EXTRA INFO (UPDATED!!): If you get the 3M lubricant get the 08877 WET version (not the dry version). Considering the fact that, reasonably, a lot of people have doubts about this process, here is some evidence in support of the existence of this issue, the fact that all tapes have lubricant, and of the possibility to use a re-lubricant process for magnetic tape (just remember to use a dry cotton swab to absorb the lubricant that may have not been absorbed after a while). Here you will find a selection of scientific papers explaining the issue and how it is a standard procedure to relube tape (even NASA does this!). I have underlined a few crucial passages in the papers: Heritage: www.dropbox.com/s/f8254yfeqrrw9vp/heritage-02-00097-v2.pdf?dl=0 Nasa: www.dropbox.com/s/xxdw1qh8mlbppdu/Nasa.pdf?dl=0 HESS: www.dropbox.com/s/ydrvxg6zipjkrvw/HESS_Tape_Degradation_ARSC_Journal_39-2.pdf?dl=0 Preservation Commission: www.dropbox.com/s/3s3ejmho2jexhgt/pub54.pdf?dl=0 - (here is the official article: www.dropbox.com/s/rtvqt1n537w9vpa/Bogart.pdf?dl=0) Kondo: www.dropbox.com/s/zi4vv42ggi9vh8u/tribochemistry-of-ionic-liquid-lubricant-on-magnetic-media.pdf?dl=0 Here is an article of a lab that is relubing its cassettes: tasso.cat/re-lubrication-of-compact-cassette-tapes-with-sbs/ This is a page of a famous audio engineer: www.baileyzone.net/analog%20tape%20diy.htm This is a page of a company that sells its high quality tape lubricant: thelastfactory.com/tape-care-preservation/
Does the Q-tip go in the front or the back of the tape I could not tell from the video. Very good video very informative. I have several cassettes that have squeeling issues.Cheers
Your scientific article specifically says the lube is part of the binder process at the nano level. It does not sit on top of the tape itself. The same article says that IF any lube should be reapplied, it should be done a pro who knows what they are doing - and your method is entirely incorrect. Your basically bathing your tape in oil. The oil has nowhere to go but on the tape path of the deck. From a professional broadcast/recording engineer and tech - I implore you to stop giving this erroneous information. You are promoting the death of people’s tape decks that will cost hundreds of dollars to fix!!!!!!
@@jonahmcgarva The lube is slowly absorbed by the binder. I also clearly said to clean the tape with more dry cuetips in order to remove all residue. Obviously no one is going to put a dripping tape in their deck. Again, the tape after a while absorbs the lube and it is lubricated just enought to help the trasport. In any case you are wrong also for normal new tape. The lube must also be present on the surface of the tape, of course in minimum amounts, otherwise what is the point to add lube? Do you really think lube is buried below the binder and sits there? No, it has to lubricate the trasport. Try and experiment before blindly criticize people.
Thank you so much for this video. With this process I saved a 40 year old BASF HF 120 cassette containing a unique recording. Is seized frequently. And the parts that did play squealed very badly. After transplanting the tape to a Maxell XLII housing, treating it twice with silicone and letting it rest for 48 hours, it now plays well enough to secure a digital copy from it!
Worked amazingly. I used an old Panasonic portable boombox from the thrift shop and removed the door. This video saved so many cassettes from being discarded. Thanks
This fixed a new old stock , pre-recorded chrome tape from 1987 I got. It was shedding old lube all over the tapehead (white debri) and as a cause would have massive dropouts suddenly whenever the head got clogged. The tape also squeeked at the end of the sides. I went over the tape with a dry q-tip first and then applied new silicone using your method. (though instead of a deck/personal stereo, I used a cordless screwdriver on slow speed and an old felt pen stuck into it that perfectly fit in the cassettes' hubs. True McGiver technique, lol) Now the issues are completely gone and the tape sounds as good as new!
Some years ago, I've discovered that one of my tapes sounded really worn out. But instead of throwing it in the trash, I've "retired" the tape and only kept it as a collectible item (because the tape is rare). After seeing this video, I gave this method a try with the 3M lubricant. And it works! Not perfect, but still a vast improvement. Thanks for the advise.
I found that you don’t actually need a compact cassette player to do this process. I used the casing of an old pen and attached it to an electric drill - worked just as well.
It depends on what you have. A better idea is using a pen to do manually. I have a very dirty tape which need to be cleaned and need to be relubricated. After Cleaning a bit, sounds little better and There are lots of things to do.
So glad I found this, I had an old 8-bit game tape that was making a horrible squeaky noise and wouldn't load. I'd already tried changing the felt but no joy. This method worked perfectly and it was working straight after applying the silicone. Thank you!
Just tried this with several cassettes that kept on slowing, stopping and some that wouldnt play at all. I used non staining silicone lubricant and now all the cassettes play flawlessly. I almost sold my entire collection before I saw this so thanks for the video 👍
First of all....cassette tapes need from time to time full rewinding few times to tape aligns properly in housing....second....you need to use quality deck or tapes....third...lubrication is poor trick after you may had problem with deck tape path or heads
I opened up a brand new cassette tape from 2001 and played it and well the sound on the tape at first sounded good after about a min or so it started playing in slow motion and then it went back to normal but it did that a couple of times... i dont know if its the tape player thats causing it to do that or the tape , i checked what kind of tape it is and its a type 2 cdt cassette, would lubing the cassette fix it?... , i even tried rewinding it a couple of times to loosen it up.
@@cristianthashoota5841 Lubricant dies, silicone doesn't last forever. Also tapes gather moist throughout the years and start to stick to the heads while playing. Both effects give the same symptoms. Both are treatable, lube can be added, moist removed through "tape baking".
This has worked really well. I managed to revive a few old cassettes of mine. Your right though, it may take a few attempts to get the tape back to nearly new. I was very happy with my results. WD-40 specialist silicone seemed to work well with tapes.
@@xcvbxcvb2179 Silicon based lubricants are everywhere in the cassete deck's mechanism. It's the only lube available for plastic/pvc parts and plastic-metal joints.
This video caught my eye a few days ago. Today I popped in a well-loved copy of Boz Scaggs Greatest Hits and the tape Stopped! Thank you for the video!
Thank you for this, it worked for me. I found a Beatles tape that I had been looking for since I was about 7 or 8 years old in a music shop, but it had this problem. I've been wanting a copy of this tape for something like 34 years. I found your video and after multiple tries to lubricate the tape, I let it sit for a while I think over a week or more and voila it worked. My inner child Thanks you❤
I used a high alcohol hand sanitiser and rather than holding the cotton budds in place I cut them down to size and placed them under where the tape is brought by the pinch roller. Worked a treat on my Jamiroquai emergency on planet Earth cassette
Yes, Tried the process, and it works, 😀 I went for the cheapest winder possible, a Bic Crystal Biro, pen, yeah a bit of effort but worth it, some cassettes need more than one treatment but patience, and persistence pay off, the reward, many previously unplayable tapes now play back great. Thanks, great video.
Thanks so much for the advice! When I first started lubing my cassettes, I did it your way, with a Q-Tip brand cotton swab and a can of Liquid Wrench silicone spray. At some point in your video, I think you asked for other ways to do this, so here's the process I finally "graduated" to: I rewound each tape to the stop, then used a butter knife to gently pry/pull the tape out and away from the little follower pad, ending up with a loop just big enough to put my index finger through (if I'd wanted to). Then I sprayed the silicone lube through the little red applicator straw as gently as I could, trying to get a decent size drop to dangle from the tip. Next, I carefully dropped that drip onto the follower pad, tightened the tape with my finger, and rewound it like you did. Then I repeated the entire process. Some cassettes I lubed this way 4 times, some only twice. Now I'll leave 'em sit a day or two and give 'em a play! As I typed this, I wonder how one of those electronic lubes would've worked? Something like CRC's 2-26?
Here's the follow-up: The last tape I did with the Q-Tip before switching techniques just seized up and broke. I think I over-lubed it and essentially glued it together. Oops! It would rewind and fast forward alright, but it wouldn't play to save my life. When I tried to pull it out of the shell, it broke. I'd recommend if you use my technique, you only do two drops of lube - one drop, rewind, one drop, rewind. Done.
You can cut the ear stick with scissors for it to sit flush with the tape, and then, you can pretty much rewind it from any player without needing the access to the tape. Btw, this actually works. Right after I lubricated my Pink Floyd Animals tape, it now actually plays pretty decently, there is still some "lag", but like the guy said - it takes a couple of weeks for tape to fully lubricate.
I've always wanted to own the dark side of the moon on cassette! but now I can finally save all my warpy cassettes most especially my xdr duran duran cassette...thank you so much for this my dude!:))
I didn’t have any silicone lubricant laying around and didn’t feel like going to the store, so stubborn me just shaved some fine graphite off a pencil with a razor and rolled my cotton swab around in it until it was well coated. Worked like a charm, and no issues to speak of yet regarding the graphite. A plus to this method in my case is the results were instant. I played that sucker immediately, no waiting. Thanks for the inspiration, love your content.
I tried this with a very stubborn Huey Lewis cassette and it worked great. However, I added way too much, which is normal for me, and it took a while to clean off the excess oil. I left the tape for few weeks and by then it had been absorbed or had evaporated enough that I could play it. It played perfectly! Thanks!
I recently got a sealed old stock Beatles Breadbox, and was extremely happy until finding out that the XDR tapes were sticking. I watched this video and was prepared to try it, but I freed them up with multiple FFWD/REW cycles. One tape had to be wound manually with a BIC pen at first, and another was squealing horribly, but they all work now without anything as extreme as adding lubricant. One cassette took about ten FFWD/REW cycles to loosen it enough to play well, but it works great now. I would only resort to lubrication after exhausting all other options.
I tried this method for some 1980s/1990s 8-bit computer cassettes whose games weren't loading (they were for an Amstrad CPC464). I'd been given some cassettes and also purchased some recently that simply wouldn't play ball - first one I tried (after binning it!) work first time! Highly recommended.
Perfect! I have some original commodore 64 tapes that are stuck. I didn't trash them because I had read somewhere about the idea of possibly "unsticking" tapes. I was thinking it was a temporary solution, to unstick and then copy them. I didn't realize you could actually restore them back to usable condition! Fantastic!
