Broken Hi-8 tape

[magillagorilla]

Any advise on fixing a broken Hi-8 tape? One of my tapes broke. I have, in the past, repaired compact cassette and VHS with scotch tape. I plan to use the same strategy here, unless anyone has a better plan. Basically I need to make it playable to capture, then the tape is likely no longer needed.

[aedipuss]

just the usual - a clean splice and no tape on the side the head will run over.

[wrathofbod]

as aedipuss says, a good splice will be ok

[edDV]

Micro splice for Hi8. Use magnification to trim edges. Splice tape goes on the back side of tape.

[magillagorilla]

There's something wrong with this tape. I spliced it and wound past the spliced area on the pickup reel. As soon as a put a wee bit of tension on the tape to flaten it across the top of the cart it broke again. It breaks on the reel at a pointy angle, lik ethe reel is pinching the tape. And the tape won't unroll very easily like it's stuck to itself.

[edDV]

Use 3M splicing tape, not scotch tape. It is thinner, has stronger glue and the glue is less destructive to audio/videotape.
http://www.tapecenter.com/splictap8mmb.html
http://www.amazon.com/Splicing-tape-video-1200-Digital8/dp/B0041BOGOU/ref=pd_sim_sbs_e_3
http://www.amazon.com/Splicing-Editing-Block-video-Digital8/dp/B0041BKUJ0

per Tapecenter

Never!!! Never use Scotch tape on your audio or videotape. Eventually a chemical reaction will cause the glue to melt down and leak to adjacent parts of the tape and damage it beyond repair,

[aedipuss]

i think he means that the tape past the splice is already self-adhered. something liquid has gotten onto the tape or high heat has fused it together.

[magillagorilla]

i think he means that the tape past the splice is already self-adhered. something liquid has gotten onto the tape or high heat has fused it together.

Right.


The only thing I can think of is to manuall respool the tape outside of the cassette. I think it may have been liquid or something that damaged it. I had to use an exacto knife to peel the tape off of itself to even splice it. it will peels apart without any visible damage once I get it running. It's stuck together with about as much tack as plastic wrap stuck to itself. Just enough to break it under the cassette tensioner.

[edDV]

i think he means that the tape past the splice is already self-adhered. something liquid has gotten onto the tape or high heat has fused it together.

Right.


The only thing I can think of is to manuall respool the tape outside of the cassette. I think it may have been liquid or something that damaged it. I had to use an exacto knife to peel the tape off of itself to even splice it. it will peels apart without any visible damage once I get it running. It's stuck together with about as much tack as plastic wrap stuck to itself. Just enough to break it under the cassette tensioner.

I use an old otherwise broken camcorder to wind my 8mm tapes to end and back prior to capture on the good decks.

[Gotanno]

I'm having the exact same problem. I spliced a tape only for it to "splitter" again a few minutes later. I didn't even attempt to play it; I tried to fast forward it , but it immediately broke again. The

[Cornucopia]

Again, are you using proper splicing tape or are you cheating and using something like scotch tape? If you cheated, then you just created a big headache for yourself.

Splicing tape comes in sizes to fit the format, so you could/should get 8mm/Hi8/D8 size if those are your formats. It will be slightly thinner than the width of the magnetic tape, so as to NOT spill beyond and gunk up the rest of the system. Also, it is designed to hold up to expected tensions during high speed winds.

Do not skimp!

Scott

[pandy]

Additionally - both tape parts must be aligned perfectly - no skew allowed - ideally you should cut tape on tape (one part of tape placed on top of second layer then cut so cut place will be aligned and at top of this splice use dedicated splice tape).

[JVRaines]

Or use an 8 mm splicing block, which will also facilitate placement of splicing tape. Without one, it's easier to use wider splicing tape and then trim.

[Cornucopia]

Yes, you should use a splicing block.
No, you should NOT trim - is not an issue with audio tape splicing, but CAN BE an issue with videotape (analog or digital), or DAT, due to tighter tolerances and helical scanning - sync, timebase. And 8mm is small enough as it is.

Scott

[JVRaines]

I have successfully trimmed 8 mm tape. All it takes is magnification and a steady hand. You have a whole 0.6 mm to play with; as you can see, two bands are reserved for cues and linear audio, although neither were implemented in consumer devices.