Manually Cleaning The Heads
 

Hello, does anyone manually clean the heads on the 170 or 2100?

Does it have to be taken apart to do so?

Is it extremely hard?

Does anyone have anything to add that might help?

Is this something I shouldn't try?





How could there be this many reads without a response?

Yes. Visit your local Radio Shack or equivalent and get some head cleaning fluid and lint free swabs and dive right in. My VX2000 started damaging tapes due to gunk accumulated on rollers and guides. A good cleaning cured the problem.

Disclaimer: Beware. The innards of these camcorders are tiny, not particularly easy to get at, and delicate. It is possible to damage your camcorder, so if you don't feel comfortable sticking an alcohol drenched swab into your machine, take it to someone who does.

I would strongly urge you NOT to do this yourself. There's a significant probability that you will damage your camera. DV tape transports are very delicate and aren't like audio cassette recorders which you could clean with cotton swabs.

Why do you want to clean your camera's heads? Are you having problems or do you just think it's a good idea? If having problems, get a Sony cleaning tape and use according to directions. If that doesn't help, send it out for professional cleaning and alignment. I have a VX-2000 which I bought in 2001 and have never felt the need to clean it.

Hi, thanks for answering.

I have been receiving a head cleaning warning since I purchased the cam.
I've had the cam for 6 months. I received the message about 4 times so far and record with the cam once a week.

My trick is to forward the tape and then rewind the tape and the problem is gone. However, I've had a few audio dropouts.

I've had similiar problems with my DSR11. I have a cleaning kit, so I opened it up and placed the cleaning swab on the drum with the heads and gave it a few turns. The swab picked up a lot of dirt. Now, the DSR 11 works great.

I figure I can do the same to my vx2100.

My real question is how hard is it to access the drum? It looks like I have to take the door off, but does it have to come apart more than that?

I've been looking at this guide:
http://www.camcorderservice.nl/indexvx2000.htm

But I still can't figure how far I have to go to get access to the drum.

My whole reasoning is I shoot a lot and I rather clean myself than sending the cams out.

The way I figure it is (pure speculation) the vx2100 was gunked up from the very beginning because I use Panasonic Tapes and maybe the cam was tested or prepared with/for a Sony tape.

What do I have to take apart on the Sonyy VX2100 to access the drum, so it may be rotated manually for a cleaning?

Well I did it. I took the door guard off and cleaned the head. It was not hard but everything was very small and not easy to get to. Even if I took it apart more the heads would still be hidden. I shot a dance recital and the footage looks great, but I will have to shoot a few more events to know if anything has really changed.

Does anyone know a better way to access the drum?