Homemade Demagnetizers

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bachelorb

bachelorb

Cowboy Chord Virtuoso
No popcorn needed for this thread :)

Because we are on the road and travel in a trailer, we don't have a lot of space for my music hobby. I have one small box for stuff........ One!!!........

I have seen where people have used cordless drills , soldering irons and ac adapters to degauss computer monitors.

Has anyone tried this and have it work??

Thanks
 
bachelorb said:
... to degauss computer monitors.
Click to expand...

Do people still use CRT monitors...? :D

They're kinda big to drag out on the road. You'll do better with an LCD monitor, and you don't need to degauss them. :)
 
....sorry..... Yes for tape decks..... I wasn't sure if the coils would act as a demagnetized if you could get it close enough.
 
Without knowing what kind of magnetic field is being generated by those makeshift devices...kinda hard to tell if they will do the job.

Do you feel the need to demag, or are you thinking of just doing it as a regular maintenance process?
There are differing opinions, but I stopped doing regular, almost daily/weekly demags...a long time ago.

Granted, some decks may need it more often...but I think it's more of a myth than a reality that it needs to be done constantly.
I would demag when calibrating the deck...and maybe once or twice over the course of lots and lots of recording.
 
This is all new to me, so I'm not sure. I was just reading the manual and they were talking about it and I really don't want to buy something else that will float around in the trailer.

I was trying to figure out a redneck way with things I already had to do it. If I don't have to.... Great!!
 
I'd guess most Portastudio owners probably rarely or never demag their heads. I used a Porta 05 from 1997-2004 and I don't recall ever using one or noticing any problems as a result.
 
bachelorb said:
This is all new to me, so I'm not sure. I was just reading the manual and they were talking about it and I really don't want to buy something else that will float around in the trailer.

I was trying to figure out a redneck way with things I already had to do it. If I don't have to.... Great!!
Click to expand...

Yeah...but even something you rig up to be a demag...it's still going to float around the trailer.
For a cassette portastudio...you want something small, with a long, narrow probe...like this for example:

Brand New SEALED Tape Deck Head Demagnetizer Reel to Reel Cassette Sony Teac | eBay

Of course, those are not as powerful as the more pro units, like the Hand-D-Mag stuff...but it's hard getting the bigger probe of a Hand-D-Mag into a cassette's head area.

Still good to have a demag on hand...you just don't need to do it every day.
Listen for the highs to start to fade on newly recorded tapes VS ones you recorded at some earlier period.
That's a sign to demag. If nothing changes...let it go, at least until you do some more involved maintenance.
 
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