Ya, thinking it over, I have seen vegetable oil after a period of several years. It turns into a jelly. I definitely won't be trying it on my precious collectible computer tapes. Better just to buy some decent silicone oil and have it around. The one you used in the video is silicone based. I keep seeing it spelled and pronounced silicon, and for several years I thought it was an elusive chemical you could only get from specialty places. I also wondered how a crystaline semiconductor could possibly be used as grease...I also always thought of silicone as the stuff in liquid nails and ...well tubes of silicone for sealing bathtubs. So, watching this video I could clearly see you had silicone oil but were calling it silicon, and spelling it silicon. So I just went and looked it up to see what this stuff actually is. It is a silicon based compound attached to an organic structure like a benzene or whatever. Hence the similar name, but they couldn't be more different. At least I finally cleared up that confusion! Thanks for the video!
Thanks for the tip. My Led Zep tape was set for the bin. Stuck a pen in my cordless drill and held it in position. Will wait 24 hrs to see if it work out. I applied a little silicone to the pressure pad that had dried out. Fingers crossed. It already feels easier to turn with my fingers.
I'd like to add my thanks to the many already here. I have been trying for years to get a working copy of a BBC TV soundtrack on cassette because... nostalgia... but every copy I got was stuck solid and unplayable. What I didn't realise is that the BBC used EMI for some of their cassettes. The tone at the start which you mentioned was the link that got me looking closely at the inlay where sure enough it said "Distributed by EMI". It took three applications of WD40 Silicone Lubricant (now called WD-40 Specialist Silicone Lubricant) with around a week between applications to get it playable. It's not 100% yet, but progress is being made and I am confident I can keep repeating the process to get it right. Thank you for the method and motivation 😀
Please do not ever do this. Lubricant can contaminate the pinch rollers and heads of your machine. Some chemicals can dissolve the glues used in tape heads, and can cause rubber compounds to fall apart. Slippery capstans and pinch rollers will cause speed instability. Slippery tape can coggle and cinch, which is not good. The tape needs to bind for consistent back tension. Chemicals could cause the tape to delaminate, leaving oxide on everything. Maxell oxide shedding caused much damage in the '90's to video machinery, and cross contaminated other tapes. The squeaking and jamming is caused by uneven winding, and by oxide shedding. Yes you can use a q-tip (carefully) in the manner shown, but do it dry. Best is to take the shell apart and clean the oxide out. Also clean out guide rollers within the shell. Also clean the sheet film in the shell. Please do not use any lube though or you may find you cause irreparable damage to your machine.
As explained in the video this is not an idea I just came out with. I trust lucky of tapeheads and I can assure you that tape does have and need sone lube. Especially the XDR tapes. Using the method I described gives a very low amount of lube and, as stated, you need to give time to the tape to absorb the lube. After that you can use a dry tip for absorbing the exeeding amount. Lube can actually help the life of other rubber parts. Apart from this, the compounds suggested in the video are safe because completely inert. They do not corrod or melt anything.
25 years in the broadcasting industry, I've seen it all with tape problems. The manufacturers of the fluids obviously claim no harm can come, but we are talking, in some cases of tapes and machines of 70's and 80's manufacture, where these lubes did not exist. Everybody claimed it wasnt their fault when video heads came unglued in the 80's, and Maxell denied all liability, in the 90's when we discovered it was their oxide that was destroying D3 heads and contaminating other D3 tapes that then all had to be recovered and cloned. In some cases entire programmes were lost. It cost just the BBC about a £1M fixing the problem. I stand by my comment to use the other method. I have hundreds of cassettes and have come across some "sticky" tapes. Taking them out of their shell, cleaning all the oxide away and reinstating the tape is the best method, and the only one I would ever recommend to anyone else. It is fine to try other solutions on your own equipment, at the very least add a disclaimer that people do this at their own risk and that you are not willing to take responsibility for any resulting damage to either tapes, by cinching or coggling, or machinery.
Thanks for your advice. I tried the method of anadialog, it took some time and then ....nothing happened or harmed the tape. Chet Baker still sounds amazing. I tried this on several tapes.... no harm, no soundloss or even damage of the tape. May you have your experience in 25 year of broadcasting. I got tapes since 69, the still work, coz my father used to clean them with fluids that were sold in the 70 to clean heads. Still amazing, no glue, no briddle nothing. Everyone shall make his experience;-)
Cheers, Bryan!!! This is what I was trying to convey in my own comments, but you addressed things with more succinct specificity! Thanks for conveying what I failed to say, lol.
►"no harm, no soundloss or even damage of the tape. " You won't notice problems right away. Give it time. LOTS of time. Let the science do its thing, your tapes (and possibly any decks it transfers these solvents and lubes to) will begin to wane. ;-) I don't have any formal industry experience, just 20 years of my own trial and error and pretty much having tried, seen, and done it all when it comes to tapes and their care/maintenance. I've used tapes to excess levels that have put new meaning to the term "torture tests". I've also done tape splicing, so taking tapes apart and transferring tape into new shells and replacing hubs and the various little parts for various reasons is old hat for me. And handling tapes just with bare fingers - despite all my delicate efforts in handling - still compromised the tape, so I can only imagine what chemical solvents and lubes (whatever their potency) will do.
@@anadialog Another quick question: if i use contact cleaner, do i need to buy a specific one or does any good quality one work fine? Aksing because it’s not easy to get a hold of the 3M lubricant where i live and contact cleaner is easier and cheaper to find
I tried the one in the video, can't say for the rest. What I suggest is to get a silicone based lubricant with NO solvents. And make sure to dry everything up after application. Start from a cassette not to important for you.
@@ttheone3518 You definitely don't wanna use contact cleaner! I used some Liquid Wrench silicone spray, which you should be able to get at Walmart or your local auto parts store. You might also try something like CSC 2-26, which I got at Home Depot. Good luck!
Wow. what you are saying actually makes sense. i have a lot of old cassettes from 70s and 80s and this method might actually work. the key though is patience
I ordered a bunch of preloaded cassettes from the manufacturer. Some of the cassettes had lubrication issues. They literally told me this process, but to use sewing machine oil and nothing else. I've had pretty good luck with that and have only ever waited 48 hours, as that was recommended.
This is an absolute lifesaver! I hope you know that! I've ordered some cassettes off of amazon and have bought some at concerts. When I got my second cassette I thought there was an issue with my cassette player. However, some of my other cassettes play just fine, one even plays perfectly. Thanks for the video!
I am about to embark on archiving a vintage computer data cassette tape to digital. It was made in 1976, so quite old. Do you recommend this process before I even attempt to play the tape?
Thank you for the info. I have a collection of tape cassettes all of them very well taken care of. But there are two or three that I’ve bought second hand have issues in them. I will try the method and I will tell you back the outcome.
Wonderful video! I bought a bunch of old XDR Blue Note tapes that are all having this issue. I too am super nervous about what lubricant to use. The 3M stuff, like others mentioned, is not available in the US. I understand it needs to be "silicon based lubricant with no thinners/diluents/alcohol" the problem is that it is not clear when looking at the descriptions of any of them if that is true or not. I am eyeing WD-40 Specialist Water Resistant Silicone Lubricant at the moment. I'll yolo it I guess. :)
Hi, two questions 1. Are you able to give a 2024 update on a silicone lubricant product that would be work for this process? It appears the 3m product you recommend in this video is no longer available, and i can’t find anywhere selling it online. You mentioned “no solvents”, so would a water based Silicone lubricant (food-grade) work? If not, what product would meet your criteria? 2. Do you recommend using a qtip to dry up the excess immediately after applying the lubricant, or after letting it sit for 2 weeks?
Update: I just posted my question, so understandably haven’t received a response yet, however i decided to try out Super Lube 56104 Silicone Oil 100 cst, which i found on Amazon. I will report back
Oh...another thing is...this technique also helps to regain back the fidelity of the old cassette tape! Silicon lube not just lubricate, but it helps to clean the tape by wiping out the ferrite debris, moulds and etc from the reel. Note that if you're putting too much lube, you're likely ended up soaking the tape with the lube. You can clean the excess lube by rewinding back and forth with clean and dry cotton swab/buds. Also, you will need to clean the cassette housing inside as well. After cleaning the cassette housing, rewinding back and forth again and let it dry for few days and try to play the cassette and observe if the cassette plays well without being stuck. If cassette stuck again, try to lubricate the tape head and it should be played without much issues.
Indeed! Yes, it's very important to absorb the excess of lube. Otherwise you may have a slippery transport and have wow and flutter issues. Just add it, let it absorb and then clean it up!
Came here looking for such a comment.... Because, IIRC, I've had scenarios where opening up the cassette shell and cleaning off the inside walls and applying a lubricant to the sides of the two ribbon spindles that rub against the interior of the shell made a massive difference in my particular cases without applying any lubricant to the ribbon itself.
Hi, great video, very helpful and knowledgeable! I've got quite a few of EMI tapes and XDR Tapes were the lubricant has dried up, mainly some really nice Frank Sinatra tapes that I haven't seen anywhere else. Also happens on tapes produced by Sony in the mid 1990s. Is there an alternative solution that works just as well nowadays, as here in the UK, the 3M silicone lubricant has been discontinued? Many thanks!
I recently purchased a pre-recorded cassette on ebay, and based off what you said in this video, it seems as though it does need lubricating (i tried playing it on my twin deck, in deck 2 the auto stop kept activating towards the beginning of the tape (athough it was fine once i got past that part), and in deck 1, in that same spot it slowed to a crawl a few times) and thinking about it, i have a feeling there may be a few tapes downstairs that need lubricating (i remember i once tried to play one of those, and the auto stop activated before it had got anywhere near the end, that was before i got my twin deck, and the machine i had tried to play that tape on is now completly broken, well, the cassette part of it is broken, it makes a mechanical noise whenever i turn it on, the noise is coming from the cassette mechanism, for whatever reason the tape heads in that machine are now permently in the raised position, the machine broke when i was trying to record to a blank cassette, it breaking had nothing to do with the pre-recorded cassette) So i will now have to try and get hold of the things required to lubricate a cassette tape (i already have a cassette player which i think is suitable, i can definatly put a tape in place with the door open, athough i am not sure if the door will be in the way, athough as the door is already a little bit broken on it, and i have another one which is identical, i am not too fussed about breaking the door off of it if needed) and it seems i may have to experement with different lubricants, as neither of the ones you showed seem to be avalable in the country where i live
That's a nice explanation and good video, thank you! But have a couple questions though... why lubricating all the tape side, if the problem is the transport only? Why not lubricating the side nylon cardboards only? Also: wouldn't the lubricant affect the rubber pinch roller when the tape goes over it while listeing to the tape?
You must asses if its the trasport or if the lubricant has dried out, a common situation. If so. You must lube and take up the exceeding lube with a cue tip as illustrated THEN let it absorb. The binder will absorb it within a few days and no traces will present of tye pinchroller.
