Topic: DAT repair

[airbladder]

I have a bunch of old DATs that I would like to get onto my hard drive.  At this point, I have a Fostex D5 and Tascam DAP-1 that need work.  The Fostex gives me a drop out or two every hour of playback and the headphone out makes crazy noise when you adjust the volume.  I can live with the volume issue but don't want to playback old tapes if it's going to give me dropouts.  My assumption is that it just needs the heads cleaned.  Is this something I can do myself?  Is this something I can get a local electronics repair person to take care of (Albany, NY)?  Ran a cleaning tape and that didn't help.  Don't want to invest much money into this project and shipping the D5 will add up. 

The Tascam would be cheaper to ship but has more issues.  There is a tape in there that is jammed and the digital out doesn't work.  Also, my memory is that the D5 was way better for playback.  There were tapes that I though were garbage because of dropouts and but the D5 would play them back clean.  I don't recall the Tascam having that magical ability.

I know that people around here help out with transfers and that there is a working D5 in the yard sale.  Both of those things will being taken into consideration.  It just feels funny to have someone else do the transfers or buy another DAT deck.     

Any ideas? 

[DigiGal]

Fostex D5 has a helical scan rotating head.  If you know how to clean a VCR head, it's the same procedure.  Use a chamois tip and liquid head cleaner or 99% isopropyl alcohol.  DO NOT move the chamois tip up and down, rotate the head counter-clockwise.  If you don't know how then leave it to a professional because a careless mistake can damage a head. 

If your tapes are staring to break down, the oxides on them will clog the head more frequently.

[John Willett]

Fostex D5 has a helical scan rotating head.  If you know how to clean a VCR head, it's the same procedure.  Use a chamois tip and liquid head cleaner or 99% isopropyl alcohol.  DO NOT move the chamois tip up and down, rotate the head counter-clockwise.  If you don't know how then leave it to a professional because a careless mistake can damage a head. 

If your tapes are staring to break down, the oxides on them will clog the head more frequently.

This is very dangerous unless you *really* know what you are doing as it is very easy to destroy the head.

I would suggest using a special DAT head cleaning tape instead.

[DigiGal]

Fostex D5 has a helical scan rotating head.  If you know how to clean a VCR head, it's the same procedure.  Use a chamois tip and liquid head cleaner or 99% isopropyl alcohol.  DO NOT move the chamois tip up and down, rotate the head counter-clockwise.  If you don't know how then leave it to a professional because a careless mistake can damage a head. 

If your tapes are staring to break down, the oxides on them will clog the head more frequently.

This is very dangerous unless you *really* know what you are doing as it is very easy to destroy the head.

I would suggest using a special DAT head cleaning tape instead.

Hence my comment, "If you don't know how then leave it to a professional because a careless mistake can damage a head."  But it's not rocket science.

[H₂O]

The tascam will probably cost a lot more to fix as it will be harder to take apart and put back together

You may be able to call pro digital and see if you can give them the tascam as partial payment for repair of the fostex

[airbladder]

Good to know.  Looks like this is something that I can't do myself.  Guess I was trying to avoid sending out to Paul.  I like the idea of giving the Tascam to Paul, it would be nice if someone could use it for something. 

 

[John Willett]

Fostex D5 has a helical scan rotating head.  If you know how to clean a VCR head, it's the same procedure.  Use a chamois tip and liquid head cleaner or 99% isopropyl alcohol.  DO NOT move the chamois tip up and down, rotate the head counter-clockwise.  If you don't know how then leave it to a professional because a careless mistake can damage a head. 

If your tapes are staring to break down, the oxides on them will clog the head more frequently.

This is very dangerous unless you *really* know what you are doing as it is very easy to destroy the head.

I would suggest using a special DAT head cleaning tape instead.

Hence my comment, "If you don't know how then leave it to a professional because a careless mistake can damage a head."  But it's not rocket science.

Yes, but you missed out the middle way of using a DAT cleaning tape, which is very simple.

[DigiGal]

Fostex D5 has a helical scan rotating head.  If you know how to clean a VCR head, it's the same procedure.  Use a chamois tip and liquid head cleaner or 99% isopropyl alcohol.  DO NOT move the chamois tip up and down, rotate the head counter-clockwise.  If you don't know how then leave it to a professional because a careless mistake can damage a head. 

If your tapes are staring to break down, the oxides on them will clog the head more frequently.

This is very dangerous unless you *really* know what you are doing as it is very easy to destroy the head.

I would suggest using a special DAT head cleaning tape instead.

Hence my comment, "If you don't know how then leave it to a professional because a careless mistake can damage a head."  But it's not rocket science.

Yes, but you missed out the middle way of using a DAT cleaning tape, which is very simple.

It's better to clean with a chamois tip and liquid head cleaner.  The cleaning tape reduces head life 5 to 10 hours with each use, thus cleaning tape's should be used sparingly.  A cleaning tape can't remove the oxide that collects on the mechanical ledge where the lower edge of the tape travels as it passes around the rotary head assembly.  Oxide on this ledge will affect the RF Envelope, it can be cleaned with a chamois tip though a toothpick is better to clean the ledge. 

[hi and lo]

Fostex D5 has a helical scan rotating head.  If you know how to clean a VCR head, it's the same procedure.  Use a chamois tip and liquid head cleaner or 99% isopropyl alcohol.  DO NOT move the chamois tip up and down, rotate the head counter-clockwise.  If you don't know how then leave it to a professional because a careless mistake can damage a head. 

If your tapes are staring to break down, the oxides on them will clog the head more frequently.

This is very dangerous unless you *really* know what you are doing as it is very easy to destroy the head.

I would suggest using a special DAT head cleaning tape instead.

Hence my comment, "If you don't know how then leave it to a professional because a careless mistake can damage a head."  But it's not rocket science.

Yes, but you missed out the middle way of using a DAT cleaning tape, which is very simple.

Those DAT cleaning tapes are junk. No faster way to ruin a deck.

[airbladder]

And i tried the cleaning tape but it didn't resolve the issue.  Didn't want to overdue it with the cleaning tape.

[tomuo]

Late reply, but note that TASCAM will do DAT and DTRS transfers for you onto DVD media at our facility in Los Angeles using constantly maintained gear.  Not too expensive either.  Details on the website.

[waltmon]

Talk to Paul @ Prodigital, Broomall PA.

Very reliable dat service and cleaning...have sent everything there since 1998...fast turn around.