What kind of reels should you bake before playback?

I've heard all kinds of information, some 60's reels require no baking, SSD being more a problem in the 80's. Found some good advice down below on how to bake your reels. I wouldn't even try to use my conventional oven, a fruit dehydrator works a lot better for this purpose. They are Polyester 7" plastic BASF's recorded at 7 1/2 IPS from the early to mid 70's. Much help is appreciated, really want to get the most out of this transfer.

I've also heard stories of people transferring plastic reels onto metal to avoid warping but I don't want to risk destroying if there is a low success rate. I think plastic is fine if baking is kept under 130 degrees fahrenheit.

http://www.tangible-technology.com/tape/baking1.html

 

BASF tape shouldn't need baking. Try playing it, watch for brown residue on the tape guides.

Scotch and Ampex from the 70's onward s usually do. We use a fan incubator at 55c for 48 hours.

Plastic reels are ok at these temps.

 

If it's non backcoated you aren't going to have to worry about binder failure. This isn't something that affected consumer grade formulations. If you know which tapes you have, a quick google search can bring up other people's experiences with that tape.

 

Yes, Scotch 177 is reliable as tape ever got. Ampex/Quantegy 641 is another terrific example. Steve is correct.

 

By the way, never, EVER bake an acetate tape. Hold the reel up to a strong light. If you see light coming through the tape, it's acetate.

 

Yes, a major great point.

 

very precious, .

 

Thanks guys! The only thing that kept me from trying it out was stories of sticky tapes getting destroyed in the machine, then the machine needing extensive cleaning. None of these are acetate.

 

Typically, a "baker" is dark brown on the front and dull black on the back. But it only take a few moments to see if it needs baking. Play it for five minutes, then clean the head. If there's oxide on the Q tip, bake it. A regular oven won't work, but a food dehydrator will, provided it has adjustable temperature.

 

I've always thought of Ampex 641 as "voice grade", meaning limited bandwidth and not especially suited for music. Is that not correct?

 

Just a note, in case anyone runs into it: certain Sony tape stock will start squealing and stop during playback. In this case, the tape has actually lost its lubrication. Sticky shed tape has absorbed moisture into the backing which gums up the works. Baking dries the tape out. This Sony tape hasn't taken on moisture, so baking doesn't help. I saw an article on a lady transferring this type of tape and she had actually set up an IV drip on a reel to reel machine to keep the tape moving smoothly across the heads. I don't have an IV drip, but I have transferred this Sony stock by squirting a little spritz of head cleaner on the tape guide right before the tape crosses the heads. It works, but you have to look after it while it plays.

FYI.

 

Examples of high risk back coated formulas: Ampex 456 (all), Ampex 406, some Quantegy 456, Scotch 250, Scotch Classic, Scotch 806, Scotch 808 as major offenders. All known BASF/EMTEC/RMGI/Pyral/Agfa stock is good, all Maxell UDXL and XL1 is good, and TDK LX is good.

 

Are the new tapes from ATR (and the other brand escapes me) immune from this issue? Or is it too soon to know?

 

So far, no issues noted with ATR tapes. Recording The Masters is covered under BASF/Agfa/RMGI/Pyral, whatever they call themselves today.

 

ATR and RMGI have had some issues in years past but they seem to have been ironed out. All signs point to it just being a bad batch. That said, even if current production stock is "good", these new formulations haven't been around long enough to prove themself over time. We don't know if it'll last 10 years, or if it'll last indefinitely.

@Steve Hoffman mentioned working on a project where the tapes went bad within only a few years. From one of the bad production runs, if I had to guess. I don't believe he mentioned which brand/formulation though.

Personally speaking, I'd trust ATR master to any job.

 

Wet playing of reel tapes with Loss of Lubricant—A guest article by Marie O’Connell « Restoration Tips & Notes »

 

One thing I do with "problem" tapes is clean the head with Rain-X. That leaves the head a little more "slippery" than straight alcohol. I also removed the record and erase heads from my machines, so there are fewer non-moving surfaces.

 

I started reading that sentence and thought "Wait. those Scotch tapes?" I never bought those because they were cheap! I guess they have their advantages after all!