need help identifying VCR part

Just remove it.

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Veggie: Just remove it entirely. Your VCR will work just fine without it. electricitym

Stop using cotton swabs to clean the heads! The fibers tend to get stuck in the heads and have the potential to make things worse.

Use a chamois swab instead. Don't rub up and down, either, or you WILL break the head(s).

Like everyone else says (with respect to your part question): Remove it.

Head Cleaner probably, remove it. Just deposits removed dirt back on heads

couldn't agree more. Those head "cleaning" rollers are the worst invention ever, I have even seen one which destroyed a head chip by snagging on it, and seen others where the foam decayed and gummed up the heads. IMO, The principle is utterly stupid: It's like using the same q-tip to remove earwax throughout your life!!

off to rant elsewhere now ;-) Ben.

You're supposed to change it? Isn't that wasteful?

Oh :::gag::: Ben, I'm eating pizza here, man! ;)

kaboomie

If you observe the tape loading in action, you will see that this is bumped over against the head momentarily during the loading process. It does tend to knock off some of the crud that accumulates on the head cylinder, especially with rental tapes, but as you have observed it can get dirty enough over time to become a problem in its own right. If you can't find a replacement, leave it out. Newer technologies are rapidly making tape obsolete anyway, and it doesn't make sense to spend much money or time on VCR's.