A PERMANENT SOLUTION TO STICKY SHED SYNDROME!
Perhaps because you are skeptical, and rightly so...especially since what actually fixes the problem is a store-bought product. Add that to the thoroughness within which I strive to competently report my findings in...perhaps this makes this "fix" read as an infomercial, as you state.
Sincerely,
Jeff
Sincerely,
Jeff
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I stumbled upon this thread searching for a solution to sticky shed, and decided to give it a shot. I'd recently acquired 20 free reels of 1" ampex 456, which turned out to all have pretty terrible sticky shed... 2 minutes worth of fast winding was enough to grind my MS-16's transport to a halt and leave a thick residue across the tape path.
I think I may have bought the wrong type of nufinish... I bought the 'scratch doctor,' which is a white goo, not a liquid as the OP's description seems to suggest, but it was the only kind I could find and I figured it was probably the right one... looking at the nufinish web site, it seems there are other varieties available, which may expliain the trouble I had. After carefully covering the head assembly and most of the tape path with a layer of paper towels, I proceeded to apply a liberal amount of nufinish to a towel and started winding the tape through. The nufinish went on extremely unevenly, a mess of white paste that got everywhere and proved impossible to remove from the tape no matter how many times I passed it over a clean towel. It completely warped the tape as well, making it crinkle and bend on the reel... in all, I destroyed about 1/3 reel of tape doing this.
If anyone has had a better experience with this method (OP?) and can weigh in that would be great... for now, it looks like we'll just be baking whenever we need to use it. I might try again if I can find a liquid nufinish, and I'll post my results from that as well if I do... the possibility of permenantly rejuvinating messed-up tape seems to good not to investigate a little further. For now, be careful, and don't use the scratch doctor! Shit's expensive, also... 11 dollars for a tiny little bottle.
I think I may have bought the wrong type of nufinish... I bought the 'scratch doctor,' which is a white goo, not a liquid as the OP's description seems to suggest, but it was the only kind I could find and I figured it was probably the right one... looking at the nufinish web site, it seems there are other varieties available, which may expliain the trouble I had. After carefully covering the head assembly and most of the tape path with a layer of paper towels, I proceeded to apply a liberal amount of nufinish to a towel and started winding the tape through. The nufinish went on extremely unevenly, a mess of white paste that got everywhere and proved impossible to remove from the tape no matter how many times I passed it over a clean towel. It completely warped the tape as well, making it crinkle and bend on the reel... in all, I destroyed about 1/3 reel of tape doing this.
If anyone has had a better experience with this method (OP?) and can weigh in that would be great... for now, it looks like we'll just be baking whenever we need to use it. I might try again if I can find a liquid nufinish, and I'll post my results from that as well if I do... the possibility of permenantly rejuvinating messed-up tape seems to good not to investigate a little further. For now, be careful, and don't use the scratch doctor! Shit's expensive, also... 11 dollars for a tiny little bottle.
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Have you found anything to fix this? I'm having similar problems with 1/2" 456 but I'm very new to working with tape and unsure of what to do. My plan is to immediately transfer the material to a new tape but after that is there a way to salvage the 456? I've never baked tape before but am willing to try it once I've backed the session up.Theo_Karon wrote:I stumbled upon this thread searching for a solution to sticky shed, and decided to give it a shot. I'd recently acquired 20 free reels of 1" ampex 456, which turned out to all have pretty terrible sticky shed... 2 minutes worth of fast winding was enough to grind my MS-16's transport to a halt and leave a thick residue across the tape path.
"some kinds of love, the possibilities are endless"
If the tape is shedding, you're going to have to fix it before backing it up. I haven't tried the NuFinish method, but tape baking does work and doesn't have to be complicated. I recently ran across some old tapes I wanted to be able to play again. Most of them had a good case of SSS. On a whim, I created an "oven" from a cardboard microwave oven box, a 150 watt light bulb and a computer fan to circulate the air. I could only manage about 115-120 degrees at best (most articles I've read recommend 130-140 degrees - a smaller box would yield a higher temperature I assume). I have baked both 1/4" and 1" with good results. I baked them for 8-12 hours and most have shown minimal shed on playing.
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Cuppla things.
