Tape Trail

Isopropyl Alcohol Swabs

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Inmate51

A

In Reply to: RE: +1 posted by Dave Pogue on September 24, 2015 at 05:01:16

The age-old criticism about using isopropyl alcohol is that it destroys the pinch roller "rubber".

In my fairly lengthy time of doing tape recording, I have not seen this to be the case. Rather, it seems to be a method for companies to sell branded cleaners.

I suppose it "could" happen, but my observation and experience is that it's not an issue.

What do you use, and what are its solvent/cleaner components?

:)

Follow Ups:

"Plain old dish soap and water." - Dave Pogue 11:53:28 09/25/15 (2)
That's not me, That's Terry Witt (aka, "Terry's Rubber Rollers"), who has probably re-rubbered more pinch rollers than anyone else on earth. Works for me, though I've also used 409 and very occasionally one of the "Rubber Renue" products that supposedly keep pinch rollers supple.
I have several pinch rollers for my Otari and Teac (and multiple headstacks for the Otari), and when the ones on the machine look dirty, I switch with a clean one and dunk the dirty roller in Dawn for a day or so, scrub it with a toothbrush, rinse and dry it off, and it's ready for the next switch. I use my decks a LOT.
When I briefly owned that godforsaken A77 Revox Mk. IV -- the one whose caps exploded, before it caught on fire -- the first thing I did was buy a new pinch roller because the one on the machine was hard as a brick. Not being out in the open like mine, the Revox rollers sure make it hard to do anything with them and it's difficult to see/feel just what the roller condition is. But I gather some folks like them :-)

Edits: 09/25/15
- RE: "Plain old dish soap and water." - John Elison 08:48:13 09/26/15 (1)
  I always used Intraclean 721 , if I remember correctly. It was the best cleaning solvent I ever found for heads, capstans, guides and pinch rollers. It was so much better than anything else that I used it religiously until I finally got rid of all my analog tape recorders.
  - Looks like interesting stuff, John - Dave Pogue 09:56:42 09/26/15 (0)
    For everything except pinch rollers, my tape tech sold me on ... lacquer thinner. Gotta keep it away from plastic parts, but it's the best I've found for heads, guides, and capstans. I've kinda hesitated to suggest it here for what i felt were obvious reasons,
    
    I can understand getting rid of tape decks -- tape is clearly the ultimate hair-shirt medium -- but if you're addicted, as I am, there's nothing like it. And Ebay, for all its downsides, lists 8,000-10,000 reel-to-reel tapes for sale every day.

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