Optical paper tape readers - test-drb@ccmp.vtda.org

26 Nov 2002

On Nov 26, 11:02, Glen Slick wrote:
...
  I was hoping there might be some sort of preassembled
optical sensor array
...
  available with the right spacing for paper tape holes,
but maybe that is
 hoping for too much.  If you build one with discrete sensors, is it easy to
...
  find ones that are narrow enough to stack side to side
with the correct
 spacing? 
One way would be to get some Perspex (Lexan/Plexiglass) rod and make some
short light pipes, and fan them out to get the spread you need.  Or make
some kind of 9-partition screen out of thin sheet metal, narrow at the top
and wider at the bottom where the detectors are.  The detectors don't have
to be right up against the tape, so long as you don't get light from one
bit affecting the detector for adjacent ones.

-- 
Pete						Peter Turnbull
						Network Manager
						University of York