On Thursday, December 11, 2014 7:46:15 AM UTC-5, Gareth Magennis wrote:



I should have mentioned, this is not the "pop open" type, it is the old
style motor/rubber band/coggy type opening mechanism.


Long shot and you probably tried this, but look for any unidentified holes in the bottom pan of the recorder under the drive. With some luck there may have been a manual opening slot in one of the gears that allow a small screwdriver to open the tray. It's possible the drive mfg provided this, but Liteon may not have added the access hole.

If you have to break off the front trim, it will go back nicely with contact cement or RTV.