Hi
The tape in an 8mm cassette broke. One section is loose, but the tape on the other spindle has wrapped to the spindle and I can't loosen it.
About 12 inches of tape was split along the length. It's a zig-zag tear. The starting point of the magnetic tape that's wrapped on the spindle might be 1mm or 3mm wide... even under a soft workbench lamp, it's not easy to see.
Since the length of tape I'm trying to loosen probably isn't its full width, I can't just look for a straight edge along the full width of the tape, in the same way as I would look for the start-point on a roll of masking tape.
Keeping my fingertips away from the tape (skin oils), I gently prodded at the tape with my jeweller's screwdriver, making sure the spindle was held right-side-up so that if I managed to find the starting point and loosen it, I'd be sure to be pushing at it in the correct direction.
Then I tried pushing the tape using the clean edge of a pencil erasure.
The tape's not budging and I'm reluctant to poke harder at it, with the tip of a straight pin, for instance. I might damage tape beneath it.
I'm trying to think of a non-intrusive way of coaxing that end of tape loose so that I can pull it free, towards splicing and repairing the rest.
If you have solved this problem, how did you do it?
TIA
The tape in an 8mm cassette broke. One section is loose, but the tape on the other spindle has wrapped to the spindle and I can't loosen it.
About 12 inches of tape was split along the length. It's a zig-zag tear. The starting point of the magnetic tape that's wrapped on the spindle might be 1mm or 3mm wide... even under a soft workbench lamp, it's not easy to see.
Since the length of tape I'm trying to loosen probably isn't its full width, I can't just look for a straight edge along the full width of the tape, in the same way as I would look for the start-point on a roll of masking tape.
Keeping my fingertips away from the tape (skin oils), I gently prodded at the tape with my jeweller's screwdriver, making sure the spindle was held right-side-up so that if I managed to find the starting point and loosen it, I'd be sure to be pushing at it in the correct direction.
Then I tried pushing the tape using the clean edge of a pencil erasure.
The tape's not budging and I'm reluctant to poke harder at it, with the tip of a straight pin, for instance. I might damage tape beneath it.
I'm trying to think of a non-intrusive way of coaxing that end of tape loose so that I can pull it free, towards splicing and repairing the rest.
If you have solved this problem, how did you do it?
TIA