I had cassettes from the late 70s', early 80s' that just didn't sound right, picked up a cheap onn. cassette recorder at Walmart, got a can of 3M (08877) wet type silicone and some art swabs (wood q-tips) lubed every cassette tape in my collection and I must say, what a difference...
I got a tape in the mail that I had ordered from eBay. It’s specifically an album from the Motown record label, but it has a similar problem to that Beatles tape. The first song, which is roughly around four and a half minutes long, and the last song play perfectly fine. However, about a minute or so into the second track, things start getting wonky. The second side is even worse because there’s parts where it’s barely moving. My dad and I found out that one of the reels is apparently tighter than the other, which would explain why one side works better than the other. So that’s how I ended up here. Another thing I found interesting is that these were the issues it was having in deck 1 of my Technics RS-TR373 cassette player. In a Sony voice recorder that I own, the tape doesn’t even move. However, in deck 2 of the Technics player, it actually sounded significantly better. It still has its issues, but I found it interesting how the recording deck was able to play it.
Hey im having an exact problem at the moment what do you mean by reels? Like the spools in the tape or the machine itself. A response would be greatly appreciated!
It’s called sticky tape syndrome. Try removing the tape and putting into a newer, modern shell. Rewind and fast forward a few times to loosen it up. That should work. Do not oil your tapes for goodness sake.
Not necessarily John, he did not describe the typical symptoms. If it isn't shedding in a paste on the trasport parts it is not. Lubricating reel to reel tape is a common practice.
ANA[DIA]LOG it’s sticky tape. It doesn’t need to shed in your heads to have this problem. Fucksakes. Sticky tape is caused by the breakdown of the binder, which yes contains a microscopic amount of specialized lubrication. When the binder breaks down (very typical on XDR cassettes and a few others) it creates a problem where the tape sticks to itself. This is because the glue/binder that holds the magnetic layers and lube together starts to deteriorate and fast. The only solution for this is to remove the tape from its crappy shell, put into an oven at no more than 100 degrees Fahrenheit for a few hours and then reassemble in a new shell. This is called baking tapes and it will restore the binder and lube particles for a few more plays. Otherwise your tape is hooped. If you put any OIL/LUBE on the tape you will destroy your deck very quickly and will end up with costly repairs. This comes directly me, a professional broadcast/recording and mixing engineer as well as a repair guy. If you read the comments here you will see many folks just like me saying that this is NOT the correct way to repair tapes and you will see the Anadialog fighting us every step of the way instead of listening to common sense and professional experience. DONT OIL YOUR TAPES FOLKS!
Hi! Very interesting content! I've been reading some of the articles available, I'll still read all the pdfs... But reading the comments here I noticed 2 interesting points: - Those who abhor re-lubrication are thinking exclusively about their tape decks devices: In the useful life of the heads and pressure rollers, basically. * At this point, electronic devices are like human beings, they don't last forever, and just like us, they can go down instantly. This concern is understandable, because in fact, the more you care, the longer the useful life... But I always knew that a head, or a pressure roller wouldn't last forever, just like in a record player, the needle wouldn't last. * But on the other hand... I have my device to use it! And above all, my cassettes to listen to them! I will insanely look for the best ways to store and take care of them! * The point at which lubrication seems to me to be the only reasonable measure in my case, is that all the cassettes I have are from albums, originals, and I won't run the risk of compromising their physical integrity by trying to open them to do anything another thing. - So we come to the second point in question, which is the lubrication itself... Which first of all must be handled very well. But in relation to this, my biggest doubt would be: What would be the best lubricant actually to be used? Thinking and prioritizing the useful life of the tape itself. Can these lubricants actually contain substances that could somehow react negatively with the tape? I intend to gather more information on the subject before testing on my tapes that have this problem, and which unfortunately are already "Almost lost". I was also wondering about the "validity" and durability of this lubrication, these tapes that you lubricated, how are they today? Did you do this process other times during these 3 years?
I thought the issue with cassette tape binding was always with friction against the cassette shell 'sides'? Many cassettes even have special film sleeves between the tape and cassette covers to combat this.
EXACTLY, Tim Kerins! Although, older cassettes may lack these special sleeves, or have paper-like ones that are not much better than sans-sleeves. I always saved any prerecorded/blank tapes that got damaged or ruined beyond any salvageable playback, for the parts to "cannibalize" later for repairing other tapes with any dodgy/missing parts.
Many thanks for the detailed analysis of the issue and the solution. I've got loads of cassettes, the oldest one is from 1968. I've had the issue with 3 cassettes so far, one 80s Fame reissue by EMI, and two cassettes from CBS (1973 and 1984). The first time I used your solution, I think I might have overdone it a little, I saw that I could play the side A for the first time which was a good sign, but the sound on side B was still bad. Can you say how much lubricant I should use each time. On the video, I can't really see it, I just want to be on a safe side and not damage my precious cassettes. So to sum up: I will do it twice rew/fast forward x2 per side and repeat it the next day and than will wait about a month or two? Sorry If I got it wrong, best regards Grzegorz
Add the lube and every once in a while relube the cuetip. Let it seep in for a while. And then just make sure to abaorb all the exceeding lube with a few dry cuetips. After that just wait a few days and it may work. Sometimes, for me at least, it took a month!
I just remembered having done the bang on the table routine after reading it here. I am 87 and my mind does not remember everything. I banged the cassette on the table, and rewound it several times and it sounds great. I also remembered that rewinding is faster and better than fast forwarding. This was on an early pre-recorded Broadway Cast Album. When they transferred them to CD most sounded like crap. What an improvement!!! Tanks CoolDudeClem et al.
Thanks for this video. I have purchased The Debussy Album (2 LPs' worth of music) on cassette tape 3 times thus far and every single copy had bad tape drag, wow and flutter and resultant distortion. I just bought the 3M spray you recommended and am going to give it a try. Fingers crossed . . . If it works, I will digitize the audio and use GoldWave to denoise and remaster it.
I own some WEA cassettes they are Metallica cassettes and they work the best compared to my XDR cassettes my Death Spiritual Healing XDR cassette doesn't want to play without fluttering. Most combat records cassettes are XDR and suck WEA cassettes like Ride The Lightning are the best.
I have used the cassette format on and off since around 1973. The only tapes that ever have given me trouble are the prerecorded ones. I still have old C-60 Concert tape [ old dudes like me know what that is ] that are 50 years old and play almost as good as they did when new, which wasn't very good to start with.
Thanks for the vid, the process most certainly helps! I've tried this with both Walmart branded silicone lube, and WD-40 brand lube as well. Can confirm work just as well for tape hubs. Now I can make all those Type 0 tapes I have a little bit more tolorable.~
Quick question: When I’m waiting for it to dry, what’s the ideal position the tape should be in to make sure that the lube is evenly distributed? I have mine standing upright against a couple of boxes at the moment.
Please do use a dry cue tip to clean and absorb the extra oil...keep it vertical, in that case you are sure that the lube stays on the film...all media actually should always stay in upright position to avoid any kind of warping...
Similar Sqeaking issues can also be caused by the Cassette "Pressure Pad" which can get covered with 'Tape Oxide' from the Back of the Cassette Tape. That part is difficult to clean off as the 'Pad' needs to be smooth for the Tape to run across the Heads. Not sure if you can buy new "Pressure Pads" as they would then have to be Glued into place on the metal spring?. Had lot's of problems with this from old cassette tapes (mostly Blanks) that i was Archiving on to "CD-R" for a friend. Not sure on the Long term issue that this 'Fix' might have on the Tape Heads. Not one for my Nakamichi!.
That’s what I’m thinking - does it not sound intuitively dangerous to spray random lube onto a tape and then run that tape through your high end deck’s transport….what could go wrong ? 🤔🤔
When you dispose of old and / or unwanted tapes ALWAYS keep the pressure pads cos they are very handy for replacements..... Years of fiddling about with cassettes has taught me things like this tho !
In the description you say better if it’s the dry type, but then right below you recommend the 3m wet type in the link. Which one is it? I bought the one you linked to and I’m having very bad luck with it. Any help greatly appreciated, I’m very confused as to what you recommend.
Really interesting. I have found certain TDK D (otherwise excellent tapes) have this squeaking problems. I have hundreds of pre-recorded tapes and have very rarely had this happen. I wonder now if the rare occurrences were with the XDR tapes from Capital.
It took me quite sometime to find out the exact reason of this issue, and finally found a proper answer here, great information ！and it would be perfect to show the playback before and after the lucrative process in
I had the exact problem with a xdr tape. What for sure worked for me was transferring the tape (after cleaning it with alcohol) to a new case with better rollers.
I have a couple Megadeth cassettes (peace sells and So far so good so what) that sound awesome when they work but in some of my decks they have the really bad wow and flutter, even though other cassettes worked great. Good to know WHY it is a problem.
Very, very useful. I wonder if, instead of #M Silicone Lubricant, would CRC 05074 Heavy Duty Silicone Lubricant work or would it be presumably too harsh on the cassette tape? I don't find Kontakt on Amazon here in the US
Firstly I would like to admit that I thought this whole thing was akin to selling snake oil. I was totally gobsmacked especially when I realised that the day that I first viewed the video was 1st April! (True) I was looking for a remedy to squealing tapes as my prized copy of a rare audiobook was stopping and making a racket. I didn't believe a word, but since I tried changing the slip sheets in the cassette and putting the tape in another cassette body I was left with little choice. Waddaya know. It works. Thank you.
Thanks for your honest comment. In tye video description I added a lot of scientific papers that explain tape lube and how re-lubing is a common procedure.
Yeah I tried changing the slip sheets and case myself years ago and it didn't work, with hindsight and powers of deduction I should after trying different players have realised that it must be another reason then, looooooooooool
I came to this video while researching the topic, but interested in open reel tapes, which I gladly saw that you have one behind you! anyway, that’s common on some TDK and Sony tapes I have, I will definitively give a try adjusting one of the decks. Question: on reel tapes sometimes dried out lubricant builds up as a dust powder on transport path. Would you recommend first a clean up with isopropil or anything prior to the new silicon base (to remove the older) or just apply new one directly? Thanks for all the shared knowledge!
Hi there, it is not dry lubricant its the entire binder that is shedding due to hydrolysis. It's part of the SBS, soft binder syndrome. Yes, some say you can use alcohol and immediately remove it or simply you can use the baking technique. In any case the goal is not to restore the tape but only transfer it as best as possible to a new tape or make a digital conversion. The avoid this we should all follow rigorous conservation rules because in the end tape is organic and humidity, as well as heat, sun etc. Severely affects the medium.
