From what I can tell, TASCAM no longer sells Rubber Cleaner for
cleaning/conditioning pinch rollers.

But looking around online, I saw CAIG Rubber Cleaner/Conditioner, CaiKleen RBR.
Anyone have any experience using this on pinch rollers--is it a suitable
replacement for the TASCAM cleaner?

Was also curious if the CaiKleen NF formulation (or anything else) was a good
substitute for the TASCAM head cleaner?

Google turned up a couple of stray hits, but I'm looking for a more direct
confirmation like "oh yeah, sure, I use the CaiKleen RBR on pinch rollers all
the time--no prob". Trying to make double sure . . .

Thanks,
Kevin Seward

CCartCat wrote:
From what I can tell, TASCAM no longer sells Rubber Cleaner for
cleaning/conditioning pinch rollers.

But looking around online, I saw CAIG Rubber Cleaner/Conditioner, CaiKleen RBR.
Anyone have any experience using this on pinch rollers--is it a suitable
replacement for the TASCAM cleaner?

I think it's methyl acetate. Get the MSDS on it.
If you are using urethane rollers, none of these things will really do you
any good. If you're using natural rubber, methyl acetate will keep it from
glazing. If you're using neoprene or Buna-S, I dunno.

Was also curious if the CaiKleen NF formulation (or anything else) was a good
substitute for the TASCAM head cleaner?

What's in it? Ask for the MSDS. Precision Motor Works sells something
called "Head, Red, and Roll Cleaner" that is fine on heads and on rubber
as well. It's some synthetic halocarbon. But if you aren't playing a lot
of gunked up tapes and you don't mind a lot of elbow grease, just plain
92% isopropanol from the drugstore is fine on heads.
--scott


--
"C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis."

In article writes:

But looking around online, I saw CAIG Rubber Cleaner/Conditioner, CaiKleen RBR.
Anyone have any experience using this on pinch rollers--is it a suitable
replacement for the TASCAM cleaner?

No, but Athan sells a rubber cleaner (JRF sells the same stuff) and
those guys know their recorders. If they say it works well and it's
safe, you can depend on it.

On the other hand, I find that water works pretty well and absolutely
won't harm the rubber, and a water-based cleaner like Windex is a
little more potent and no more dangerous.

Google turned up a couple of stray hits, but I'm looking for a more direct
confirmation like "oh yeah, sure, I use the CaiKleen RBR on pinch rollers all
the time--no prob". Trying to make double sure . . .

I doubt that it's been around long enough for anyone to have had
experience with it accelerating the demise of a pinch roller. About
all anyone can tell you now is that it gets them clean, and there's
lots of stuff that will do that, given enough elbow grease.



--
I'm really Mike Rivers - )

(Mike Rivers) wrote:

On the other hand, I find that water works pretty well

Yeah. Following previous posts on this issue, I've been using water and I'm
happy with the results.

Pinch rollers are made of various materials and some chemicals (like
isopropyl) are bad for some rollers.

(If the roller is still gunked up with adhesive, I'd use naptha.)

I have a TASCAM MS-16, 16 track, one inch recorder and a while back, I was
playing some older Ampex 456 stock that had the dreaded "sticky shed"
syndrome. The gunk got on the heads, guides and the pinch roller.

I managed to clean off all the caked on oxide on all the metal parts of the
tape path with isopropyl alcohol but the pinch roller had pieces of tape and
oxide that literally glued itself to the rubber and nothing I tried could
remove the gunk.

I had red elsewhere, ( on the old TASCAM bbs, now defunct), that many people
there were recommending and using Caig's RBR cleaner and so, I ordered a can
of it an tried it.

To make a long story short; It worked! It cleaned all the crud off the
roller and reduced the shinny look of it as well that was starting to build
up on it.

I would highly recommend it for any older TASCAM reel to reel recorders out
there from the same or similar vintage as mine.
"CCartCat" wrote in message
...
From what I can tell, TASCAM no longer sells Rubber Cleaner for
cleaning/conditioning pinch rollers.

But looking around online, I saw CAIG Rubber Cleaner/Conditioner, CaiKleen
RBR.
Anyone have any experience using this on pinch rollers--is it a suitable
replacement for the TASCAM cleaner?

Was also curious if the CaiKleen NF formulation (or anything else) was a
good
substitute for the TASCAM head cleaner?

Google turned up a couple of stray hits, but I'm looking for a more direct
confirmation like "oh yeah, sure, I use the CaiKleen RBR on pinch rollers
all
the time--no prob". Trying to make double sure . . .

Thanks,
Kevin Seward




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Thanks for all of your replies.

Been using the TASCAM Rubber Cleaner on venerable 4 and 8 track cassette
machines: a TASCAM Porta Two since circa 1988 and a TASCAM 688 since the early
90s.

Tho' I'm not recording on either very often these days, kinda want to keep them
around and running for awhile, thus my interest in the CaiKleen RBR.

Distilled water, Windex, and the other choices are also good to keep in mind.
Certainly, they're cheaper and handier options that can easily do the job at
hand (lowly cassette multitrackers don't generally come up against sticky shed
and other tough cleaning jobs).

But to forestall the inevitable, esp. a screwed up pinch roller, I want
something to condition as well.

Plus a good friend wants to transfer some old 4 track cassette stuff to
digital. I'm lending him the Porta Two for awhile and want to have some
road-tested rubber cleaner/conditioner to pass along with the machine.

Given the testimonial re TASCAM reel-to-reel machines, CAIG looks good. And is
likely useful for other garden-variety cassette decks as well. (Since treating
cassette pinch rollers is a small & shrinking part of CaiKleen's potential
market, guess it's not surprising there's no mention of the application in the
CAIG info.)

Thanks again for all your help/back to lurking,
Kevin Seward

I rip open a new one each time ....

;-)

geoff