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Joined: Aug 2005
No dictating machine tapes that I've found will physically fit in the 82161 tape drive, and in any case, the 82161 uses optical end-of-tape detection
and requires reflective blocks in the cassette and a hole in the tape near each end. I wouldn't have thought dictating machine tapes had this feature.
The magenetic tape iteslf may well be different too.
The normal failure mode of the cassettes is that the pressure pad, behind the tape, and which presses the tape against the head, fails. It consists of a metal spring, woth a layer of foam, and then a layer of felt on it. You can repair this
using double-sided adhesive foam tape, felt from a sewing shop, and a bit of time. You crack the cassette open, lift out the spring, clean off the old pad, stick the new stuff on, and put it back togetner. I have an article I wrote for Datafile (HPCC journal) on how to do this.
If you are serious about data storage on HPIL machines, though, I'd advise looking out fro an 9114 disk drive. The media (double-desnsity 3.5" disks -- 720K disks) is a lot easier to find than the tapes, it stores about 5 times as much data, and it's easier to maintain.