TU10 tape drive restoration

[Christian Corti]

On Sun, 17 Feb 2008 djg at pdp8.net wrote:
> Does anybody have a TU10 with a good capstan who can accurately measure
> the diameter or the coating thickness?

I've never had any troubles with the capstan (on any of our 9 track 
drives; right now he have one TU10, two HP7970 and two HP7978, plus one 
not-tested smallish Pertec with apparently good mechanics).

> Also does anybody have a 9 track 800 BPI alignment/skew tape? A bunch
> of the maintenance procedures use it.

Sorry, no.

>   The vacuum switches are bad but it looks like they are still made
> by World Magnetics so I should be able to get new. The markings on them

This is the biggest problem with the TU10. But we've repaired them 
ourself. The repair involves changing the membrane. The best source (the 
switches still work reliably) is a latex glove. Open the vacuum switch 
(drill out the rivets), remove the torn membrane and replace with a large 
piece (larger than the switch case) of your new "membrane". Tension the 
membrane and firmly press the cover of the switch back onto the bottom 
part. You can then use small screws with nuts on the end to fix the 
halves and then cut the protruding membrane.

>   The blower sound noisy when turned by hand.  Plan to see if I can
> open and inspect.

It is noisy, just like an old vacuum cleaner.

Christian