Most common cause(s) of an uneven tape pack?

sweetbeats

sweetbeats

Reel deep thoughts...
Hey folks...so I'm going through my Tascam BR-20T with a fine tooth comb. Brakes are nicely setup, pinch roller pressure too. I checked the tensions and they were all pretty close, did a little tweaking there. Tape is traveling wonderfully in the tape path.

Tape packs look like garbage...doesn't matter if it is in FFWD, REW or either of those in spooling (i.e. library wind)...they all look horrible. The pack in PLAY mode is lovely.

IIRC the packs USED to look really nice in all modes.

suggestions on where to look first?
 
Are the reels seated flatly and centered to the hub adapters?

Do 7 inch plastic reels spool better/worse/same compared to larger reels?

Cheers! :)
 
Ah!

I put a small reel on one side and its still a mess in FFWD but in FWD spool it is nice!

So I'm going to mess around with that and check the tension differences when using the small reel and then experiment setting the same tension with the large reel.

Thanks, Ghost! I had a hunch it was related to tensions and trying the different reel with the machine set for one large and one small reel supports that!
 
Fast wind speeds almost always pack poorly. That's why spool mode exists. Push comes to shove, add a guide or 2 outside the normal tape path so there is no tape/head contact when that/those guides are used and play the tape off. I've seen this done on 80-8's.
 
Not sure if this is a factor or not, but FWIW I've found my Scotch reels (the reels themselves) to be slightly narrower than Ampex reels, but I've not been paying attention to how they pack in fast wind.
 
Just an update...it packs nicer on a 7" reel mounted direct to the trident reel lock as opposed to the NAB adapter with a 10.5" reel. The 7" reel is a nice heavy Ampex plastic variety. I checked tensions and there really isn't any difference between the small and large reel settings, so I'm deducing that it is not a matter of tensions but reel mounting.

I went over the tensions several times and even rechecked the Tentelometer calibration and rechecked the tensions again. I then also set the tension roller heights with respect to the fixed guides in the headblock and all looks really really nice. Even with the bad packing on the NAB metal reels the transport is sooooo smooth and gentle with the tape.

Its not an issue with the tape hitting the reel flanges or anything...the tape never really hits the flanges, it just weaves up and down as the uneven tape pack is spooled.

To test my theory about the NAB mounting i pulled out my old plastic 10.5" Scotch trident mount reels...the ones I've always looked at and and thought "now what am I EVER going to do with those?!" Well, now they have a purpose. And no surprise, even though there ARE some problems with the tape hitting the flanges on these (the old plastic is kind of warped), the packs look MUCH better than the NAB reels.

Looks like I may want to invest in some better reel adapters at some point, but it stinks that they are so expensive. Wish I had some 1/4" reels in precision 6-screw flavor.
 
Several things will impact tape pack; reel back tension, loose reel clampers and/or loose or cracked reel tables, quality of tape slitting and tape reel quality.

Library wind should be as smooth and even as play mode, but I’ve rarely seen remotely good tape pack in fast wind modes regardless of machine or tape. The exception being AGFA 468 and BASF/EMTEC 468 and 911 in ½” widths and above on precision 6-screw reels. But even 456, which has been somewhat unfairly maligned for slitting issues packs more smoothly at fast wind speeds on precision reels. Scotch, AGFA and BASF/EMTEC always had the advantage of the heavier 6-screw precision reels, but they’re rare to find in ¼”.

The only time I’ve had really unruly tape wind in spool mode the reel tables were pretty worn out and if you looked closely in play mode the reels would wobble something awful. The distance between the reel and the front plate of the machine would vary as much as ¼” or more while running. The other thing to look at is if the plastic reel clampers are worn to the point that they don’t hold the tape reel snuggly. There should be no slack at all. If there is the clampers are toast. It’s more common on ½” and 1” Tascam machines, but not unheard of with ¼”.
 
Hey, Tim. Thanks. The reel adapters hold the tape as well as they can but because these are the kind that are held to the reel table with the trident lock there is an inerrant instability there you know? And I think that is part of why even the 10.5" trident hub reels are working better than the metal NAB reels. I'm using GP9 and it is REALLY running nice, quiet, clean and smooth in the tape path. It is a delight. Its just these silly 3-screw standard reels and adapters. The problem is somewhat compounded by shims the twist-lock to the adapter when using standard 3-screw reels...they are a bit springy and reduce the footprint of the adapter and thus reduce the stability. I'd love to find a way to adapt my Ampex instrumentation butterfly reel locks to the BR-20 but I'm not willing to mod the reel tables on the Tascam as would be necessary to use the Ampex adapters.
 
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