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<div class="moz-cite-prefix">On 1/4/23 10:19 AM, Jonathan Chapman
via rescue wro<br>
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<div dir="auto">Considering their age, it's likely those tapes
are in bad shape. A lot of times the magnetic surface on the
first block will stick to the band. Or the drive band will
snap or be unable to hold proper tension and the whole thing
will end up a tangled mess. <br>
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<div dir="auto" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px;
color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">Yeah, you're not going to be running
those tapes without at least a new band. Unless of course you
mean 1/2" open reel.</div>
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<div dir="auto" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px;
color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">I started doing Plastibands for new QIC
tape bands once the "boil NOS later generation 3M bands"
stopped producing good results. It works pretty OK, though
I've found the clear plastiband-alikes lift oxide off the tape
if you let them sit (the green actual Plastibands don't seem
to). The drives also all need service at this point, at least
cleaning and lubrication. It's fairly common, especially on
older QIC drives, for the capstan roller to turn to goop.
Sometimes it even looks and feels OK until you start running
the drive...I had a ftape QIC for an AT&T 3B1 UNIX PC do
that to me a few months ago. Often hoses the tape.<br>
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<p>If the OP decides not to keep the tapes, he can send them to me
:) Someone gave me a 3/260 a few years ago and I have started
accumulating Sun 68k and VME stuff since then. I have a few boxes
of QIC tapes to image when I get to them.<br>
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<p>I think that I bought the last of the green Plastibands. They
came in an assortment pack with something like 5 or 10 green ones
in a pack. I have 50 green bands now. The vendor that I got them
from no longer has any of the assortment packs. I also have some
of the clear bands, but I haven't installed any in a tape yet.</p>
<p>After I substituted the green bands, on a few tapes I had a
problem with the oxide coming off of the tape as it rounded the
metal posts inside the cartridge. One solution that I have seen is
to cover the posts with plastic sleeves that can rotate, but I
haven't tried it yet. Also, I retired a toaster oven to use to
bake the tapes (if you are unfamiliar with this, look up "sticky
shed"). I haven't tried that either and, after I set aside the
toaster oven, someone told me that baking doesn't accomplish much
on QIC tapes. But I still see people baking them, so I will try it
at some point.<br>
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<p>Somewhere I have a link with excellent info on what can go wrong
with QIC tapes and how to mitigate those problems. Just need to
find it.</p>
<p>alan</p>
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