Head Ware

_DK

_DK

New member
Are these worn? :confused:

heads11.jpg


HEADS22.jpg
 
There looks to be just under 1mil of metal gone as indicated by the flat spots on the tape lifters and heads. Yes, there is some ware, looks even, nothing severe but it's hard to tell how much metal is still left on the heads. I'd still venture to say that the heads look to have a lot of life left. I'm not sure how severe the guides / tape lifters are to warrant turning them around but I'd def see what it does to the tape. I may also want to overcompensate, a bit, for the head ware, by adjusting the EQ and maybe bias.
 
The thin black line....

Take a look closely at the center of the head to see if you can see the gap. If you do see it it will appear as a thin black line running from bottom top of the head. Human hair is about 80um (micrometer) in diameter and a record head gap is typically around 10 um. So if you see any line you can expect to replace that head. (Note, erase head gaps are around 50 to 100 um)

Use a magnifying lens to get a good look in a bright light.

Regards! --Ethan

PS if you have an other half track you could make your own test tape. Record some 0 vu and -10 vu tones at 30, 100, 1000, 10000 and 16000 Hz. then play that tape on the DUT (Deck under test ;-)).
 
Thanks Ethan!
All I got is these two pictures... :rolleyes:
I wish I'd find something like this locally.
 
Darn

_DK said:
Thanks Ethan!
All I got is these two pictures... :rolleyes:
I wish I'd find something like this locally.
Click to expand...


Well, For some reason I was thinking that this deck was close to you. And heads are very hard to photograph!

Best of luck (They really don't look too bad but YMMV!)
 
Another

Can't see any gap line here doing an edge enhance on the image. So there is a good bet that this head is OK. my guess is 50% worn (but don't trust me on this!)
 

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50% would be another 5000 hours? If it's true, that's pretty good.
I was just browsing the Otari website for parts... do you know if they sell brand new heads?
 
Head wear

Don't know much of anything about Otari head availability. I'm still looking for a (cheap) tascam 38 head.
 
I have an MX5050 that had heads worn to about the same level. I bought it from a guy who was trying to sell it in a pawn shop (to an EXTREMELY rude employee) for $40. Got some 600 grit sandpaper and some optical polishing paper... Well, I'll let the photos speak for themselves... :cool:

Before:

before.jpg


After:

after.jpg


polished2.jpg


:D
 
Howto

I have a noritronics (sp) howto on re-lapping somewhere around the disk farm :D If I could only find it.
 
Orcinus,

Nice to hear of somebody else who has relapped tape heads. I've been relapping tape heads for myself and for others for 40 years this year.

Cheers, Tim
 
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