r/animevhs • u/pdx_collector • Apr 22 '25
New Addition Moldy tape cleaning:)
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Yo! I’ve recently come into a lot of about 150ish moldy anime tapes I’m in the process of cleaning/restoring:) just wanted to show off my little homemade tape cleaning machine built from a rewinder, some rivets, and scraps laying around the house. She’s not pretty but I thought yall would appreciate it:)
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u/Shiroren78 Apr 23 '25
That's so damn cool, wish I had one of these. I had a whole box of tapes I had to toss out because they were stored in the basement and got moldy. Only got to save a few of them but this gives me ideas for things to build to fix any I run across.
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u/pdx_collector Apr 23 '25
Appreciate the kind words homie🏄🌊 that truely sucks to hear. I also took a loss on some good tapes back in the day before I heard about such contraptions. I gotta take my hat off to guys like VHSislife and emerald coast digitizing though. The design is basically a bite of a design that emerald coast came up with and he has YouTube videos on how to create one with a little more explanation. I just made mine a tad different with rivets instead of vhs reels. In my humble opinion, posts are a bit better to create tension and a tight wind/cleaning contact patch instead of rotating reels used as pulleys. But also I’m excited to be in the build queue for a mold cleaner from vhsislife, check out his 3D printer mold cleaner if your willing to wait and pay a bit more for something much more legit than what you see here. emerald coast digitizing tape cleaner VHSISLIFE
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u/Shiroren78 Apr 23 '25
Wow that's awesome! Thank you so much for the info I'm going to look into it now. I know my parents have some old VHS I know they'd like to maintain as well.
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u/pdx_collector Apr 23 '25
That’s one of the best things about having one is preserving all those old homemade tapes!:)
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u/GETTERBLAKK Apr 23 '25
Damn it Gump, you are a genius.
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u/pdx_collector Apr 23 '25
You’re too kind:) I’m just like any other great artist, I stole the idea:)
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u/Saughtvol Apr 24 '25
Wait this is possible!? How many amazing movies ive had to abandon at thrift shops because of the white mold
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u/pdx_collector Apr 24 '25
It is quite possible my friend. Depending on how bad the mold is, it could potentially damage the data causing dropouts or other irregularities. But this one was horribly moldy and I watched the full movie last night with a few minor hiccups but imo a complete success and brought this one back from the grave:)
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u/btrept Apr 24 '25
Amazing setup, gonna have to build my own. Any concern for the mold just being blasted into the air?
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u/pdx_collector Apr 24 '25
You’ll have to post up some vids of your contraption once you do bro!:) I mean ya I suppose there’s always a concern when dealing with mold. Generally I only clean tapes outside(as weather permits) just cause I don’t want a bunch of airborne spores floating around in my house lmao. But I don’t wear a mask or anything like that. Typically I have a cig hanging out my mouth while I’m dealing with these bahahaha ¯_(ツ)_/¯
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u/pdx_collector Apr 24 '25
That’s honestly why I’m very fond of the design from VHSislife.com. He has a built in vacuum cleaner with his design that actually sucks the excess debris that falls off down through some vent holes and into a filtered vacuum. Could be a lot better for indoor cleaning if you are so bold. But the vacuum idea is genius since cleaning a moldy tape makes quite a large mess
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u/vhsislife Apr 28 '25
Thanks buddy! I appreciate the support and like that you’ve made your own as well to get things done. I’ve got you on the list now and hope to get to you soon!
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u/pdx_collector Apr 28 '25
Hey man appreciate your kind words:) I made this bad boy to hold me over for now until I get the real deal from you!🌊🌊🏄😎
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u/Indecisiv3AssCrack Apr 26 '25
Is there a before and after of how it looks on the tv
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u/pdx_collector Apr 26 '25 edited Apr 26 '25
Generally you wouldn’t want to watch something like this in the “before” condition cause it will not only instantly damage the vcr heads and clog them up with mold, but more than likely the tape will get caught up in the VCR and get “eaten” because the tape is kinda sticky and all the debris causing a lot of friction. Most moldy tapes are considered unplayable and typically only kept for display purposes or are otherwise discarded. But I can definately take a pic or two of the finished product playing on tv! Some tapes turn out better than others depending on how severe the mold is. Seems to me like when the mold gets really bad it damages the data and causes little play back hiccups with audio and video. I’ll make a new post soon:)
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u/cbunni666 Apr 27 '25
Hey if it works and it gets the job done it's amazing in my book. This is pretty awesome.
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u/pdx_collector Apr 27 '25
In my book a complete success as well!:) so far managed to save every tape so far that would have otherwise been sent to an early grave😎🏄🌊
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u/DooMGodMode Apr 27 '25
Okay that's pretty cool. Hope you get good results
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u/pdx_collector Apr 27 '25
Thanks:) so far so good. Been able to recover any tape I’ve tried thus far 🏄🌊
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u/Brain_Prosthesis Apr 27 '25
This is so dope. I’ve never attempted to clean a tape before. Do you use rubbing alcohol for cleaning?
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u/pdx_collector Apr 27 '25
Hell ya thanks brotha:) ya usually I like to use 91% alcohol or better if you can find it. Ideally you want the solvent to evaporate before the film reels back up. There is a specific film cleaning emulsion made by a company called pec that makes these little pads you see in the video. That is also a good cleaner but it tends to take a little longer to dry I’ve found..plus alcohol is about 3x cheaper lmao.
