops to create incredibly dense and layered sounds.

Plus if you make a Möbius loop, you can set one track to record and then if you set the opposite track to play, it plays back. Using assigns and sends youcan create feedback and you've got a tape echo unit. A tape echo unit with a mixer!

 conceptualstratagem says:  Jun 26, 2009. 7:20 AM  REPLYIs that a garden hose O-ring? Interesting variation, I'll have to give it go.

 Weissensteinburg says:  Jun 26, 2009. 7:15 AM  REPLYThat's awesome! What did you record onto yours

 Goodhart says:  Jun 26, 2009. 6:38 AM  REPLYVery nice :-) I did something very similar about 30 years ago when I was about 18-20 or so years young. About the only thing that I did differently though wasthat I didn't cut the tape away from the reels (step 4) but rather pulled the small slide out plug, that each reel had, off to free the tape. It doesn't really make adifference I suppose, but I didn't know how much less tension might be imparted by a little piece of the tape being on the reel still.

http://www.instructables.com/id/Audio-Cassette-Loop/

 bustedit says:  Jun 26, 2009. 5:59 AM  REPLYwait a minute...why didn't you use the Epilog laser cutter to slice the tape?In all sincereity, you are an incredible (no pun) and inspiring young man.

 bustedit says:  Jun 26, 2009. 6:16 AM  REPLYnow i have a silly question - is it possible to record onto the looped cassette, or must you use a pre-recorded tape? is the sticky tape strong enough tohold up to that?i think it would be as much fun playing with Start & Stop times recorded onto a limited length loop.now if you can just add a tape flange mechanism to it, you will officially be a mad genius in my book.

 Goodhart says:  Jun 26, 2009. 6:32 AM  REPLYWhen I did this same thing, back in 1979 or thereabouts, I was able to record a short, several seconds long message on the loop. I am not sure howmuch success one would have with the loop twisted (the attempt to double the loop length, step 12). I have had single twists end up going throughthe spindle and get folded.