QIC DC600A tapes with broken drive belts

[mark0x01]

Useful info.
I have about 30 brand new QIC tapes still boxed, and probably a dozen more used ones that will need to be refurbished at some stage.

[Shadow Lord]

Sure, https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0..._title_o00_s00. Just like one of the reviewers said, it contained exactly 5 of the 6-inch bands. They were kinda deformed on the two ends (picture a rubber band pulled into a straight line, and the two ends develop a tight curve).

The link goes to a box of 100. So are 95% of the bands useless for this purpose?

[Chuck(G)]

You can use the smaller bands on DC2000-type carts.

[Shadow Lord]

You can use the smaller bands on DC2000-type carts.

I don't think I have any of those tapes. I think my lot is mostly DC300/DC600, a smattering of QIC-3000 (on those I am not sure what the issue is - but a plastic drive gear keeps breaking), and SDLT Is... I wonder if the Mitsumi ones came back in stock. It would be nice to get just a whole bunch of the right size ones.

[chris79]

I don't know how you'd get a nice even smooth thin band of TPU.

The 6" plastibands work well in DC-300/600 size carts. They may be hard to find, but a Japanese vendor sells them online

The way 3M made them was to punch rings out of sheet TPU, then "flip" the ring onto the cartridge. A die to do this should be pretty simple to construct.

Hi Chuck,

I'm about to "service" some DC600A tapes to recover some data... (you may remember me, I've been trying to get an Archive Corp FT-60 QIC36 drive working (and failed))... I'm now onto an Archive 2150 SCSI drive which I almost have working, it will read only QIC24 format on a DC600A tape.. ideally I picked it up on ebay for £1 !!! .....

So it needs a new capstan roller as the current one has turned to mush... this job I need to research and do.

For the tapes themselves, I was wondering if this would work:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Gritin-Resi...6255745&sr=8-1

6 inch bands, which using a steel ruler and stanley knife, could cut into belts and use as replacements in the tapes?

[firebirdta84]

The link goes to a box of 100. So are 95% of the bands useless for this purpose?

Yes, unfortunately so. I've recorded several YouTube videos about using these 6-inch bands, and trying smaller ones just for testing.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GVsYHLvCvZY
and
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=irOrR-ZYwjw

I have plenty more info at http://qicreader.com , MOST of which came from ideas provided by everyone here, so I must give credit to those here for the ideas. All I did was demonstrate in detail on video and ramble on about it, and try to make a cohesive website about the topic.

In particular, my page dedicated to tension/drive bands: http://qicreader.blogspot.com/p/drive-belts.html

So, thanks again everyone, and I hope this helps a future reader to this post!

Best,
AJ

[Shadow Lord]

Yes, unfortunately so. I've recorded several YouTube videos about using these 6-inch bands, and trying smaller ones just for testing.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GVsYHLvCvZY
and
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=irOrR-ZYwjw

I have plenty more info at http://qicreader.com , MOST of which came from ideas provided by everyone here, so I must give credit to those here for the ideas. All I did was demonstrate in detail on video and ramble on about it, and try to make a cohesive website about the topic.

In particular, my page dedicated to tension/drive bands: http://qicreader.blogspot.com/p/drive-belts.html

So, thanks again everyone, and I hope this helps a future reader to this post!

Best,
AJ

AJ,

Thanks for the info and the informative site. Hopefully, we can find a source that will sell just the right size bands (instead of an assortment). Seems kind of wasteful to be using 4-5 bands out of a bag of 100.

[Chuck(G)]

Strange. There used to be a stock number for the 6" bands--SF-6500, package of 50 (I have one such here). Perhaps a pleading to www.baumgartens.com is in order?

[MattisLind]

Check Nisshinbo Mobilon Bands.

https://us.misumi-ec.com/vona2/detai...sults2products

I have tested them on both DC100 and DC300 cartridges and they worked well.

In fact I believe that this is what Baumgartens sell in their small packages.

[Chuck(G)]

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Gritin-Resi...6255745&sr=8-1

6 inch bands, which using a steel ruler and stanley knife, could cut into belts and use as replacements in the tapes?

I have my doubts--the bands are latex, not polyurethane.