Maintenance of my Porta 02 MKII

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hollow2010

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I recently purchased a Porta 02 MKII. My instructions say I have to clean the heads before and after every time I use it. It also says that I have to clean the pinch rollers once a day. I use the recorder every day and all this cleaning becomes frustrating. Is all this really necessary, and also do I need to remove the tape from the recorder every time I use it?
 
Once a day is overkill - are you sure the manual says that?

Every 25-50 hours is probably sufficient.... same for the pinch roller... To clean the heads, use at least 90% isopropyl alcohol... 70% rubbing alcohol is NOT the same and is no good.

For the pinch roller, use pinch roller cleaner -- using alcohol will dry out the rubber.

Bruce
 
the suggestions in the manual are a little over kill..... i did'nt bother reading the manual until i had my portstudio for over a year, and and in that time i never even thought to clean the heads! no harm done any how. it is a good idea to take the tape out before you clean it....., and probably best not to follow my example... the bears right, after every 25-50 hours of use should suffice.
 
The manual is a little overkill, since they want you to wear the heads out and have to replace or buy a new unit.
I just got a new 414MKII 2 days ago and it says to clean and degauss before and after every sesson, and even if you take a break to microwave a leftover buritto.
Get a Allsop tape head cleaner and a degausser wand or a cassette demagnitizer and do it once a week or once a month, depending on how much you use your deck.
If you start to notice the high end droppin off, then it's time time to douche.
Don't fall for the overkill........
Bubinski.
 
DON'T USE THESE CASSETTE CLEANERS......

About the only thing they were good for was the cassette car stereo, where manual cleaning was almost impossible......

As I said, use a Q-Tip, isopropyl alcohol, and pinch roller cleaner.......

And demag occasionally.......

Bruce
 
Blu Bear....
Whats wrong with the allsop tape cleaner ? not being a prick, but should I quit using it ? It just seems more convenient than swabs. Do Radio shack have rubber cleaner? I live in shithole s.w. Montana and there ain't to many places to shop for stuff like that around here.
I also hate when the swab gets wrapped up between the capstain and the pinch roller.
I also use a TDK cassete demagnitizer, or should I stick with a radio shack wand degausser ?
Thanks,.........Bubinski.
 
When you clean heads and pinch rollers make sure you use the right formulations. Substitutes could melt plastic parts in the head and cause pinch rollers to harden and crack.
 
Hix is right....

As I said, the only thing those cassette cleaners are semi-useful for is car stereo cassette players, which are hard to clean manually.... they aren't really effective at cleaning the tape path - they simply transport some debris from the head to the pinch roller.... and they don't really clean the pinch roller effectively -- further, I'll bet you're using alcohol on the pinch roller too, which is not good...

The wand degausser is fine as long as you use it properly... (pull the wand away too quickly and you end up with heads more magnetized than when you started!) The cassette demags work well...

You should be cleaning your unit with the power off, so there's no way for the swab to get wrapped around the capstan................

Bruce
 
Bruce,
Thanks for the info.....some things i didn't know.
Bubinski.
 
bruce-
admit it. your lovely bride taught you the above advice on your honeymoon?:D
 
hixmix said:
bruce-
admit it. your lovely bride taught you the above advice on your honeymoon?:D
Click to expand...
true enough... she does all the engineering, planning, budgeting, etc... I'm just a figurehead that talks a lot!!!

(At least, that's how SHE sees it!!!)

:D :D

Bruce
 
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