Suggestions for repairing HP tape drive capstans?

[Tony Duell]

> I use rubber precision pipes (a special kind of rubberhose).

Deoes anyone know a UK supplier of small-ish quantities (I do not want to 
buy 100m of the stuff ;-)). 

> Diameters for the 9144 are inside 6/16 outside 7/16 inch.

Do you mean that? The roller is a lot larger than that. OK, it would 
stretch onto the hub, but surely if the inisde diameter is 3/8" (6/16") 
and the outside is 7/12", them the wall thicknerss is only 1/32". And
the old tyre looks a lot thicker than that.
 
> I glue the with polypurethane glue and grind to the right size using
> sandpaper 150 (3M wet or dry)

I asume you run the motor off a bench supply and carefully hold the 
abrasive againsit it.

> I finish the capstands with a sandpaper 400 so the surface is smooth.
> For the HP85 / 9825 /9835 tapedrives I use a 6.5mm citroen hydraulic rubber.

Is that what I would call a 'sleeve seal'? That is the little rubber seal 
you put ove the enf of the pipe before screwing the union down? IIRC they 
come in 3 sizes, I assume you need the largest one.

-tony