Seeking advice on replacing tape belt on Epson PX-8 Geneva

[vldmrrr]

The tape belt on my unit is stretched from age resulting in complete stops when playing and winding in forward direction. I tried boiling the belt, but that did not help. Does anyone know some source for replacement with original part or compatible? I presume that HX-20 has the same tape mechanism and belt for that would also be compatible. Otherwise maybe there is some generic advice on manufacturing a replacement for a round rubber belt at home.

[GeoffB17]

Hello,

Yes, I've got the same problem (I assume) with my HX-20. The tape drive no longer functioned reliably. I've tried to get inside, without success, but I'd not tried too hard for two reasons.

Firstly, like you, I had no info on a replacement band. What I've seen of the technical manuals does not seem to specify the size, or the profile, of the band, maybe this can be determined close enough once you get it out, but if it's already too stretched then this might not be possible. Maybe just need to dig further. There are suppliers of such bands (as per the microcassette dictation recorders) who can supply a suitable replacement

The other reason is that I'm now plugging the HX into a laptop, using the CAS1: connectors (for external tape drive). This has been working well, storing the data as a .WAV, and both SAVE and LOAD operate file, and the stored data files can be assessed using the hxtape utilities to convert .WAV <--> BAS or TXT, which is somewhat fiddly but effective. I think the PX-8 may still have the external cassette connectors - or was that JUST the PX-4.

Geoff

[vldmrrr]

Yes, the belt is indeed hard to access and require quite a disassembly along the way.

I really would like to use an actual tape drive though as i really get a kick out of clicking working tape drive -- reminds me the very first computer (calculator actually) that I used as a student. Also PX-8 can use PC as a floppy drive, that probably will be next thing that I will do with it.

[JonB]

Geoff, I think I have a spare tape drive for the HX20.. email me.

[DDS]

In the past, people on this forum have reported sources of NOS belts, and custom made belts. But lately I've seen reports of people 3D printing belts, including one thread on this forum.

http://www.vcfed.org/forum/archive/i...p/t-69057.html

I googled "print floppy drive belt" and got quite a few hits including this one:

https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:4309841

[vldmrrr]

I've seen reports of people 3D printing belts, including one thread on this forum.
http://www.vcfed.org/forum/archive/i...p/t-69057.html

This is actually very useful advise for me, as I somehow did not know about this TPU filament. Time to dust off my 3d printer, but first I will have to order the filament of course. I hope my printer will work with it. The tape belt crossection is round, wich most certainly can not be reproduced on my printer, but it is worth experimenting with rectangular crossection.
Thank you very much for the advice

[vldmrrr]

I now can confirm that printing drive belts with TPU filament does work. Even with my crappy ebay straight-from-china printer that is not even capable of printing two parallel walls. After spending unreasonable amount of life time trying to produce a belt with symmetrical cross-section I ended up printing just one-layer outer wall of a cylinder shape 1 mm height. I now have a working tape mechanism capable of storing and reading data. I am not sure how long this belt will last, but I've printed a bunch in case I would need to change them often, and I will surely forget soon as a nightmare the whole interaction with this marvel of asian engineering.

[JonB]

That's good to know, thanks! I wonder if I can print TPU with a Bowden tube extruder?