Awesome video! If my tape reel has some crinkles in it, is there any way to fix that too? I'm concerned that they'll break after I finish this & test the sound 🥺
Thanks for posting this. It's a problem I've been thinking about for some time. Some tapes, quite modern ones relatively speaking, definitely have transport issues (squeal, deck shutdown) in the tape itself. Re-homing them does no good. I look forward to trying the 3M product.
Wow, that's interesting. Exactly with these very old cassette tapes i had the issue, that there were that dirty, that I had many dropouts. My solution: clean the tape with isopropyl alcohol. Fine, the dropouts were gone, but now I was facing the problem of a squeeky tape. I just started thinking of the sticky tape syndrome. But I didn't find any deposition on the tape mechanism. Now I possibly have the answer. Due to the cleaning process with alcohol I took away the lubrication of the tape. Tank you for this video!
A couple of my cassettes do the same thing,I have tried it on one cassette,in the video you said that it could take up to a week for the process to work,how long should I wait before playing it again,good Video by the way!
@@ZeusTheTornado definitely, it took the strain/stress off the tape by lubricating it. At least for the two cassette's I had issues with, hope this helps.
Does this lubricating the tape get rid of the squeaky wheel sound you hear I am glad I watch this video when you 1st published it because now I need it
Interesting but I have never needed to do this. Most of my 100s of cassettes are 30+ years old and never needed any maintenance...the only ones I have had to ditch are BASF ones from early 80s (particularly the chrome ones) which left my heads covered in brown goo. I just threw them away.
I used Aloe Vera hand cream twice then a dry cue tip on a tape that I didn't care about, it sounds new now, and I didn't have to even wait I tried it straight after, the tracks mainly had slowing issues at random points, completely gone now, I am amazed to be honest, it was just an experiment, oh well it worked, if you think I am joking try it on a junk tape, just don't use loads it could have been a weird fluke but it's worked, wish I'd recorded it.
Been tested on several old tapes where changing its cassette housing still not fixing tape stuck issue and it's really works. Also, make sure to spool the cassette back and forth to realign the tape reel.
Look up some cleaner called Filmguard..it’s not cheap but the bottle will last forever ( smells like kerosene) I have used it also on 8mm video and 60 plus year old reel to reel.. cleans/lubricates/.. won’t harm the tape..also the drill idea works great keeps any extra lube out of your deck…be really careful with drill toward the end of tape.. drill is much stronger than deck motor and will break your tape from reel if not careful 😢
Lubrication is rarely the problem - it's ALIGNMENT of the tape, how it winds onto the hubs. Constant random fast winding and flipping the tape over and back again throws off the alignment and it gets snug inside. Lack of, or absence of, the liners which I call "slip sheets" inside the shell, also casues misalignment of tape onto the hubs - some tapes have "ribbed" or "ridged" liners will help tape wind onto the hubs in good alignment, but they're not perfect. It's always best to allow tapes to play (or wind) all the way from start to finish before flipping the tape over or prompting "reverse playback". To the best of my knowledge, you are not supposed to apply ANY kind of solvent or substance onto the actual tape. The only lubrication I've ever seen is applied to the guide rollers (inside the front corners of the shell) or possibly even a sparse amount on the hubs (where they fasten to the shell's holes, where they do NOT touch the tape), cos if those parts get dry and dodgy and sticky, or even gritty, then that can cause problems with the tape's steady fluid movement. You could also look to see if the deck/players mechanisms and motors are moving with proper lubrication as well. These all require disassembly, of course, so this is "advanced users" kind of stuff, lol. But NEVER put lube on the tape itself. Lube the PARTS of the inner shell and/or the inner mechanisms of the deck... NEVER the actual tape. You'll potentially ruin the tape applying lubes and stuff. That's just my experience. I've been working with tapes for nearly 20 years since I was a teenager, even modifying them and repairing them. I've tried and done it all. The only thing that has remained consistent as a hard and fast rule is to never let anything but the deck heads and the cassette hubs touch the tape.
Yes of course, bu if everything else fails, you should try this. All types of tape have a lubricant and sometimes, like the xdr cassette issue, you must add it back...
►"if everything else fails, you should try this" As a LAST resort. MAYBE. If after all other remedies do not correct the issue, then you're faced with one of two scenarios after doing the "lubricate the tape" thing : it's either going to work, or it won't, and if faced with such a problematic tape anyway, it's not like any potential damage from lube on the tape is going to make things much worse. But I really believe - I may even dare to say I KNOW - one of the many other methods of "all else" will correct any issues before ever having to resort to lubing the tape. That comes from KNOWING tapes. In my case it is ALL firsthand experience. Trial and error, with LOTS of error. Learning the "hard way". I stand by my original comments. NO LUBE or any other solvent is to EVER be applied directly onto the magnetic tape. EVER. Sqeaking, lagging, sticking - there is another explanation that requires another remedy.
I didn't know cassettes had lubricant. 8 track tape had a graphite coated back to work smoothly. Cassettes has slip sheets on each side of the spools. I had many cassettes (especially cheapies) stop turning the takeup reel, and the tapes get eaten. I assumed it was it was winding unevenly and rubbing the sides of the cassette. I just slap the cassette on each side, and it turns again. I don't recall having an issue yet of friction on the heads. But I'll look out for it. Very interesting! I've used cassettes since 1970. Off and on . I have the White Album on cassette. XDR.
This is great! I want to try this on some (junk) reel to reel tapes just to see what happens. I wonder if this could increase the audio head lifespan when transferring/archiving some extremely rough old tapes. I'd have to test carefully with various tape stocks to make sure they don't disintegrate as I have no idea about that. And videotape might be out of the question but it could be worth a try... to see the head drum try to grab and wind up tape @ 200+ ips. But if it worked instead maybe it would be worth further experimenting.
![ANA[DIA]LOG](http://yt3.ggpht.com/K0qr1ndqDdGUyxbMUYesdA0KM3wZ-_upZ4bvQR8Vi_Ie1773eXoIXY2VblfzWYRJnwxd5pVrbXw=s48-c-k-c0x00ffffff-no-rj)
EXTRA INFO (UPDATED!!):
If you get the 3M lubricant get the 08877 WET version (not the dry version).
Considering the fact that, reasonably, a lot of people have doubts about this process, here is some evidence in support of the existence of this issue, the fact that all tapes have lubricant, and of the possibility to use a re-lubricant process for magnetic tape (just remember to use a dry cotton swab to absorb the lubricant that may have not been absorbed after a while).
Here you will find a selection of scientific papers explaining the issue and how it is a standard procedure to relube tape (even NASA does this!). I have underlined a few crucial passages in the papers:
Heritage: www.dropbox.com/s/f8254yfeqrrw9vp/heritage-02-00097-v2.pdf?dl=0
Nasa: www.dropbox.com/s/xxdw1qh8mlbppdu/Nasa.pdf?dl=0
HESS: www.dropbox.com/s/ydrvxg6zipjkrvw/HESS_Tape_Degradation_ARSC_Journal_39-2.pdf?dl=0
Preservation Commission: www.dropbox.com/s/3s3ejmho2jexhgt/pub54.pdf?dl=0
- (here is the official article: www.dropbox.com/s/rtvqt1n537w9vpa/Bogart.pdf?dl=0)
Kondo: www.dropbox.com/s/zi4vv42ggi9vh8u/tribochemistry-of-ionic-liquid-lubricant-on-magnetic-media.pdf?dl=0
Here is an article of a lab that is relubing its cassettes: tasso.cat/re-lubrication-of-compact-cassette-tapes-with-sbs/
This is a page of a famous audio engineer: www.baileyzone.net/analog%20tape%20diy.htm
This is a page of a company that sells its high quality tape lubricant: thelastfactory.com/tape-care-preservation/
Does the Q-tip go in the front or the back of the tape I could not tell from the video. Very good video very informative. I have several cassettes that have squeeling issues.Cheers
Front! Thanks. Make sure to absorb all the exceeding lube.
@@anadialog Got it. Thank you for replying to my question
Your scientific article specifically says the lube is part of the binder process at the nano level. It does not sit on top of the tape itself.
The same article says that IF any lube should be reapplied, it should be done a pro who knows what they are doing - and your method is entirely incorrect. Your basically bathing your tape in oil. The oil has nowhere to go but on the tape path of the deck.
From a professional broadcast/recording engineer and tech - I implore you to stop giving this erroneous information. You are promoting the death of people’s tape decks that will cost hundreds of dollars to fix!!!!!!
@@jonahmcgarva The lube is slowly absorbed by the binder. I also clearly said to clean the tape with more dry cuetips in order to remove all residue. Obviously no one is going to put a dripping tape in their deck. Again, the tape after a while absorbs the lube and it is lubricated just enought to help the trasport. In any case you are wrong also for normal new tape. The lube must also be present on the surface of the tape, of course in minimum amounts, otherwise what is the point to add lube? Do you really think lube is buried below the binder and sits there? No, it has to lubricate the trasport. Try and experiment before blindly criticize people.
IF you want to skip the extensive explanation skip to 5:35 -- Actually 8:58 ---
Holy shit, hey Pete! Didn't expect to see you here! Hope all is well in MOAB
Thankyou so much. He's so talkative!!
Thanks the talks too much and way too slow for me
Thank you so much for this video. With this process I saved a 40 year old BASF HF 120 cassette containing a unique recording. Is seized frequently. And the parts that did play squealed very badly. After transplanting the tape to a Maxell XLII housing, treating it twice with silicone and letting it rest for 48 hours, it now plays well enough to secure a digital copy from it!
Great news! Thanks for sharing you experience Richard!
Did you do it the same was as in the video, and with the same products?
I used a cotton swap soaked with silicone spray. And ran the tape along it, winding it with a BIC ballpoint
@@RichardPflug Which spray did you use?
I think I had a can of the brand Griffon on hand. But I think you can use any brand of regular silicone spray.
Worked amazingly. I used an old Panasonic portable boombox from the thrift shop and removed the door. This video saved so many cassettes from being discarded. Thanks
Thanks for your feedback!
This fixed a new old stock , pre-recorded chrome tape from 1987 I got. It was shedding old lube all over the tapehead (white debri) and as a cause would have massive dropouts suddenly whenever the head got clogged. The tape also squeeked at the end of the sides. I went over the tape with a dry q-tip first and then applied new silicone using your method. (though instead of a deck/personal stereo, I used a cordless screwdriver on slow speed and an old felt pen stuck into it that perfectly fit in the cassettes' hubs. True McGiver technique, lol) Now the issues are completely gone and the tape sounds as good as new!
