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ever repair a broken DAT tape?

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live2496:
Ellaguru's tape got fixed. The break was close to the beginning, so I was able to cut of a small garbled section of tape and reattach the tape to the leader. The splice was out of reach of the heads so there should not be any risk of damage to the heads. Afterwards I was able to play the tape with my DAT player.

I have some pics of the procedure and can post them if anyone is interested.

andromedanwarmachine:
I would be interested actually!

Did you have the proper tape?? (adhesive, so to speak)

JimP

live2496:
Cassette splicing tape works for this. I bought mine at Radio Shack probably over 10 years ago now. I wonder if they still stock it??? The splicing tape is a bit wider and once the splice is made I trim the excess with sharp scissors.

One trick is opening the protective cover (that protects the tape) and then keeping that propped open with something. So far I have never had to take a tape out of a shell. I think it's good to avoid that. With a worst possible case I think I would use a good tape to fix a bad tape. (take all of the blank tape out of one shell and load the recorded tape into it)

Most breaks occur at the leader, maybe from a misload.

live2496:
pictures:







The bottom cover needs to be slid back which is exactly what is done when a tape is loaded by a recorder. There are two tabs that need to be depressed simultaneously to slide the cover back. This also releases the nylon clutches which keep the tape from turning when the tape is not loaded.

Once the bottom cover is moved it locks into position. You have to move the protective (hinged) tape cover out of the way. I use some interdental cleaners for this as in the picture. I also use them to hold the tape in place within the splicing block.

Very importantly the splice should be applied to the backside away from contacting the head when the tape is playing. This doesn't really apply in this example because the splice is at the leader but you will want to do that for sure if the tape breaks somewhere in the middle of the recording.

Cut and apply a section of splicing tape. And then use something to press down on the splice to ensure that there is a good contact. Trim the excess with scissors.

It's entirely possible to make a mistake of course. You might have flipped the tape over the wrong way. If that happens to you, then you won't hear any recording. Redo the procedure and flip it the right way. Hey, it's an opportunity to practice your tape splicing skills!

With a steady hand and a bit of patience, you might just get that prized recording back!

Happy splicing!!!

OakBloodThree:

--- Quote from: it-goes-to-eleven on November 17, 2010, 04:53:16 PM ---The heads on the spinning drum sit slightly proud of the surface and a tape splice running through can chop the head off in an instant. I've been in the room when that has happened (twice, in fact)! Result, one dead DAT machine and you still can't play the tape!
--- End quote ---
Anybody have an idea what symptoms/physical evidence would be left behind if the head was "chopped off"?

I spliced a DAT today with a break near the leader like in the photos on this thread and it started to play, but the audio broke up so I ejected it.  I couldn't see anything physically wrong with the tape.  I tried playing another tape and I get nothing (no timecode is read).

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