Tape head etc cleaner.

I have AF Safeclean which I suspect superceded it. The original might well have contained Ethyl Chloride which, I think, is banned by the EU, but you might find from a US vendor on EBay. My can of that has a warning that it is known to the State of California to cause cancer. (Possibly to the EU, too.)

Years back I used to use AF spray for computer tape heads on Ampex 1/2" reel to reel vacuum column decks, or if none available "Safewipes" which were a lint free pad soaked in IPA and sealed in a foil sachet - except the sachets always seemed to dry out so carried a little bottle of IPA to wet them :)

Andrew

isopropyl alcohol, which has much the same properties as ethyl alcohol. IIRC surgical spirit should be good, but definitely not rubbing alcohol. Vodka probably, not sure.

NT

I thought IPA came in pint bottles with crown corks made by people like Greene King

meths would be fine too

NT

If it's Iso. Prop. Acl. then

A non-flammable alternative is Colclene PCS

which I see is also available from CPC

Owain

Neither Meths nor Surgical spirit - they both leave residue due to the additives in them.

In message , charles writes

You'll find very few pint bottles these days. Instead, they are nearly all a vastly short-measure 500ml. However, for cleaning tape heads etc, I think I've always used meths and a Q-tip.

As Boots don't (well my local one doesn't) seem to sell it anymore:

Peter

HOW MUCH!

when I bought for the lads cloud chamber.

India Pale Ale?

I wouldn't clean my arse with that...

lord, meths is far cheaper

NT

enuogh to matter? Not IIRC.

NT

I think I remember using acetone on a Q-tip for just this purpose - it seemed to work very well AFAIR

Best of luck!

ISTR that the 500 ml of meths I bought last year was over £3, so £6+/l...

In message , Flynno writes

Isn't there is a great danger of acetone dissolving something? [And cellulose thinners?] Meths is far safer.

I use IPA myself quite cheap in cans at cpc. However it needs to be kept well sealed as it tends to evaporate. I don't like spray stuff as it can degrease things that should stay greased via overspray. Brian

CPC do it for £9.70 inclusive, if you look around. SA01885. Minimum order £10 for card orders so you might have to buy a few resistors too.

On 23 Jan 2015, snipped-for-privacy@care2.com grunted:

And what's the difference between surgical spirit and rubbing alcohol (he says, provocatively!)?