Advice for tape drive repair / maintenance

[VCR that chews tapes...] Yes, a service manual. The time to get one is when the machine is new, since it's more likely to be available then... So do I (well, for my father's car). All 11 binders of it. And I have service manuals for just abotu everything else here, if they were available. If not, I have to produce my own notes and diagrams (as I've done for countless classic conputer items where the manufacturers thought that witholding schematics would somehow prevent me from understanding the device. It didn't work!) Yes. If you have some experience of VCR repair you can probably get by without the manual for a tape deck service -- they all work on much the same principles. But if iy's your first time, I would seriously recomend getting the manual... -tony