Cleaning Head Of AVCR
| Field | Entertainment |
| Went Obsolete | Never completely, became much less common after the wide acceptance of DVD. |
| Made Obsolete By | The advent of DVD |
| Knowledge Assumed | NONE - they had kits available at all major retailers |
| When useful | If the VCR stopped playing tapes correctly, this was often necessary to remedy the situation |
To clean the heads on a VCR is a very very delicate process and must be done with care, otherwise the heads will be destroyed. Keep in mind that to replace the heads on a consumer grade VCR is a futile process as the cost to replace them would equal that of a big screen TV.
First, purchase a bottle of 93 percent Isopropyl Alchohol from your local drugstore. Make sure that the bottle does NOT have Aloe Vera in it, as this will ruin the heads. Then purchase some non-linting foam tipped Q-tips. It is important to use non-linting Q-Tips as the fibres from the cotton in a regular Q-Tip can get caught in the head and possibly ruin your tapes.
Open up the VCR and look for a round shiny drum that is on a bit of of an angle. This is where the helical heads are. If you gently spin the drum around, you will notice a small hole with the head inside of it. Take out a Foam Q-Tip and soak it in the Isopropyl Alchohol. Make sure you tighten the lid on the bottle afterwards.
""GENTLY"" rub the Q-Tip against the head in a side-to-side motion that is consistant with the angle of the drum, ""NEVER"" rub the head up and down as this may break the head off. Some people may prefer to hold the Q-Tip steady while rotating the drum. Either method works. You should see brown/black crud come off on the Q-Tip. Soak the Q-Tip in alchohol again and repeat this procedure, using the opposite side of the Q-Tip. Keep doing this until no more black/brown crud comes off the head.
Allow the head to dry for about 1-2 minutes before playing a tape. Record a few seconds of regular TV programming onto a brand new tape and then rewind and play it back. If the video quality is perfect, then you've done the job.
Some videostores/electronics dealers used to sell special cleaning tapes (The tape inside was just a compressed cotton ribbon) which would perform the same function, but they did it "Dry". ie. Without alcohol. These sometimes work, but the method I've detailed above works considerably better.