DIYbanter - View Single Post - using acetone to clean audio cassette heads

gregz

The Real Bev wrote:
On 01/09/2019 11:03 AM, wrote:
On Wednesday, 9 January 2019 16:12:46 UTC, Terry Schwartz wrote:
On Wednesday, January 9, 2019 at 10:07:57 AM UTC-6,
wrote:
On Wednesday, August 2, 2000 at 3:00:00 AM UTC-4, GHilgenber
wrote:

I have a ford ranger and the cassette player has a lot of
static the radio plays fine.I have demagnetizer and cleaning
tapes I was thinking of using acetone on the heads?

Use a cleaning tape or the like . Chemicals and liquids can harm
rollers and other plastic / rubber parts . Alcohol will dry out
the oils in plastics and rubber , causing them to harden .
Acetone will tend to dissolve these materials .

All those materials are 19 years older than when this topic was
initiated.... So yeah, I bet they're dried out.

cleaning tapes are almost hopeless anyway. Wet cleaning is the only
effective option.

Don't use rubbing alcohol, it contains oil. Vodka is fine. Clean the
pinch wheels as well. All must be bone dry before putting a tape in.

The heads are metal. No worries about hardening. Who told you there was
oil in rubbing alcohol? It's alcohol and water. Period.

Heads have some insulating material imbedded. Real rubbing alcohol is
supposed to have oil to prevent skin drying too much. Most don't. Isopropyl
or ethyl cleans heads.

Greg