Here’s a short tutorial on how to clean the magnetic heads of the Bauer T610 Stereo Super8 film projector. This tutorial is also largely applicable to the T502.

Step 1: open the projector by taking off the front cover. Simply by pulling it away.

Step 2: Turn the control knob to its ultimate left turn position, the ‘maintenance’ position.

Step 3: remove light bulb and light bulb holder (to create space to work).

Step 4: It’s smart to cover the sliders with a piece of paper so that screws and small parts cannot fall into the ‘mixer’ part of the projector.

Step 5: unscrew the clamp of the first magnetic head, which is the ‘erasure’ head. Take it out. Be very careful: when unscrewing the clamp make sure the screws don’t fall into your projector! Also there is a thin sheet of metal that stays behind in the holder of the magnetic head. Just leave it in place. If by chance it comes out together with the head, make sure to put it back in.

Step 6: clean the head with a cotton tip and some cleaning alcohol (spiritus or similar). And put it back in place. Careful to not lose screws.

Step 7: unscrew the clamp of the second magnetic head, the recording and playback head. Similar to the first head: take it out and clean it. Be mindful of the thin metal sheet that is inside the head holder.

Step 8: After having put back in place the cleaned playback/recording head, repeat the procedure for the third and final head, which is the ‘monitoring’ head. This head is used for monitoring the audio for example ‘live’ when recording audio with the recording head. The sound lags some 4 frames behind.

Finishing up: after cleaning the monitoring head put it back in place. Put the bulb holder and bulb back in place, close the cover and voilà: you have a Bauer projector with clean heads, able to record and playback crisp