[QuadList] Scotch 400--Reposting for Larry Odham--Pix of reels with issues--

[Ted Langdell]

Here's a post from Larry Odham that is very illustrative of flange glue issues.  It was flagged due to pix that put the message over 1MB.

I've resized the pictures in Larry's e-mail so it'll be below the 1MB threshold and won't get held up for review.

Enjoy.

Ted


From: "L.E. Odham"
Date: August 31, 2012 7:26:20 AM PDT
To: Quad List <quadlist at quadvideotapegroup.com>
Subject: Re: [QuadList] Scotch 400


Hi Shai,

I'vd dealt with scotch 400s for years here. They're not disasters. You just gotta work a little harder at them sometimes.
Your to-do list looks fine to me. It's generally what I would do,too.
First,
one question: Are any of your 400s in the early or late plastic container? The late blue ones are ok because they used rubber "O" ring lid seals.

The early blue containers however used a man-made hard foam type flat rubber seal in a little channel in the bottom of the container. This seal dries out, breaks into pieces, then turns to dust, little hard granules that work down between the tape and flanges when the box is picked up and moved around.

If you have this type then I would strongly suggest taking the flanges off each side and vacuuming the tape surfaces to get all those granules off the tape edges.. If any of those tiny granules get squashed, they turn into little sticky tar spots on the tape edge. And of course, when you try reeling on the machine they will come off and get stuck to the guides, etc., and re-deposited in some other location on the tape.

Makes a nice little mess.

And of course, before replacing the tape in the container, all the gasket material needs to be scraped and washed out. Wear gloves.

Secondly, if any of the 400s have the inner foam flange, COMPLETELY REMOVE THE FOAM! GET RID OF THAT CRAP. even if it does look OK, don't risk it breaking down sometime in the future.

If you have a spare 379 or 399 empty reel flange , its flange can be screwed into place while the tape is on the machine, and the cleaned 400 flange remounted when finished transferring. 

I have "test" reels sitting here for years on the shelf in a climate controlled room, and some are starting to exhibit signs of decomposition that were not previously there in 2005. Nobody can tell for sure which reel will decompose or not. So best to be safe and not have the foam at all sitting on there waiting to leach.

Attached is a photo of what a reel of tape looks like when the foam and glue start decomposing down onto the tape.
Believe me when I say,and I've done a bunch of these...and worse. YOU DONT WANT TO HAVE TO CLEAN A TAPE LIKE THIS!


Are you sure thats mold? What color is it? Got a photo? May be the white powder syndrome and not mold.
A couple more attached photos showing a new-still in the hermetically sealed bag-Ampex reel exhibiting signs.



Moisture molecules can penetrate plastic where air cannot because the moisture molecule is smaller than the air molecule.


Larry Odham
Quad Tape Transfer
www.QUADTAPEXFER.com


Associate Founding Member
Video Engr/Tech
Tennessee Archive of Moving Image and Sound
Knoxville, TN.



Reposted for Larry by
Ted Langdell
Secretary
Skype: 	TedLangdell
e-mail:	ted at quadvideotapegroup.com

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