Tape has come apart from leader?

[Leanoric]

I’ve just rewound a tape to digitise and it has come apart from the clear leader tape.

The clear tape is still attached to the spool, so I need to somehow reattach it to the rest of the tape.

I’ve had a look online and there doesnt seem to be any vhs splicing tape for sale here in the uk, any suggestions guys?

[Cornucopia]

I see some 1/2" splicing blocks, tape, kits, etc available for order online.

But if shipping is a problem where you are, you could always:
1. Carefully remove the plastic tab holding on the clear leader
2. throw away that leader
3. put the end of the tape in place of the leader and carefully re-attach the holding tab

It will mean you cannot access those first few seconds of the tape (because it is now wound before the playback head), but the rest should be OK, and most of the important stuff is usually NOT in those 1st few seconds anyway.

Scott

[dellsam34]

If you are not planning on playing back the tape and rewinding in the future to avoid ripping it in fast rewind you could re-attach the magnetic tape directly to the hub with the holding tab, But not all VCR's rely on the clear leader to halt the rewinding process, most modern VCR's use a scheme that is based on the difference in speed between the take up and supply reels by use of tone discs and pickup sensors under the take up and supply spindles, therefore they slow down the speed gradually to the point that it won't brake the tape in the event the clear leader is missing.

[october262]

I’ve just rewound a tape to digitise and it has come apart from the clear leader tape.

The clear tape is still attached to the spool, so I need to somehow reattach it to the rest of the tape.

I’ve had a look online and there doesnt seem to be any vhs splicing tape for sale here in the uk, any suggestions guys?

according to this video - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kurE-FuqkbU you can use ordinary scotch tape.

[Cornucopia]

No self-respecting repair technician would EVER use scotch tape!

On the one side (back) the adhesive is the kind that will gunk up the playback heads.
On the other side (front) the stiffness of this kind of backing will scratch up the playback heads.

Do yourself a favor and never attempt that.
There is a reason they specially formulated splicing tape.

Scott

[Leanoric]

I see some 1/2" splicing blocks, tape, kits, etc available for order online.

But if shipping is a problem where you are, you could always:
1. Carefully remove the plastic tab holding on the clear leader
2. throw away that leader
3. put the end of the tape in place of the leader and carefully re-attach the holding tab

It will mean you cannot access those first few seconds of the tape (because it is now wound before the playback head), but the rest should be OK, and most of the important stuff is usually NOT in those 1st few seconds anyway.

Scott

If you are not planning on playing back the tape and rewinding in the future to avoid ripping it in fast rewind you could re-attach the magnetic tape directly to the hub with the holding tab, But not all VCR's rely on the clear leader to halt the rewinding process, most modern VCR's use a scheme that is based on the difference in speed between the take up and supply reels by use of tone discs and pickup sensors under the take up and supply spindles, therefore they slow down the speed gradually to the point that it won't brake the tape in the event the clear leader is missing.

Ive watched a video on youtube on how to connect the tape back to the spool with the holding tab, the problem is, the spool in the video had a hole in the side that you could get access to the tab with a screwdriver and pop it out. My spool doesnt have that, so there is no way to get the tab out.

[Cornucopia]

With a properly sized flathead screwdriver, ALL tabs can be pried out.

But if you find it difficult, get a junk/blank VHS and use its spools & tabs, maybe even shell. It's quite doable, I've done literally hundreds of these fixes.

Scott

[Leanoric]

With a properly sized flathead screwdriver, ALL tabs can be pried out.

But if you find it difficult, get a junk/blank VHS and use its spools & tabs, maybe even shell. It's quite doable, I've done literally hundreds of these fixes.

Scott

I see that there are some of those 1/2 inch splicing block and tape kits that you mentioned on uk ebay.

What do you think the best option is for someone that has never spliced a tape before, buy the kit and give it a go, or try to get the tab out and lose the 1st few seconds if the tape?

Will it be ok to rewind the tape in the vcr without the leader if I go with the tab method?

[hech54]

Tape me to your leader.

Sorry.
I'll just go now.

[Cornucopia]

If you haven't done splicing before, and you don't have any other tapes than this one, I suggest just changing the tabs and be done with it.
If you had a batch of broken tapes, that would be another matter. It's not hard to learn splicing, but you should practice on a bunch before you get good enough to not have ragged cuts and raggeder adhesive tape applications.


Scott

[Leanoric]

Ok thanks Scott, I haven't got any tapes to practice on so I’ll have another go at trying to get the tab out.

[dellsam34]

Will it be ok to rewind the tape in the vcr without the leader if I go with the tab method?

As I said before, That will depend on your VCR, Is it one of the newer ones that slows down as the tape reaches the end?

[Leanoric]

Will it be ok to rewind the tape in the vcr without the leader if I go with the tab method?

As I said before, That will depend on your VCR, Is it one of the newer ones that slows down as the tape reaches the end?

I’m not sure if it slows down before the tape reaches the end, I cant recall. It’s a later jvc, nothing special, one of the 4 head sqpb models. To be honest, I havent rewound a tape in it since, I’m kind of worried that a sensor has failed and it will do it another tape.

[Cornucopia]

go to a thrift store (do you have Goodwill in UK?) and pick a couple of tapes for a pound or 2 and test with them.

Scott

[Alwyn]

Tape me to your leader.

Good one, Hech!