Have glue; daren't ravel.

[Weatherlawyer]

OK. I have a new blank tape I'm too cheap to throw away. VCR tapes are only about =A32.00 apiece so I don't want to spend any money on the proper tape repair gizmo. The damn thing jumped the spool and did that stretchy mangly thingie, right at the start of the spool.

I have PVA, mastic, silicon and that awful foam glue that comes in mastic like containers. I probably have a pot or tube of that instant cyanate stuff too somewhere. (Do I really need such a sad reason to sort out my tack?) Do I junk it? I have rewound it and put the casette back together but I want to glue the ribbon past where the bad stuff is wound on.

If it's a matter of buying a tube of something cheap, that I may get to use the rest of some year, I might spent a quid on it. Someone get me a link about the way that tapes are supposed to run too. I was trying to surf the net while watching the TV as I recorded something on the other channel and fix the damn thing.

I'm not too good at multi-tasking.

[mrcheerful]

I have PVA, mastic, silicon and that awful foam glue that comes in mastic like containers. I probably have a pot or tube of that instant cyanate stuff too somewhere. (Do I really need such a sad reason to sort out my tack?) Do I junk it? I have rewound it and put the casette back together but I want to glue the ribbon past where the bad stuff is wound on.

If it's a matter of buying a tube of something cheap, that I may get to use the rest of some year, I might spent a quid on it. Someone get me a link about the way that tapes are supposed to run too. I was trying to surf the net while watching the TV as I recorded something on the other channel and fix the damn thing.

I'm not too good at multi-tasking.

Use some scotch magic tape, it will last for years

[David Hearn]

I used scotch tape when we had a tape break. Not had a problem since.

D

[Dave Plowman (News)]

Cut out the damaged part and stick the good back to the hub with Sellotape.

[Weatherlawyer]

Dave Plowman and co wrote

Bloody hell, I thought of that but I only had some masking tape so I never made the quantum leap to some other sticky tape. I am tempted to try that now. Or should I go and get the cellotape?

Ferk it. I'll neve use the rest of the cello-t if I do.

Thanks all.

[Rob Morley]

I'd have fitted the start of the good tape to the spool without worrying=20 about leader tape. Or is the leader stuck on, rather than attached with=20 a clicky thing?

[meow2222]

this is even worse than the original suggestion. Bear in mind video heads are not like audio, and are a lot fussier about tape repairs.

If you stick the tape to the hub with sellotape:

1 no leader means the vcr wont realise the tapes reaching the end, and will rewind it full force, which the tapes are not intended to handle.

1. the sellotape will then rip off the hub
2. depending on the threading details, the sellotape might in some cases end up atached to the heads, which are little delicate things spinning at speed
3. Gunked up heads will trash any tape they touch, as well as not work
4. And if Murphy shows up, you might wreck the heads altogther at the sellotape-meets-head time.

If you splice vid tapes, it must be done with a lot more care than that.

NT

[Dave Plowman (News)]

[meow2222]

'k. VCRs detect the leader tape and apply brake as soon as they spot it. This means by the time the tape hits endstop its speed is much reduced compared to full rewind speed, and momentum and hence max pull force on the tape much reduced squared.

More modern machines can take this further, allowing even higher rewind speeds by looking at relative reel speeds to work out roughly where the tape is, and only applying extra speed when it can be sure the tape isnt near endstop.

You may well get away with no leader for a time, but no promises there. However the problems that follow from tape breakaway with a sellotape joint could prove not worth while, unless the tape is something special and you want to copy it.

NT

[Christian McArdle]

Don't bother repairing tapes, the damage you could cause to the machine is a lot more than the cost of a new tape.

Christian.

[Rob Morley]

My VCR slows down when the counter is nearing zero, so as long as you reset the counter at the start of the tape that's not a problem.

[mike ring]

[e-mail] wrote in news: [e-mail]:

It's a blank tape!!

The OP is liable to run away with the uk.d-i-y cheapskate prize, not an easy thing to do

[Weatherlawyer]

If you mean I am too mean to even do the repair with the last few inches of a very old but still servicable roll of masking tape you are quite right.

It aint broke yet so I can't be bothered fixing it.

Here's a site that my peers might enjoy:

[Owain]

I have been known (as a youth) to pull old hoovers out of the river where they had been dumped in order to salvage the flex.

Owain

[meow2222]

I think that may be a misunderstanding of how it works. Older machines with non acelerated rewind would rewind a the same rpm all through. (this is the speed your newer machine is slowing down to) This rpm is not safe to hit endstop with, the machine needs to see the leader to apply the brake at the last moment.

Slowing down to non-accelerated rewind will work as normal with a bidged tape, but the brake will not get applied as there is no leader.

fwliw

NT

[Ian Stirling]

That's perfectly sensible though. Most flex is simply not harmed by water, and hoovers aren't that often thrown out as the flex is damaged.

I'd say the OP is more like trying to use an iron, fished out of a bin, on something expensive, without testing it's at the right temperature, or if it's got tar on the bottom.