29 Jan
2015
29 Jan
'15
12:25 p.m.
On 01/29/2015 10:55 AM, Ali wrote:
Does anyone know if at any time in the past thirty
years if the material
used to make capstans has changed? I.E. can one be more confident of tape
drives manufactured after some era to have non-goo capstan or is it that all
tape drives (including ones manufactured now are ticking time bombs?
Also how do you guys check capstans? Just stick long Q-tip in there? Thanks.
Capstans fail in several ways, in my experience. One way is the "turn
to goo", which seems to happen more on 80s-90s-era units. Another way
is to simply dry out and crumble (no goo); I see that on 60s-70s units.
A third way is to permanently deform; e.g., when used as a pinch
roller, forming a depression where contacting the driving shaft.
Oddly, I've never seen a case where a capstan hardens to a rock-like
mass, as is encountered in typewriter or printer platens. There, methyl
salicylate can work wonders.
--Chuck