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Re: [ARSCLIST] If I knew you were coming I'd've baked a tape...



Hi, Marie,

You dripped on the "pancakes" inside the cassette housing? That was enough
ISO to do the trick? Wouldn't it evaporate before you're finished?

I apply the LAST factory stuff with a foam swab in a modified-for-stuff
Tandberg TP-101 in fast wind mode.

No, baking did not help even the bad Ampex cassette!

The good news, was I got this yesterday from the guy with the Ampex cassette:

"I can't believe how much resolution and high signal-to-noise ratio you
were able to get out of that lousy ancient cassette!"

So at least the client was satisfied. But it's oh-so-frustrating, and there
is nothing that I've seen in the literature about LoL except the stuff we
talk about here.

Cheers,

Richard

At 01:45 PM 1/10/2005 -0600, you wrote:
Hi Richard,

The Dragon did a couple of cartwheels for the sheer joy of being plugged
in!  On to
more serious things though, I unscrewed the casing of the cassette and with an
eye-dropper (available at any WalMart) very carefully sparingly dropped drips
throughout.  I also let it dry off for a few minutes.  Put the casing back
together
and into the dragon's mouth it went!  I made sure the door (dragon's
mouth) was off
too.  I had also baked the tape before but without success.  This worked
for me.

Cheers

Marie

"Richard L. Hess" wrote:

> Hi, Marie,
>
> Please tell more! You did this and the Dragon didn't bite your head off or
> breathe fire or whatever Dragons do when they get upset? How do you keep it
> out of the mechanism?
>
> Thanks!
>
> Richard
>
> At 11:53 AM 1/10/2005 -0600, you wrote:
> >Hi Richard
> >
> >I have had some success using ISO on cassette tape, I call it the
"eye-dropper
> >technique"!  Has worked each time for me when I had needed to use
> >it.  This is a
> >very crude version of my intravenous drip bag!
> >
> >Cheers
> >
> >Marie O'Connell
> >Sound Archivist
> >Mississippi Department Of Archives & History
> >200 North Street
> >Jackson, MS, 39201
> >Ph: 601-576-6909
> >
> >"Richard L. Hess" wrote:
> >
> > > At 12:15 AM 1/9/2005 -0500, Steven C. Barr wrote:
> > > >----- Original Message -----
> > > >From: "Richard L. Hess" <ArcLists@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
> > > > > I would also caution that this writer's experience with cassette
> > tapes and
> > > > > baking is that most squealing cassette tapes appear to be suffering
> > from
> > > > > loss-of-lubricant (LoL) rather than the more common Sticky Shed
> > Syndrome
> > > > > (SSS) that afflicts reel tapes.
> > > > > While LoL can affect reel tapes (I've seen it in Sony tape from the
> > > >1970s),
> > > > > SSS is more common. I have not actually seen a proven case of
SSS in
> > > > > cassettes, while I have seen several instances of LoL. In fact, I
> > just did
> > > > > an Ampex air-check cassette from the early 80s for a client that
> > was LoL.
> > > >I
> > > > > was pretty sure, being Ampex, it would be SSS, but I was
disappointed.
> > > >Quick question...how does one lubricate a noisy cassette? I
suspect that
> > > >neither 3-In-1 or WD-40 would be advisable...
> > >
> > > Steven,
> > >
> > > There are several approaches, but http://www.lastfactory.com/ makes
> > > commercially available tape head and tape lubricants that I use for the
> > > purpose. In many LoL situations they need to be applied frequently. I'm
> > > also using some experimental fluids that are more successful and
> > > experimenting with other alternatives.
> > >
> > > Reel tapes with LoL are sometimes playable with an Isopropyl "Drip"
which
> > > Marie O'Connell had great success with in New Zealand and now in
> > > Mississippi. I think this has been discussed here at length. I
haven't used
> > > Isopropyl on cassettes yet because I haven't figured a way to do it
without
> > > annoying a Dragon and you know how ornery an annoyed Dragon can be!
> > >
> > > Cheers,
> > >
> > > Richard


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