What do you use to clean the heads on a VCR?

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Muse

Muse

Lifer
Jul 11, 2001
39,902
9,597
136
I have some 99%+ alcohol, 91%, 70%.

I used to have some freon, but it evidently evaporated in the bottle. I have a book on VCR repair/maintenance and it suggests 97%+ alcohol or freon, or a combination of freon and alcohol. It says that the stuff in compressed air cans is freon and if you turn the can upside down, the liquid comes out and you can use that. I have the Dust-Off stuff they sell at Costco, but it says "100% ozone safe" and that it contains difluoroethane. I wonder if that's all it contains and if it would be a good head cleaner.

I found one source that says acetone works well as long as it's pure (not a nail polish remover with additives).

I have some lint free paper given me by a technician some years ago and when I need to clean heads (cassette decks and players and VCR's) I use a little piece of that, griped by a tweezers or forceps.

What makes a good head cleaning solution?
 
P

PHiuR

Diamond Member
Apr 24, 2001
9,539
2
76
i don't clean the heads...

the VCRs in my home has been up and running for probably 8+ years and i've never cleaned the head once.
 
Muse

Muse

Lifer
Jul 11, 2001
39,902
9,597
136
Originally posted by: KLin
I don't use a VCR anymore.
Click to expand...

Yeah, well, I have three and I use them. I also do recording to hard disk, but I use the VCR's too - S-VHS VCR's (far, far better than VHS).
 
mindmaniac

mindmaniac

Senior member
Dec 30, 2003
915
1
81
If it looks like crap when you put a tape in forget cleaning it and go to Wal-Mart and buy a brand new Sony one for $25-45 and the picture will look great and you'll be able to rewind any tape in less than a minute. If you really like your VCR though alcohol will work just fine.
 
Muse

Muse

Lifer
Jul 11, 2001
39,902
9,597
136
Originally posted by: PHiuR
i don't clean the heads...

the VCRs in my home has been up and running for probably 8+ years and i've never cleaned the head once.
Click to expand...
That's OK as long as you aren't having problems. I only clean mine when I have problems. One of my decks became completely unusable last week and it's now back to working status after a thorough cleaning.
 
Muse

Muse

Lifer
Jul 11, 2001
39,902
9,597
136
Originally posted by: mindmaniac
If it looks like crap when you put a tape in forget cleaning it and go to Wal-Mart and buy a brand new Sony one for $25-45 and the picture will look great and you'll be able to rewind any tape in less than a minute. If you really like your VCR though alcohol will work just fine.
Click to expand...
You won't get an S-VHS VCR for that kind of money, maybe for $125 if you're lucky, and it won't have picture-in-picture like the deck I just cleaned. That feature alone makes it worth it to me to keep the deck working. I've replaced the heads on both my original S-VHS decks, and the capstan motor in one of them (had that stuff done in a shop).

 
E

eelw

Lifer
Dec 4, 1999
10,176
5,277
136
Originally posted by: KLin
I don't use a VCR anymore.
Click to expand...

Exactly. I've owned my set top DVD recorder for 4 years now. The only VCR I still use is on a TV where the internal TV tuner is FUBARed. So I use the VCR as the TV tuner instead.
 
D

doze

Platinum Member
Jul 26, 2005
2,786
0
0
I use a 3M cleaning tape, only takes a few minutes and seems to work good enough
 
G

gabemcg

Platinum Member
Dec 27, 2004
2,597
0
71
Originally posted by: Muse
I have some 99%+ alcohol, 91%, 70%.

I used to have some freon, but it evidently evaporated in the bottle. I have a book on VCR repair/maintenance and it suggests 97%+ alcohol or freon, or a combination of freon and alcohol. It says that the stuff in compressed air cans is freon and if you turn the can upside down, the liquid comes out and you can use that. I have the Dust-Off stuff they sell at Costco, but it says "100% ozone safe" and that it contains difluoroethane. I wonder if that's all it contains and if it would be a good head cleaner.

I found one source that says acetone works well as long as it's pure (not a nail polish remover with additives).

I have some lint free paper given me by a technician some years ago and when I need to clean heads (cassette decks and players and VCR's) I use a little piece of that, griped by a tweezers or forceps.

What makes a good head cleaning solution?
Click to expand...



Text

Enjoy! (P.S. welcome to 2005)
 
Muse

Muse

Lifer
Jul 11, 2001
39,902
9,597
136
Originally posted by: gabemcg
Originally posted by: Muse
I have some 99%+ alcohol, 91%, 70%.

I used to have some freon, but it evidently evaporated in the bottle. I have a book on VCR repair/maintenance and it suggests 97%+ alcohol or freon, or a combination of freon and alcohol. It says that the stuff in compressed air cans is freon and if you turn the can upside down, the liquid comes out and you can use that. I have the Dust-Off stuff they sell at Costco, but it says "100% ozone safe" and that it contains difluoroethane. I wonder if that's all it contains and if it would be a good head cleaner.

I found one source that says acetone works well as long as it's pure (not a nail polish remover with additives).

I have some lint free paper given me by a technician some years ago and when I need to clean heads (cassette decks and players and VCR's) I use a little piece of that, griped by a tweezers or forceps.

What makes a good head cleaning solution?
Click to expand...



Text

Enjoy! (P.S. welcome to 2005)
Click to expand...
I already have two stand-alone DVD players. They don't help me with timeshifting TV, however I do that with my computer but I don't always like to use my computer for that, so I still use my SVHS VCR's, which do a really nice job unless it's HDTV. For that, I use the PC. I'm pretty much hip to it being 2005.

 
M

marstaton

Member
Dec 25, 2003
35
0
0
What you want to use is denatured alcohol. You may be able to find it at radio shack. The stuff is strong and you may want to do it somewhere with good ventilation or by a window. This is what we use to clean our $10,000 decks at work. Good luck. BTW cleaning tapes are very abrasive to the head.
 
Muse

Muse

Lifer
Jul 11, 2001
39,902
9,597
136
Originally posted by: marstaton
What you want to use is denatured alcohol. You may be able to find it at radio shack. The stuff is strong and you may want to do it somewhere with good ventilation or by a window. This is what we use to clean our $10,000 decks at work. Good luck. BTW cleaning tapes are very abrasive to the head.
Click to expand...

What is it about denatured alcohol that differentiates it from other alcohols? I figured that any alcohol would work about the same, but I don't know that. I thought maybe they sold denatured alcohol to discourage people from buying it and drinking it! Maybe I was wrong. What I have is:

1. Isopropyl Alcohol (anhydrous - 99.7-8%)
2. Isopropyl Rubbing Alcohol, 91%
3. Isopropyl Rubbing Alcohol, 70%

also:
4. Acetone
5. That Dust-Off stuff - Difluoroethane, if I turn the can upside down and capture the fluid
 
M

myusername

Diamond Member
Jun 8, 2003
5,046
0
0
Gosh, I thought you were supposed to use amyl or butyl nitrate ....

Do not use dust-off - it will leave a nasty residue.
 
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