Software for OCR'ing paper tape?

Be warned that using machien tools well takes a lot of practice. You will not be able to amke a tape reader in your first week of using such devices :-) The traditional way is to use a capstan and pinch roller, as in a tape recorder. This gives constant speed, of course. The captan normally turns continuously, the pinch rolelr is engaged by a solenoid to start the tape moving. There was normally a brake, nothing more than an electromagnet on one side of the tape and an amrature plate on the other side that grips the tape when the electromagnet is energised, to stop the tape. As I siad, unless you require start-stop operation, it can be simplified a lot. Possibly an 2748? I'ev got one on my HP9800s. There are a few pictures of it on the HPCC ewb site... Yo ucan get the HP service manaul from the Australian museum site. That is actually not a bad manual to read if you wwant to make a start-stop reader, in that it descibes the ,echanism. One odd thign about the HP one IIRC is that the tape motion is controleld by a magnetic clutch betwee nthe mtoro and capstan, and not by engaging the pinch roller. Note that if you dismantle this part of the HP2748, you need a special alignmnt tool to put it back togetehr or the clutch will wear out vey quickly. Making that sool is not a bad project if you have a small lathe (should only take half an hour or so). I didnt think it was _that_ fast. -tony