[Hallicrafters]V31#1; WARNING: 100% <>"Drinking" Ethanol!

[Phil Barnes-Roberts [WA6DZS]]

hallicrafters-request at mailman.qth.net wrote:
{snip}
-----------
> While working in the AV field for many years, I serviced a variety of pro
> tape equipment - audio AND video.  My best results were gained with 99.8%
> Isopropyl Alcohol (yes, it's even in the drug stores), followed by spray
> FREON TF; of course, we can no longer get.   The alcohol worked the best;
> the freon was only to remove any traces of oil or other compounds.  DO NOT
> USE 70% "rubbing" alcohol, it contains glycerin and other contaminants
> (it'll leave a sticky surface which will "eat" tape), and 91% "medical"
> alcohol won't cut the oxide.  Should you wish to clean VIDEO heads, use only
> a back-and-forth motion - NEVER UP-DOWN!
> 
> The alcohol is also splendid for cleaning the pinch-rollers and guide posts,
> not to mention rubber belts.
> 
> Tom - WØEAJ
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> Subject: RE: [Hallicrafters] Cleaning heads
> From: "pete wokoun, sr." <pwokoun at hotmail.com>
> Date: Mon, 31 Jul 2006 16:54:55 -1000
> To: hallicrafters at mailman.qth.net
> 
>  These days we use 100% ethanol, not the denatured kind, to clean the 
> heads and some of the tape path.  Yep, it's the drinkable kind but it's 
> strictly for maintenance.  For the rubberized capstan, we can't get the 
> freonTF anymore either.  The mfg now recommends heptane as a 
> substitute.  That and wooden stick q-tips.  This is for 16 and 32 
> channel 1-inch recorders.
>  I'd hesitate using lighter fluid as previously posted on these $$$$ 
> monsters.
{snip}

First, I've had pretty good success cleaning various things with IPA 
(IsoPropyl Alcohol), whether IPA99, -91, or even cut with DI water to 
IPA50, for wiping down transit cases coming into the CleanRoom 
environment in the HighBay and the EMC Lab at JPL.  The water dissolves 
things the IPA won't and vice versa.

We had found TCE would swell potting and conformal coating elastomers, 
so bad it ripped ICs off the PC Boards!  We were also allowed to use 
Acetone and Ethanol for cleaning.

I want to caution everyone, that since Ethanol is hygroscopic (when you 
open the cap, it sucks water right out of the air, just like out of your 
body tissues, which is a lot of a hangover); to get from 195-proof (97%) 
to 200-proof (100%), takes extreme measures, usually scavenging the last 
few bits of water with either Benzene (a poison) or Lye (sodium or 
potassium hydroxide, ALSO a poison.)  "Punctilious" 200o Ethanol USP 
also doesn't stay that way very long once opened, so if you feel you 
_have_ to drink it, get the 195o instead.  Used to be branded Everclear.

I still recall the story of the MM2 I knew at the U of Utah, taking 
P-Chem classes, who got tired of the 50ml stockroom restrictions (Salt 
Lake still has problems with Ethanol...), and got his own Federal Liquor 
License and could then buy his own 5-gallon can of 195o.

The party that Friday involved frozen OJ, made 3-to-1 -but _without_ 
water.  There were bodies all over his lawn Saturday morning; IIRC, they 
all survived somehow, but it took a while...
--
73, Phil Barnes-Roberts WA6DZS  Mailto:pbarnrob at acm dot org
"The people who cast the votes don’t decide an election;
the people who count the votes do."  --  Joseph Stalin