Was online talking about renewing and cleaning rubber tyres etc. was told Rubber Renue is the go. Did a search and it came up over at TapeHeads, all had their own opinion, use Rubber Renue (but there’s two types 408A and 408C.. what’s the diff?), use Platenclene, use just isopropyl alcohol… What’s peoples opinions here, I just clean rollers with isopropyl alcohol but that’s a clean… do the others actually restore in any way? Does anyone use these types of products? Rubber Renue and Platenclene work out to be about $30 each in Australia, so not cheap. both say don’t get near plastic.
Before I bought Platenclene I've used only IPA. I usually first clean rollers as best as I can and then check. I would say there is one thing that even with using Platemclene you need to consider is how to apply and for how long. I had mixed results, sometimes I feel rubbers went bad after applying it, sometimes that helped. I surely clean rollers after Platenclene apply with IPA as when I forgot it destroyed my tape. I think when _properly_ applied it can help, but I to would like to read others opinions.
I use both IPA and Rubber Renue, IPA is great but only for the cleaning, if the rollers are old and hard you'll need to step up to Rubber Renue. It works nicely to get hard slippery rubber a tacky surface again but it is not a cure-all solution, more like an add more time on the already old clock. It looks like the two different versions are the old "A" and the new "C," I'd assume that the new stuff is missing some of the toxic chemicals and doesn't work as well but I don't know. I think you can also wipe it on belts and get some more life out of those but I figure I'm going to need to replace the parts eventually, I'm just living on borrowed time.
To both @Raul and @Mister X did you just wipe it on with a cotton bud then leave it for a few minutes, then clean off with Isopropyl alcohol?
I have seen Rubber Renue on 12voltvids YouTube channel with good initial results (can't comment about long-term results), but I have not used it myself as it's not available in Europe. Rubber tires: if a replacement is not available I sand them with 800 grit sandpaper then clean well with IPA. Repeat the process until the surface of the rubber doesn't look shiny anymore and has grip. Of course there's a limit of what can be done as the rubber needs to still have elasticity to it. If it's hard as plastic, no chemical will restore it. Pinch rollers: these I prefer to replace as the vast majority of them are available. If it's a non-standard dimension recommend measuring outer diamter, height (together with hub) and pin diameter and search on ebay. On these it depends a lot how the unit was used and if the rollers were cleaned regularly (which is rarely the case).
Yes, 5-10 minutes max , then I cleaned them. Maybe I should leave it for longer, but I never heard for how long.
I didn't know you were supposed to wipe after applying, so no, I just put on the RR, waited for some other work to be done and tried it out. I did IPA before hand to get the shiny brown tape residue off as best as I could. The RR works really well if the rubber is hard, but like I said, I'd have the parts on order. I did just physically check my TEAC R2R I did a few years ago (there's a thread on here somewhere). I haven't played it in awhile but the pinch roller seems nice and squishy so maybe you can get some long life out of it.
