OT: Cleaning video head on my Betamax VCR

[Nigel Henry]

On Sunday 10 August 2008 17:10, Tim wrote:
> Tim:
> >> We had a bit of fun tripping down memory lane resurrecting a VTR to play
> >> back something from 1974 just a few weeks back.  That's a year before we
> >> officially had colour TV in Australia, though I can see that some of the
> >> recordings did have colour sub-carrier present.  Somewhere I've got
> >> another half-inch open-reel tape with "Apollo mission" written on the
> >> box.  It's old enough that it might be a live off-air recording, rather
> >> than some documentary after the fact.  But it's a different format, so
> >> I'll have to do some scrounging for another machine.
>
> Gene Heskett:
> > The Apollo tape sounds interesting!  1974 would probably have been a
> > 3/4" sony u-matic.  Quite common in the day, but that was early in
> > that era too.
>
> Only in the stations.  It would be the early-mid-1980s before Umatics
> were seen outside of them, over here.  Beta and VHS came out a lot later
> here, than overseas, too (mid-late-1980s).  So, in the 70s, it would
> have been reel-to-reel equipment in schools, and the like.  There'd be
> very few home VTRs.
>
> > No idea what the 1/2" format would have been, there were several false
> > starts before u-matic took over the field for 20 years in the smaller
> > markets.
>
> If I remember correctly, it was one of the Sony machines with the larger
> head drums.  I had two of them [1], but they were knackered long ago.  I
> gave them away to someone who collects junk television equipment, and
> didn't really care if they worked or not.  He's got more space than me,
> and if I find the tape, I can always pay him a visit with the VTR's
> service manual and a CRO.
>
> I've still got two other VTRS that had the smaller head drums, one of
> them plays fairly well [2], the other has bad servo hunting and the
> pinch roller doesn't grip [3].  The pivot point for the arm that swings
> it back and forth is stiff, and several hours of lubing and wiggling
> hasn't helped.  But I don't think the tape played on these machines.  Of
> course it's about twenty years since I tried to play that tape.  And the
> only thing I can remember about the pictures on the tape was the rather
> chunky flashing super over the picture (that it was very chunky, not
> what it said, nor what the pictures were).
>
> Someone else's pictures of the same model VTRs:
> 1. http://www.oldtechnology.net/images/sonycv2100.jpg
> 2. http://www.rewindmuseum.com/images3/nv3030.gif
> 3. http://www.oldtechnology.net/images/sonyav3620.jpg
>
> I've got the service manuals, still, for 1 and 3.  Never had one for 2.
> I used to have one of the portable recorders, but I gave that to a
> friend about twenty years ago.  Yeah right, it's got a handle, a
> shoulder strap, and uses 12 volt batteries, so it's portable, never mind
> that it weighs ten tonnes...
>
> You young people and your DVDs and MiniDVs don't know how easy your have
> it.  One of my cameras weighs as much as I do.  ;-)
>
> --
> [tim at localhost ~]$ uname -r
> 2.6.25.11-97.fc9.i686

Link to the one I'm wanting to clean the video head on below. Link to image 
borrowed from a site where someone is wanting to sell the whole shooting 
match, including camera, and ac power supply for the lowly sum of £25. Slight 
prob with the vcr's eject button not working.

http://i151.photobucket.com/albums/s...um/beta004.jpg

Nigel.