Some years ago, I've discovered that one of my tapes sounded really worn out. But instead of throwing it in the trash, I've "retired" the tape and only kept it as a collectible item (because the tape is rare). After seeing this video, I gave this method a try with the 3M lubricant. And it works! Not perfect, but still a vast improvement. Thanks for the advise.
Cool! Try to play it in 3 weeks and you will see that it will probably play even better. Thanks for sharing your experience!
Do some research on tape baking as well while you are at it.
I found that you don’t actually need a compact cassette player to do this process. I used the casing of an old pen and attached it to an electric drill - worked just as well.
Smart idea
A pencil will work too. Use the eraser head of the pencil to turn the spoke wheels while the other end is in a drill.
It depends on what you have. A better idea is using a pen to do manually. I have a very dirty tape which need to be cleaned and need to be relubricated. After Cleaning a bit, sounds little better and There are lots of things to do.
I was just thinking that- no auto stop though lol
Here's a man who knows how to use his noggin
So glad I found this, I had an old 8-bit game tape that was making a horrible squeaky noise and wouldn't load. I'd already tried changing the felt but no joy. This method worked perfectly and it was working straight after applying the silicone. Thank you!
Just came across this video help my wasp cassette back to life after 30 plus years. Thanks 👍
Just tried this with several cassettes that kept on slowing, stopping and some that wouldnt play at all. I used non staining silicone lubricant and now all the cassettes play flawlessly. I almost sold my entire collection before I saw this so thanks for the video 👍
Thank you for your feedback!
Can't recommend that because I haven't tested it.
First of all....cassette tapes need from time to time full rewinding few times to tape aligns properly in housing....second....you need to use quality deck or tapes....third...lubrication is poor trick after you may had problem with deck tape path or heads
I opened up a brand new cassette tape from 2001 and played it and well the sound on the tape at first sounded good after about a min or so it started playing in slow motion and then it went back to normal but it did that a couple of times... i dont know if its the tape player thats causing it to do that or the tape , i checked what kind of tape it is and its a type 2 cdt cassette, would lubing the cassette fix it?... , i even tried rewinding it a couple of times to loosen it up.
@@cristianthashoota5841 Lubricant dies, silicone doesn't last forever. Also tapes gather moist throughout the years and start to stick to the heads while playing. Both effects give the same symptoms. Both are treatable, lube can be added, moist removed through "tape baking".
This has worked really well. I managed to revive a few old cassettes of mine. Your right though, it may take a few attempts to get the tape back to nearly new. I was very happy with my results. WD-40 specialist silicone seemed to work well with tapes.
Silicone is a very good electricity insulator and can run havoc in anything using electricity. Be careful when using it.
@@xcvbxcvb2179 Silicon based lubricants are everywhere in the cassete deck's mechanism. It's the only lube available for plastic/pvc parts and plastic-metal joints.
@@corwin.macleod there's teflon spray though.
Are you sure wd40 lube will work? Thanks.
@@corwin.macleod Teflon grease is used a lot with plastic or metal/plastic mechanics. The priority is that it is mineral oil free.
This video caught my eye a few days ago. Today I popped in a well-loved copy of Boz Scaggs Greatest Hits and the tape Stopped! Thank you for the video!
Thank you for this, it worked for me.
I found a Beatles tape that I had been looking for since I was about 7 or 8 years old in a music shop, but it had this problem. I've been wanting a copy of this tape for something like 34 years.
I found your video and after multiple tries to lubricate the tape, I let it sit for a while I think over a week or more and voila it worked.
My inner child Thanks you❤
Thanks for your feedback!
I used a high alcohol hand sanitiser and rather than holding the cotton budds in place I cut them down to size and placed them under where the tape is brought by the pinch roller. Worked a treat on my Jamiroquai emergency on planet Earth cassette
Yes, Tried the process, and it works, 😀 I went for the cheapest winder possible, a Bic Crystal Biro, pen, yeah a bit of effort but worth it, some cassettes need more than one treatment but patience, and persistence pay off, the reward, many previously unplayable tapes now play back great. Thanks, great video.
10:00 is where you wanna watch if you don’t want to hear a whole bunch of yapping. Awesome video and it did work with a cassette I bought! 😊
Thanks so much for the advice! When I first started lubing my cassettes, I did it your way, with a Q-Tip brand cotton swab and a can of Liquid Wrench silicone spray. At some point in your video, I think you asked for other ways to do this, so here's the process I finally "graduated" to: I rewound each tape to the stop, then used a butter knife to gently pry/pull the tape out and away from the little follower pad, ending up with a loop just big enough to put my index finger through (if I'd wanted to). Then I sprayed the silicone lube through the little red applicator straw as gently as I could, trying to get a decent size drop to dangle from the tip. Next, I carefully dropped that drip onto the follower pad, tightened the tape with my finger, and rewound it like you did. Then I repeated the entire process. Some cassettes I lubed this way 4 times, some only twice. Now I'll leave 'em sit a day or two and give 'em a play! As I typed this, I wonder how one of those electronic lubes would've worked? Something like CRC's 2-26?
Thanks for sharing!
Here's the follow-up: The last tape I did with the Q-Tip before switching techniques just seized up and broke. I think I over-lubed it and essentially glued it together. Oops! It would rewind and fast forward alright, but it wouldn't play to save my life. When I tried to pull it out of the shell, it broke. I'd recommend if you use my technique, you only do two drops of lube - one drop, rewind, one drop, rewind. Done.
@@maximusmax4557 Video Please :)
I'm looking to remaster my old cassette recordings and this tip will come in very handy.
This has saved some very special tapes of mine. Indeed, in some cases it takes a few weeks after applying the silicone for the tapes to play properly.
I tried it with my dad's old Pink Floyd casette, and now it sounds really good. Thanks.
What kind of lubricant did you try?
@@ManicksChannel Mink Oil
@@willyb7353oh come on haha
@@ManicksChannel Yeah, it's ridiculous.
@@willyb7353 😑
You can cut the ear stick with scissors for it to sit flush with the tape, and then, you can pretty much rewind it from any player without needing the access to the tape. Btw, this actually works. Right after I lubricated my Pink Floyd Animals tape, it now actually plays pretty decently, there is still some "lag", but like the guy said - it takes a couple of weeks for tape to fully lubricate.
I've always wanted to own the dark side of the moon on cassette! but now I can finally save all my warpy cassettes most especially my xdr duran duran cassette...thank you so much for this my dude!:))
Thanks for this, I have several tapes that I cannot play but do need to rescue valuable data from. This is seriously cool!
I didn’t have any silicone lubricant laying around and didn’t feel like going to the store, so stubborn me just shaved some fine graphite off a pencil with a razor and rolled my cotton swab around in it until it was well coated. Worked like a charm, and no issues to speak of yet regarding the graphite. A plus to this method in my case is the results were instant. I played that sucker immediately, no waiting.
Thanks for the inspiration, love your content.
Great, I just hope it doesn't stick and change the characteristics of the trasport
Can you provide proof of this method?
I tried this with a very stubborn Huey Lewis cassette and it worked great. However, I added way too much, which is normal for me, and it took a while to clean off the excess oil. I left the tape for few weeks and by then it had been absorbed or had evaporated enough that I could play it. It played perfectly! Thanks!
Thanks for your feedback!
I recently got a sealed old stock Beatles Breadbox, and was extremely happy until finding out that the XDR tapes were sticking. I watched this video and was prepared to try it, but I freed them up with multiple FFWD/REW cycles. One tape had to be wound manually with a BIC pen at first, and another was squealing horribly, but they all work now without anything as extreme as adding lubricant. One cassette took about ten FFWD/REW cycles to loosen it enough to play well, but it works great now. I would only resort to lubrication after exhausting all other options.
I agree!!
That's what I do. FF & RW. And, if it's possible, I carefully open the tape shell and replace the sheets. Some seem "inflammed".
My Death Spiritual Healing cassette is an XDR its sticking I need lubrication.
I tried this method for some 1980s/1990s 8-bit computer cassettes whose games weren't loading (they were for an Amstrad CPC464). I'd been given some cassettes and also purchased some recently that simply wouldn't play ball - first one I tried (after binning it!) work first time! Highly recommended.
Perfect! I have some original commodore 64 tapes that are stuck. I didn't trash them because I had read somewhere about the idea of possibly "unsticking" tapes. I was thinking it was a temporary solution, to unstick and then copy them. I didn't realize you could actually restore them back to usable condition! Fantastic!
I wonder if any old oil will work... After all, the coating on type I is FeO2, so if it is an oxidizing oil, who cares...the iron is already oxidized.
I would stick with silicon based dry oil!
Ya, thinking it over, I have seen vegetable oil after a period of several years. It turns into a jelly. I definitely won't be trying it on my precious collectible computer tapes. Better just to buy some decent silicone oil and have it around.
The one you used in the video is silicone based. I keep seeing it spelled and pronounced silicon, and for several years I thought it was an elusive chemical you could only get from specialty places. I also wondered how a crystaline semiconductor could possibly be used as grease...I also always thought of silicone as the stuff in liquid nails and ...well tubes of silicone for sealing bathtubs. So, watching this video I could clearly see you had silicone oil but were calling it silicon, and spelling it silicon. So I just went and looked it up to see what this stuff actually is. It is a silicon based compound attached to an organic structure like a benzene or whatever. Hence the similar name, but they couldn't be more different. At least I finally cleared up that confusion! Thanks for the video!
Probably my pronunciation is wrong. As you probably know I am mainly Italian sonI make some mistakes, sorry about that.
Thanks for the tip. My Led Zep tape was set for the bin. Stuck a pen in my cordless drill and held it in position. Will wait 24 hrs to see if it work out. I applied a little silicone to the pressure pad that had dried out. Fingers crossed. It already feels easier to turn with my fingers.
Nice! Give us some feedback! Good or bad, no problem here!
Although the tape loosens up I had the same issue. I believe the tape may have stretched which is not repairable.
I'd like to add my thanks to the many already here. I have been trying for years to get a working copy of a BBC TV soundtrack on cassette because... nostalgia... but every copy I got was stuck solid and unplayable. What I didn't realise is that the BBC used EMI for some of their cassettes. The tone at the start which you mentioned was the link that got me looking closely at the inlay where sure enough it said "Distributed by EMI".
It took three applications of WD40 Silicone Lubricant (now called WD-40 Specialist Silicone Lubricant) with around a week between applications to get it playable. It's not 100% yet, but progress is being made and I am confident I can keep repeating the process to get it right. Thank you for the method and motivation 😀
Please do not ever do this. Lubricant can contaminate the pinch rollers and heads of your machine. Some chemicals can dissolve the glues used in tape heads, and can cause rubber compounds to fall apart. Slippery capstans and pinch rollers will cause speed instability. Slippery tape can coggle and cinch, which is not good. The tape needs to bind for consistent back tension. Chemicals could cause the tape to delaminate, leaving oxide on everything. Maxell oxide shedding caused much damage in the '90's to video machinery, and cross contaminated other tapes.
