In Singapore recently I bought a snazzy little machine which cleans video tapes. It really works and cleans up any fungus which has developed on the tape. Unfortunately the device needs a special fluid. I have just used up my supply. Would it be safe to use video head cleaning fluid, or might that have a disastrous effect on tape?

Not sure if this would work with a tape cleaning machine, but for head cleaning a vcr or cleaning cds etc i just use methylated spirits.

I think the head cleaning fluid is also alcohol, so it should do the job.

I use ordinary alcohol from the pharmacy.

I have a lot of tapes that I brought with me. Many of these now have fungus

Can I get a machine here that will run the tapes through and clean them? I also need a video tape recorder/player.Any offers?

Thanks 4. real.

I wouldn't recommend using head cleaning fluid on the actual tape. It will remove the oxide from the tape and probably render them useless.

When used to clean the tape heads, it removes excess oxide that has separated from the tape (as well as dirt, dust etc.). Being alcohol, any excess then evaporates before coming in contact with the actual tape.

I would try and get a specialised fluid or one with similar chemical properties.

Make sure you use pure alcohol. some have an oil on them that leaves residue on the tape. Isopropyl alcohol is the main constituent of these cleaning solutions.

I lost most of my vhs tapes-ants nested in them. If you have tapes you really want,

i would suggest you take them to a film shop and have them made into cd's or dvds.

If you buy a video capture card, you can do it yourself.

In Singapore recently I bought a snazzy little machine which cleans video tapes. It really works and cleans up any fungus which has developed on the tape. Unfortunately the device needs a special fluid. I have just used up my supply. Would it be safe to use video head cleaning fluid, or might that have a disastrous effect on tape?

I have friends in Singapore. If you could give me details of purchase place, name of device, etc., then I can ask that (if legal) they can post some to you.

Sending alcohol through the post is not legal in Singers.

Thanks for the kind offer Humphrey, but I could not ask you to burden your friends. The shop where I bought the device is in Little India somewhere. I will probably be in SIN myself avoiding Songkran so will buy it myself.