UK Vintage Radio Repair and Restoration Discussion Forum - View Single Post

TonyDuell · 7th May 2019, 6:38 pm

Where I used to live my neighbour at one point was the son of a lens maker. And apparently in the 1950s he tried to make a tape recorder on his father's lens-making lathe. It worked, and was probably better than some of the cheap machines of the time, but he did buy a Revox when he could afford one...

As regards pinch rollers, the little FiCord uses an O-ring on a metal hub as the pinch roller. Very handy for restoring one now.

I think it is very possible to make a working tape recorder (other than the heads) in a model engineer's workshop. Whether you can get it up to, say, Revox standards is another matter.

7th May 2019, 6:38 pm	#19
TonyDuell Dekatron Join Date: Jun 2015 Location: Biggin Hill, London, UK. Posts: 5,224	Re: Reel to reel revival Where I used to live my neighbour at one point was the son of a lens maker. And apparently in the 1950s he tried to make a tape recorder on his father's lens-making lathe. It worked, and was probably better than some of the cheap machines of the time, but he did buy a Revox when he could afford one... As regards pinch rollers, the little FiCord uses an O-ring on a metal hub as the pinch roller. Very handy for restoring one now. I think it is very possible to make a working tape recorder (other than the heads) in a model engineer's workshop. Whether you can get it up to, say, Revox standards is another matter.