Video head drum cleaning?
 

Hello,

I am working on cleaning up a VCR and I was curious how important it is to clean the grooves on the video head drum. And also what is the best way to clean stubborn dirt inside those grooves?

Thank you

As I understand it the grooves are there to allow the air to escape preventing the tape from lifting slightly off the drum and heads as in car tyres 'aquaplaning' on a wet road at speed. Tape to head contact is really important. The slightest gap creates picture and sound degradation. To clean the grooves when really clogged perhaps a hardwood stick sharpened to a suitable point. It can be time consuming. Be especially careful near the delicate heads.

Thank you for the response.

Do you have any preferred cleaners beyond isopropyl alcohol that I could use on it?

For Sticky Shed Syndrome deposits a petroleum based solvent seems to work better but SSS is almost unheard of on VHS tapes. So yes I dont feel the need to go past IPA. The main problem seems skimping on the cleaning of the drum and slots, shortening cleaning to "the heads". The entire tape path needs to be well cleaned which really means manually and visually checking our work as we go.

For Sticky Shed Syndrome deposits a petroleum based solvent seems to work better but SSS is almost unheard of on VHS tapes. So yes I dont feel the need to go past IPA. The temptation is to skimp on the cleaning of the drum and slots, shortening cleaning to just "the heads". The entire tape path needs to be well cleaned which really means manually and visually checking our work as we go.