How To Clean A Vcr Read Head Without A Read Head Cleaner Tape Repair Guide

Difficulty

Easy

Steps

6

Time Required

                          10 - 30 minutes            

Sections

2

• Emerson VCR953 Top Shell Removal
• 3 steps
• How to Clean a VCR Read Head WIthout a Read Head Cleaner Tape
• 3 steps

Flags

1

Member-Contributed Guide

An awesome member of our community made this guide. It is not managed by iFixit staff.

• BackVCR

• Full Screen

• Options

• History

• Save to Favorites

• Download PDF

• Edit

• Translate

• Get Shareable Link

• Embed This Guide

• Notify Me of Changes

• Stop Notifications

Introduction

For this guide I will be showing how to do it on my Emerson VCR953. The disassembly may be different on your model, but the cleaning procedure should be the same on all VCR models.

What you need

Step 1

              Emerson VCR953 Top Shell Removal               

• Remove the two 1/2" long #2 Philips screws from the rear of the case

Remove the two 1/2" long #2 Philips screws from the rear of the case

1024

Step 2

• Lift up on the back case and slide the top case back until it is free from the rest of the case

Lift up on the back case and slide the top case back until it is free from the rest of the case

Step 3

• You will now have access to all the circuit boards and the top of all mechanical parts.

You will now have access to all the circuit boards and the top of all mechanical parts.

Step 4

              How to Clean a VCR Read Head WIthout a Read Head Cleaner Tape               

• Once the top shell is off you should have access to the read head drum.
• Read head drum

Once the top shell is off you should have access to the read head drum.

Read head drum

Step 5

• Cut a strip of plain white copy paper between 1"-2" tall.
• Soak the middle of the strip in isopropyl alcohol. 70% will work, but the higher the concentration the better. I used 91% because it is what I had.
• You want to use paper for this and not something like cotton swabs or pads because they can leave fibers behind on the drum that can damage it or your tapes.

Cut a strip of plain white copy paper between 1"-2" tall.

Soak the middle of the strip in isopropyl alcohol. 70% will work, but the higher the concentration the better. I used 91% because it is what I had.

You want to use paper for this and not something like cotton swabs or pads because they can leave fibers behind on the drum that can damage it or your tapes.

Step 6

• Wrap the alcohol soaked paper around the read head drum and hold it in place against the drum with your thumb.
• With the paper pressed against the drum use your other hand to rotate the drum in either direction.
• Do this until no more dirt is coming off the drum onto the paper. You may need to flip the paper around to allow it to catch more dirt.

Wrap the alcohol soaked paper around the read head drum and hold it in place against the drum with your thumb.

With the paper pressed against the drum use your other hand to rotate the drum in either direction.

Do this until no more dirt is coming off the drum onto the paper. You may need to flip the paper around to allow it to catch more dirt.

To reassemble your device, follow these instructions in reverse order.

Cancel: I did not complete this guide.

                                                                                      4 other people completed this guide.                                             

Author

                                      with 1 other contributor 

                    Julian                     

Member since: 03/23/2016

569 Reputation

                                      3 Guides authored                  



                       Badges:
                       9







                                                        +6 more badges                           

Peter Logan - Jul 7, 2021

Reply

Thanks so easy when you are shown