SONY RDR-VX410GI DVD/VCR: Broken Gear

[fixitclinic]

At Virtual Fixit Clinic 551 2020-04-19 Lund Sweden we saw Eileen from Cornwall, UK's SONY RDR-VX410GI DVD/VCR:

DVD/VCR Player/Recorder SONY RDR-VX410GI DVD/VCR door stuck open. When turned on it powers itself off. Occurred after video stuck in machine and pulled out eventually.

(Video here: https://youtu.be/4OPYRAE97E4?t=1903)

Fixit Coach Doug from Wellesley, Massachusetts, US reports:

---------- Forwarded message ---------

From: Douglas

Date: Sun, Apr 19, 2020 at 1:44 PM

Subject: Virtual Fixit II

So i did pull out my Sony VCR and did a side-by-side tear-down with 

Eileen. I put a VHS tape into mine and found the same issue that Eileen 

has. We looked and i found a broken gear on the tape transport 

mechanism, which prevented the ejection of the tape (and possibly proper 

closure of the door and readiness for play-back). She looked and even 

though the same gear is not completely broken off, it showed early 

failure. Age probably has something to do with it, although i am not 

sure why the gear was so under-designed (some very weak spokes). 

Unfortunately, the gear would be impossible to replace (and it says 

"unavailable" on the parts list in the manual). Anyway, it was an 

interesting experience, and she was a good sport. Unfortunately, two 

pieces of equipment just joined the trash heap.

Doug

[Frank Kaufman]

We have been successful in similar situations to 3D print a replacement part.

Frank