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Vintage Television and Video Vintage television and video equipment, programmes, VCRs etc.

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Old 10th Jul 2018, 7:45 am   #1
German Dalek
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Exclamation How to fix video heads?

Hi folks!

I am watching that early VCRs becoming more and more collectable.
The critical things of that technology are the mechanical constructions.
It is a question of money to reproduce parts or to find stuff which fits
from other machines.
Belts seems to be not more the biggest problem, more and more
reproductions entering the market (so it seems, see record players).

But what about the video drums?
VHS was sold in high numbers, there are still sets to part out around,
Anyway they are going to get rare, depending on the model.

And the other systems? We still have VCR, Beta, Beta-cam, Video 2000,
S-VHS, VHS-C, U-Matic and not to forget the early "Reel to Reel" machines
in our collections.

HOW do you repair a video or audio head, when no new or used heads
are available?

Will there be a chance to remove the heads from VHS drums to mount them on
a VCR, Beta or U-matic drum?

I cannot remember that this problem was ever discussed anywhere.

Regards,
German Dalek
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And now something completly different:

MARC BOLAN, he was/is the real king of Pop Music!
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Old 10th Jul 2018, 9:02 am   #2
stevehertz
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Default Re: How to fix video heads?

Repairing a video head drum 'on the kitchen table' is a pipe dream I think. We're talking microns accuracy and trying to remove and replace parts that are not even available, head chips were never available, they're an integral part of a head drum's construction. It's a non starter I'm afraid.
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Old 10th Jul 2018, 9:53 am   #3
peterpiper
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Default Re: How to fix video heads?

Hi All, several years ago I acquired a low speed VHS CCTV recorder with completely shot heads. It seemed destined for scrap but as I had available some new Aiwa VHS heads I thought I,d try a head rebuild. Both old and new were of the 2 head design so having nothing to lose I removed the heads from the Aiwa drum and fitted them to the unknown make low speed drum. I tried to use the original shims etc. (guesswork)! and tried to keep the heads protruding the same amount as on the Aiwa (more guesswork). It worked very well, even on 24 hr setting.The recorded tapes had very poor compatibility with another similar low speed machine but that was expected. Suck it and see!

Peter
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Old 10th Jul 2018, 10:05 am   #4
Studio263
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Default Re: How to fix video heads?

Interchange between formats is unlikely to be practical since different azimuths and track widths were used. Opposing azimuths helped to reduce the crosstalk between adjacent tracks. The angle between the two heads isn't always 180 Deg, it is slightly away from this to allow for correct interlace. Something else to worry about.

MCES in the UK had a video head rebuilding facility which was described in 'Television' magazine. Its worth looking this up to see what was involved.
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Old 10th Jul 2018, 10:14 am   #5
FERNSEH
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Default Re: How to fix video heads?

Tim beat me to it. Yes it's a bit historic now but the firm called MCES did indeed offer a replacement head tip service for old video heads. Used their service only a few times. The company also offered an excellent service repairing TV tuners.

DFWB.
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Old 10th Jul 2018, 10:21 am   #6
ms660
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Default Re: How to fix video heads?

Part of a PTV article:

https://www.americanradiohistory.com...rch=%22mces%22

Full article in here:

https://www.americanradiohistory.com...UK-1985-09.pdf

Lawrence.
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Old 10th Jul 2018, 11:49 pm   #7
dj_fivos_sak
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Default Re: How to fix video heads?

There is an interesting video about this topic.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OoPpNGi1u0E
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