--- On Mon, 11/24/08, Robert Nansel <bnansel at bigpond.net.au> wrote:
From: Robert Nansel <bnansel at bigpond.net.au>
Subject: Re: Hard disk material
To: cctalk at
classiccmp.org
Date: Monday, November 24, 2008, 7:58 PM
Sun Nov 23 Eric Smith wrote:
Nickel plating would definitely not work. Some
of the
earliest drums
used cunife (copper/nickel/iron alloy) wire
tightly
wound around an
aluminum cylinder, then turned on a lathe to get
a
flat surface. ...
please entertain the village idiot - what's the difference between turning down wire
wrapped around a cylinder and laminating? a sheet of the same material around the surface
of the cylinder?
It also occurs to me that the machining could be done
with
the drive mechanics, provided it's rigid enough and you
take very light cuts. You would fabricate a cutter head
that bolts in the same way as a R/W head. To take a cut,
you just tweak the adjustment screw(s) and turn an
additional "feed" screw to cut the track the right
width.
I'm guessing the bearings would be pretty light-duty. You'll never get smoothness
with a cutter. You'll need to either follow up w/grinding or lapping (or polishing?).