I have an old head cleaner (probably around 10 years), and I have a VCR I want to clean. My question is, is it OK to use the fluid in it, or should I buy a new one? The cleaning system has never been used before. Thanks!
do NOT use one of those cassette type cleaner things.. very very abrasive and damaging to vcr video heads.. Why do you need to clean the heads?.. can you actually confirm this is the problem before taking on the job? The professional way (and safe) to clean heads is with a vcr head wand.. they haven't sold them for a while but basically they were a little bit of leather stuck on a wooden stick... Now back in my studio working days I was shown a trick/sideways by a BBC tape tech.. he used a bit of brown envelope between the head drum and his finger.. holding the paper against the drum and rotating the head slowly under... you can feel the head pass the other side of the paper.. rotate finger slightly while still jigging the drum back and forth a few more times.. and then you will see the oxide stripe on the paper.. there are 2 or 4 heads on the drum.. and this is the professional way to clean them.. the audio/sync/erase heads can be done with a cotton bug and spirit in the usual way.
For some reason mu original post got lost. O.K. Cleaning your VCR heads depend on your expertise as to which method you take, best is removing cover, and using isoproponal alcohol and a proper lint free wand, a leather or chamois type and clean with up down movement on each "head" may be two or four, they rotate, you will see them in middle of large circular silver coloured object with a cutout on tape path. Also check and clean dust etc from boards. Clean sound heads as well. If this is beyond you, then the tape, if clean is OK for less than or equal to 30 seconds, use enough cleaning fluid, to slightly dampen, don't flood, and and it should do the job. I started with the reel to reel Video recorders, then U-Matic systems, onto VHS players/recorders. Don't use cotton buds, they really do more damage than you'd think. Make sure if you remove cover, to unplug from power first.
up and down will snap or chip the heads.. ALWAYS move the head drum in the direction of normal rotation against the pad.. no need for fluids.. In 30 years using tape equipment I have never seen or heard of any fluid being used on vcr heads cotton buds or q-tips are instant death to video heads.. and the wands are pretty much extinct.. so brown envelope insides or newspaper is also good.
My problem is that the VCR has been sitting in a closet for quite a long time (years) but it's a rather high end model, so I want to clean it up. I haven't tired it yet, but I don't want to test it to see if it eats a tape or not, and instead just clean it since it is definitely dirty after all this time. Are there any guides online that you would suggest?
