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Re: [ARSCLIST] Ampex & Sticky Shed Syndrome
At 09:37 AM 12/15/2004 -0800, Steve Green wrote:
Has anyone compiled a definitive list of tape manufacturers and tape
types for which bonafide cases of Sticky Shed Syndrome have turned up?
It's my understanding that Ampex 406 was one of the major problematic
tapes, but I've also heard that other brands and types of tape have
also been found with SSS. If the main cause was a problematic formula
developed by Ampex, why would other brands also suffer? Did some
companies repackage Ampex tape under other names? Did they obtain
rights to use the formula in manufacturing their own tape?
This is brief, and from memory, not from checking my files which are in
disarray (but I can't blame that on the move--they're at least all together
now).
There were reasons in pushing the envelope of tape performance to switch to
a urethane binder (glue that holds the oxide particles to the basefilm).
Several companies purchased the same or similar binder from one or more big
chemical companies.
Ampex 406, 407, and 456 were especially badly hit. I had some 3M 808 (I
believe) which I tossed that was also bad (why would I move it at 60-cents
a pound?)
It would be great to see a list of known brands exhibiting SSS. In the
early 1990s, I encountered some way serious Sticky Shed on Shamrock
reels from the 1970s. They were in a humid climate (Kentucky), which
leads me to ask whether Sticky Shed is believed to be a manufacturing
problem or a climate problem or a combination of the two?
This is a chicken and egg problem in a way. If the 3M 111 tape was fine in
Kentucky, but the Shamrock wasn't, was it a manufacturing problem? a
design/specification problem? or a climate problem?
I would say, at the least, it was a design/specification problem. I don't
think manufacturing variations would account for it. So, yes, I agree with
David that the tape companies _and their suppliers_ were creating defective
products. I'm not sure why, but they were.
Here is a link showing different binder types of 3M tapes.
http://recordist.com/ampex/genhist.html
Here's one for Ampex tapes
http://recordist.com/ampex/docs/apxtape.txt
I don't think either list truly shows SSS but, at least this is a start.
Cheers,
Richard