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  #1  
Old 12-28-2016, 07:44 PM
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The best head cleaner isn't tape or solvent

This is a little info-commercial of my best kept secret of the 80's. We would get VCR's in our shop from customers or even other shops who said they tried cleaning the heads but still no video. The thing that clogs the heads the most is not oxide but food. Because of the spinning heads it gets burned into a goo that nothing would remove except ... a thumbnail. I would make a fist with my hand and the thumb sticking out. I would rest my hand and bring my thumbnail vertically to the head until it touches. Then with the other hand, rotate the drum back and forth to just work the nail back and forth across the head surface, not moving my thumb at all. Any vertical movement would crack the head. I got video back 99% of the time. Those were the days ...

Larry G
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Old 12-29-2016, 07:49 AM
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hmmm I think I would be a little reluctant to try that especially on the 4-head machines with the heads paired together in the same opening with a tiny gap in-between. Snag that on a fingernail and bye bye head!
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Old 12-29-2016, 08:39 AM
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I could see that working with the flat top of the nail being the contact surface.

IIRC I read somewhere (maybe labguy's world?) that using deer hide with head cleaner is effective.

Another goofy one is 1/2" computer data tape...According to labguy it's MUCH more abrasive than normal video tape....I found some I was planning to use with my EIAJ deck (and actually did a 3 min test recording/playback on) and mentioned it to him as an alternative to the sticky tapes of that format (and VHS that stretches in those machines), and his response was something to the effect of "that's a bad idea you'll grind your heads down. I'll occasionally use those tapes to polish a chipped head."
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Old 12-29-2016, 10:11 AM
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I would only do it after the standard cleaning methods. Yes, you don't let the nail go past the surface edge of the head itself. The actual head gap in the center of a single head is a real gap of a few microns (can't remember the number anymore but something like 25). The nail won't enter the gap. Most 4 head machines I saw were spaced 90 degrees but for the adjacent heads definitely don't cross from one to the next. I had that technique down like a science. Larry G

PS - maybe it was the hi-fi audio head that was offset 90 degrees. It was too many years ago ...

Last edited by retrogear; 12-29-2016 at 10:15 AM.
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Old 12-29-2016, 10:37 AM
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When I had my VCR training in 1978, the recommended head cleaner solvent was Freon TF. It always had the ability to penetrate the microns head gap of a video head and clean it. After it got banned, the cleaning sh_t substitutes never did the job as well.
That's when my fingernail method was born.

Larry G
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Old 12-29-2016, 11:10 AM
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We used a bleached out dollar bill in emergencies - the cotton paper would clean the toughest video heads - gotta have them spinning... I used it successfully a few times - but mostly it was the foam swabs with the Freon TF or HCFC solvent.

Cleaning tape? Wet, perhaps, Dry, no.
Fingernail? Um, no.
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Old 12-29-2016, 11:12 AM
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Later VHS decks boasted 19u heads optimized for SLP...I don't have the earlier spec in memory.
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Old 12-29-2016, 03:19 PM
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Hmmm for the skeptics I should do a YouTube demo. I do have a sacrificial cheapo vcr ...
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Old 12-29-2016, 04:32 PM
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I just need to find a 3 year old child with a Barney tape and a peanut butter and jelly sandwich ...
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Old 12-29-2016, 05:34 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by retrogear View Post
I just need to find a 3 year old child with a Barney tape and a peanut butter and jelly sandwich ...
LOL!...You just reminded of a comic I saw when I was ~5-7 years old in the 90's. It was one kid saying to the other "I wonder what will happen if I try to play an ice cream sandwich with the VCR" and the other saying "lets try it"...Even back then I thought it was comically stupid.
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Old 12-29-2016, 06:09 PM
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People didn't realize the tape extends down to the bottom of the cassette so picking up a pop can leaving a ring of pop on the table then setting down the cassette, the tape would wick up the pop (or beer).
They would shove in the movie and the head would stall or grab the tape and spin it a few times around the drum. Such memories ... I had a test tape which was always the first one inserted in a customers machine.
I would keep advancing the tape. It was my "cleaning tape" and when it was over, it would be a complete wrinkled tape full of sh_t !!! I had it labeled DO NOT REWIND ...

Last edited by retrogear; 12-29-2016 at 06:32 PM.
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Old 12-29-2016, 09:23 PM
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I put the process on youtube. The vcr played fine afterwards. The click sounds are the phone moving, not the head breaking !!! Hopefully this link works.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_odc1cZou68

Larry G
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Old 12-30-2016, 08:57 AM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by retrogear View Post
I would only do it after the standard cleaning methods...
I think I would have titled this thread as "If all else fails, cleaning clogged video heads"

Anyway the ones I would have the most concern are the tiny "siamesed" heads with the SP and SLP heads in the same opening. Just too easy to snag one going over the physical gap between them.

When I got in a machine clogged up like that, sometimes plain old water would cut it if it was sugar based. About the only thing Freon TF wouldn't cut. ( I still have a near full can. )
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Old 12-30-2016, 09:57 PM
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Yea I chose a more controversial title to get people's attention. The head in my youtube demo is the Siamese version. I can feel it cross between heads. a fingernail is soft enough to not snag.
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  #15  
Old 12-30-2016, 10:09 PM
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I tried it...
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Last edited by TUD1; 06-19-2018 at 03:53 PM.
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