Paper tape supply, was Re: paper tape for GNT 4601

[David Griffith]

On Sun, 3 Dec 2006, Tore Sinding Bekkedal wrote:

> On Wed, 2006-06-14 at 20:24 -0400, William Donzelli wrote:
> > > I imagine that many paper suppliers ought to be able
> > > to provide tape on a custom basis, given a
> > > sufficiently large order, but I was led to believe
> > > that the specs for such tape as laid out in the
> > > relevant standards were a bit difficult to fulfil,
> > > particularly for oiled tape.
> >
> > I would think that it should not be too impossible to make your own if the
> > supply gets really short.
>
> I think that if this ever happened, an alternative might very well be to
> just pool together as a bunch of hobbyists and order paper tapes
> custom-made? I think paper mills have catered to smaller markets in the
> past...

Back in June or whenever it was when this thread was fresh, somone
suggested CNC supply companies.  They have brand-new paper tape: oiled and
not, mylar, and assorted colors.  However, it's all on reels.  How would
someone get new fanfold paper?  Maybe someone could make a machine to
decurl and fanfold reeled tape.

Sidenote: how hard would it be to make a paper tape reader and punch from
scratch?  The idea is to have a lightweight unit for playing with my
SBC6120 and perhaps Altair reissue/clone (if and when I get one).


-- 
David Griffith
dgriffi at cs.csubak.edu

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