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Vintage Television and Video Vintage television and video equipment, programmes, VCRs etc.

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Old 12th Jan 2016, 4:33 pm   #1
ben
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Default Warning about VHS VCR auto head cleaners.

Just serviced a Thomson/Toshiba VCR which I'd had standing for the best part of a decade. Tried a junk tape and it of course got eaten, so took it apart. The main belt had gone totally soft, I'd say it was a step away from Philips goo territory. But what concerned me was the sticky smearing on the drum - caused by the deteriorated foam of the head cleaner arm. I had this not long ago with an Aiwa VCR. These are both mid 90's VCRs. The Tosh is a V705 and I think it's a R5000 Thomson deck.

So, before putting any machine dating from this period or after into use, I should suggest that it is essential to remove these head cleaners to prevent tape and possible head damage. In this case no damage was done fortunately. I didn't even know this model had an auto head cleaner arm or I would have been more cautious!

The head cleaner arm is a truly silly idea anyway if you ask me. Like using the same Q tip to clean your ears with, over and over.

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Old 12th Jan 2016, 5:12 pm   #2
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Default Re: warning about VHS VCR auto head cleaners

Absolutely, Ben. I always remove them and throw them away since I saw the problem
mentioned in the much-missed Television magazine not very long after they became commonplace.

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Old 12th Jan 2016, 6:19 pm   #3
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Default Re: warning about VHS VCR auto head cleaners

Hi Gys

I too remove them although one thing I will add.
These are the early type of material used ,like a foam which does disintegrate with time.
I had this style inside my Sanyo VHR190E.
On their later models they used a different material which seems more resilient and does'nt fall apart.
On the Panasonics it's an even harder type of material.Not good.

....................Kev
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Old 12th Jan 2016, 8:54 pm   #4
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Default Re: Warning about VHS VCR auto head cleaners.

Agreed, first thing I do when I see one inside a machine is to pull it out and throw it away. One thing that surprised me is that it is not just consumer models that have them. I have a couple of Sony and one JVC pro SVHS machines and they all have (had) them.
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Old 12th Jan 2016, 9:24 pm   #5
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Default Re: Warning about VHS VCR auto head cleaners.

When I was servicing we threw away on site.
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Old 13th Jan 2016, 12:14 am   #6
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Default Re: Warning about VHS VCR auto head cleaners.

Thank you for this important warning
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Old 13th Jan 2016, 8:30 am   #7
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Default Re: Warning about VHS VCR auto head cleaners.

Yes. Yes! Someone finally posted a warning about that crappy "feature". My Panasonic NV-FS200 (G2 deck) also had one of these. I removed without any second thought. This makes the heads even dirtier. Always use writing paper and IPA to clean the heads.

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Old 13th Jan 2016, 9:46 am   #8
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Default Re: Warning about VHS VCR auto head cleaners.

Likewise I just removed them. I had seen heads physically damaged by these....one on a Philips machine where the plating on the head had been worn away. Hideous things!
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Old 13th Jan 2016, 10:11 am   #9
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Default Re: Warning about VHS VCR auto head cleaners.

Even back when these machines were quite new I was never very comfortable with these auto head cleaners, time has proven they did more harm than good.

A few years back I started collecting (hoarding) upmarket JVC and Panasonic machines offered on my local freecycle, the first thing I did was to remove them and clean the heads manually.

I have been lucky that apart from transferring muck on to the heads, these have not caused any damage.

I would certainly check for the presence of one of these before powering up a machine that has been in storage for a while.
Definitely a remove on sight item!

Mark
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Old 13th Jan 2016, 11:19 pm   #10
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Default Re: Warning about VHS VCR auto head cleaners.

Last years i have serious problems with samsung MK10 mech (except from samsung it is used on sony last models SLV-SE..... models and the last toshiba VCRs ) on these machines the head clean roller due to years and storage condition becomes sticky. The result is that the video head becomes also sticky and wind the tape around the drum.
In my opinion the best solution the panasonic roller after many years (on K and Z mech) still works. Philips on TURBODRIVE use a strange roller from rubber in my machines i dont have face problems yet but i dont know what happen if the rubber becomes hard after many years.
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Old 22nd Feb 2016, 12:32 am   #11
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Default Re: Warning about VHS VCR auto head cleaners.

Another one for the collection, this one's a SONY SLV-SE620. Roller foam gone sticky.
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