It is always vital to ensure no eccentricity of the upper drum. Without the guages you could probably eyeball it using the microscope view you used to look at the head tips. This of course isn't relevant to the low RF output issues though. Good luck finding a newer head drum. When I worked on servicing these I remember having old (but still usable) heads piled up on a shelf in the workshop. If only some of these had found their way home and I thought to keep hold of them!
We used to use xylene for bad head clogs. Potent stuff and was told it could dissolve the lacquer of the wire on the head windings if not careful, but it would shift the most stubborn head clogs, and great for the dark ridges of grime on capstans too. We used to get it directly from Ampex back in the day.
I've only ever come across one UVW1200P and one 1400P. The 1800P was probably the most common deck as I remember all the Avid offline suites had this model for playing out their final edits to tape. The 1600 players were less common but not as rare as the 1200 or 1400 and were mainly used for making VHS copies. The basic 1200/1400 decks don't have the Sony 9-pin RS422 socket required for full editing control. I think the 1200 I came across had only ever been connected to a TV in producers office for viewing tapes and had extremely low hours. Not sure where the 1400 came from, but I remember it's only job was to copy VHS to BetaSP for editing. There was another model in the UVW series but I never came across one, but I believe it was another recorder with a special function, that must have been the 1700 mentioned in the comments. According to Pal Site - "This model (UVW1700) is intended as a single frame recorder to be used in conjunction with Computer Graphic generated material." UVW1200P = Player / no VU meters / Time base stabiliser (not a TBC) - component can be switched to either YUV or RGB UVW1400P = Recorder version of the 1200 with VU meters, same YUV/RGB switching. UVW1600P = Player with VU meters / Time base corrector and the addition of a 9-pin RS422 remote control for Avid etc UVW1800P = Recorder version of the 1600. UVW1700P = "Single frame recorder to be used in conjunction with Computer Graphic generated material" betacam.palsite.com/models.html
Just extra good clean heads,Take alcohol and a paper from coffee filter . That paper I use instead of leather clean wipers.Its a tiny bit of roughness just enough to really clean those heads. I know from the Sony SL-C7 Betamax , those upper heads need to align within 16um. When rotating. You can notice if your upper heads does not have a very tight fitting or if it is somewhat loose around the head screws.Then you know it needs to align. Heads of that scrapp part. Just polish with copper cleaner. Should work. Have done that with heads of badly stored recorder. Then why not test those heads in a known good recorder.As you already took those heads out. Use to have a P1200 machine with remote. Amazed about the build quality.
I fixed a JVC VHS that had worn heads. I had a scrap machine that was a model up from the one I was fixing and the head drum was different. However, the part number on the heads themselves were the same. So I took the good heads off the spare drum and put them on the good drum and it worked. It was very fiddly though.
I had a Sony 1700P betacam sp. It was a recorder and player but if i'm not mistaken, the 1700P had an extra connector for editing control that wasn't available on 1800P. So, the point is there are 5 models including 1200, 1400, 1600, 1700, and 1800, all PAL system versions.
That some good attempts. But is it not necessary with regard to the picture after changing the video heads, to calibrate the video drum with special Betacam calibration equipment so that fluctuations on the side of the drum do not become too great?
If that head drum has movement for alignment i.e. runout you will need to setup a dial gauge to get it as close to zero runout as possible. That other head drum with the sticky section you should be able to polish that out. Make sure you have no dirty head gaps too.
Changing the upperdrum, requires centrering of the upperdrum and adjusting of the head switching. The entrance and exit guides need adjustment too. Follow the guide in SM, important to set the tracking for “center”. I really don’t remember, in detail, because I have not changed that much drums on this model and it is a long tim ago. Before removing the original drum, I would have tried cleaning with plain paper and alcohol. Sounds Strange if the heads should have failed at only 1200 hours, they should last three times longer.
Cleaning the heads was getting me nowhere. Eccentricity I could set up using the microscope (I used to do Sony SL-C7 heads optically), if I had a good head drum to go in there.
