Atmasphere,
The silica gel and plastic bag is an idea that most don't think about, Kudos! I'm going to use both.
Food for thought; I bought 80 reels of one pass Ampex 456 tape for $20 bucks a reel. The reel alone is worth about $14 bucks. I baked them in an
Excalliber food dehydrator for 14 hours at 135 degrees F. They are as new, for how long I don't know. While you can Google "Tape baking," and get loads of information I came to my conclusion after reviewing what I read. With plastics, " Tape," time and temperature have an effect on the stability. Raise the temperature up FAST, hold it for a short time, then lower it will have an effect on the expansion / contraction stability of the tape. Raise the temp slowly to a lower temp, hold it for a longet time then ramp the temp down slowly. This will allow the plastic to acclimate to what's happening to it. After all it's about driving off the moisture. Take more time at a lower temperature, and it should EASE itself out of the thick plastic mass to a greater degree. Compare it to a few many short breaths rather than a fewer deeper breaths, it's only a thought.
I build polyester and epoxy molds that need to perform at temperatures approaching 200 degrees. I condition them at a temperature HIGHER than that they'll ever see. I ramp them up to 220 degrees over a 4 hour period, hold the top temperature until the oven shuts off. It's all about over kill.
Bake your tapes slowly, ramp them up and let them cool slowly. Time is cheap so don't try to do it fast, it's sort of like XXX. Slower is better.
You need to log on to WWW.sonicraft.com. Steve Puntolillo is not only at the forefront of audio archiving and the moderator of the Scully list, but has the most KICK ASS collection of analogue tape machines you'll ever see.
Don't miss viewing his web site, but be aware that tape is addictive. You may end up evicting your errant 25 year old son to make room for some RTR machines and a "Garfield the Cat" grin when you hear how good tape sounds.
Ken, AKA- Fritz the Cat.
s
