Cassette deck question - what might cause mechanical hum during playback only?

Is there an easy way to disconnect the belt and see if it is causing the vibration? I know, too many times, manufacturers build an entire machine around the belt. With a problem such as this, you can put your finger on say the transformer or motor and observe whether or not the hum changes or disappears. Even using the eraser end of a pencil will do this. At least that way, there would be an indication as to where the noise was being produced
 
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Cannot comment, I am in the metric world 😉
Me too. But the seller is from the US, so... 🙂

Is there an easy way to disconnect the belt and see if it is causing the vibration? I know, too many times, manufacturers build an entire machine around the belt. With a problem such as this, you can put your finger on say the transformer or motor and observe whether or not the hum changes or disappears. Even using the eraser end of a pencil will do this. At least that way, there would be an indication as to where the noise was being produced
That's an interesting thought about the belt. I'll have to disassemble it further to check that.

Pressing on the transformer, motor, or case does not seem to alter the sound of the hum by much, so yeah, not sure what is causing it all really.