82161A Tape Drive - O-Ring Question

[Ángel Martin]

I'm in the process of re-aconditioning a few HI-IL peripherals, prepping them for the "big event" once my CL is up & running...

Unfortunately my tape drive has lost one of the plastic o-rings that hold the spring-loaded spindle in place. Does anybody have any suggestions as for a suitable replacement for it?

Thanks,
ÁM

[Paul Berger (Canada)]

I just looked at one of my tape drives and there seems to be on the very top a white disk that has a hole slightly smaller that the diameter of the post, this disk is the retainer. Under that there are two grey plastic? washers. I made a substitute retainer from a piece of plastic cut from a plastic blister pack, I think almost any thin but stiff plastic would work, the hole in the retainer I took off is about 1.5mm in diameter so I drill a small hole in a piece of plastic and then cut it down to roughly the size of the original retainer and pushed it on and it seems to work, I hooked the drive up to my 75 and initialized a tape a couple time and it is holding.

[Ángel Martin]

Thanks Paul, that's exactly the part - badly described in my post, you did it much better. I'll do the DIY during the weekend as per your posting.

Thanks again,
'AM

[Eric Smith]

I doubt that replacement parts are available, but just FYI:

The retainer washer is HP P/N 3050-1042, made of mylar.

The thrust washers that are paired below the retainer washer are HP P/N 3050-1065, claimed to be made of "nyletron". I suspect that it is actually Nylatron GS, which is nylon filled with molybdenum disulfide (MoS2), typically used for strength, rigidity, wear resistance, and low coefficient of thermal expansion.

Presumably any other plastic washer of approximately the same dimensions should work, though perhaps not as well or for as long a lifetime. Normal nylon has poor dimensional stability due to water absorption.

[Ángel Martin]

Thanks Eric, as always you're a wealth of information for this comunity.