Cleaning Tape Deck Heads (1 Viewer)

[John*K]

I have some 99% isopropanol, and wondered if it is okay to use for cleaning my tape deck. Anyone have experience with this?

 

[ScottLR]

That should be fine - the 99% is key. Don't use the regular, less-pure kind. Along with the heads, don't forget the capstan and pinch roller.

Demagnetizing is important too. Just be sure to have your amplifier off or you'll blow your speakers.

PS - I assume you are talking about an audio tape deck, not video.

 

[Kevin C Brown]

You should use a specific formulation for the pinch rollers. Alcohol can dry them out. If you don't use the deck much, it probably doesn't need demagnetized. But also if you don't use the deck much, alcohol is probably OK for the rollers anyway.

The easy way? One of those cleaning tapes does an OK job too. Depends on how thorough you want to be.