Upper cylinder not replaceable as a separate assembly?
On some newer VCRs, it seems that in the manufacturer’s infinite wisdom (or cost crunching), the normal video head drum or upper cylinder cannot be replaced by itself. Only the entire expensive cylinder unit is available. Unless you can find a junk VCR (try Allbrand, see the section: Used VCR parts), repair may be too expensive. Just buy a different brand next time, which, of course, may not matter. 🙁 Video head replacement technique • Do not touch the actual video head chips themselves. Handle the head as little possible. You can touch the upper part of the head cylinder if necessary. One thumb through the center hole with fingers resting on the upper edges works pretty well. • Before you unmount the old one, mark or make a note as to its position – sometimes it is possible to mount the new head 180 degrees off from way it is supposed to be oriented causing tracking problems at the least as the opposing heads are not identical. (The azimuth angles are +/- 6 degrees for VHS, +/- 30 d
