TK50/TK70 Info

[Kyle Owen]

On Thu, Aug 27, 2015 at 11:39 PM, Mark J. Blair <nf6x at nf6x.net> wrote:

> If I'm not mistaken, TK70 drive can read but not write TK50 tapes.
>
> I have very limited experience with this family of drives so far, but what
> little I have is not good. Pictures:
>
> https://twitter.com/nf6x/status/617511461452013568
>
> https://twitter.com/nf6x/status/617519989721923584
>
> Maybe my tapes need baking or something to keep the oxide from shedding? I
> haven't tried it yet. Unfortunately, my failure mode results in a
> labor-intensive fiddly manual tape extraction job followed by manually
> rewinding tapes into cartridges designed to make it very difficult to do
> anything manually, so I haven't found the motivation to resume
> experimenting yet. If and when I resume experimenting, I might look into
> making some sort of gizmo to let me unlock the two cartridge spool locks
> and then manually rewind the tape, without needing to disassemble the
> cartridge with springs popping out all over the place. Maybe something 3D
> printed the depresses the latches, with a crank that engages the spool?
>

Yikes...I hope mine turns out a bit more reliable than that. As it turns
out, I bought a spare TK70 a while back at a hamfest and rediscovered it
the other day, so if all else fails, I guess I have that to turn to.

Is your 730 booting VMS yet?

Kyle