Advice for tape drive repair / maintenance

[Chuck Guzis]

On 18 Dec 2006 at 9:17, Al Kossow wrote:

> Wangtek changed their roller design on later drives. Archive didn't, so
> you may be able to find 150meg drives that are new enough to survive. 
> The most common source are Sun external 150meg shoeboxes, which have 
> been readily available in the past.

This "goes to goo" seems to be manufacturer-related.  I've got a 
Wangtek drive with a gooey roller, but a Tandberg of the same age is 
just fine, as is a Caliper.

If I check McMaster-Carr's online catalog, I see a bewildering number 
of choices under "Rubber tubing".  Does anyone have an idea about 
what works best?

http://tinyurl.com/y6pv4y

Then, there's heat-shrink neoprene tube; might work where a very thin 
coating is needed.

Cheers,
Chuck