Less than a year old but requiring frequent head
cleaning because of noisy picture replay.
Is this another supposed head cleaner gizmo?
Next to the supply side tape guide, on the curved-slotted
pathway, is a brass cylinder that touches the active
side of the tape , rotating with its motion, for no apparent reason.
I removed it, assuming it is some idea of a duff tape cleaner.
Anyone familiar with these ?

I tend to always remove those nasty foam supposed
head cleaners, on placcy arms that engage with the spinning heads ,
as seem to CAUSE dirty heads.

Diverse Devices, Southampton, England
electronic hints and repair briefs , schematics/manuals list on
http://home.graffiti.net/diverse

N Cook:
The brass roller that you removed was put there by the manufacturer to help
smooth out the tape flow BEFORE the entrance roller guide and has absolutely
NOTHING to do with cleaning the tape as you surmised. This roller is
usually after the full erase head but sometimes before. Removing it will
impair the already less than stellar performance in terms of increased high
frequency jitter or time base errors in the video.
--
Best Regards,
Daniel Sofie
Electronics Supply & Repair
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -


"N Cook" wrote in message
...
Less than a year old but requiring frequent head
cleaning because of noisy picture replay.
Is this another supposed head cleaner gizmo?
Next to the supply side tape guide, on the curved-slotted
pathway, is a brass cylinder that touches the active
side of the tape , rotating with its motion, for no apparent reason.
I removed it, assuming it is some idea of a duff tape cleaner.
Anyone familiar with these ?

I tend to always remove those nasty foam supposed
head cleaners, on placcy arms that engage with the spinning heads ,
as seem to CAUSE dirty heads.

Diverse Devices, Southampton, England
electronic hints and repair briefs , schematics/manuals list on
http://home.graffiti.net/diverse

"sofie" wrote in message
...
N Cook:
The brass roller that you removed was put there by the manufacturer to
help
smooth out the tape flow BEFORE the entrance roller guide and has
absolutely
NOTHING to do with cleaning the tape as you surmised. This roller is
usually after the full erase head but sometimes before. Removing it will
impair the already less than stellar performance in terms of increased
high
frequency jitter or time base errors in the video.
--
Best Regards,
Daniel Sofie
Electronics Supply & Repair
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -


"N Cook" wrote in message
...
Less than a year old but requiring frequent head
cleaning because of noisy picture replay.
Is this another supposed head cleaner gizmo?
Next to the supply side tape guide, on the curved-slotted
pathway, is a brass cylinder that touches the active
side of the tape , rotating with its motion, for no apparent reason.
I removed it, assuming it is some idea of a duff tape cleaner.
Anyone familiar with these ?

I tend to always remove those nasty foam supposed
head cleaners, on placcy arms that engage with the spinning heads ,
as seem to CAUSE dirty heads.

Diverse Devices, Southampton, England
electronic hints and repair briefs , schematics/manuals list on
http://home.graffiti.net/diverse






I've never seen one of these gizmos in any VCR.
What you say may well have been the manufacturer's intent.
But it is engaged with the tape in all modes,
Play, Play+FF,Play + REW, FF,REW,Express FF & Express REW.
There was a black smudge on this cylinder thingy before I
removed it. Don't know what it was ,didn't blow off or
lift off with a magnet. Probably something vaguely greasy
that came off by wiping with finger.
Since removing this brass cylinder and playing/recording on
different tapes the noisy picture has not returned - so far anyway.
I've not noticed any warble but I will record a 1KHz tone to see.

Diverse Devices, Southampton, England
electronic hints and repair briefs , schematics/manuals list on
http://home.graffiti.net/diverse

On Sat, 9 Apr 2005 07:54:26 +0100, "N Cook" put
finger to keyboard and composed:



"sofie" wrote in message
...
N Cook:
The brass roller that you removed was put there by the manufacturer to
help
smooth out the tape flow BEFORE the entrance roller guide and has
absolutely
NOTHING to do with cleaning the tape as you surmised. This roller is
usually after the full erase head but sometimes before. Removing it will
impair the already less than stellar performance in terms of increased
high
frequency jitter or time base errors in the video.
--
Best Regards,
Daniel Sofie
Electronics Supply & Repair
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -


"N Cook" wrote in message
...
Less than a year old but requiring frequent head
cleaning because of noisy picture replay.
Is this another supposed head cleaner gizmo?
Next to the supply side tape guide, on the curved-slotted
pathway, is a brass cylinder that touches the active
side of the tape , rotating with its motion, for no apparent reason.
I removed it, assuming it is some idea of a duff tape cleaner.
Anyone familiar with these ?

