DC-600/300XL tape cart observation

[Chuck Guzis]

On 25 Apr 2007 at 14:00, Christian Corti wrote:

> I know, but I think that Scotch was the low-cost brand of the 3M company.
> BTW the original IBM data cartridges for the IBM 51x0 have been produced 
> by 3M, too. You can see the small 3M logo embossed into the metal plate. 
> These "IBM" cartidges are all fine, too (except for the belt...), so they 
> are of 3M instead of Scotch quality.

It's very confusing.  "Scotch" brand used to have a very respected 
following among reel-to-reel audio tape people (with the exception of 
777--that acetate-based stuff seemed to degrade faster than 
anything).   But the 3M carts are very clearly superior to the Scotch 
ones.  The determining factor doesn't seem to be age either--all of 
the carts I'm working on were recorded within the space of 2 years.

I'm going to bake a couple of them to see if I can get better 
results, but a big problem is adhesion of the oxide to the tension 
belt--I don't know what to do about that--the oxide seems to form a 
better bond with the belt than it does with the base.

I'm assuming that a couple of hours of heating the base plate to 
about 130F (about 55C) will do as much good as anything will.  Beyond 
replacing the tension belt and praying, that seems to be about  the 
extent of what can be done.

Cheers,
Chuck