Tascam TSR-8 buttons not working?

[gogo_man]

Hi,

I recently bought a TSR-8 which I had serviced and was told everything was up speed (after some work). After receiving it I had to put in storage for a bit, so I am just now getting to using it.

Unfortunately, it seems that things are not all good. The biggest issue is that the record/play/fwd/rew/stop buttons feel a little "loose" and not the way I would expect them too. The record button in general never arms with a red light. This really bums me out, since I trusted my tech. One thing to note is that I don't have the reel tape on the machine currently so it's tapeless (realized I am missing one spool, so gotta put in an order for that before I can get the tape running). Could this be the issue? Record button doesn't behave until tape is completely on? Here is a video of the issue:

https://youtu.be/dmRtDU1S--Q

Here's video where it works:

https://youtu.be/K-aVYC5gwec?t=5m20s

That kid in the video makes me jealous that he has a working one and here I am with one that has loose buttons.

Also, there is a bit of a smell after I turn it off. I suspect this is normal. I think it reminds me of the smell I used to get when turning on/off guitar tubes

[I'm Painting Again]

I'm guessing here but maybe you need tape threaded on there for it to work - like maybe those two tension arms have to have tension for the motors to engage

[A.David.MacKinnon]

I'd guess the same. The take up side tension arm usually acts as an auto-stop on Tascam R2Rs. Try lifting it up and testing the transport functions.

[gogo_man]

Yup, that did it. Appreciate it ya'll.