Rubbery Bits Gone Gooey - test-drb@ccmp.vtda.org

23 Nov 1997

allisonp(a)world.std.com (Allison J Parent) wrote:
...
  this is also common to DEC TU58 tape system (also a
dc100 cart). 
Yep, I forgot about those.  Sorry about that.

...
  The solution I've used to date is to first strip
the goo off the alumninum
 ferrule that is on the drive.  Then I found a peice of tygon(vinal) clear 
 tubing that had the required ID for a tight fit. I cut a ring the width of 
 the original(cut squarely and clean) and proceded to glue it on using 
 superglue (cyanoacrylic).  then I run it up on a spare motor and grind it 
 using a emery board.  The last step it insure roundness.  I've done this 
 for 6 tu58 drives and it seems to work fine.  It's noisier as it's harder 
 but seems to have enough friction to drive the tape well. 
I have told my friend not to toss the drives so I think one or the
other of us will have some to play with now.  Thanks for the tips;
it's, well, reassuring that someone has already figured something out.

The only thing I'm worried about w/r/t hardness is whether that will
create additional wear or reduced traction with the belt capstan.

...
  The material is not the best possible choice
(polyurethane might be better) 
 but I had it handy and it's easy to find.  Between uses I pull the tape to 
 avoid dents that seem to cause no problems other then making the drive 
 very noisy.  It's been in use for about a year, so the tygon hardening 
 from age was a concern.  However it works and it's easy enough to do again
 if needed. 
Pulling the tape is sound anyway, at least in the bigger QIC drives
that I've dealt with, leaving the tape in sometimes results in the
tape getting dents from having the head pushed into it for so long.

Today I ran into Paul Coad and he mentioned seeing similar stuff
happening to QIC drives, and I think I've seen it too on some HP
9144s.  This could be extra nasty on 9144s: they use tapes that look
like QIC but have some subtle differences, like being preformatted
with block markers written with a special full-width head and I
suspect (from experience with a drive that was trashing tapes) that
you can scribble over the block markers if the tape speed isn't right.
Of course, once you do that the tape is mechanically OK but the drive
will not let you load it.

-Frank McConnell