The squeaking and jamming is caused by uneven winding, and by oxide shedding. Yes you can use a q-tip (carefully) in the manner shown, but do it dry. Best is to take the shell apart and clean the oxide out. Also clean out guide rollers within the shell. Also clean the sheet film in the shell.
Please do not use any lube though or you may find you cause irreparable damage to your machine.
As explained in the video this is not an idea I just came out with. I trust lucky of tapeheads and I can assure you that tape does have and need sone lube. Especially the XDR tapes. Using the method I described gives a very low amount of lube and, as stated, you need to give time to the tape to absorb the lube. After that you can use a dry tip for absorbing the exeeding amount. Lube can actually help the life of other rubber parts.
Apart from this, the compounds suggested in the video are safe because completely inert. They do not corrod or melt anything.
25 years in the broadcasting industry, I've seen it all with tape problems. The manufacturers of the fluids obviously claim no harm can come, but we are talking, in some cases of tapes and machines of 70's and 80's manufacture, where these lubes did not exist. Everybody claimed it wasnt their fault when video heads came unglued in the 80's, and Maxell denied all liability, in the 90's when we discovered it was their oxide that was destroying D3 heads and contaminating other D3 tapes that then all had to be recovered and cloned. In some cases entire programmes were lost. It cost just the BBC about a £1M fixing the problem.
I stand by my comment to use the other method. I have hundreds of cassettes and have come across some "sticky" tapes. Taking them out of their shell, cleaning all the oxide away and reinstating the tape is the best method, and the only one I would ever recommend to anyone else.
It is fine to try other solutions on your own equipment, at the very least add a disclaimer that people do this at their own risk and that you are not willing to take responsibility for any resulting damage to either tapes, by cinching or coggling, or machinery.
Thanks for your advice. I tried the method of anadialog, it took some time and then ....nothing happened or harmed the tape. Chet Baker still sounds amazing. I tried this on several tapes.... no harm, no soundloss or even damage of the tape. May you have your experience in 25 year of broadcasting. I got tapes since 69, the still work, coz my father used to clean them with fluids that were sold in the 70 to clean heads. Still amazing, no glue, no briddle nothing. Everyone shall make his experience;-)
Cheers, Bryan!!! This is what I was trying to convey in my own comments, but you addressed things with more succinct specificity! Thanks for conveying what I failed to say, lol.
►"no harm, no soundloss or even damage of the tape. "
You won't notice problems right away. Give it time. LOTS of time. Let the science do its thing, your tapes (and possibly any decks it transfers these solvents and lubes to) will begin to wane. ;-)
I don't have any formal industry experience, just 20 years of my own trial and error and pretty much having tried, seen, and done it all when it comes to tapes and their care/maintenance. I've used tapes to excess levels that have put new meaning to the term "torture tests". I've also done tape splicing, so taking tapes apart and transferring tape into new shells and replacing hubs and the various little parts for various reasons is old hat for me. And handling tapes just with bare fingers - despite all my delicate efforts in handling - still compromised the tape, so I can only imagine what chemical solvents and lubes (whatever their potency) will do.
Thanks for all your investigative work on this method; it works great and its time well spent !!!
I found this lubrication problem on most EMI tapes from the 80s, made in the netherlands, thanks for the advice!
You are very welcome!
@@anadialog
Another quick question: if i use contact cleaner, do i need to buy a specific one or does any good quality one work fine? Aksing because it’s not easy to get a hold of the 3M lubricant where i live and contact cleaner is easier and cheaper to find
I tried the one in the video, can't say for the rest. What I suggest is to get a silicone based lubricant with NO solvents. And make sure to dry everything up after application. Start from a cassette not to important for you.
@@ttheone3518 You definitely don't wanna use contact cleaner! I used some Liquid Wrench silicone spray, which you should be able to get at Walmart or your local auto parts store. You might also try something like CSC 2-26, which I got at Home Depot. Good luck!
Thank you for interested video I wonder if this process of lubrication should be done on side that touch head or opposite side thx
It all gets in contact when rewinding. The important is to absorb the exceeding lube.
Wow. what you are saying actually makes sense. i have a lot of old cassettes from 70s and 80s and this method might actually work. the key though is patience
I ordered a bunch of preloaded cassettes from the manufacturer. Some of the cassettes had lubrication issues. They literally told me this process, but to use sewing machine oil and nothing else. I've had pretty good luck with that and have only ever waited 48 hours, as that was recommended.
This is an absolute lifesaver! I hope you know that! I've ordered some cassettes off of amazon and have bought some at concerts. When I got my second cassette I thought there was an issue with my cassette player. However, some of my other cassettes play just fine, one even plays perfectly. Thanks for the video!
I am about to embark on archiving a vintage computer data cassette tape to digital. It was made in 1976, so quite old. Do you recommend this process before I even attempt to play the tape?
If it plays smoothly, no, no need to
@@anadialog thanks for the advice. great video!
Hi from England! As a hifi enthusiast and record collector I really enjoy you’re videos! Keep up the good work!
Thanks for sharing your experience. Could you recommend any other brand other than those? I'm struggling to find em
I can only suggest to look for silicon-based lubricant WITHOUT solvents
very important video. a real game changer. thanks for the great info.
The answer to my prayers right here! Thank you doctor
Thank you for the info. I have a collection of tape cassettes all of them very well taken care of. But there are two or three that I’ve bought second hand have issues in them. I will try the method and I will tell you back the outcome.
Great! Give us some feedback!
Did it work bro?
Did it worked?
Wonderful video! I bought a bunch of old XDR Blue Note tapes that are all having this issue. I too am super nervous about what lubricant to use. The 3M stuff, like others mentioned, is not available in the US. I understand it needs to be "silicon based lubricant with no thinners/diluents/alcohol" the problem is that it is not clear when looking at the descriptions of any of them if that is true or not. I am eyeing WD-40 Specialist Water Resistant Silicone Lubricant at the moment. I'll yolo it I guess. :)
An update. I chickened out and did not yolo it.
Hi, two questions
1. Are you able to give a 2024 update on a silicone lubricant product that would be work for this process? It appears the 3m product you recommend in this video is no longer available, and i can’t find anywhere selling it online. You mentioned “no solvents”, so would a water based
Silicone lubricant (food-grade) work? If not, what product would meet your criteria?
2. Do you recommend using a qtip to dry up the excess immediately after applying the lubricant, or after letting it sit for 2 weeks?
Update: I just posted my question, so understandably haven’t received a response yet, however i decided to try out Super Lube 56104 Silicone Oil 100 cst, which i found on Amazon. I will report back
1. Yes a silicon based live with NO solvents will do.
2. Yes, I would use the qtip at both stages
@@buddharoach3656any reports?
@@buddharoach3656 Did it work?
@@buddharoach3656 well did the Super Lube work?
Hi, love your channel. Hope the hi-end tape deck vid is coming! Does lubricant on the tape stop the grip between capstan and pinch roller?
It may. Just make sure to absorb the exceeding lube. Then you won't have any problems. Sure, the vid is on the to do list!
Tried it …. It worked for me saving some classics ❤
Oh...another thing is...this technique also helps to regain back the fidelity of the old cassette tape! Silicon lube not just lubricate, but it helps to clean the tape by wiping out the ferrite debris, moulds and etc from the reel.
Note that if you're putting too much lube, you're likely ended up soaking the tape with the lube. You can clean the excess lube by rewinding back and forth with clean and dry cotton swab/buds. Also, you will need to clean the cassette housing inside as well. After cleaning the cassette housing, rewinding back and forth again and let it dry for few days and try to play the cassette and observe if the cassette plays well without being stuck. If cassette stuck again, try to lubricate the tape head and it should be played without much issues.
Indeed! Yes, it's very important to absorb the excess of lube. Otherwise you may have a slippery transport and have wow and flutter issues. Just add it, let it absorb and then clean it up!
The only thing about cleaning the cassette housing is that sometimes there are no screws at all to get into the cassette!
Came here looking for such a comment.... Because, IIRC, I've had scenarios where opening up the cassette shell and cleaning off the inside walls and applying a lubricant to the sides of the two ribbon spindles that rub against the interior of the shell made a massive difference in my particular cases without applying any lubricant to the ribbon itself.
Nice! I wonder if PTFE/teflon spray would also work?
I would be very careful with silicone as it is an insulator and can cause head problems if you get too messy. Cool video
If you aren't confident to use chemicals, you probably shouldn't be playing with electronics either..
Hi, great video, very helpful and knowledgeable! I've got quite a few of EMI tapes and XDR Tapes were the lubricant has dried up, mainly some really nice Frank Sinatra tapes that I haven't seen anywhere else. Also happens on tapes produced by Sony in the mid 1990s. Is there an alternative solution that works just as well nowadays, as here in the UK, the 3M silicone lubricant has been discontinued?
Many thanks!
Thanks! Well, I guess any silicon based lubricant WITHOUTsolvents
I recently purchased a pre-recorded cassette on ebay, and based off what you said in this video, it seems as though it does need lubricating (i tried playing it on my twin deck, in deck 2 the auto stop kept activating towards the beginning of the tape (athough it was fine once i got past that part), and in deck 1, in that same spot it slowed to a crawl a few times)
and thinking about it, i have a feeling there may be a few tapes downstairs that need lubricating (i remember i once tried to play one of those, and the auto stop activated before it had got anywhere near the end, that was before i got my twin deck, and the machine i had tried to play that tape on is now completly broken, well, the cassette part of it is broken, it makes a mechanical noise whenever i turn it on, the noise is coming from the cassette mechanism, for whatever reason the tape heads in that machine are now permently in the raised position, the machine broke when i was trying to record to a blank cassette, it breaking had nothing to do with the pre-recorded cassette)
So i will now have to try and get hold of the things required to lubricate a cassette tape (i already have a cassette player which i think is suitable, i can definatly put a tape in place with the door open, athough i am not sure if the door will be in the way, athough as the door is already a little bit broken on it, and i have another one which is identical, i am not too fussed about breaking the door off of it if needed)
and it seems i may have to experement with different lubricants, as neither of the ones you showed seem to be avalable in the country where i live
Great let us know how it turns out! Try looking for a silicon based lubricant with NO solvents, thinners, alcohol etc.
