Solved Tape Cleaning Care Australia

  • Thread starter Thread starter Joronamo
  • Start date Start date
J

Joronamo

New member
Hi everyone,

I live in Australia and I own a Tascam 424 MkIII. I am building a home studio and need some tape cleaning equipment for my Portastudio. I need a demagnetizer, rubber cleaner and head cleaner. Does anyone know where I can buy tape cleaning kits from (if they still exist)? I tried looking on to no avail (I guess this stuff is hard to find).
 
Last edited:
Check ebay, there is often a two pack of cleaning products, one for rubber and one for metal parts, but really as far as heads and tape path cleaning (not the pinch roller though) use high grade isopropyl alcohol, Try to find it greater than 95%. The demagnetizer might be a concern, but I cant believe they arent on the used market in Oz.
 
For cleaning the heads and guides use isopropyl alcohol, you can by it from some of the more technical electronics suppliers.

For rubber, have a read here: Terry's Rubber Rollers, the cleaning advice is down the page a bit you have to look for it, basically he says soapy water, for a cassette based system I would use a bowl of soapy water and dab a cloth in it and clean the roller with the soapy cloth.

For cassette based players I have a cassette tape (case) that has a demagnetiser in it, put in the recorder and press play, it demagnetises in a second. However these are hard to find now, and electronics store may have some old stock around.

There is a Sony demagnetiser on Oz ebay you could try. Or have a look for a second hand TEAC E-3 hand held unit (I have 1 of these for the reel to reels).

Where are you in Oz?

Alan.
 
Thanks. I am in Brisbane. I looked at that Sony demagnetizer but I would prefer the TEAC E-3. There are a few on sale in the US but they are 100V. Should I just buy one then get a step down converter? Where did you get your E-3? Is it American or Australian? I don't understand why no one makes sells or makes tape care/cleaning kits anymore. Analog recording isn't obsolete by any means.
 
Last edited:
they sell isopropyl (99%) alcohol at Dick Smith. Easy to find. Any rubber reconditioner/cleaner will be fine for the pinch roller and you don't really need a demagnetizer you really have a problem with the machine, if you do, any demagnetizers will be fine for cassette, there are plenty on eBay all the time. Especially for cassette, because the speed is slower than most reel to reel, you don't need to clean and demagnetize that often so if you have a friend with one you can just borrow theirs every once in a while.
 
I heard those cassette case degametizers are bad for the machine because its like 'rubbing sand paper against it'. In fact, I think I read that on the original home recording site.
 
Last edited:
Joronamo said:
I heard those cassette case degametizers are bad for the machine because its like 'rubbing sand paper against it'. In fact I think I read on the original home recording site.
Click to expand...

Never used those ones on my cassette machines. I just use the same 'wand style' ones that I use on my reel to reel machines.
 
Joronamo said:
I heard those cassette case degametizers are bad for the machine because its like 'rubbing sand paper against it'. In fact I think I read on the original home recording site.
Click to expand...

The one I have is not a head cleaning tape, it does not rub anything. It has a small demagnetiser head in the cassette case and runs on a small battery, when you push play it activates and a little light comes on when its finished.

Joronamo, The TEAC E-3 I have is a Oz one with and Oz plug, 240V. I got hold of a second hand TEAC maintenance kit about 35 years ago and it was included in it. The kit also had head cleaner, rubber cleaner (both long gone but kept the bottles), a 1/4" splicing block and splicing tape and even a pair of stainless (non magnetic) scissors for cutting tape. I used it a lot as I was running a 4 track studio using a 3340S (which I also still have in my collection).

So Oz E-3's do turn up, however if the E-3 from the US is cheap enough one of these with a transformer would work.

Alan.
 
Keeping a cassette multitrack well maintained is very important. The narrow tracks and slow speed mean small particles and tape oxide buildup can more easily cause audible dropouts and reduce audio quality.

Clean the heads with 91% isopropyl alcohol or higher using a cotton tip (Q-tip) before each recording session with the machine off. Demag the heads on a schedule. It all depends on how much you’re using it really, so hard to say whether every two weeks or month. The manual for your tape deck may have a recommendation. Cassette tape is most delicate of all at printing and holding onto high frequencies so you don’t want stray magnetism building up on the heads, as it can effect the high frequencies a bit with each pass of the tape.

I also vacuum out the tape well with a mini vac attachment and blow it out with compressed air when using cassette portastudio. The two biggest enemies of narrow track cassette formats are dust particles and gradual high frequency loss with tapes played frequently on a neglected deck. Frequently happens faster when you’re multitracking. My sessions were very clean and have held up extremely well over the years. I always got a lot more out of cassette than a guy is supposed to be able to.

Have you ever been to Queenies Tea House in Brisbane? I’ve got a friend there… well she’s always saying how good the tea is. :)
 
BOOM! Guys hit the jackpot. I bought a 240v TEAC E-3..and wait...this is the best part...just bought a Mint condition TEAC TZ-10 Tape maintenance kit with everything in it!. Wasn't cheap, but totolly worth it! I also found a place in Brisbane called Totally Technical who specifically deal with analog recording,product,service and repair. So if you need a refill on the old rubber cleaner or head cleaner they sell it by the gallon!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top