stevans (12/31/82)
People have mentioned tapes being "eaten", slow speeds, and squeaks.
The solution to these problems (besides better brands of recording
tape (I recommend Maxell) and a better recorder (I recommend JVC, Aiwa,
and Nakamichi)) is to clean not only the heads, but the pinch-roller and
capstan as well. This process should be done about once every forty
hours of playing or recording.
Get a flashlight to examine the internals of the deck with, a pack of
cotton swabs (I recommend any brand other than Q-tips, because they
have too much cotton on the ends) and 91% isopropyl alcohol (I recommend
any name brand that comes with a metal cap -- it seems that cheap brands
employ plastic caps, which are made to break quickly so that you have to
buy a new bottle). A cotton swab may be turned into an "alcoswab" by
dipping the entire end into the alcohol, and then shaking off the excess
alcohol. When an alcoswab gets dirty during cleaning, use a new one.
If the door to your tape recorder may be removed, do so by pulling and
sliding it in every possible direction. Otherwise, just leave it open.
Clean the pinch-roller (the black rubber roller right next the the pointy
metal rod) by pressing the "play" button and moving an alcoswab slowly
across its width (pressing lightly, so you aren't stopping the slippery
roller), and making sure to stay away from the capstan (the pointy
metal rod) and on the side away from the heads, so that the cotton
doesn't get caught around the capstan as easily. If it gets caught,
press "stop" quickly and remove all the cotton carefully. You've cleaned
the roller when it looks clean and the alcoswabs don't get dirty.
If the alcoswabs still turn black after you use over a dozen of them,
your roller is decaying, so keep cleaning it until it's completely
gone, and get a new pinch-roller installed.
Next clean the capstan by pressing "pause" (to disengage the pinch-roller
while the capstan is still turning) and wiping it slowly along its length
with an alcoswab.
The heads may be cleaned by giving their surface a few wipes with an
alcoswab.
Then let your recorder air out to dry for a few minutes before use.
Some authorities say that you must periodically demagnetize your heads
and capstan, or else your tapes will be erased. I'm not sure of the
desirability of this procedure for various reasons (e.g. if you demagnetize
it poorly, you make things much worse they were), but if you want to
do it, obtain a demagnetizer that has a tip that can reach the heads in
your recorder, and follow the directions for its use explicitly.
By taking care of my JVC KD-A5 deck, I have never had any of my 230
pre-recorded tapes screw up in any way in years. Their only defects
are auduble tape hiss, which I've learned to ignore, and lack of artwork.
Mark Stevans, U of Rochester, NY
(allegra or seismo or brl-bmd)!rochester!stevansleichter (12/31/82)
Magnetized heads do not, in general, erase tapes - you'd need an awful lot of demagnetization to do that. They will erase the highest frequencies on the tape, AND at the same time significantly increase the hiss on the tape. Be- cause of the psycho-acoustic effect of adjacent-band masking, you may not no- tice the loss of high frequencies - just the presence of hiss. Thus, it is interesting to note that Mark Stevans' article says that demagne- tization is generally unnecessary - implying that he doesn't do it - and com- plains about tape hiss as the main problem he has run into. (Tape is inherently a high-hiss medium anyway so there may, in fact, be nothing at all wrong going on, but one wonders...) -- Jerry decvax!yale-comix!leichter
dmmartindale (01/01/83)
I've never been able to find 91% isopropyl alcohol, but I've discovered that drugstores which supply doctor's offices (often located in the same building as one or more doctor's offices) may carry 99% isopropyl. Anyway, this is fine stuff for cleaning heads and capstan, but NOT the pinch roller. Alcohol will cause the rubber to harden eventually. The manual for my tape deck (Harman/Kardon) suggests using an "aromatic hydrocarbon" for the pinch roller. Someone suggested that ordinary lacquer thinner was good for this.
mat (01/03/83)
Laquer Thinner on a pinch rolleer ... Zounds, what next! I think that Aromatic Hydrocarbon probably refers to something in the TriChlorEthene/ PerChlorEthene family. Before trying out your chemistry set on your H.K. deck, consider DiscWashers Capstan-Pinchroller cleaning cassette. I used it recently on my car deck to clean up a particularly dirty set of pinch rollers. It seems to use a water-based cleaner, seems to be very through, and gets both the capstan and the pinch roller. The only problem is that it drives decks with auto-revers mad, and you may have trouble with an auto-stop deck, since most of these use capstan tension to indicate that the tape is to be stopped/rreversed/rewound/whatever.
jwb (01/04/83)
When I was in broadcasting, we thought ethanol was better than isopropyl. The respones about water based cleaner leads me to make a confession. I have cleaned heads with Vodka during parties where nothing else was readily available. It seemed to work well, although we were also drinking the Vodka.