That's a nice explanation and good video, thank you! But have a couple questions though... why lubricating all the tape side, if the problem is the transport only? Why not lubricating the side nylon cardboards only?
Also: wouldn't the lubricant affect the rubber pinch roller when the tape goes over it while listeing to the tape?
You must asses if its the trasport or if the lubricant has dried out, a common situation. If so. You must lube and take up the exceeding lube with a cue tip as illustrated THEN let it absorb. The binder will absorb it within a few days and no traces will present of tye pinchroller.
I had cassettes from the late 70s', early 80s' that just didn't sound right, picked up a cheap onn. cassette recorder at Walmart, got a can of 3M (08877) wet type silicone and some art swabs (wood q-tips) lubed every cassette tape in my collection and I must say, what a difference...
Thanks for your feedback!
Have you tried baking the tape after lubricating to speed the absorption??
🤣🤣🤣🤣
I got a tape in the mail that I had ordered from eBay. It’s specifically an album from the Motown record label, but it has a similar problem to that Beatles tape. The first song, which is roughly around four and a half minutes long, and the last song play perfectly fine. However, about a minute or so into the second track, things start getting wonky. The second side is even worse because there’s parts where it’s barely moving. My dad and I found out that one of the reels is apparently tighter than the other, which would explain why one side works better than the other. So that’s how I ended up here.
Another thing I found interesting is that these were the issues it was having in deck 1 of my Technics RS-TR373 cassette player. In a Sony voice recorder that I own, the tape doesn’t even move. However, in deck 2 of the Technics player, it actually sounded significantly better. It still has its issues, but I found it interesting how the recording deck was able to play it.
Hey im having an exact problem at the moment what do you mean by reels? Like the spools in the tape or the machine itself. A response would be greatly appreciated!
He means the reels/spools of tape...its always the game problem, just lubricate as indicated in the video!
It’s called sticky tape syndrome. Try removing the tape and putting into a newer, modern shell. Rewind and fast forward a few times to loosen it up.
That should work. Do not oil your tapes for goodness sake.
Not necessarily John, he did not describe the typical symptoms. If it isn't shedding in a paste on the trasport parts it is not. Lubricating reel to reel tape is a common practice.
ANA[DIA]LOG it’s sticky tape. It doesn’t need to shed in your heads to have this problem. Fucksakes.
Sticky tape is caused by the breakdown of the binder, which yes contains a microscopic amount of specialized lubrication. When the binder breaks down (very typical on XDR cassettes and a few others) it creates a problem where the tape sticks to itself. This is because the glue/binder that holds the magnetic layers and lube together starts to deteriorate and fast.
The only solution for this is to remove the tape from its crappy shell, put into an oven at no more than 100 degrees Fahrenheit for a few hours and then reassemble in a new shell.
This is called baking tapes and it will restore the binder and lube particles for a few more plays.
Otherwise your tape is hooped. If you put any OIL/LUBE on the tape you will destroy your deck very quickly and will end up with costly repairs.
This comes directly me, a professional broadcast/recording and mixing engineer as well as a repair guy.
If you read the comments here you will see many folks just like me saying that this is NOT the correct way to repair tapes and you will see the Anadialog fighting us every step of the way instead of listening to common sense and professional experience.
DONT OIL YOUR TAPES FOLKS!
Hi! Very interesting content!
I've been reading some of the articles available, I'll still read all the pdfs...
But reading the comments here I noticed 2 interesting points:
- Those who abhor re-lubrication are thinking exclusively about their tape decks devices: In the useful life of the heads and pressure rollers, basically.
* At this point, electronic devices are like human beings, they don't last forever, and just like us, they can go down instantly. This concern is understandable, because in fact, the more you care, the longer the useful life... But I always knew that a head, or a pressure roller wouldn't last forever, just like in a record player, the needle wouldn't last.
* But on the other hand... I have my device to use it! And above all, my cassettes to listen to them!
I will insanely look for the best ways to store and take care of them!
* The point at which lubrication seems to me to be the only reasonable measure in my case, is that all the cassettes I have are from albums, originals, and I won't run the risk of compromising their physical integrity by trying to open them to do anything another thing.
- So we come to the second point in question, which is the lubrication itself... Which first of all must be handled very well. But in relation to this, my biggest doubt would be: What would be the best lubricant actually to be used? Thinking and prioritizing the useful life of the tape itself.
Can these lubricants actually contain substances that could somehow react negatively with the tape?
I intend to gather more information on the subject before testing on my tapes that have this problem, and which unfortunately are already "Almost lost".
I was also wondering about the "validity" and durability of this lubrication, these tapes that you lubricated, how are they today? Did you do this process other times during these 3 years?
Thanks for your interesting analysis! No, I did not need to relubricate. Who knows in 20 years!
I thought the issue with cassette tape binding was always with friction against the cassette shell 'sides'? Many cassettes even have special film sleeves between the tape and cassette covers to combat this.
In some cases it is probably part if the equation, especially when they are winded irregurarly
EXACTLY, Tim Kerins!
Although, older cassettes may lack these special sleeves, or have paper-like ones that are not much better than sans-sleeves.
I always saved any prerecorded/blank tapes that got damaged or ruined beyond any salvageable playback, for the parts to "cannibalize" later for repairing other tapes with any dodgy/missing parts.
Won't silicone end up on the tape deck head?
If you don't absorb the exceeding lube and let it rest, yes, it could
Many thanks for the detailed analysis of the issue and the solution. I've got loads of cassettes, the oldest one is from 1968. I've had the issue with 3 cassettes so far, one 80s Fame reissue by EMI, and two cassettes from CBS (1973 and 1984).
The first time I used your solution, I think I might have overdone it a little, I saw that I could play the side A for the first time which was a good sign, but the sound on side B was still bad.
Can you say how much lubricant I should use each time. On the video, I can't really see it, I just want to be on a safe side and not damage my precious cassettes.
So to sum up: I will do it twice rew/fast forward x2 per side and repeat it the next day and than will wait about a month or two?
Sorry If I got it wrong, best regards Grzegorz
Add the lube and every once in a while relube the cuetip. Let it seep in for a while. And then just make sure to abaorb all the exceeding lube with a few dry cuetips. After that just wait a few days and it may work. Sometimes, for me at least, it took a month!
Anadialog, what if we can't find a player like the one you have? Can we use a cassette tape cleaner bought on Amazon? Thanks
Yes, absolutely! 👍🏻
The "cassette tape cleaners" I'm seeing on Amazon are for cleaning your deck's heads, not for cleaning cassette tapes.
Banging the cassette on a table was also a good effective method of freeing up a jammed tape!
Very true! Better on your palm though...;-)
Wow, I tried that and it actually worked! Thanks!
Thank you for sharing your experience!
I just remembered having done the bang on the table routine after reading it here. I am 87 and my mind does not remember everything. I banged the cassette on the table, and rewound it several times and it sounds great. I also remembered that rewinding is faster and better than fast forwarding. This was on an early pre-recorded Broadway Cast Album. When they transferred them to CD most sounded like crap. What an improvement!!! Tanks CoolDudeClem et al.
Dude this worked!
I can't tell you how much I've learned from you. Thank you thanknyou thank you!
I knew you would be a Police fan ;)
Yes!!!!
Thanks for this video. I have purchased The Debussy Album (2 LPs' worth of music) on cassette tape 3 times thus far and every single copy had bad tape drag, wow and flutter and resultant distortion. I just bought the 3M spray you recommended and am going to give it a try. Fingers crossed . . . If it works, I will digitize the audio and use GoldWave to denoise and remaster it.
And did it work?
Did it work?
@@joyoussound YES. TWO METHODS COMPARED HERE: ruclips.net/video/GuNsnV2YDiI/видео.html
I've found Warner Bros. (WEA) made the best sounding tapes that have lasted the longest over time with good sound.
margaretsville I will go one further: anything made by A&M on Basf Chrome sounds amazing - despite the squeeky hubs. Lol.
I have a bunch of Warner Brothers oldies cassettes from Korea, and the sound is of near CD quality.
Yeah, I've noticed warner bros sound pretty good. But Sony/Columbia sound way better.
I own some WEA cassettes they are Metallica cassettes and they work the best compared to my XDR cassettes my Death Spiritual Healing XDR cassette doesn't want to play without fluttering. Most combat records cassettes are XDR and suck WEA cassettes like Ride The Lightning are the best.
I tried your method on several stuck tapes and waited a couple of months. They all work now. Thank you for the information.
Thank you Domenic for your testimony!!
I have used the cassette format on and off since around 1973. The only tapes that ever have given me trouble are the prerecorded ones. I still have old C-60 Concert tape [ old dudes like me know what that is ] that are 50 years old and play almost as good as they did when new, which wasn't very good to start with.
Sadly true! Quality does matter.
Thanks for the vid, the process most certainly helps! I've tried this with both Walmart branded silicone lube, and WD-40 brand lube as well. Can confirm work just as well for tape hubs. Now I can make all those Type 0 tapes I have a little bit more tolorable.~
XDR = Xtra DRy
🤣
@@anadialog nearly most of my XDR cassette manufactured by EMI UK and US has this dry problem, so looks like I am not the only one with issue right？
@@ayusyz sadly it is a common problem...
deaddddXD
A question. What does relubricating do? Does it help the tape rotate in the shell or is it helping the tape pass over the head?
The former!
Quick question:
When I’m waiting for it to dry, what’s the ideal position the tape should be in to make sure that the lube is evenly distributed? I have mine standing upright against a couple of boxes at the moment.
Please do use a dry cue tip to clean and absorb the extra oil...keep it vertical, in that case you are sure that the lube stays on the film...all media actually should always stay in upright position to avoid any kind of warping...
ana[dia]log - Alright, I just wanted to make sure that I was doing it right. Thanks.
What about using the silicone lube on the heads instead of the tape?will that work? Thank you
No! Don't!
Does any kind of lubricant work, say like WD-40?
i have WD-40 too, have you try out ? Does it works?
@@jellyfish7327 nope, my cassette deck was detective. I haven't fixed it yet.
Similar Sqeaking issues can also be caused by the Cassette "Pressure Pad" which can get covered with 'Tape Oxide' from the Back of the Cassette Tape. That part is difficult to clean off as the 'Pad' needs to be smooth for the Tape to run across the Heads. Not sure if you can buy new "Pressure Pads" as they would then have to be Glued into place on the metal spring?. Had lot's of problems with this from old cassette tapes (mostly Blanks) that i was Archiving on to "CD-R" for a friend. Not sure on the Long term issue that this 'Fix' might have on the Tape Heads. Not one for my Nakamichi!.
