18 Dec
2007
18 Dec
'07
1:11 p.m.
[VCR pats -- ion particular the head drum]
I think you have an excellent suggestion. Also
I'd be tempted to
salvage the head itself and use it as a nice balanced "drum" to start
the project with and coat it with various magnetic concoctions to try
recording on before making the actual drum. You'd have to remount it,
but it would be balanced for spinning at high speed anyway.
RWjhy remount it? Why not take the lower drum as well? You have a nicely
made shaft and bearings, and if you're lucky a direct-drive motor to turn it.
I wonder if something as crude as a careful job of gluing (what
adhesive) video tape on the head and spinning that would work for a start?
I am sure I've seen an experiment 'proof of idea' drum store, probably in
the London science museum, that seemed to consist of audio 1/4" tape
wrapped round a metal cylinder.
A couple of things. I susepct if you do that and have contact between the
heads and tape, the lifetime will be very short. Most VCRs would shut
down after a short time in 'pasue' mode for exaclty this reason -- with
the tape stopped, the heads are continually running over the same bit of
tape as the had drum spins and will waer it out. 'Very short' means
minutes, I expect, here, in other words it'll work long enough for you to
see it working, but not for you to use it in a computer
Seocndly, if you fiddle with the video heads themselves, be warned they
are delicate. They are brittle ferrite cors, the windings are thin and
brought out to little BCPs stuck in postiion. If you break the wires
you'll not be able to fix them.If the PCB comes uncluged, it'll break the
wires. And if the head tip bangs into anything it will shatter. That is
the bitter voice of experience from the time I rebuilt the head assembly
in a portable rell-to-reel VTR (sorry it's off-topic, so I'll stop there).
-tony