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Can old tape be re-lubed?
Have 30 year-old 1/2″ tapes that are sticking around the head drum of a simiarly aged deck. I guess because it’s dried out. I see an image, but frame by frame so the heads are still ok. Without the tape threaded around the drum the recorder’s ff and rewind are fine.
I’d love to be able to lube the tape as it rewinds directly from the other reel. Is there a way to do this? Thanks.
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3 Replies
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The only way I’m familiar with is using a tape evaluator/cleaner. The last ones I remember were made by Chyron and RTI and they are not home units.
It’s not a case of re-lubing – since the lubrication is part of the cooking process for the magnetic medium itself – what is usually the problem is airborne grease and dust contaminating the tape, making it stick. Modern evaluators/cleaners use a burnishing system to take off old dirt and polish the tape.
Carpel and IVB are companies that do the eval and cleaning services. You can find them on the net.
Carpel: https://www.carpelvideo.com/
IVB: https://www.ivbmedia.com/
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thanks frank. did some research. i’m going to try baking one or two of the tapes first to see if that brings them back to life.
the content of a few of the tapes lead to some of the docs I did with TVTV.
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Let me know if it works…I’ve got about 2,000 hrs. of 3/4 and Beta that I’ve been dreading having to ship out…
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