You can indeed buy new pads, but I don't know how you'd remove the old ones without wrecking the little metal platform they're attached to.
That’s what I’m thinking - does it not sound intuitively dangerous to spray random lube onto a tape and then run that tape through your high end deck’s transport….what could go wrong ? 🤔🤔
When you dispose of old and / or unwanted tapes ALWAYS keep the pressure pads cos they are very handy for replacements.....
Years of fiddling about with cassettes has taught me things like this tho !
In the description you say better if it’s the dry type, but then right below you recommend the 3m wet type in the link. Which one is it? I bought the one you linked to and I’m having very bad luck with it. Any help greatly appreciated, I’m very confused as to what you recommend.
Sorry, get the wet type. The dry one has diluent.
I corrected the description. Thanks and sorry again.
Really interesting. I have found certain TDK D (otherwise excellent tapes) have this squeaking problems. I have hundreds of pre-recorded tapes and have very rarely had this happen. I wonder now if the rare occurrences were with the XDR tapes from Capital.
I’m having a hard time find that lubricant. Granted this video is 5 years old. Anyone have a link on where to buy some? Trying to salvage two tapes
If you can’t find it, just try a silicon based lubricant WITHOUT solvents/thinner etc.
It took me quite sometime to find out the exact reason of this issue, and finally found a proper answer here, great information ！and it would be perfect to show the playback before and after the lucrative process in
Chen Frank it’s wrong information. Period. You can and will harm your deck.
I had the exact problem with a xdr tape. What for sure worked for me was transferring the tape (after cleaning it with alcohol) to a new case with better rollers.
I have a couple Megadeth cassettes (peace sells and So far so good so what) that sound awesome when they work but in some of my decks they have the really bad wow and flutter, even though other cassettes worked great. Good to know WHY it is a problem.
Very, very useful. I wonder if, instead of #M Silicone Lubricant, would CRC 05074 Heavy Duty Silicone Lubricant work or would it be presumably too harsh on the cassette tape? I don't find Kontakt on Amazon here in the US
Firstly I would like to admit that I thought this whole thing was akin to selling snake oil. I was totally gobsmacked especially when I realised that the day that I first viewed the video was 1st April! (True)
I was looking for a remedy to squealing tapes as my prized copy of a rare audiobook was stopping and making a racket.
I didn't believe a word, but since I tried changing the slip sheets in the cassette and putting the tape in another cassette body I was left with little choice.
Waddaya know. It works.
Thank you.
Thanks for your honest comment. In tye video description I added a lot of scientific papers that explain tape lube and how re-lubing is a common procedure.
Yeah I tried changing the slip sheets and case myself years ago and it didn't work, with hindsight and powers of deduction I should after trying different players have realised that it must be another reason then, looooooooooool
I came to this video while researching the topic, but interested in open reel tapes, which I gladly saw that you have one behind you! anyway, that’s common on some TDK and Sony tapes I have, I will definitively give a try adjusting one of the decks. Question: on reel tapes sometimes dried out lubricant builds up as a dust powder on transport path. Would you recommend first a clean up with isopropil or anything prior to the new silicon base (to remove the older) or just apply new one directly? Thanks for all the shared knowledge!
Hi there, it is not dry lubricant its the entire binder that is shedding due to hydrolysis. It's part of the SBS, soft binder syndrome. Yes, some say you can use alcohol and immediately remove it or simply you can use the baking technique. In any case the goal is not to restore the tape but only transfer it as best as possible to a new tape or make a digital conversion. The avoid this we should all follow rigorous conservation rules because in the end tape is organic and humidity, as well as heat, sun etc. Severely affects the medium.
Awesome video! If my tape reel has some crinkles in it, is there any way to fix that too? I'm concerned that they'll break after I finish this & test the sound 🥺
Haven't fix that one yet!
Thanks for posting this. It's a problem I've been thinking about for some time. Some tapes, quite modern ones relatively speaking, definitely have transport issues (squeal, deck shutdown) in the tape itself. Re-homing them does no good. I look forward to trying the 3M product.
Great! Keep us updated on how it goes!
I have a question? How long should you rewind and or fast forward? Should you go the length of the whole tape?
Yes, at least one time back and forth.
Wow, that's interesting. Exactly with these very old cassette tapes i had the issue, that there were that dirty, that I had many dropouts. My solution: clean the tape with isopropyl alcohol. Fine, the dropouts were gone, but now I was facing the problem of a squeeky tape. I just started thinking of the sticky tape syndrome. But I didn't find any deposition on the tape mechanism. Now I possibly have the answer. Due to the cleaning process with alcohol I took away the lubrication of the tape. Tank you for this video!
Did you try lubricating your tapes? What did you use, how did it work out? Thanks!
A couple of my cassettes do the same thing,I have tried it on one cassette,in the video you said that it could take up to a week for the process to work,how long should I wait before playing it again,good Video by the way!
Someone tries immediately but some lube may still be around, at least a couple of days…
Too many words but clearly spoken.
I would imagine this treatment also applies to standard vhs movie tapes as well?
Never tried it but VHS tape has a different composition from audio tape so I wouldn’t risk it
Perfect timing, I thought my cassette was done, I'll have top give this a try.
Good! Tell us if it works...remember, for me the magic happened WEEKS later!!
@@anadialog I report back next week, to see if there is a noticeable difference.
Did you see any difference?
@@ZeusTheTornado definitely, it took the strain/stress off the tape by lubricating it. At least for the two cassette's I had issues with, hope this helps.
Great to hear, I'll try this with a squeaking 1970 cassette and one from 1972 that doesn't want to work properly.
Does this lubricating the tape get rid of the squeaky wheel sound you hear I am glad I watch this video when you 1st published it because now I need it
Great! Give us some feedback!
Interesting but I have never needed to do this. Most of my 100s of cassettes are 30+ years old and never needed any maintenance...the only ones I have had to ditch are BASF ones from early 80s (particularly the chrome ones) which left my heads covered in brown goo. I just threw them away.
Lucky you!
Could this be applied to VHS tapes as well?
Never tried!
I used Aloe Vera hand cream twice then a dry cue tip on a tape that I didn't care about, it sounds new now, and I didn't have to even wait I tried it straight after, the tracks mainly had slowing issues at random points, completely gone now, I am amazed to be honest, it was just an experiment, oh well it worked, if you think I am joking try it on a junk tape, just don't use loads it could have been a weird fluke but it's worked, wish I'd recorded it.
Thank you so much for saving some of my tapes with this video!!
Can this process make some tapes speed up while playing? ... wondering 🤔
No, because the mechanism sets the correct speed. It can only go slower if there is resistance due as in this case the lack of lube
Been tested on several old tapes where changing its cassette housing still not fixing tape stuck issue and it's really works.
Also, make sure to spool the cassette back and forth to realign the tape reel.
Great!
Look up some cleaner called Filmguard..it’s not cheap but the bottle will last forever ( smells like kerosene) I have used it also on 8mm video and 60 plus year old reel to reel.. cleans/lubricates/.. won’t harm the tape..also the drill idea works great keeps any extra lube out of your deck…be really careful with drill toward the end of tape.. drill is much stronger than deck motor and will break your tape from reel if not careful 😢
Lubrication is rarely the problem - it's ALIGNMENT of the tape, how it winds onto the hubs. Constant random fast winding and flipping the tape over and back again throws off the alignment and it gets snug inside. Lack of, or absence of, the liners which I call "slip sheets" inside the shell, also casues misalignment of tape onto the hubs - some tapes have "ribbed" or "ridged" liners will help tape wind onto the hubs in good alignment, but they're not perfect. It's always best to allow tapes to play (or wind) all the way from start to finish before flipping the tape over or prompting "reverse playback".
To the best of my knowledge, you are not supposed to apply ANY kind of solvent or substance onto the actual tape.
The only lubrication I've ever seen is applied to the guide rollers (inside the front corners of the shell) or possibly even a sparse amount on the hubs (where they fasten to the shell's holes, where they do NOT touch the tape), cos if those parts get dry and dodgy and sticky, or even gritty, then that can cause problems with the tape's steady fluid movement. You could also look to see if the deck/players mechanisms and motors are moving with proper lubrication as well. These all require disassembly, of course, so this is "advanced users" kind of stuff, lol.
But NEVER put lube on the tape itself. Lube the PARTS of the inner shell and/or the inner mechanisms of the deck... NEVER the actual tape. You'll potentially ruin the tape applying lubes and stuff.
That's just my experience. I've been working with tapes for nearly 20 years since I was a teenager, even modifying them and repairing them. I've tried and done it all. The only thing that has remained consistent as a hard and fast rule is to never let anything but the deck heads and the cassette hubs touch the tape.
Yes of course, bu if everything else fails, you should try this. All types of tape have a lubricant and sometimes, like the xdr cassette issue, you must add it back...
►"if everything else fails, you should try this"
As a LAST resort. MAYBE.
If after all other remedies do not correct the issue, then you're faced with one of two scenarios after doing the "lubricate the tape" thing : it's either going to work, or it won't, and if faced with such a problematic tape anyway, it's not like any potential damage from lube on the tape is going to make things much worse.
But I really believe - I may even dare to say I KNOW - one of the many other methods of "all else" will correct any issues before ever having to resort to lubing the tape.
That comes from KNOWING tapes. In my case it is ALL firsthand experience. Trial and error, with LOTS of error. Learning the "hard way".
I stand by my original comments. NO LUBE or any other solvent is to EVER be applied directly onto the magnetic tape. EVER.
Sqeaking, lagging, sticking - there is another explanation that requires another remedy.
You have all the BEST unheard of solutions for me.Thanks! I'ma try this. 🧐♻
I didn't know cassettes had lubricant. 8 track tape had a graphite coated back to work smoothly. Cassettes has slip sheets on each side of the spools.
I had many cassettes (especially cheapies) stop turning the takeup reel, and the tapes get eaten. I assumed it was it was winding unevenly and rubbing the sides of the cassette. I just slap the cassette on each side, and it turns again.
I don't recall having an issue yet of friction on the heads. But I'll look out for it. Very interesting!
I've used cassettes since 1970. Off and on .
I have the White Album on cassette. XDR.
This is great! I want to try this on some (junk) reel to reel tapes just to see what happens. I wonder if this could increase the audio head lifespan when transferring/archiving some extremely rough old tapes. I'd have to test carefully with various tape stocks to make sure they don't disintegrate as I have no idea about that. And videotape might be out of the question but it could be worth a try... to see the head drum try to grab and wind up tape @ 200+ ips. But if it worked instead maybe it would be worth further experimenting.
Keep us updated. Please.