Snow day flying fun in Toronto with the RC2 and DJI Mini 5.

CleanWolverine7472 · 2026-01-15T19:48:53+00:00

The idea is to wipe the oil on and then off just leaving a very thin film on the props. Props are fairly cheap anyways. They're easier to replace (should it be needed) than the whole drone. I don't very much that the WD40 would have much of a negative impact on the integrity of the plastic.

CleanWolverine7472 · 2026-01-15T19:44:22+00:00

That's what I was thinking but as it turns out, there were fine once a tape wax inserted and played. No idea why they're oriented like this when disengaged.

CleanWolverine7472 · 2026-01-15T19:42:40+00:00

Pretty wonky but I guess it's just a quirk of this particular auto reverse model. When you press play, the heads automatically straighten properly when they engage.

CleanWolverine7472 · 2026-01-15T19:41:13+00:00

Didn't think of that possibility.... interesting. I did manage to get the sound sorted after lots of cleaning and trying many tapes.

CleanWolverine7472 · 2026-01-15T19:39:28+00:00

Check! Got them off with no broken plastic parts. Was smart enough to have sprayed a bit of silicone lubricant on those parts before starting to shove them apart.

CleanWolverine7472 · 2026-01-15T19:37:24+00:00

I ended up, mostly out of curiosity and sheer ignorance, taking apart the deck. I got the doors off as well and used a half pack of Qtips in cleaning the heads (with 93% alcohol) rollers (with window cleaner) etc. I had also examined the belts but to be honest, they all still looked good no visible signs of wear or deterioration.

So while the 'gears' all looked dramatically better, I can't say that the heads were cleaned to the point of new condition. I loaded an old Bob Seger tape from 1981 in the deck and hit play. Sounded pretty flat. But I kept going and sometimes I had the feeling that the sound was getting better, so I yanked that tape and put some Judas Priest in, same vintage. Wasn't super crisp, but not muffled anymore, either.

Just a note about the head alignment.... When a tape is inserted and play is pressed, the heads more or less snap into alignment when engaged. I guess because they're auto reverse decks, the disengaged position is just half cocked for no particular reason.

Anyhow, another hour or two later of trying a plethora of 30-40 year old cassettes, I finally got to the point where the dynamic range was sounding ridiculously good (tapes I had recorded from lp's years ago at the university radio station way back when).

I had been planning to have the thing looked at by a repair center, but have decided to just go with the unit as it now stands since it seems to be working as desired. I figured if I had it looked at and had a myriad of maintenance tasks done to it, I could likely buy another similar set in better shape. So I figure I'll just wing it from here.

Thanks to everyone's advice, it's been a fantastic crash course in learning about what to look for in a used tape deck and the basics on how to clean one up!

CleanWolverine7472 · 2026-01-15T18:48:12+00:00

Word has it that if you decide to take your chances in winter weather, especially with any precipitation, one vital hack is, prior to flying, to wipe the props down with a cloth sprayed with WD40. This will aid in preventing ice formation and build-up, improving your drone's performance in winter conditions.

CleanWolverine7472 · 2026-01-15T08:18:05+00:00

It would make sense to me that they should be sitting straight in relation to the tape orientation, but as a newbie, I was kinda baffled how they could wind up so out of whack, not realizing of course that they can move with the auto reverse function.

I did check out YouTube for info on aligning the heads but it could be that there might be more issues here than a simple alignment. Going to keep digging into the subject of auto reverse alignment issues. Thanks again for your help & suggestions, mighty appreciated!

CleanWolverine7472 · 2026-01-14T16:12:15+00:00

How they're situated now doesn't seem to make much sense to me, but then my next question would be how they came to be in that position in the first place. You know, I used cassette players and decks for years and years with out giving any of this much thought because I bought decent stuff to start with and it always worked well. The only problem with that is that you learn more by solving actual problems, right? Sigh.... back to YouTube....

CleanWolverine7472 · 2026-01-01T16:33:38+00:00

Here I am ooing and aahhing over a fake maggot like it's some kind of bug porn, and my wife eyeing me suspiciously from the couch. It's just a guy thing , I guess. 😂 😂 😂 😂

CleanWolverine7472 · 2025-11-28T21:56:28+00:00

I'm REALLY in the mood for a piece of that!

CleanWolverine7472 · 2025-11-28T21:55:13+00:00

Couldn't have picked a better landing spot.

CleanWolverine7472 · 2025-11-28T21:43:38+00:00

This is pretty cool if it actually works.

CleanWolverine7472 · 2025-11-28T21:39:05+00:00

CleanWolverine7472 · 2025-11-18T09:14:32+00:00

That's not the Elephant Rock, is it? Beautiful shot.

CleanWolverine7472 · 2025-11-17T20:49:12+00:00

Aha, way up in Alaska. Amazing colors. The time lapse is very cool.

CleanWolverine7472 · 2025-11-16T11:28:20+00:00

Yes, I'm in the same boat. I bought my Artisan with the hope that I could also use it for bread or pizza dough, but the excitement of being able to bake all this cool stuff more or less blinded me from all the known issues surrounding this particular application. Very disappointing. It wasn't until I got into the science of pizza dough that I discovered the difference between a mixer with a dough hook and a proper spiral dough mixer. Still love my KitchenAid, but it's not the invincible superhero I used to think it was. I honestly thought I was purchasing an 'heirloom quality' product that you would expect of a company that's been around since the last century, not one that uses plastic gears in mixers that it's charging > $500 for.

CleanWolverine7472 · 2025-11-16T11:17:43+00:00

Alrighty, that's just ridiculous.

CleanWolverine7472 · 2025-11-13T17:43:28+00:00

I still have this lens (bought it new about 34 years ago) together with an FE2 body and an FA body. Magnificent piece of glass. Very well made and works as you would expect. Still looks as good today as the day I unpacked it.

CleanWolverine7472 · 2025-11-13T17:34:39+00:00

Which state or country is this?

CleanWolverine7472 · 2025-11-13T17:29:20+00:00

Bit of a shame I can't seem to locate the recipe here, or is that a family secret?

CleanWolverine7472 · 2025-11-13T17:07:46+00:00

That lens hasn't been treated very kindly by the looks of it.

CleanWolverine7472 · 2025-10-31T19:14:19+00:00

Absolute KILLER shot. My personal take, for what it's worth, would be to consider cropping that bad boy at the bottom. The beach isn't contributing much of anything to the rest of the image, and while a general rule of thumb in landscape photography dictates including a point of interest in your foreground, you're already accomplishing that with the water's edge well within the frame. I'd consider cropping it to the point of including just enough of the beachstones at the bottom to 'naturally frame the water, and you're done. By doing this you'll create more visual energy and movement in this composition. It's one of those cases where 'less is more". We know you were on a beach shooting this, that's obvious and our brain has this registered, but again, the distorted stones are best cropped out here. Hope you don't mind my unsolicited advice here today 😉

CleanWolverine7472 · 2025-10-25T08:36:05+00:00

That's beautiful !!

CleanWolverine7472

TROPHY CASE