One, I think ggoat!!! sounds like an infomercial because he is genuinely amazed at his simple solution to a vexing problem, and infomercials TRY to sound like amazing solutions to vexing problems.
Two, Nu Finish offers several products in orange bottles. It would be nice to know exactly which product it is. Their web site is here; http://nufinish.com/products.html . We can rule out Nu Vinyl, right? And it's probably not Nu Finish Cling, the "Instant Detailer." Theo_Karon's post seems to rule out Scratch Doctor, so is it the Once a Year Car Polish? It would be nice to confirm this, ggoat!!!
One, I think ggoat!!! sounds like an infomercial because he is genuinely amazed at his simple solution to a vexing problem, and infomercials TRY to sound like amazing solutions to vexing problems.
Two, Nu Finish offers several products in orange bottles. It would be nice to know exactly which product it is. Their web site is here; http://nufinish.com/products.html . We can rule out Nu Vinyl, right? And it's probably not Nu Finish Cling, the "Instant Detailer." Theo_Karon's post seems to rule out Scratch Doctor, so is it the Once a Year Car Polish? It would be nice to confirm this, ggoat!!!
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Thanks for the tip! Upon further asking around my buddy has had success baking 1/2" in his toaster oven, so I'll have him help me out with the process.psinglet wrote:If the tape is shedding, you're going to have to fix it before backing it up. I haven't tried the NuFinish method, but tape baking does work and doesn't have to be complicated. I recently ran across some old tapes I wanted to be able to play again. Most of them had a good case of SSS. On a whim, I created an "oven" from a cardboard microwave oven box, a 150 watt light bulb and a computer fan to circulate the air. I could only manage about 115-120 degrees at best (most articles I've read recommend 130-140 degrees - a smaller box would yield a higher temperature I assume). I have baked both 1/4" and 1" with good results. I baked them for 8-12 hours and most have shown minimal shed on playing.
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Jeff (ggoat),
Interesting. I haven?t yet read the two linked pages; I?m just responding to what you?ve reported.
Maybe I missed this, but what does the terrycloth look like after the cleaning? Is it covered with black backing material ? suggesting that the material that would have otherwise shed has now been removed? Or is the cloth relatively clean, suggesting that the NuFinish helped to chemically fix the potential shed material?
To play the Devil?s Science Advisor, did you ever try subjecting a tape to the terrycloth treatment without using NuFinish? I could imagine that the cloth friction could remove some excess backing, such that the tape would be less likely to shed/stick in the future. This hypothesis would be contradicted if, in your scenario, the result was not a lot of backing material on the cloth afterwards.
Finally, if one could determine what is the active ingredient in the NuFinish (assuming it were a necessary part of the process), I wonder if one could prepare a solution in a pan and soak a whole reel in it for a few hours or a few days. You?d still have to wipe it off (or just let it dry?), but that might at least save the time involved in the application phase.
I?ve got some old 456 I?ve got to deal with soon, but I also have a convection oven, so I imagine I?ll take that route ? unless NuFinish suddenly acquires a bunch of new, uh, adherents.
? Hoagie Hill
Interesting. I haven?t yet read the two linked pages; I?m just responding to what you?ve reported.
Maybe I missed this, but what does the terrycloth look like after the cleaning? Is it covered with black backing material ? suggesting that the material that would have otherwise shed has now been removed? Or is the cloth relatively clean, suggesting that the NuFinish helped to chemically fix the potential shed material?
To play the Devil?s Science Advisor, did you ever try subjecting a tape to the terrycloth treatment without using NuFinish? I could imagine that the cloth friction could remove some excess backing, such that the tape would be less likely to shed/stick in the future. This hypothesis would be contradicted if, in your scenario, the result was not a lot of backing material on the cloth afterwards.
Finally, if one could determine what is the active ingredient in the NuFinish (assuming it were a necessary part of the process), I wonder if one could prepare a solution in a pan and soak a whole reel in it for a few hours or a few days. You?d still have to wipe it off (or just let it dry?), but that might at least save the time involved in the application phase.
I?ve got some old 456 I?ve got to deal with soon, but I also have a convection oven, so I imagine I?ll take that route ? unless NuFinish suddenly acquires a bunch of new, uh, adherents.
? Hoagie Hill
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