Re: [ARSCLIST] DAT Dddropouts

["Peter@xxxxxxxxxxxxx" <lists@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Richard:

We have not tried Baking DAT tapes but have seen some that have been
deformed by heat exposure.  Of course, this was from fire/disaster scenarios
so there is no way to determine just how much heat they were exposed to.  I
do believe, however, that DAT has a base coat of PEN instead of PET.  We
have seen some other PEN base tapes react poorly to "Baking level"
temperatures.  If you are concerned about hydrolysis (sticky-shed), you
might well be better off using the cold desiccation process we developed at
SPECS BROS and have been using for certain problems over the last ten years
or so.  Cold desiccation takes a lot longer than baking but is more
effective at solving some problems than baking.

We do have DAT cleaning equipment/protocols.  They were developed for a
client who was experiencing excessive drop-out problems and the cleaning
proved effective in reducing/removing the problems.  The procedure has since
been used for other clients with similar success.

Our DAT cleaning process is only partially automated so it is a pain in the
...., but, it does work.



Peter Brothers
President
SPECS BROS., LLC
(973)777-5055
www.specsbros.com

Restoration and Disaster Recovery Service Since 1983




> -----Original Message-----
> From: Association for Recorded Sound Discussion List
> [mailto:ARSCLIST@xxxxxxx]On Behalf Of Richard L. Hess
> Sent: Wednesday, March 22, 2006 2:19 PM
> To: ARSCLIST@xxxxxxxxxxxx
> Subject: [ARSCLIST] DAT Dddropouts
>
>
> I've been asked to look at a DAT tape that drops out at different
> spots on different players.
>
> I experienced some of this with TDK DAT tape -- in fact it severely
> clogged my first DAT machine and required me to open it and clean the
> drum and guides. Not a fun thing.
>
> I'm thinking this is the problem and I'm wondering things:
>
> (1) Has anyone improved this problem by incubating/baking the DAT tape?
> (2) Has anyone tried incubating/baking a DAT tape and made it worse?
> (3) Who has a DAT cleaner (Peter?)?
> (4) Who has a manually variable tracking DAT player?
> (5) Who has an advanced automatic scan tracking (dynamic tracking)
> DAT player? What models offered this?
> (6) Anyone feel comfortable tackling this? I feel somewhat OK with
> this, but wish I had more tools and experience.
>
> Cheers,
>
> Richard
>
> Tape Restoration Seminar:    MAY 9-12, 2006; details at Web site.
> Richard L. Hess                   email: richard@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
> Aurora, Ontario, Canada       (905) 713 6733     1-877-TAPE-FIX
> Detailed contact information:
> http://www.richardhess.com/tape/contact.htm
>
>