I wonder if the heads are not actually getting cleaned when you use your cleaning tool. I've had a few vhs machines that could not be cleaned; i took some corse paper and held the paper flat on the head with a light pressure of the finger, then turn the drum a few times. Yes it sounds nasty but some heads just don't clean normally. On vhs machines i used cardboard to clean really stubborn heads. Your microscope may not be able to show tiny particles. Sorry i had to waffle a bit :-D
hi like to keep the card with the cell that keep the info of the hours the head has done with it as i have a deck with just 25 hours of running time the head drum is like new i don't like to change over head drums i go for the pcb's all the time i worked on alot of this model i know they are new to be i used to working on reel to reel decks got to start some where with the pro video decks
hi very good point on the head drums i never put bad tapes in my decks i have a mate that have's alot of bad tapes because of wear he keeps them i have a heated place where i keep all the parts that have to be at the right room com's i know it's not easy for you as space is a thing wear you say you get the decks in from my mum would go nuts if i keep parts not in the right places she tell me of big time all parts have to be in the right places she said it's all money in the long run and i know you are the same dead decks is no turn over
hi i just spy the uk ebay it's full of betacam decks i will say there's to many on the market place now like you said in a video's there's only about 15 in the uk would need betacam decks and why is the used price very high if there's alot a round i did do well picking up decks i only buy recorders as audio deck you have a very good point in the very here do you have video' head's we can see for the digi betacam decks we can see one day are they very hard wearing heads on the digi betacam decks i have to check my decks for hard wear on them
I know what you mean, it does look a bit like that, and that may be a problem with low RF from that tape. But clearly the original heads were shot anyway.
I feel I’m always putting you down, but once again your doing it all wrong with your scope and you don’t touch heads with your hands and never and I mean never clean heads with buds. Also test the heads for wearing. You are someone who just swap one part of a machine with another. These machines are old and they need a complete teardown and rebuild. But it’s pointless because the technology is old and that’s why we use digital. Test the induction of the head but the main thing you need to look at signals of different stages in the path. Your just playing guessing games with this. One more thing ever head you change in a vcr you do a realignment of the whole tape path and a service and set it up to its peak with equipment.
When did you see me clean heads with cotton buds? I use head cleaner sticks. In part 2 of this video I do set up the alignment better. But there's no point insisting on a full deck alignment when the tools, especially alignment tapes, are unavailable. You just have to work with what you have in today's world. It's not perfect, but it's where we are today.
It is always vital to ensure no eccentricity of the upper drum. Without the guages you could probably eyeball it using the microscope view you used to look at the head tips. This of course isn't relevant to the low RF output issues though. Good luck finding a newer head drum. When I worked on servicing these I remember having old (but still usable) heads piled up on a shelf in the workshop. If only some of these had found their way home and I thought to keep hold of them!
We used to use xylene for bad head clogs. Potent stuff and was told it could dissolve the lacquer of the wire on the head windings if not careful, but it would shift the most stubborn head clogs, and great for the dark ridges of grime on capstans too. We used to get it directly from Ampex back in the day.
I've only ever come across one UVW1200P and one 1400P. The 1800P was probably the most common deck as I remember all the Avid offline suites had this model for playing out their final edits to tape. The 1600 players were less common but not as rare as the 1200 or 1400 and were mainly used for making VHS copies. The basic 1200/1400 decks don't have the Sony 9-pin RS422 socket required for full editing control. I think the 1200 I came across had only ever been connected to a TV in producers office for viewing tapes and had extremely low hours. Not sure where the 1400 came from, but I remember it's only job was to copy VHS to BetaSP for editing.
There was another model in the UVW series but I never came across one, but I believe it was another recorder with a special function, that must have been the 1700 mentioned in the comments. According to Pal Site - "This model (UVW1700) is intended as a single frame recorder to be used in conjunction with Computer Graphic generated material."
UVW1200P = Player / no VU meters / Time base stabiliser (not a TBC) - component can be switched to either YUV or RGB
UVW1400P = Recorder version of the 1200 with VU meters, same YUV/RGB switching.
UVW1600P = Player with VU meters / Time base corrector and the addition of a 9-pin RS422 remote control for Avid etc
UVW1800P = Recorder version of the 1600.
UVW1700P = "Single frame recorder to be used in conjunction with Computer Graphic generated material"
betacam.palsite.com/models.html
I've come across more 1200 machines than any other model, for some reason.
Just extra good clean heads,Take alcohol and a paper from coffee filter . That paper I use instead of leather clean wipers.Its a tiny bit of roughness just enough to really clean those heads. I know from the Sony SL-C7 Betamax , those upper heads need to align within 16um. When rotating. You can notice if your upper heads does not have a very tight fitting or if it is somewhat loose around the head screws.Then you know it needs to align. Heads of that scrapp part. Just polish with copper cleaner. Should work. Have done that with heads of badly stored recorder. Then why not test those heads in a known good recorder.As you already took those heads out. Use to have a P1200 machine with remote. Amazed about the build quality.
I fixed a JVC VHS that had worn heads. I had a scrap machine that was a model up from the one I was fixing and the head drum was different. However, the part number on the heads themselves were the same. So I took the good heads off the spare drum and put them on the good drum and it worked. It was very fiddly though.
I just watched this to the end and doing eccentricity alignment will have got rid of that "juddering". Do that and assess heads after.
That's my plan for this week.