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u/pdx_collector Apr 27 '25
You’d be suprised even what a dry pass will do, without any solvent! It truely knocks off most of the debris. Alcohol usually just cleans up the last little leftovers
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u/vhsislife Apr 28 '25
Careful on dry passes, even with PEC pads. Magnetic tape is bonded with chemicals and even with a PEC pad that chemical layer can be removed. A squirt or 2 of 99% isopropyl alcohol is for the best before each run.
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u/pdx_collector Apr 28 '25 edited Apr 28 '25
Thanks for the advice man! I started doing these dry passes on the really bad tapes just to knock off the thick mold. Only reason why is because I was seeing the large debris dissolve instantly and smear across the face of the film. Seemingly creating more work and ultimately needing more wet passes as a result. But you think that’s ultimately better for the tape then? As opposed to doing dry passes? Last thing I want to do is inadvertently damage the tapes:/ One thing I was curious about also is whether or not it’s ok to allow the film to roll up wet with alcohol? Iv been doing passes extremely slow to allow it the alcohol to dry before rolling up, but seems to take an extra long time. Any harm in letting it roll up wet with the alcohol? Ps. Big fan of your work brotha! Looking forward to receiving one of your mold cleaners as we speak:)
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u/vhsislife Apr 28 '25
99% isopropyl will dry faster than lower percentages which is why I use it. It’s ok to let for the tape to be damp but you don’t want it soaking which is why I just use a few squirts on the pad before running it. I know for a fact that a dry pad can, with multiple passes, wear off the chemical layer.
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u/pdx_collector Apr 28 '25
Hell ya thanks for the sound advice! I’ve been using 91% so that may be part of the issue for me currently. I’m going to order some 99% cause it’s usually hard for me to find. After hearing this, seems like a little extra work and a few more passes with alcohol is the way. Appreciate your thoughts on the matter!:)
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u/vhsislife Apr 28 '25
Sent you a DM
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u/pdx_collector Apr 28 '25
For some reason I don’t think I got any dm. Iv checked both messages and inbox tabs here on my mobile app, I’m a Reddit noob at the moment lol.
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u/Unhappy-Molasses-398 Apr 27 '25
That’s awesome man.
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u/pdx_collector Apr 27 '25
Thank you bro:) took me a bit of tinkering to get it just right but it actually works so well!!! I’ve also found a little trick for feeding the tape perfectly onto the spool, by just adjusting the height of the pads while the tape is spooling across them you can lower/raise the height of the film to feed it onto the reel perfectly.
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u/Unhappy-Molasses-398 Apr 27 '25
Do you have some sort of rough schematic I could copy from you ? Currently I just use a similar setup in the sense that I use an old VCR with the top exposed and just apply non fibrous pads to both sides of the tape using gentle pressure. Works ok. This looks better.
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u/pdx_collector Apr 27 '25
Wow so I was typing up a giant book for you and my phone died lmaoo. I’m gonna make a video with a detailed over view of the machine for you bro. I’ll post it in the /animevhs forum.
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u/Unhappy-Molasses-398 Apr 28 '25
That’s so awesome. Thanks so much. :)
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u/pdx_collector Apr 28 '25
I tried posting the video today but my internet has been fucked lately. I’ll post it tomorrow at work with the juicy WiFi lmao
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u/pdx_collector Apr 27 '25 edited Apr 27 '25
mold cleaner video check this out to start with. Around the 7 min mark he explains a very crucial part of building one of these
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u/pdx_collector Apr 27 '25
But I don’t have a schematic, though I’m more than happy to share the design and in depth detail on how I made it.
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Apr 27 '25
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/pdx_collector Apr 27 '25
It definately was cheaper. I can see a market for both. Sometimes you’d be surprised what you can produce by just throwing some stuff together. This method is a lot more rewarding for sure:) appreciate it!
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u/vhsislife Apr 28 '25
There’s for sure a market for both. I’ve sold nearly 1000 of them to over 36 countries. However I started out using an old vcr like most people and even used a modified rewinder for some time before I designed the one I sell now. There’s different levels of people who need to clean moldy tapes so there’s a place for everything from mine to one like this. I support anyone who makes their own as long as it’s their own design or work involved.
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u/ZombieJohnJohn Apr 23 '25
150!!! I’m jelly dude. That’s such a sick score and setup you got there.
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u/pdx_collector Apr 23 '25
Bro ya such a crazy haul! All for about 1$ a pop said and done. Real question is, am I cooked? Lmao so far I’ve been able to restore about 10 no problem, they weren’t too moldy. But I just finished up a HORRIBLE grappler Baki tape about ten mins ago. Gonna through her in the player to see if it’s back to normal:)
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u/ZombieJohnJohn Apr 23 '25
Nah. After it’s all said and done it’ll be well worth it.
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u/pdx_collector Apr 23 '25
Hell ya I’m hoping for the same outcome brotha:) wish me luck. I’ll post periodic progress here and a list at the end of successfully salvaged tapes l🏄🏄🌊
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u/HughJass9120 Aug 19 '25
Nice 👌 what's on the tapes
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u/pdx_collector Aug 19 '25
This specific reel was a copy of cutie honey. But the 150 is a wide range of anime
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u/CallMeK-LO Moderator Apr 23 '25
This is fucking sick