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Demagnetization of Heads

142.197.95.229
Posted on August 21, 2013 at 12:32:38
Jazzyguytheone
Audiophile

Posts: 57
Location: Florida
Joined: May 18, 2013
 These are the instructions for the Nakamichi D-10 Demagnitizer.Here are the instructions.1- Put the tip of the demagnetizer on the spot where running tape makes a contact.2- Turn on the power switch of demagnetizer on 3- move the tip slowly upward as shown by the arrow mark.4- take back the tip from the head slowly 5-Turn the switch off after the tip is completely apart from the head.CRAZY?????The heads will be ruined. Then send in the deck for service! I don't know why they would put those instructions in the kit. Your opinions please ladies and gents.
___

 

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RE: Demagnetization of Heads, posted on August 21, 2013 at 13:02:00
Dave Pogue
Audiophile

Posts: 11689
Location: DC Area
Joined: October 9, 2001
 I sure wouldn't want to try that on my tape heads :-)

 

RE: Demagnetization of Heads, posted on August 21, 2013 at 13:17:32
Jazzyguytheone
Audiophile

Posts: 57
Location: Florida
Joined: May 18, 2013
 Very destructive to the heads and yet they printed those instructions and they are verbatim.I just don't get it! I have a large collection of your books and I use them a lot! I love them. I still have SnowLeopard on my iMacs.The rest are the original Macbook Air with LION and the late 2011 AIR with Mountain Lion.

 

RE: Demagnetization of Heads, posted on August 21, 2013 at 13:23:33
Jazzyguytheone
Audiophile

Posts: 57
Location: Florida
Joined: May 18, 2013
 OH and I still have my G4 12" MacBooks I still have 2 of them on Leopard OS.

 

Whoa. Wrong guy :-), posted on August 21, 2013 at 13:39:18
Dave Pogue
Audiophile

Posts: 11689
Location: DC Area
Joined: October 9, 2001
 That happens to me a lot. He's the one in New York. I'm the one in metro Washington, DC. And he wouldn't be caught dead with an analog tape deck :-)

 

RE: Whoa. Wrong guy :-), posted on August 21, 2013 at 14:52:51
Jazzyguytheone
Audiophile

Posts: 57
Location: Florida
Joined: May 18, 2013
 Oh Well!!!!

 

RE: Whoa. Wrong guy :-), posted on August 21, 2013 at 14:56:15
Jazzyguytheone
Audiophile

Posts: 57
Location: Florida
Joined: May 18, 2013
 But the question remains.....How can a Company as technically proficient as Nakamichi was issue instructions for a Demagnetizer that would destroy your tape heads?

 

RE: Demagnetization of Heads, posted on August 21, 2013 at 20:17:33
craigh
Audiophile

Posts: 47
Location: Maryland
Joined: January 2, 2013
 I think what they meant to say was to bring the tip as close to the heads as possible without touching them.

Craig

 

RE: Demagnetization of Heads, posted on August 22, 2013 at 01:05:27
Jazzyguytheone
Audiophile

Posts: 57
Location: Florida
Joined: May 18, 2013
 They said (FROM THE PRINTED INSTRUCTIONS) Put the tip of the demagnetizer on the spot where running tape makes a contact.That could only mean the head THEN turn on the power of the Demagnetizer. That would wipe out the heads.

 

RE: Demagnetization of Heads, posted on August 22, 2013 at 09:04:10
Paul Eizik
Audiophile

Posts: 2120
Joined: September 15, 2001
 J

I had a Teac head demagnetizer (until I loaned it out some years ago), and it had a slow turn on feature which brought the power up gradually when you pressed the on switch to avoid the potential problem you refer to: creating a magnetic charge in the heads which the demag could'nt get rid of. The Nak demag you refer to may have this feature too, thus the instructions. Anyway, I never trusted the Teac, even though you could hear a rising buzzing while powering up, and I always turned it on "old school style" several feet from the deck. Belt & Suspenders Eng. ya know.

Paul

 

RE: Demagnetization of Heads, posted on August 22, 2013 at 11:12:06
Jazzyguytheone
Audiophile

Posts: 57
Location: Florida
Joined: May 18, 2013
 You are correct in your assumption ,they must have put some kind of delay in the Demag but like you wouldn't trust them.

 

RE: Demagnetization of Heads, posted on November 19, 2015 at 04:39:17
niklasthedolphin
Audiophile

Posts: 283
Joined: April 1, 2007
 The procedure of demagnetizing the tape path is as follows:
Make sure no magnetic sensitive tape material or i.e. electronics, like CRT screens, speakers, other tape decks etc., are near by.

Make also sure the tape deck is OFF power and that there's access to the full tape path.

Take the wand type defluxer and power it up at a distance of 1,5-2 meter from the tape path.
Approach slowly the defluxer towards the tape path and when getting there, make sure not to actually touch anything in the tape path with the defluxer.
Move the defluxer slowly from left to right over all metal parts in the tape path as slowly as possible.
When the defluxer has passed all metal parts in the tape path, without touching any of them, you just as slowly as before, move the defluxer away from the deck to the position 1,5-2 meters away where you original turned on the power of the defluxer.
Let the defluxer touch a potential magnetic material at that position just before you turn the defluxer off.

This procedure is NOT possible to follow with the cassette shell demagnetizer type. The cassette shell type demagnetizer is way less powerfull, will only have the demagnetizing field above the central tape head and even touch it. It will only be able to operate with the deck OFF power if the deck is one of the "Piano Key" decks. I advise NOT to use cassette shell type demagnetizers at all.

And demagnetizing is not at all needed every few hours. If the head bridge has become permanent magnetized you will often be able to hear extended noise from the tape deck, sometimes even without it playing back a tape. If you did a demagnetizing with a "wrong" procedure, if magnetic tools have been touching the parts or if any other stuff has magnetized the tape path / head bridge, demagnetizing will be needed. You can have a deck playing and recording for decades without the need of demagnetizing.

It's correct that if the wand type has an intact rubber/plastic hood there's not any risk at touching the parts.

But some wand types has an on/off button on the device and that's not a very smart thing.

 

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