I had a Sony 1700P betacam sp. It was a recorder and player but if i'm not mistaken, the 1700P had an extra connector for editing control that wasn't available on 1800P. So, the point is there are 5 models including 1200, 1400, 1600, 1700, and 1800, all PAL system versions.
Didn't know that.
That some good attempts.
But is it not necessary with regard to the picture after changing the video heads, to calibrate the video drum with special Betacam calibration equipment so that fluctuations on the side of the drum do not become too great?
If that head drum has movement for alignment i.e. runout you will need to setup a dial gauge to get it as close to zero runout as possible. That other head drum with the sticky section you should be able to polish that out. Make sure you have no dirty head gaps too.
Yes, eccentricity needs setting up. I should be able to do that optically rather than using a dial test indicator, since I have the microscope.
Changing the upperdrum, requires centrering of the upperdrum and adjusting of the head switching. The entrance and exit guides need adjustment too. Follow the guide in SM, important to set the tracking for “center”. I really don’t remember, in detail, because I have not changed that much drums on this model and it is a long tim ago. Before removing the original drum, I would have tried cleaning with plain paper and alcohol. Sounds Strange if the heads should have failed at only 1200 hours, they should last three times longer.
Cleaning the heads was getting me nowhere. Eccentricity I could set up using the microscope (I used to do Sony SL-C7 heads optically), if I had a good head drum to go in there.
Plain paper and alcohol usually did the trick for us back in the day
Uhh... you were incorrect. The UVW-1600 is also a player, and the UVW-1400 is a recorder, just like your favorite one, the UVW-1800.
Uhhhhhhh....
@@KarlHamilton What?
@@northernplacecorporation Uhhhhhhhhhh...... What???
@@KarlHamilton Nothing. Just saying.
Paper soaked in alcohol to clean heads. That leather tipped cleaner is a no no on video heads.
I wonder if the heads are not actually getting cleaned when you use your cleaning tool.
I've had a few vhs machines that could not be cleaned; i took some corse paper and held the paper flat on the head with a light pressure of the finger, then turn the drum a few times.
Yes it sounds nasty but some heads just don't clean normally.
On vhs machines i used cardboard to clean really stubborn heads.
Your microscope may not be able to show tiny particles.
Sorry i had to waffle a bit :-D
Would that be a .25-micron wire being used to make heads?
From my experience with reel-to-reel machines I know it is never a good idea to use moldy tapes, I have always heard they can contaminate the heads.
hi like to keep the card with the cell that keep the info of the hours the head has done with it as i have a deck with just 25 hours of running time
the head drum is like new i don't like to change over head drums
i go for the pcb's all the time
i worked on alot of this model i know they are new to be i used to working on reel to reel decks got to start some where with the pro video decks
hi very good point on the head drums i never put bad tapes in my decks i have a mate that have's alot of bad tapes because of wear he keeps them
i have a heated place where i keep all the parts that have to be at the right room com's i know it's not easy for you as space is a thing
wear you say you get the decks in from
my mum would go nuts if i keep parts not in the right places she tell me of big time
all parts have to be in the right places she said it's all money in the long run and i know you are the same dead decks is no turn over
hi i just spy the uk ebay it's full of betacam decks i will say there's to many on the market place now
like you said in a video's there's only about 15 in the uk would need betacam decks and why is the used price very high if there's alot a round
i did do well picking up decks i only buy recorders as audio deck you have a very good point in the very
here
do you have video' head's we can see for the digi betacam decks we can see one day
are they very hard wearing heads on the digi betacam decks
i have to check my decks for hard wear on them
I know nothing about Betacam but from the rhythmic pulsing of the RF signal on the scope it seems to me like it could be a mechanical problem.
I know what you mean, it does look a bit like that, and that may be a problem with low RF from that tape. But clearly the original heads were shot anyway.
How about head tip transplant I have done this in the past using two faulty head disks. Could be fun to try
I feel I’m always putting you down, but once again your doing it all wrong with your scope and you don’t touch heads with your hands and never and I mean never clean heads with buds. Also test the heads for wearing. You are someone who just swap one part of a machine with another. These machines are old and they need a complete teardown and rebuild. But it’s pointless because the technology is old and that’s why we use digital. Test the induction of the head but the main thing you need to look at signals of different stages in the path. Your just playing guessing games with this. One more thing ever head you change in a vcr you do a realignment of the whole tape path and a service and set it up to its peak with equipment.
When did you see me clean heads with cotton buds? I use head cleaner sticks. In part 2 of this video I do set up the alignment better. But there's no point insisting on a full deck alignment when the tools, especially alignment tapes, are unavailable. You just have to work with what you have in today's world. It's not perfect, but it's where we are today.