Uneven breaks in tapes: How to repair?
 

Hi all

I've some tapes that got "stuck" on the reels and as a result have broken very unevenly. By this I mean the tapes have long splinter-like breaks, with the tape stuck onto one of the reels, thereby making it impossible to see where the end part is...

Hopefully the picture explains it better!

Once I find the end I suppose I'll have to make a clean cut (both sides) and tape them together....

How should I go about finding the end without ruining too much tape? Any tips?

Thanks

First running home VHS splices over tape heads is generally a bad idea. Any splice is best kept at the reel hub area that never passes over the heads.

The photo looks like some of the tape has split lengthwise. That portion is lost short of using national means (e.g., FBI forensics lab type effort) to recover the information.

How to best unstick tape that is stuck on a reel would depend on what cause it to stick. For some things gentile heat and humidity might help. And the next question is would whatever caused it to stick cause a problem for heads once freed to playback.

If this is important and valuable, not replaceable material, you may want to search for and contact a service bureau that specialized in recovery of data from damaged tapes to see what they can do for you.

OK, that's some great advice there...thanks !

I think mildew / condensation has caused the film to stick, as the tapes were previously stored in a hot dry climate (South Spain), then in a cold damp / wet climate for a couple of years (UK) and now in a tropical climate for about 4 years now (Brazil).

I've managed to manually spool it a little but it has started to split again, so I stopped. I've attached a picture of it prior to starting to split and it looks like there may be some damage on the bottom left of the tape.... seems to be shedding, but it would have been due to the spooling. Im not sure at this point in time.

So I think I'll try loosening it up with heat ... what would you recommend? Oven? Hairdryer?

As to adding moisture; how so? Do you think steaming the reel may help? Maybe steam and dry? I suppose it's worth a try if the above doesn't work....

Would it be a bad idea to use WD40 on it? (just brainstorming here)..

Thanks again

It it was my tape, and valuable content (to me), I would send it to a service bureau.

I can't see much on the last photo, at least on this computer.

Hair dryer is often hot, dry heat and can be hard to control. A very very low temp oven with a tray of water in it might be better. WD-40 was OK for reviving dot matrix printer ribbons but would be a NO-NO for video tape. Anything you try at home will put the tapes at risk. If the tape edge is shedding magnetic coating the tape is likely toast and will put any VCR heads at risk as well. If you try something at home start with the least important tape.

- Not WD40.
- Special ovens are used for tape baking, not something found in a kitchen. Think chemistry class in college.
- As stated, all home remedies will just make matters worse. The best thing you could have tried is hand winding, but that has failed.

dpalomaki gave you some really good advice. :)

SpecBros in the USA is a recovery lab that is suggested for really damaged tapes: flood, mudslides, fires, mold, oxide shedding, etc. It's not cheap, at least $100 per tape, but recovery never is.