Richard,

I have a 100% success record with baking DAT tapes. I baked one 
unplayable Ampex tape and it played. I also have heard that people are 
also baking digital reel tapes.

The mechanics of the DAT cassette scare me. I baked mine in the shell 
for 3-4 days at about 50 °C.

I have finally come to the conclusion that DAT tape is the same width as 
audio cassette tape, so your audio cassette splicing block should work. 
I would be careful, however, in running the splice through the rotary 
head. Use the thinnest splicing tape you can find.

Cheers,

Richard

On 2020-10-30 3:07 p.m., Mint Records wrote:
> Thanks Graham. Will give it a try - its currently unplayable, so don't
> think I have much to lose.
> 
> Best baked out of it the shell or in do you think?
> 
> Richard
> 
> 
> On Fri, 30 Oct 2020, 18:41 Graham Newton, <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> 
>> On 10/30/2020 10:10 AM, Mint Records wrote:
>>
>>> Came across an oddity this morning. I've been transferring some DAT Tapes
>>> when all o f a sudden one snapped. It's a brand i'd never come across
>>> before called "PYRAL". On taking aprt the shell it's clear that the tape
>> is
>>> stuck together - The original break was a tear across rather than a snap
>>> and when i tried to loosen the tape on the reel, more started to tear.
>>
>> PYRAL is a well known French trademark... they used to make very good
>> lacquer
>> disc recording blanks.
>>
>>> It has the appearance of sticky shed, but i've never come across this in
>> a
>>> DAT before.
>>
>> Very rare, indeed.... I've only come across one like the problem you
>> describe.
>>
>>> Has anyone else come across this? Can the tape be baked? If so, for how
>>> long.
>>
>> Yes, it can be baked like regular reel to reel tape, use low baking
>> temperature
>> (120 degrees F) and long time (48 to 72 hours), and be sure it has fully
>> returned to room temperature before you try to do anything with it.
>>
>> You may need to bake it a second time at slightly higher temperature, say
>> 125
>> degrees F.  Some cautious experimentation with it may be needed.
>>
>>
>> Hope this helps!
>>
>>
>>
>> ... Graham Newton
>>
>> --
>> Audio Restoration by Graham Newton, http://www.audio-restoration.com
>> World class professional services applied to tape or phonograph records for
>> consumers and re-releases, featuring CEDAR's CAMBRIDGE processes.
>>

-- 
Richard L. Hess                   email: [log in to unmask]
Aurora, Ontario, Canada                             647 479 2800
http://www.richardhess.com/tape/contact.htm
Track Format - Speed - Equalization - Azimuth - Noise Reduction
Quality tape transfers -- even from hard-to-play tapes.