Good evening. I could really use some advice. My 2-year old reached up
onto the counter and pulled my Sharp ViewCam E650U into the floor (he
has learned to stretch those little arms!). I have never had any
trouble with this camera and it has had light use. It is in fantastic
shape...well, it was. The camera now will not play tapes or record to
them. After the drop, I opened the cassette door and there was a tiny
little rubber "wheel" type piece that was down in the cassette "bay."
It was easy to shake out but I have no idea where it used to live in
there. The camera powers on with no problem, the display works fine.
But put in a cassette and the camera doesn't think there's a tape in
there.

So two questions, is it likely that this is worth fixing? And if you
know of an easy fix for a little black wheel/spindle with a gold almost
threaded looking inside please say so.

This camera was a gift when our first child was born, back in 1998. I
have no idea what a local shop would charge to even look at the thing,
but perhaps it is our signal to move on up to something newer.

Any advice is much appreciated!