Hi all don't know if this has been on before or not but know somebody should know.Wonder if there is anyway to clean video tapes not the heads ect but the tape it self.I dug out some of mine after we moved and looks like mildue or some kind of resadue on the tape when you look through the little windows.Don't hit me for spelling.Thanks Mushy
tape cleaning
- Thread starter mushy
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Hi all don't know if this has been on before or not but know somebody should know.Wonder if there is anyway to clean video tapes not the heads ect but the tape it self.I dug out some of mine after we moved and looks like mildue or some kind of resadue on the tape when you look through the little windows.Don't hit me for spelling.Thanks Mushy
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Hate to rain on your parade, but...
I don't know of anything that would remove mold or mildew wilthout endangering the tape. The coating is just ferric oxide, doesn't take a lot to loosen it up.
Plus, think of what it might do to your machine if you don't get everything off. Yuck, unless that is the irreplacable first steps of your baby, I would just toss it.
I suppose there is a restoration house for that sort of thing, assuming it is possible without using the FBI crime lab in Washington.
If it's just the first few feet of the tape, I have successfully taken VHS tapes apart, cut off the first few feet off (damage from a faulty VCR) and re-insert the tape into the little pressed-in pin arrangement that locks it to the hub. Fiddly job, but do-able.
You have good eyesite and a lot of patience?
I don't know of anything that would remove mold or mildew wilthout endangering the tape. The coating is just ferric oxide, doesn't take a lot to loosen it up.
Plus, think of what it might do to your machine if you don't get everything off. Yuck, unless that is the irreplacable first steps of your baby, I would just toss it.
I suppose there is a restoration house for that sort of thing, assuming it is possible without using the FBI crime lab in Washington.
If it's just the first few feet of the tape, I have successfully taken VHS tapes apart, cut off the first few feet off (damage from a faulty VCR) and re-insert the tape into the little pressed-in pin arrangement that locks it to the hub. Fiddly job, but do-able.
You have good eyesite and a lot of patience?