What are the best ways for cleaning the entire deck? From cleaning tape heads to oiling up gears and whatever movable parts are inside? I dont wanan use corrosives that f' the decks more then they already are. Also, what is all this about demagnatizing? How do I do this?

Begin with removing accumulated dust from the tape well with compressed air (same kind as that used for cleaning computers is fine) aim away from the heads. Use Q-tips for reaching into corners to remove heavier accumulations. It helps if they're moistened (the warm, soapy water used to clean the bbx will suffice for this), then follow up with dry Q-tips.

Head cleaning can be done with Q-tips moistened with isopropyl alcohol (nothing else). Gently rub the cotton back and forth across the tape heads, capstan, and tape guides (entire tape path) until no tape residue (oxide) is visible on the Q-tips.

Head demag: Can be done using a hand held unit, or the type that look like a cassette. My preference is the later as it is convenient, fool proof and safe. The hand held units are good, but can do more harm than good, if not done properly. With the cassette type, demagnetization is completed in one second. All you need to do is insert the cassette, press play, stop, and eject. It's that simple.

Generally, this maintenance should be done every 10 hours of play time, or anytime you notice a degredation of sound. Lackluster highs, unusually high level of tape hiss, and muffled sound and/or or reduced playback volume are all fairly good indicators that your deck is in need of cleaning/demagnetizing.

Generally, most decks don't require extra lube, and if presently functioning normally, shouldn't be done.

Hope this helps...

Great Cleaning tips.

How about correct adjust of tape speed ?

Sometimes the speed has to be adjusted to
result in correct tape play.


Most motors have a speed adjust Variable
Resistor located on their back thru a plastic
covered hole.

My attempt to adjust the speed is to put
in a factory recored tape from the music
store. And then play it and try to get
as close to the correct speed by slowly
adjusting the motor var. resistor.

But this method is not fool proof and can
result in slow or fast tape play.

Do Joe Cool or other members know a
better way to adjust the cassette play
speed using a special tape or ???

mehyar, the method you describe is spot on. As for special tape, I know that there are special calibration tapes for tape wind torque, etc. The best tape I know of for checking pb speed is any tape that contains piano music...it's very discernable if speed needs adjustment.

quote:

Originally posted by mehyar:
...My attempt to adjust the speed is to put
in a factory recored tape from the music
store. And then play it and try to get
as close to the correct speed by slowly
adjusting the motor var. resistor.

But this method is not fool proof and can
result in slow or fast tape play.

Do Joe Cool or other members know a
better way to adjust the cassette play
speed using a special tape or ???

I have no sophisticated equipment, but I get great results doing something similar.
I have a legal cassette copy of an album I also own on CD. I play the two together & adjust the tape motor speed so that the tape play matches the CD. Sometimes you can't get it spot on, but so long as the two take over a minute before they go badly out of sync, you're close enough.
They'll be audibly out of sync if the difference is any more than a few milliseconds, so if they take a minute to do that you're over 99% accurate...

Ok, piano music is a good idea
and match the cassette to CD
play back speed is even better.

Will do that next time
adjustment is needed.

thanks

its all good

A well recorded piece of piano music is a real test for a deck's wow & flutter too. If either are on the high side, piano music sounds dreadful...

Once upon a time there were tapes with timed tones on them (1, 3, 5 & ten seconds) that my father had in their shop to calibrate speed with. I thought it was pretty neat because what you has to do was load the deck (motor) at 0, 1/3, 1/2, and 3/4 take up. The funny and cool part is that they used C60and C90 length tapes and would always get a slightly different speed because of drag as the load increased.

He also mentioned that it was a pain in the ass.

This was pretty much taken care of when they had decks with quartz or computer controlled drives to increase torque ever so slightly to keep things steady.

Thank you fellas...

or if you could find your way around to a Oscilloscope for an absolutely perfect way of measuring time of the cassette speed but this is probally a little over the top in troubleshooting here

a lil spit will clean it right up

I prefer De-natured alcohol