On 4/8/19 9:06 PM, Jeff Woolsey via cctech wrote: >> I've noted earlier that the vinyl "hanger strips" for 1/2" magnetic tape >> have been degrading, becoming brittle and simply breaking away, >> sometimes in small particles. > > I have about a hundred tapes from various contributors, and have noticed > no age-related [1] deterioration of the seals, probably because mine > don't get handled very much. About 1/3 of mine have the vinyl hanger > strips, another third the autoload seals, and the remainder are in the > bulky canisters (with several different closures). I also have a couple > of tape racks (think "dish rack") that hold maybe thirty tapes, but the > canisters are too thick to fit in.
That's great--but these are customer tapes, not mine and many are from the 1960s and 70s. (About 2/3s of the current batch are 7-track) Perhaps 50 years of storage takes its toll. I don't know. The other minor annoyance is that 40-50 years tends to dry out the adhesive on labels and less often, leader splices. As far as racks go, you can sometimes find the 16mm film racks at auction--they rarely attract bids. They're mostly Neumade products. --Chuck
