Sticky Shed on Reel 2 Reel

[337alant]

I was thinking about making a compilation tape of favourite tracks last week and remembered I had bought some nice 3M996 reels from ebay a year ago and hadn't tried it ?, this used to be a very nice studio mastering tape so I had hi hopes.
Tape machine is a Tascam BR20 a very nice R2R IMO


https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7578/15651176339_d67ab95513_b.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/pR3nrV)sticky1 (https://flic.kr/p/pR3nrV) by

337alant (https://www.flickr.com/people/69508926@N05/), on Flickr

Before recording I cleaned up the tape heads and as normal I Fast Forward and rewind the tape in Library mode so its not tight:eyebrows:, anyway 30 seconds in to the FF the tape starts to slow down and starts some squealing sound, sh*t these are the classic signs of a tape with sticky shed :steam:, any way stopped the tape and inspected and sure enough the tape guides were well clogged up with Oxide

https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7480/15835124091_36613cf465_b.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/q8i9GT)sticky2 (https://flic.kr/p/q8i9GT) by 337alant (https://www.flickr.com/people/69508926@N05/), on Flickr

Its well known that lots of Ampex tape including my favourite 456 is virtually US now and I have have binned at least 10 tapes over the last couple of years but I didn't know the 3M tapes were suspect as well :doh:
Some say you can bake the tape and it can be recovered for a period of time but I have tried that and its a waist of time unless you have a very important recoding IMO . So It was time to condemn this tape to the bin, now if you don't know for me the simplest way to do this is to dismantle the reel and push the centre out

https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8562/15651555608_86f95c7745_b.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/pR5jc3)sticky3 (https://flic.kr/p/pR5jc3) by 337alant (https://www.flickr.com/people/69508926@N05/), on Flickr

https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7540/15836979195_e7745d548e_b.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/q8sEar)sticky4 (https://flic.kr/p/q8sEar) by 337alant (https://www.flickr.com/people/69508926@N05/), on Flickr

https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7520/15813344916_f0cc9587cf_b.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/q6nwvS)sticky5 (https://flic.kr/p/q6nwvS) by 337alant (https://www.flickr.com/people/69508926@N05/), on Flickr

https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7530/15838546962_9747448296_b.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/q8AGcU)sticky6 (https://flic.kr/p/q8AGcU) by 337alant (https://www.flickr.com/people/69508926@N05/), on Flickr

So now it was time to have a clean up of all heads, guides and rollers with IPA and capstan roller cleaner

https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7469/15651181469_be71bd8064_b.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/pR3oYn)sticky8 (https://flic.kr/p/pR3oYn) by 337alant (https://www.flickr.com/people/69508926@N05/), on Flickr

https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7551/15836978285_caa70676c5_b.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/q8sDTK)sticky9 (https://flic.kr/p/q8sDTK) by 337alant (https://www.flickr.com/people/69508926@N05/), on Flickr

Checked the tape heads for magnetism, which were OK

https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8646/15813344266_2b4fd046fc_b.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/q6nwjE)sticky11 (https://flic.kr/p/q6nwjE) by 337alant (https://www.flickr.com/people/69508926@N05/), on Flickr

Anyway I have lots of other tape and one of the spools is a NOS reel of Zonal 840 so I wound that on and spliced on a new leader.

https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7519/15217009524_ecffd139c0_b.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/pbF9Mb)sticky7 (https://flic.kr/p/pbF9Mb) by 337alant (https://www.flickr.com/people/69508926@N05/), on Flickr

https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7515/15652140680_2085953df3_b.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/pR8j7u)sticky10 (https://flic.kr/p/pR8j7u) by 337alant (https://www.flickr.com/people/69508926@N05/), on Flickr

The Bias on the 840 is similar to the Maxell XL1 so I didn't adjust that, tried a test track and it sounds wonderful so all is well now and compilation tape made and playing very nice music

https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7462/15651180749_2045503d61_b.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/pR3oKX)sticky12 (https://flic.kr/p/pR3oKX) by 337alant (https://www.flickr.com/people/69508926@N05/), on Flickr

Just thought I would share this with others as R2R is not always as straight forward as some think

Best
Alan

[struth]

That was an excellent walk through Alan. I've suffered from Squeaky tape to and tried the bake....it was a no go and tape was binned. alas mine are on plastic reels so had to spin it into a bin.....probably been better just binning the reel too.
Anyways, a good thread :)

[Spectral Morn]

R to R tape disintegration is a sad fact of R to R use.

Interesting thread, thanks for posting it.



Regards Neil

[Barry]

R to R tape disintegration is a sad fact of R to R use.

Interesting thread, thanks for posting it.



Regards Neil

+1 to that. Love the gaussmeter Alan, where did you get it?

[Ali Tait]

Was going to ask that. Will be entering the R to R world soon with a Tandberg 9100x, looking forward to making some nice recordings.

[Firebottle]

:goodthread:
Loving all the close up photos, thanks for posting,

:cool: Alan

[337alant]

+1 to that. Love the gaussmeter Alan, where did you get it?

Hi Barry
I bought one of these HAN-D-MAGs and it came with it, this is one of the best demagnetizers you can buy and those gauss gauges can cost as much as £100 on their own, so not cheap but good stuff, Note if you buy one of these demags make sure you get a 240V version
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/HAN-D-MAG-HAN-D-KIT-studio-head-demagnetizer-magnetometer-probe-strips-NEW-/221181056937?pt=US_Pro_Audio_Parts_Accessories&hash=item337f6b17a9

This demag was recommended by the people who make MRL calibration tapes
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/MRL-1-4-NEW-proaudio-test-tape-FREE-US-SHIPPING-/270634886061?pt=US_Pro_Audio_Multi_Track_Recorders&hash=item3f0318a3ad

Alan

[Barry]

Hi Barry
I bought one of these HAN-D-MAGs and it came with it, this is one of the best demagnetizers you can buy and those gauss gauges can cost as much as £100 on their own, so not cheap but good stuff, Note if you buy one of these demags make sure you get a 240V version
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/HAN-D-MAG-HAN-D-KIT-studio-head-demagnetizer-magnetometer-probe-strips-NEW-/221181056937?pt=US_Pro_Audio_Parts_Accessories&hash=item337f6b17a9

This demag was recommended by the people who make MRL calibration tapes
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/MRL-1-4-NEW-proaudio-test-tape-FREE-US-SHIPPING-/270634886061?pt=US_Pro_Audio_Multi_Track_Recorders&hash=item3f0318a3ad

Alan

Thanks for that Alan.

At the moment I have an old Ferrograph degausser that I used with my Ferrograph R2R. These days it is not used as the idler wheels have perished and I have yet to get around to fitting new ones.

In its place I play back the tapes I made on it on a Nagra IV-S machine.

[337alant]

I play back the tapes I made on it on a Nagra IV-S machine

Very nice machine Barry, do you still have it?.

Did you get a new roller?

Alan

[Barry]

Very nice machine Barry, do you still have it?.

Did you get a new roller?

Alan

Yes and yes. :)

http://theartofsound.net/forum/showthread.php?15431-The-Nagra-IV-S-two-track-tape-machine

[Ali Tait]

Stunning machine Barry, never heard one, would love to sometime.

[337alant]

Yes and yes. :)

http://theartofsound.net/forum/showthread.php?15431-The-Nagra-IV-S-two-track-tape-machine

Barry that's absolutely fabulous, and an excellent thread as well.

Alan

[Barry]

Barry that's absolutely fabulous, and an excellent thread as well.

Alan

Thanks Alan.

[The Barbarian]

That Zonal tape is good, It's all i use.