I'm not good with mills and lathes, but here in Dallas, there is a local Makerspace that does have these tools, and people willing to teach neophytes how to use them. ?It may be worth checking to see if you have some such local resource. I've used a service called?Emachineshop.com?to make parts in the past, and while they are not exactly cheap, the prices are reasonable in quantities. ?They have a?piece of software that you can download, design the part, choose a material, click a button, and get a quote. ?Another click, a credit card payment, 2-3 weeks, and you have the part.? I'm sure there are other machine shops out there that would take a solidworks file. ?Perhaps someone with some Solidworks savvy could produce a design file, and we could organize a group buy? ?I could go for at least 10 parts. Dave On Tuesday, March 31, 2015 2:20 PM, "Smith, Wayne" <Wayne.Smith at warnerbros.com> wrote: I would try gluing an extender piece on the end of the existing capstan roller, perhaps using wood which is easy to shape.? Once you wrap it with a piece or two of heat shrink tubing, I would think that it would all stay in place.

You shouldn't under estimate the force on the capstan. I'm also not a fan of shrink tube, the it's to smooth and not durable. I've experimented a lot when figuring out how to make the QUICK40 modification (after I knew it was possible because Larry Afferton was selling QUICK 40 HP-85's). I found the best way to refurbish the rollers was using small rubber sleeves and grind them to the right size. The sleeves are glued to the capstan and have much more friction than shrink tubes. Which results in less jitter and a better and more constant tape transport. The exact measures of the capstan can be found at hp9845.net : http://hp9845.net/9845/tutorials/tapedrives/ -Rik roller, or