cleaning QIC?

From: r. 'bear' stricklin <red_at_bears.org>
Date: Mon Jan 1 18:00:20 2001

I need to repair a partially torn tape, and remove some sticky gunk from
the media itself. Hopefully I'll be able to do this in a way that will
allow me to read the tape one last time to get an image of the data.

This particular tape got gooed up in a tape drive which had a decayed
capstan. It didn't get gooed up too badly, but it looks like it was enough
to cause a headache.

I was able to clean the goo off the cassette mechanics by using a nr. 7
X-Acto blade dipped in alcohol. All went well with that.

When I tried to read the tape to make an image, it progressed to a certain
point on the tape and gave up. Examining the tape revealed the following
defects:

        * traces of capstan goo
        * a small, ca. 1/16" tear in the tape

I'm assuming I can use some splicing tape on the tear, but what can I use
to clean the goo off the tape? Alcohol worked well on the cassette, but
I've heard that it can cause the oxide to separate from the substrate if
used on the tape itself.

Any suggestions or speculations on my chances of succeeding would be
appreciated. I'm in a bit of a bind.

ok
r.
Received on Mon Jan 01 2001 - 18:00:20 GMT