Tape Head Lubricant

[Flyquail56]

Hello All,

First post here. I am seeking opinions and experiences with the use of tape head lubricant. I first used the product that Radio Shack used to sell when I had trouble with tapes squealing from scrape flutter, and it eliminated the problem. For the record, this is on cassette machines with older tapes of good quality (TDK, Maxell) that I expect have suffered from loss of lubricant in the tapes themselves.  I've learned quite a bit in the last few days just from googling "scrape flutter". I've searched the archives here and found quite a bit from Ironbut about the Last products, as well as a comment from Doc B. about "tefloning" the tape path on the  Technics decks, I believe. Can someone tell me what that means?

My research so far seems to indicate that taking steps to reduce friction in the tape path is a good idea. The question of how best to do it still seems a little unclear. I have gotten mixed comments to this question elsewhere, however the people who are sure that tape head lubricant is a bad idea also don't offer a good reason why, and don't state that they have ever used it. "It might attract dust" is about the only justification to avoid it.  So, I am hoping to get some input from members here, who certainly appear to be working at a higher level than the average hobbyist! Thanks in advance for any comments.

Best regards,
Mike Hazel

[ironbut]

Hey Mike, welcome to the forum. The teflon used on the tape path mods places teflon on fixed surfaces to reduce the friction. With cassettes, this would have to be done to the internal structure of the case itself. Scrape flutter is generally perceived as a loss of signal rather than an additional one such as squealing. It is subtle enough that there was doubt that it actually existed. The reason this has an effect on playback of magnetic tape is the vibrations move the tape. Magnetic fields reduce rapidly with distance and even this tiny motion of the tape reduces intimate contact with the head it's traveling over.
The latest studies show that loss of lubricant is much less common that once believed but it does occur. There is less chance that this is happening in cassettes since they are what's called "B" wind. B wind has the oxide side of the tape on the outside so the only contact the oxide side would have with a fixed (non rotating) object would be the heads. It's this oxide side that normally contains some lubricants.
There are many archivists and tape restoration experts that very often have to replace the cassette case to stop squealing. I guess it's getting harder and harder to find new cassette cases now be they can be had. It may be that the lubricant that you're using is lubricating the rotating parts inside.
The open reel problem that does cause squealing is called sticky shed syndrome (SSS) and it's a breakdown of the binder that holds the oxide on the backing. There is a know list of open reel tapes that suffer from this problem and I recall seeing a list of cassette tapes that were prone to this. If it was this problem, you wouldn't be able to correct this with lubrication. In fact with cassettes, it's almost always fatal since a machine will stop over and over if this is the problem.

Here's an excellent paper on tape degradation by Richard Hess one of the foremost authorities on tape restoration.
http://www.richardhess.com/tape/history/HESS_Tape_Degradation_ARSC_Journal_39-2.pdf

[Flyquail56]

Steve,

Thank you very much for your reply. I would have replied sooner, but I've been reading Richard Hess' paper that you referenced. Very informative!

I may be using the wrong terminology with respect to the squealing from particular cassettes. I just found a few web searches that characterized severe scrape flutter as resulting in audible squealing as well as audible modulation noise added to the signal (Tomlinson Holman), which is what I experienced. Either way, I am satisfied that the problem was tape to head contact, as using the tape head lubricant eliminated the problem until the next time I cleaned the tape path, at which time it would be necessary to re-apply the head lube in order for the problem tapes to play properly. Because of that, and the fact that the amount of head lube used is very minimal, I don't think that the lube was finding its way to the rotating parts in the cassette shell.

I found it interesting that Richard Hess commented in his paper about silicone lubricants and fluorinated lubricants for tape heads and other stationary surfaces. I have found commercial products that use one or the other of these. I would be curious to know what the primary product is in the Last Tape Head Treatment, not that I expect them to tell anyone!

I think that you have answered my principal question by the fact that you are using the Last Tape Head Treatment with good results. I was also curious to know if people "in the business", such as Doc B., Paul, technicians, or recording engineers, etc. also recommend using some type of tape head lube or treatment for improving the sound of tape machines. Of this group of people, I have only heard from one repair tech so far (in the Yahoo reeltoreel group) and he also did not have anything negative to say.

So, based on my research, previous experience, and input from folks such as yourself, I plan on staying with it.   

Again, thank you for providing useful information, both here and in your many other posts that I have searched through here.

Best regards,
Mike Hazel

[astrotoy]

I found an old bottle of the Last Tape Head Treatment (Formula 9) which I used to use on my old Akai. It came in a very small (7ml) bottle. I had put it away and only found it a couple of days ago. I haven't used it on my new machines. Any recommendations here?  Walt Davies who owns Last is a very nice guy. You might email him to find out what is in the Tape Head Treatment. I continue to use the Last Tape Preservative on all my used tapes.   Larry