My fix for chattering RTR tape

[root]

I want to thank everybody who responded to my post about
chattering against the heads for certain oxides on RTR
tapes. I read about the "bake" solution, but I am pretty
sure my problem was not that because I experience no
loss of oxide on the heads or guides. Nevertheless
I did try "baking" the tapes but the problem persisted.

What worked for me, and I would regard this as a last
ditch effort, was to soak a cotton ball in silicone
lubricant and wedge the ball in the tape path behind
the first rolling guide and the tape heads. The cotton
ball provided a small amount of lubricant, but it also
provided increased drag from the supply side which,
I think, increased the contact between the heads and
the tape. I was able to read about a dozen rare tapes
this way. Maybe the solution will work from someone else.

 

[[email protected]]

I want to thank everybody who responded to my post about
chattering against the heads for certain oxides on RTR
tapes. I read about the "bake" solution, but I am pretty
sure my problem was not that because I experience no
loss of oxide on the heads or guides. Nevertheless
I did try "baking" the tapes but the problem persisted.

What worked for me, and I would regard this as a last
ditch effort, was to soak a cotton ball in silicone
lubricant and wedge the ball in the tape path behind
the first rolling guide and the tape heads. The cotton
ball provided a small amount of lubricant, but it also
provided increased drag from the supply side which,
I think, increased the contact between the heads and
the tape. I was able to read about a dozen rare tapes
this way. Maybe the solution will work from someone else.

If you're interested in trying it, you can send the tape to where I
work and I'll personally run it through the dehydrator. Reply directly
to my email if interested. I think Mark Z may be right about stuff on
the guides but in addition, I've seen a lot of sticky / chattering
tapes that have all been recovered with the bake. Further
contamination with lubricants that may react with the tape coatings
seems much more dicey to me - probably because I'm not a chemist. BTW,
not all the sticky tapes leave goop on the guides though _many do_.

G²

 

[David Nebenzahl]

If you're interested in trying it, you can send the tape to where I
work and I'll personally run it through the dehydrator. Reply directly
to my email if interested. I think Mark Z may be right about stuff on
the guides but in addition, I've seen a lot of sticky / chattering
tapes that have all been recovered with the bake. Further
contamination with lubricants that may react with the tape coatings
seems much more dicey to me - probably because I'm not a chemist. BTW,
not all the sticky tapes leave goop on the guides though _many do_.

All this talk about baking tapes makes me wonder: isn't there a danger
that the sticky goop will glue two layers of tape together? Or does the
baking de-goopify the stuff, making it adhere to the tape?

I believe it works, based on all the empirical evidence given here, but
it's a puzzle exactly *how* it works.

 

[[email protected]]

do_.

All this talk about baking tapes makes me wonder: isn't there a danger
that the sticky goop will glue two layers of tape together? Or does the
baking de-goopify the stuff, making it adhere to the tape?

I believe it works, based on all the empirical evidence given here, but
it's a puzzle exactly *how* it works.

It seems the binders absorb moisture and when you drag the tape
through the guides, some binder and oxide comes off the tape and
sticks to the guides. This of course raises the friction a LOT and the
tape will literally stick to the guides. The worst 2" quad video tape
I saw would play 1 second - 15 inches - before it stalled. That was
not enough time to achieve servo lock. That tape played fine after a
bake. The thing about baking is it can be done again later if needed
but my opinion is to get the material on to another format so you
never have to handle the original again.

G²