Head Cleaning Tapes

The cassettes you buy in the video store or department store are your first line of defense against dirt. There are two basic types, wet and dry. A third type has recently become available that doesn't quite fit into either category. Wet type head cleaners seem to be the most prevalent. Cleaning cassettes can be a part of your regular maintenance schedule. Most will clean your heads (because they move by the stationary heads) but won't do much for the rest of the tape path because the fiber tape just runs over the rollers without wiping them. The Scotch head cleaner is an exception.

Head cleaning cassettes are only good for a limited number of uses (usually around forty). Buy a new one when you approach that point, maybe even sooner. Otherwise, you're recycling your dirt.

Wet Tape

These use a cleaning solvent (often 100% isopropyl) that is dispensed onto the fiber "tape" in the cassette. Wet tapes are reputedly less abrasive than dry, and therefore should be easier on your heads.

To use most of these cleaners, just add the solvent and play for 30 seconds. Read the directions for your specific cleaner, they may be a little different.

Critics of wet tape claim they often just smear the dirt around instead of removing it, or that the cleaning fluid may leave a residue that can get on your tapes. But as long as you purchase a good name brand cleaner, you should be fine using this method.

Dry Tape

These simply scrub the dirt off your heads. Some people believe in them completely, others claim they are murder on your heads.

I've personally never seen any specific problems from either kind of cleaning cassette. I use a wet tape for about 2 out of every 3 cleanings.

Scotch VCR Head Cleaner

There is a new kind of head cleaning tape available. Scotch claims that this tape not only provides thirty head cleanings, but six tape path cleanings as well. You can view the tape cleaning process and stop as soon as the heads are clean. 3M has patented this feature. It is supposed to prevent excessive head wear from over-cleaning.

The Scotch head cleaner is more expensive and harder to find, but the process should be a lot better for your heads than the traditional head cleaning cassettes. I haven't used it, but it's a great idea that was a long time coming.

Manual Cleaning

The only real drawback to a thorough hand cleaning is the time involved. Even at that, it only takes about 15 minutes to do once you've gone through the procedure once or twice. Learn the proper techniques and practice them carefully, and you should have no problems.

This is the preferred method of VCR cleaning. It addresses every part of the tape path and heads. Once your warranty is expired you might clean your VCR from once a month to once a year depending on usage.

Blank Tape Method

So what if your warranty isn't expired but your having problems with your vcr picture, free? Aside from taking the machine in for service, there is one more thing that might help.

Try playing a brand-new blank tape for 30 minutes or so. You can let it go for as long as a couple of hours if you need to. This will pick up some dust and dirt from your heads and tape path, and may get you by for awhile.

You can use it until you hit the end of the tape. Don't rewind it, since you want brand new fresh tape to be running over your heads. Keep in mind that this is not an actual cleaning tape, just a little trick you can use to get your heads a little bit cleaner.

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