John has provided good advice. 133 °F is a wee bit high. The Ampex patent states 50 or 54 °C which is 122 or 129 °F. I routinely bake at about 50 °C for a minimum of 24 hours for 1/4-inch tape in lots of one or two. I baked over 100 1/2-inch Ampex 406 tapes about a decade ago and putting eight in the food dehydrator at once, I had to bake the lot for 48 hours to have them playable. How is the shedding happening? Is it falling off, or did the back coat pull off the mag coat? Cheers, Richard On 2018-05-25 3:05 PM, John Chester wrote: > On 5/25/18 2:54 PM, Banuelos, Christopher A wrote: > >> Thanks for your reply. I have a probe thermometer, but I have it just >> kind of sitting in there through the gap in the front door/plate >> thing. I have been able to maintain a temp of 133. I will adjust this >> down. But overnight, you say? I didn't think I was supposed to bake it >> that long. I will give that a shot for sure. > > As tapes continue to age, the required baking time seems to be > increasing. Once upon a time 12 hours was OK. I've done a lot of Ampex > tape from the 1970's, and my minimum baking time is now 24 hours. Reels > which are in bad shape may require 48 hours. 12 hour cooldown is OK, > but 24 is better. > > -- John Chester > -- Richard L. Hess email: [log in to unmask] Aurora, Ontario, Canada 647 479 2800 http://www.richardhess.com/tape/contact.htm Quality tape transfers -- even from hard-to-play tapes.