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08-30-2010, 12:42 PM
fuzzblaster fuzzblaster is offline
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Your Lorship, I've read as many dissenting opinions as how to clean the heads of a video deck as I had of the Panasonic 1980 VS the JVC models that you recommend.

Something I found on a post: The only reason to use fedron is to resurface a rubber device such as a pinch roller or belt if they get slick,as to cleaning heads use a chamois tipped stick with 99% isopropyl cleaning the heads sideways. I've been using q-tips to clean vcrs for the last 25 years doing it in repair shops,it will leave strands and pull out ferrite heads if you dont know what you are doing but it's the best method for cleaning heads. I've talked to engineer techs who dont know how to repair anything and every repair tech i know uses 99% isopropyl.

Q tips, foam Tips, Those cleaning tapes you put in.
I will be playing a lot of old tapes and I think I should keep the heads clean, right?
I just got the deck so should I start out by cleaning the heads?

The deck is in good shape, but my tapes could leave dust or residue. And then cleaning the rollers and the rubber parts is another thing. I know this is a common question and I did google it. I just wanted your opinion. I could probably do more damage than not going in with a fuzzy q tip. I do remember cleaning the heads myself and I do know people who know video stuff could tell me what they would do. Thanks


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  #2  
08-31-2010, 07:44 PM
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Lots of questions here. But it's good that you ask, instead of listening to some of the terrible advice you've likely read. The thing about anonymous forums is you never know the level of expertise of the people who tend to spout of (often crazy) things.

Let me respond to some things here, line by line...

Quote:
(FROM QUOTED TEXT) The only reason to use fedron is to resurface a rubber device such as a pinch roller or belt if they get slick
You could use this, if you wanted, on the rubber transports. But honestly, I don't see the point. Alcohol works just as well. I remember having to constantly de-dust an industrial printer back in the 90s, which got clogged about once per day from the paper dust. I'd hit it with a leaf blower (that was fun!), and then run it in test mode without paper, which spun the rubber feeder. I'd use a rag with alcohol (nothing special, 50-70% "rubbing" isopropyl). It was just as good, and a heck of a lot cheaper, than the "rubber cleaners".

Quote:
(FROM QUOTED TEXT) I've been using q-tips to clean vcrs for the last 25 years doing it in repair shops,it will leave strands and pull out ferrite heads if you dont know what you are doing but it's the best method for cleaning heads.
This statement is ridiculous. Anybody that uses a Q-tip in a VCR, to be quite blunt, is a dumbass that should not be allowed inside a VCR.

The qualifier/cop-out of "if you dont know what you are doing" is the most ridiculous part of that statement. Compare this to poison -- which is basically what you're doing to heads by rubbing cotton on it: poisoning it. Would you ingest arsenic and then say you won't die because you "know what you're doing"? It's poison -- there's nothing to know! Boom, dead, the end. There's not a "proper way" to be poisoned.

Who wrote that crap?

Quote:
(FROM QUOTED TEXT) I've talked to engineer techs who dont know how to repair anything and every repair tech i know uses 99% isopropyl.
It sounds like it.

The thing with alcohol is that you simply want it to be as pure as possible. For example, you can't pour beer on the VCR, because that's only 5% alcohol. The 70%+ range of isopropyl contains few impurities and is fine. Feel free to use 70, 90, 99, etc.

Quote:
Q tips, foam Tips, Those cleaning tapes you put in.
Q tips = dangerous to VCR heads
foam Tips = best used with good alcohol for cleaning anything in VCR
Those cleaning tapes you put in = worthless, just smears dirt around, doesn't clean

Quote:
I will be playing a lot of old tapes and I think I should keep the heads clean, right?
Yes. Just don't over-clean it. There's really no rule of time/tapes before it's time to clean. Just watch for image degradation, and try to clean before that happens. I know, that's very catch-22'ish: "Don't do it until it's time, but when it's time you really should have done it just a bit earlier than that."

It reminds me of a saying from school: "If you're on time, you're late. If you're early, you're on time." (Of course, I used to just wonder why we didn't just specify 6:55 p.m. as the practice time, instead of 7:00 p.m. And that reminds me of the movie Office Space! Piece of flair, anybody?)

Every 50-100 tapes is my average.

Quote:
I just got the deck so should I start out by cleaning the heads?
Yes.

Quote:
The deck is in good shape, but my tapes could leave dust or residue.
Yes.

Quote:
And then cleaning the rollers and the rubber parts is another thing.
Yes.

Quote:
I know this is a common question and I did google it. I just wanted your opinion.
Yes.

Quote:
I could probably do more damage than not going in with a fuzzy q tip.
Guaranteed.

Quote:
I do remember cleaning the heads myself and I do know people who know video stuff could tell me what they would do.
Beware of those who seem to have, or even claim, knowledge. Sometimes people who you may perceive as having "good knowledge" may be minimally competent at best. I see a lot of this from salesman, at stores like Best Buy.


Hope that helps.

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