I tend to always remove those nasty foam supposed
head cleaners, on placcy arms that engage with the spinning heads ,
as seem to CAUSE dirty heads.

Diverse Devices, Southampton, England
electronic hints and repair briefs , schematics/manuals list on
http://home.graffiti.net/diverse






I've never seen one of these gizmos in any VCR.

Are you referring to the impedance roller? If so, then this part is
absent from modern low end machines.

See http://www.fixer.com/osm/parts.html (part I in fig. 3)


- Franc Zabkar
--
Please remove one 's' from my address when replying by email.

"Franc Zabkar" wrote in message
...
On Sat, 9 Apr 2005 07:54:26 +0100, "N Cook" put
finger to keyboard and composed:



"sofie" wrote in message
...
N Cook:
The brass roller that you removed was put there by the manufacturer to
help
smooth out the tape flow BEFORE the entrance roller guide and has
absolutely
NOTHING to do with cleaning the tape as you surmised. This roller is
usually after the full erase head but sometimes before. Removing it
will
impair the already less than stellar performance in terms of increased
high
frequency jitter or time base errors in the video.
--
Best Regards,
Daniel Sofie
Electronics Supply & Repair
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -


"N Cook" wrote in message
...
Less than a year old but requiring frequent head
cleaning because of noisy picture replay.
Is this another supposed head cleaner gizmo?
Next to the supply side tape guide, on the curved-slotted
pathway, is a brass cylinder that touches the active
side of the tape , rotating with its motion, for no apparent reason.
I removed it, assuming it is some idea of a duff tape cleaner.
Anyone familiar with these ?

I tend to always remove those nasty foam supposed
head cleaners, on placcy arms that engage with the spinning heads ,
as seem to CAUSE dirty heads.

Diverse Devices, Southampton, England
electronic hints and repair briefs , schematics/manuals list on
http://home.graffiti.net/diverse






I've never seen one of these gizmos in any VCR.

Are you referring to the impedance roller? If so, then this part is
absent from modern low end machines.

See http://www.fixer.com/osm/parts.html (part I in fig. 3)


- Franc Zabkar
--
Please remove one 's' from my address when replying by email.

That's a useful graphic.
I didn't know what "I" was called but very common in
all makes usually plastic relatively large 0.8 inch diameter plastic.

In this case
In that graphic the position would be between Z and the drum
again free rotation but touching the tape and about 0.3 inch diameter
brass cylinder . The slide arm guides are further set back from the
head drum than in that graphic leaving a bit more space for
this gizmo

,didn't blow off or
lift off with a magnet. Probably something vaguely greasy
that came off by wiping with finger.

Yyou put a magnet near you VCR's tape path??? That's a no-no.

"sofie" wrote in message
...
N Cook:
The brass roller that you removed was put there by the manufacturer to
help
smooth out the tape flow BEFORE the entrance roller guide and has
absolutely
NOTHING to do with cleaning the tape as you surmised. This roller is
usually after the full erase head but sometimes before. Removing it will
impair the already less than stellar performance in terms of increased
high
frequency jitter or time base errors in the video.
--
Best Regards,
Daniel Sofie
Electronics Supply & Repair
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -


"N Cook" wrote in message
...
Less than a year old but requiring frequent head
cleaning because of noisy picture replay.
Is this another supposed head cleaner gizmo?
Next to the supply side tape guide, on the curved-slotted
pathway, is a brass cylinder that touches the active
side of the tape , rotating with its motion, for no apparent reason.
I removed it, assuming it is some idea of a duff tape cleaner.
Anyone familiar with these ?

I tend to always remove those nasty foam supposed
head cleaners, on placcy arms that engage with the spinning heads ,
as seem to CAUSE dirty heads.

Diverse Devices, Southampton, England
electronic hints and repair briefs , schematics/manuals list on
http://home.graffiti.net/diverse






On first receiving and running first time of rec then play
was a good picture, second R+P then noisy picture.
Removed this gizmo and repeated 12 times on 6 different tapes
and no return so far.
I intend returning the gizmo in a plastic bag, with explanation, along with
their combo and cross fingers , unless anyone can think of anything else.

Black smudge was something like the way photocopier toner sticks
to surfaces because of the slight surfactant/silicone content. I've never
seen such a smudge on impedance rollers before so can only
assume happened because brass rather than plastic.